Insanity At A Glance

by Jackie Chiang

(Review before)

Last updated on the 13th of December, 1998.

      For a long time Jackie Chiang was the author of my favourite fanfics, namely "Living and Dying" and "Love Me Again" - and strangely enough, or perhaps not so, I also had - have - an odd liking for "Insanity at a Glance." What differentiates the last one from the first two is that it is not focused on my favourite two characters, Michiru and Haruka. I'm not saying that I automatically like with Michiru/Neptune and/or Haruka/Uranus ( - there is certainly an open bias, but it's nothing automatic). Rather, it takes a little something extra for me to be attracted to something not involving them. Perhaps what I said before was not quite correct, for Michiru and Haruka are mentioned, in fact, all the others are, to some extent, but this really is about Aino Minako.

     So what is it about "Insanity at a Glance" that draws me so? For one thing, this fanfic is written fairly much in a `stream of consciousness' form. Yes, I definitely liked Jackie Chiang's writing style here. I apologize again for my preferences based on biases and sheer whims. I just happen to have a tendency to like more those kinds of fanfics involving thoughts, thinkings, going into the minds of characters. I want to spoil the fanfic as little as possible, but I will say that I think Jackie Chiang had a very nice pin-down of Minako's character, or as much so as one can get in situation such as that in the fanfic.

     Very interestingly done - and I appreciated the twists of thought and the logic involved. And to a fair extent she brings in ideas and thoughts that I myself had spent time contemplating on and about in the past. At times she employs a slightly different, yet, quietly appropriate style of description which I have an intense liking for because I find a truth in it. A story that is, in some wild way, beautifully told and sadly true to the mind.

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