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on January 12, 2015
A horrific accident I found very hard to read about, begins this Kindle short story. The story of the accident was intense and well told. The remainder of this short story I found lacking. It is not clear to me why she tried, fairly unsuccessfully to me, to weave the overpowering predominance of corn in our agriculture and our current food choices, into her narrative. This did not advance the story or add to it, it just seemed like an aside. The lone survivor of the accident which resulted in the deaths of several young men in a grain elevator filled with corn, dominates much of the story. This part was mostly flat for me. Not very compelling. An opportunity was missed here. The story needed an editor, as there were several glaring grammatical errors. At one point in the narrative she mentions therapy for the survivor. Over several paragraphs she mentions a therapist, a psychiatrist, and a psychologist. Which was it? All three? Very unclear. I like attention to detail, and it is lacking here.
In summation, the story is intense, horrifying, but the telling left much to be desired. 2.5 points!
In summation, the story is intense, horrifying, but the telling left much to be desired. 2.5 points!
on December 10, 2014
This piece was riveting, suspenseful, and thoughtful. The narrative of what happened to the young men was framed with Michael Pollan's writing on the corn industry. I didn't realize all the ways my life is touched by corn and was not aware, until reading this, of the personal costs of this to others. It's an amazing piece of reporting and writing.
on August 15, 2015
This was so well written. I assume the author had to research this topic, but she really covered it all. I know from first-hand experience that it is common practice on farms to have very young children shouldering responsible jobs. I recall my nine-year old cousin driving a pickup load of grain to the elevator. This story drives home the point that children cannot always take care of themselves and they make immature judgement calls that can often turn bad. These boys certainly did and all of the them were affected for the rest of their lives by the deaths of the two boys in the corn silo. I appreciated that the author covered the aftermath, the legal cases and their resolutions.
on November 30, 2015
This was a wonderful and sad story. When I started reading it I had no idea that it was a true story. I'm still wiping tears from my eyes. The only good thing is that Will is clean and sober today after all that he has been through. This really makes you stop and think about how dangerous a corn mill really is and how much we depend on it.
on January 1, 2017
Based on the epilogue, the contents of the book is very precise. I love true stories and this book really was heart breaking. It makes you love the characters who were involved in the accident.
on February 21, 2016
Read this a while ago but it has stayed with me .Such a tragic unnecessary loss of human life. No one should ever be able to step one foot in a silo under such unsafe conditions.For me it was a page turner.
on January 11, 2015
I was given a Fire HD7 for a belated Christmas gift. I immediately fired it up and eagerly browsed the kindle ebooks. I read the plot and saw that it was only 76 pages long. Knowing this would be a quick read, I purchased it and it turned out to be a page-turner. Hayasaki gives us a deep look into a person's life after enduring a traumatic experience that left him witness to two of his friends' deaths. It effectively spreads awareness of the dangers of farming.
on January 5, 2015
Details were excellent. It was difficult to read the opening accident scene having been in a bin in my own experiences, but the detail description was great for those not understanding the situation. I appreciated the detail explanation of how corn is so important to our society and educating everyone on all the items where corn is found. True stories are my favorite stories to read. This was close to home and relevant to my everyday life.
on January 19, 2015
Short read but interesting. Especially liked the intermittent facts that I would have never even known to research. This is a different part of the country and living in the South, I had no idea about how agriculture, machinery used in it, much less the issues involved around the subject. Good price, gained some interesting knowledge and enjoyed the identification of persons involved as well as character development.
