Every small piece of writing had a major impact.

The way you explained it with real, raw, emotion.

I loved nothing more than the fact Pony and Darry didn't particularly want Soda back. They knew he would be changed, and not the same. They had accepted that in a way, but when they actually saw him was when reality struck.

Out of every single amazingly thought out line, this is my favourite-

"The buzz cut they gave him was ugly. Soda's hair was his pride – our pride – and he didn't even have that."

Greasers don't have much, put their pride in their hair, and Soda lost that. My heart actually broke a little from the way you worded so many things.

Like Jesus, you have a real talent!

soda left and came back emotionless, that friggen sucks, but this was nicely written

I only just realized I've read this before. THAT'S why it feels so familiar. I gotta say, when I read the last line I was honestly thinking "Wasn't that in the book?" before I realized it wasn't. It's like this fic is part of the book, and I don't know how, but it just fits so perfectly. Needless to say, it's a hundred and twenty percent amazing. Beautiful fic.

I would post poersonal quotes that I'm in love with but I'm pretty much in-love with this whole story...

Last line: "They don't pay for reality." 33333

AMAZING.

People change, and you've caught it down-right. Not sure of what to say; the words of compliment material that come forth seem to not be equivalent and worth enough for the work. Anyhoo, it was amazingly brief and nice.

Oh my god, this is brilliant. Heartbreaking, but brilliant 3

Wow, this was really good. It's way different from other 'Soda coming home from Vietnam' stories I've read; because most the time Sodapop is the same he was before - all happy go lucky. But, in reality, war changes people and Soda would be different coming home. I know that because I've heard the stories from my Grandpa who was in Vietnam. You did a really great job, I give you a million stars out of ten! 3

Wow. This was just amazing.

I love your writing. This was very good- I can't even think of a word to express how much I love it.

I love how you had Ponyboy react to Sodapop coming home. I think this is more realistic than him coming home from Nam and not being affected at all, still being the happy-go-lucky Sodapop he used to be. This is alot more realistic, full of powerful and raw emotion. That is rare to find these days, and I find it in all of your fics. Somehow, to me, in your fics there is a bitterness or hatred in which you write them. I love it. The pure raw emotion is just...amazing, for lack of better word. Just amazing.

I really love your writing, and I can't say it enough.

Please, continue writing. What you have is true talent.

JCG

Well written. I very much am found of this, and holy hell was it good. It was short, and to the point, if you know what I mean. You did this in under an hour? Could've fooled me. I'll admit, the first two paragraphs didn't catch me as much as I wanted them too, but I kept on reading cause a story always gets better in the middle.

Good job, and keep up the good work.

Fuck me! I had a REAL long, nice review for this. I did. Like 500 words, then fanfic didn't fucking submit it, and I didn't save it. D:

Ugh, well, this was pretty damn near amazing, so I'll take the time to review again. I'm still so disgusted with myself for not getting reviews on all these amazing fics of yours. Well, he's another epic review. It'll probably end up being as long as the story itself.

Well, I'll start with grammar, I suppose. Nothing major, but there were a couple things. There are really are only two I noticed. Both of which are easily fixable. One, you had a couple superfluous commas. Two, you switched tenses a couple times.

Here are the locations of the superfluous commas:

-They sent him with hollow eyes, and pasty skin.

-I promised that I’d keep my head up, and keep it all together.

-I promised to quit lying, and stop attaching myself to everyone and everything.

If you have a compound direct object, you don't need a comma.

Now, unto switching tenses. There were a couple areas you did:

In the first paragraph, you wrote "Who are “they”? I don’t know." It should be "Who were "they"? I didn't know."

In the six paragraph, you wrote "He hated being away from what he knew – he needed stability. He has that now." "He has that now." should be "He had that now."

The last two paragraphs are a jumbled mess of past and present tense for lack of a better wording.

You wrote:

"I always wonder if I could write a story about Soda and send it in. People could know him like I did – like I do – and they could feel the way I feel. Everyone needs to feel sometimes. But Reader’s Digest doesn’t pay for feeling. They pay for funny. They pay for Soda.

They don’t pay for reality."

It should be:

"I always wondered if I could write a story about Soda and send it in. People could know him like I did-like I do-and they could feel the way I felt. Everyone needed to feel sometimes. But the Reader's Digest didn't pay for the feeling. They paid for funny: they paid for Soda(I think I semicolon might work nice there, too.)

They didn't pay for reality."

And that's about it grammar-wise. No worries, though. It didn't detract from the story in the least bit, but I just thought you might appreciate knowing the little details. (:

Wow, is really all that's coming to mind to say at the moment. And this is the point in the review where I have to pause and think for a bit. I'm really at a loss for what to say. Take my speechlessness as a compliment. This was really nothing short of amazing.

Okay, just to let you know I spent about ten minutes trying to come up with the right words to review this. I really was that blown away.

Real deep, and just full of raw, powerful emotions. And the intensity at which you show them earns you major brownie points. You really said a lot in the nine hundred something words, and in all honesty it didn't need to be more than nine hundred words. You said exactly what needed to be said. It was concise and almost simple in a way. It was damn effective, though. Sometimes less words have more meaning, and that is without a doubt the case here.

War changes a person, and you without a doubt portrayed that dynamic with Soda. It's hard for me to imagine him coming home from 'Nam completely unaffected by it. We didn't see Soda directly, but we got a great in-depth analysis of him from his brother's POV, and I think that made seeing his transformation more affective. Soda's would've been tainted by his bitterness and coldness after the coming home.

That being said, I loved your portrayal of Pony in this. He was honest and almost innocent in his observation of Soda. I can just imagine him being all shook up when Soda left, being real excited when he got the news Soda was coming home, and then just being absolutely crushed when he saw that his brother was far from the person he knew and remembered. Poor Ponyboy. You did such a great job writing this; you legit made me feel bad for my least favorite character. He seemed a lot more mature in this, though, and I suppose the events of the book plus having Soda go off to 'Nam might make a person grow up and smell the fucking coffee. I like how you showed his maturity, but still portrayed his innocence. Pony will always be a tad bit of a dreamer and aloof in my mind, and I'm happy I saw that in your fic.

The Reader's Digest. Oh man. What do I even say? Well, Pony's perception of them, and the people that read the magazine seemed pretty damn accurate to me, and I really liked the point you got across with that. People don't pay for reality, they pay for funny. And it's sad, but very true and 100% accurate. Most all of the people I've come across in this world are incredibly superficial, even some of those I like. People don't seem to care anymore, unless it concerns them or makes them laugh.

You really did do an amazing job with this. I loved every minute of it, and again I regret not reading it until about a half hour ago. It was raw with emotion and definitely made an impact on me, really made me think. It's most definitely a favorite now, and I'm thinking it's quite possibly my favorite of all my favorites.

And I think this review is now longer the the piece of writing. But, you know what, you deserved an epic review for this. I'm really glad I took the time to read it today, and I was more than happy to take the time to review it. I hope you enjoyed this review, and that it wasn't just a hot mess of rambling. I really did try to make a point or two. LOL.

Much love,

Al

that was very... sad

sad but it does kind of make u think..

nice job (I almost cried) lol

I love intense fics like this and it really did make me think. My two favourite lines...

'Mom always told us that home is where the heart is, and Soda’s heart ain’t here. I don’t know where it is.' - It definitely puts in to affect just how much Soda has changed, especially with the later comments about Soda having a big heart.

'They pay for funny. They pay for Soda. They don’t pay for reality.' - I particularly love this. I'm not sure what it is I like about this but it's very affective.

You've done a really good job at writing a realistic post 'Nam fic. Well done.

Trying to make me cry, are you? Well ya did. I'm not quite sure if Soda's dead, or just dead on the inside, but the raw emotions you put into this piece were like no other I've read on the matter. Whether or not Soda made it home alive, he wouldn't be the same person apon returning, and I think you showed how Ponyboy would react to that very well.

Keep up the great work!

Is he dead or like PTSD? You should like totaly update.

A is for amazing. This is... well I can't even describe it. Great job.