I’m slowly working my way through "Hafan Deg," and I still don’t know what the title means.  I’m assuming the story itself will tell me, so I’m not bothering to cheat and look it up.  But as titles go, it’s eye-catching only because it’s so different, not because it’s informative.

Whatever it means, "Hafan Deg" is the story of Karen, as she vacations and attempts to find meaning in her life, now that her children have moved on.  She’s returned to her favourite vacation spot of their childhood, a place she hasn’t been to in sixteen years.  Most things are the same when she arrives, time here holds still.

Not so in the story’s narration, which (while third-person in perspective) follows Karen’s thoughts quite closely.  She seems lost in time, reminiscing about children and past lovers, old memories and regrets.  She’s clearly a woman looking for meaning amidst the chaos of day to day life, and hopes this place of memories will reinvent a future for her.

Perhaps it’s because I’m nowhere near middle-aged yet, or perhaps because most Web Fiction is usually more fast-paced, but I find myself yawning through most of Karen’s self-reflection.  For one thing, her thoughts don’t stay in any one scene, whether of current events or memories, for me to find a sense of attachment to the moment.  She skims over everything, without getting to the meat of any of the moments of her life.  Perhaps that says something about her character, but it makes for dull reading, because I can’t get inside any one scene and feel its emotional heartbeat.

Without that pulse, the story really doesn’t come alive for me.  I’d be much more interested in her memories or current adventures if the story showed more about them, but the constant skimming leaves me skipping from chapter to chapter to find something more to sink my teeth into.  Let’s hope I find something satisfying.

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