The Good Life
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| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Good Life |
| Author(s): | sinsense |
| Date(s): | Feb 17, 2009 |
| Length: | 28,000 words |
| Genre: | romance, NC-17 |
| Fandom: | My Chemical Romance |
| External Links: | Masterpost |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Good Life is an NC-17 Frank Iero/Brian Schechter fic written by sinsense and published to LiveJournal. It has received nearly 200 comments across all posts. It is known for popularizing asshole!Frank.
Reactions and Reviews
I absolutely loved this. It has a lot about the way in which, actually, the gender roles which society forces us into suck for men as well as women, because Jesus, masculinity is a brittle and exhausting front to keep up when you really buy into it. I also adore stories where characters wrest moments of softness out of a gritty and hard life, so I love the occasional casual touches between Frank and Brian. Also, BERT.ceanshinythings[1]
When I saw the warning for this fic it took me a while to figure out whether I should read it, because I would normally never read anything with daddy!kink in it. It doesn't trigger me or anything, but it's just squicky and unsexy and makes me make an unhappy face. I decided to forge ahead essentially because I have pretty much implicit faith in you as a writer, like I've never read ANYTHING by you that was not handled in a graceful and meaningful and skilful way. And this was no exception, there was not a single moment in the entire thing where I felt unhappy or even embarrassed. My hangup on this particular thing did not affect my enjoyment of the story at all, and jesusfuckingchrist, did not make the sex less hot in the slightest.graceoftheworld[2]
This is a gritty, difficult, funny story--I can see why it was hard to write, given Frank's intense insecurity and terror at what he's kind of discovering, kind of knew a little, maybe, maybe. And augh, they're really hot together in all their disfunctionality and violent or surreptitious displays of affection. (One of my favorite things was when Brian would touch Frank, put a hand on his hip or something--nnnngh.)harborshore[3]
this was fucking amazing. it was scary, and angry, and needy, and felt like frank, actually, in the way that he didn't actually run away from this thing he didn't understand once he had no choice but to acknowledge its existence. he's an asshole, sure, but nowhere near the kind he could be (i think you mostly and most effectively show that through his friendship with bert, but also even della, oh della). i like how brian is lost, too, and the end -- you know this, all my favorite endings are rom-com in essence, total end of pretty woman "saves him right back." this made me think a little of my favorite thing elmore leonard ever said, about how you could tell the good guys from the bad guys in his books when everyone was killing someone. he said something like, the good guy is always cool -- he knows what he wants, and he tries to get it. the bad guy is just doing the same old stupid thing. i like frank here bc i fundamentally agree with brian that it takes a real man, for whatever that means, to admit what he wants, and frank here is a guy who doesn't run from any fight, least of all with himself.wearemany[4]
I'm trying to corral my thoughts into something more coherent than random flailing. I'm very impressed with this story. When I read (or watch movies, etc.), I have a lot of trouble getting into the story if I can't symapthize with the characters. This is a problem with a lot of texts in which the characters are assholes, because I can't invest in them properly if I don't like them. But you've painted this vivid, sharp picture of Frank and his world, of Brian, Brian, and Bob in which they are all assholes to some extent, and I was really invested in them and interested all the way through. And that's amazing, the way you kept them so very flawed and somehwat broken, and still made them characters that I liked, that I could sympathize with. And more impressive, you made the ending hopeful and kind of romantic without sacrificing any of that sharpness of reality or dick-ishness of character.allyndra[5]
This is just so fucking good - I'm going to try for coherency but I may fail. There are so many things I love about it but I think one of the things I love the most is Frank and Bert's friendship. It's just so weird and accepting and honest and the part near the end where they're sitting in the window made me choke up. I think that, though your Frank is a douchebag, him letting Bert sleep on his couch and piss in his oven clued me in early on that he's not an irredeemable douchebag. And the way that you show Brian being a really scary motherfucker and also put in these perfect understated moments of sweetness is just amazing.yan_tan_tether[6]
I don't know how you managed to make this sweet. This is really fantastic and so fucking real (I'm not good with the words, sorry) but its really vulnerable and insecure and all the awful feelings frank has, the internal monologue of franks that just sounds/feels so real (again with the lack of better word) I love your writing and the way it makes me feel, is what I meanand_the_damned[7]
This was so wonderful! I loved it! It was raw and gritty and dirty and a little mean. I Love asshole Frank and Brian and everyone else and Bert OMG Bert I loved Bert in this story so much! the part where he said that boogers were one of the only foods he ate I almost died I started laughing so hard. And when he got all sulky cause quinn wouldn't let him watch him have sex that was awesome Bert really stole the show sometimes but I loved this whole thing.quatre_k[8]
Everything about this story is wonderful. Characterizations are spot-on. The writing is sharp and, in places, brilliant. The description so vivid you feel like you’re right there in the bars with Frank. And then there’s Bert. Bert, in this story, is kind of like a train-wreck. You want to look away, sometimes you want to get sick, but in the end you stare in avid fascination until it's gone.cheetahanabel[9]
I am in love with their writing and this fic. What an unlikely ship! Like ngl, I was holding off reading this bc of it, even though Sinsense has literally never written anything I didn’t thoroughly enjoy, lmao. Seriously though, don’t let that hold you back from reading it, the chemestry is on fuckin point. Anyway, PERFECTLY DONE asshole!frank. He manages to not be completely unlikable, while consistently maintaining the asshole status– truly a masterful balance. Also, though this isn’t quite enemies to lovers, it definitely has similar elements when it comes to the reluctance of accepting the attraction and the fighting and stuff. But yeah, so incredibly hot and emotional, plus it honestly has a great message as well. 1000/10 READ IT!!!hollygolightlyclub[10]