Reading Journal

Reading this week's feature stories, I noticed that a lot of them start off by setting up an incident that would later contribute to the main focus of the story. For instance, in Larissa MacFarquhar's "The Kindest Cut," the story starts off by introducing Paul Wagner. His kidney donor story leads into introducing the first point of the feature story and I noticed it was a repeating pattern throughout the feature. With Rob Smitty, it was his struggle to prove that he donated his kidney without trying to gain money or fame, merely wanting to get an extension on his child support case. That had lead to the debate about altruism. With Melissa Stephens, it was the tragic result of donating her kidney and choosing to continue a relationship with the Kris Randall. That leads into the never-ending waiting list story which I found to be quite unbelievable; that something like this actually exists. Lastly, the surgery story of a kidney donor, Kimberly Brown-Whale. I really liked how MacFarquhar set up the feature and choosing different stories and the different opinions that come along with them. It tells me, as a reader, that MacFarquhar wants us to know both sides of the story, not just one.

One of the other characters in the feature, Rob Smitty, I felt MacFarquhar was really good at describing him as a character, especially his emotions:

"Still, he hasn't regretted his donation for a moment. "It's the brightest thing in my life, that I've ever done," he says. "Just to know that some people are living better lives out there because of me--little old me."

As I finished reading that quote I felt that Smitty was a genuinely good person, a generous one at it. And I believe that that is what MacFarquhar was trying to accomplish with his character since we learn a bit about his struggle to attain the name of a donor.

Alongside, the reaction of Stephens to Randall's e-mail response shows the anger she had upon reading "Just got back from St. Marteens!"

"I just got this email from him like, 'Just got back from St. Marteens!'" she says. "So I was like, that asshole went to St. Maarteen--the pictures are of him hanging on the beach, holding a drink, sunbathing--and he couldn't even pick up the phone to be like, I'm doing well, thank you?..."

It shows her anger which I appreciated. It tells me that not all donor stories end happily ever after. Also, the quote is very real; like MacFarquhar really took every word that came out of her mouth and put it down.