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some questions and comments i get a lot about Dusty, and some...

some questions and comments i get a lot about Dusty, and some answers on a Sunday night:

—-Why did you decide to end the story where it does? It’s the most incomplete story I ever read, and I read a lot. I like when the author leaves things to imagination, but this story really feels undeveloped and unfinished…doesn’t really make sense -

Dusty, as a story, is far from underdeveloped, and while i can agree that it’s unfinished (all good stories are, in my opinion. that’s part of how they transcend and live on, and what makes them stories, not documentaries of reality), it is very much complete. it’s so full-circle the last paragraphs on the last page of Delinquents wind all the way through Bliss and Dusty’s entire relationship (chances/rules/smiling like she can’t help it) back to the very start of it in Innocents (bad choices/yellow popsicle). everything in their lives (together and independently) has been cyclical. like constant and overlapping concentric circles.

Bliss loves Dusty regardless of his choices or condition. this is displayed over and over. him calling and her answering at the end of the book puts both of them right back into those same cycles. that *is* the point. as long as they’re both alive, there is no end. just more circles.

—-Why din’t you give readers at least something about what happened to Dusty? Even a sentence or 2 from Valerie would have helped. It feels like nobody cared about him; this character wasn’t given a chance to redeem himself or do something with his life.

because “what” happens isn’t what’s most *important* to love.

where Dusty is, where he’s been or where he could be going don’t stop him from reaching out for Bliss, and none of these things stop her from answering his call. this is the point. that love answers. that love is there for love, no matter what, good or bad and everywhere between.

people grow, as is shown in Bliss’ last chapter, but people (addicts especially, which both of them are) often make the same kinds of choices and mistakes. Bliss and Dusty are both constantly one step forward two steps back, individually and in their relationship. his decision to leave in the end, just like his decision to call and hers to answer, are more of this cycle. that *is* what happens to Dusty, and it’s heartbreaking to agree, that it really does feel like nobody cares about him or gives him a chance to redeem himself in their eyes or to do something with his life. that’s one of the many, many reasons for his decisions at the end of Delinquents.

—-I loved the books, but I was so disappointed in the ending… it feels like a work in progress. The story feels like stale water, interrupted somewhere in the middle. Characters were doomed and didn’t have a chance to develop or redeem themselves. There is a lot of bad happening in this story, it’s all real life, but why did you dedicate 2 books to describe the problem and not touch the solution at all? The ending makes this story depressing…such a feeling that people don’t really care about what’s happening around them…blind parents that don’t care what’s going on with their kids or their future. Completely umbelievebale…I know it could happen, but I feel that people should see a light at the end of the tunel, that there is hope in desperation and that there are second chanses in life. Young and stupid can grow and learn from mistakes, not necessarily together, but still do something with their life. I read a lot of books that left the ending to reader’s imagination, but this story is the most incomplete work I ever read. Could have been a true masterpiece:(

i’m going to go about this last set of questions point by point - and say thank you and hi. i love talking about Dusty and would love to do so anytime.

again, i’m sorry you feel disappointed by the ending. i love the ending very deeply, *because* it’s a work in progress - like all of life is. a work no longer in progress would be over, and i have no desire of any kind to write Dusty and Bliss to their deaths.

as far as the story feeling like stale water, interrupted somewhere in the middle, i can’t totally disagree. it goes back to what i was saying about concentric circles in the other post. when something is dropped into a still body of water, circles ripples out.

the characters themselves felt doomed. i believe both of them said so at various points. they both had and took chances throughout the story, again, one step forward two steps back, and took bigger ones at the end (Dusty, by really leaving, a huge step forward, and Bliss, by answering his call despite all her personal growth, a huge step backwards).

there is a lot of bad happening, yes, but it isn’t fair to say solutions weren’t touched on at all. they were. multiple “solutions” (rehab, monogamy, college, running away together, staying together, breaking up, total disclosure, total oblivion, etc) were all mentioned and explored to some extent throughout the story. that’s what life is, and i don’t think the ending makes the story depressing, but that depends on how you look at it. is it depressing that love was there, unconditionally? or is it beautiful that love was there, unconditionally?

Bliss answering the phone *is* all of those things you’re looking for - a light at the end of the tunnel, hope in desperation. growth and learning are processes that don’t just happen overnight, and these decisions *are* young and stupid growing and learning. “Hello” is the infinite second chance.

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