Title: How to Lose at Life
author: Novocaine
Rating: Teen
Category: Gen
Pairing: Assumed offscreen HG
Words: 2374
Published: February 21, 2008
Status: One-shot
Summary: Ron remembers being naive enough to think that death is the worst thing that can happen to a person, but it is a distant, faded memory.

Link: http://www.ficwad.com/story/90547

I was truly impressed at this view of Ron. Novocaine follows JKR's theory that only suffering brings maturity.



Checked by Minion, March 29, 2013

 

Pretty good one-shot. Though Ron's actual role is left rather ambiguous, perhaps that is for the better in this story.

 

I loved it. The writing style could use a bit of work, and the parenthesized comments pissed me off a bit, but the work as a whole was chilling. Chilling = good, in my opinion.

4/5

 

I agree that this was very chilling, but I disagree on the parenthesis. It makes it seem as though Ron, as he thinks this, takes some time to find better words to express these things. I like the writing style and story overall.

 

I would have preferred a work around instead of parenthesis but that's just a style issue I suppose.

 

Been a while since I've read an angst fic. As such this was pretty good, had some nice one liners. Execution here and there could be just a little tighter. But that is being very critical.

Some things were there in passing that have annoyed me in the past, like

Spoiler

General Weasley

but it's such a small reference it was alright.

I would put it 4.5/5.

Half point off for the few bits in there that were cumbersome to read because of the style.

Not recommended for everyone since it is a tragedy and some folks think that genre sucks. Personally I liked it a lot.

 

I liked it, gritty realism is the way to go. 4.5/5, half off for H/G

 

I can't really say its a H/G. Still well written and very grim. It is angsty but not in the way most authors write (and fail at).

Good find.

4.5/5

 

Its gritty and harsh and thousand other wonderful things that I can't begin to express. This is what Ron could of been had JKR been a better author.

This is one of those stories that draws you in and doesn't let go and yes, its horrifying, but at the same time its incredible piece of writing. I've never seen Ron portrayed like this.

5/5

 

Didn't stick with me personally, because I don't think Ron is so smart that he'd be the ONLY one to survive out of the other Weasleys, but it was still a well-written story.

4/5

 

I've read this ages ago, I think. Reads really really familiarly. I .. don't much like it. Not just because of Ron being glorified as a General. It just... didn't flow right in my mind. Could have been a lot better.

 

Yeah, but if you take points off for this you basically have to take points off of every story where Harry isn't a total mindless pussy. Ron's even more of a worthless human being than Harry after Book 5 but I've decided to keep an open mind on pretending they actually became decent characters.

 

Points will always be taken off when Harry is more worthless than Ron. Now and forever.
Amen.

 

I agree with most of the previous criticisms, particularly the complaint about the use of parentheses. There may be some slight bias here - I utterly and absolutely hate Ron - but this just didn't seem that great to me. I'll give it credit for being a reasonably believable tragedy; I'll even forgive it for being Ron-centric since it was tastefully done, but something about the writing style just rubs me the wrong way. There are minor mistakes and annoyances here and there, but there aren't enough of those to throw me. The main issue, I think, is the tense; in this instance it truly irritates me. The entire plot is reflective; the mood is introspective and subdued; it just feels like Ron is looking back and the story should be in past tense. As it is, the story is done in a perfectly valid style, I just don't really like it. It takes a genre that has a tendency to suck large ones and creates a decent plot - it gets points there - but this fic just isn't in the true upper echelons of fandom. 3.5/5

 

Anything worth doing is worth doing well. This was written exceptionally well. Though I'm really not a fan of angst, this has a feel similar to Alls Quiet on the Western Front. 4.5/5.

 

This was indeed a very good, and refreshing read. This fic shows that angst can still make for a good read if done well. It is one of the very few fics in which I liked Ron's character. I didn't mind the fact that he was a 'general', nor the H/G.

So unless you really cannot stomach tragedy/angst, I strongly suggest giving this a read anyway. 5/5

 

I've read this one before... angsty, but in an okay way. A good fic, deserves 4/5, even though it's hard to believe Ron comes out of the war unscathed, and General Weasley usually shouts fail.

 

I liked how he was a colossal failure as a general. He admits he was a pussy and got every single one of his soldiers killed, except for the Chosen One who even Voldemort couldn't snuff. Brilliant campaign there.

 

Surprisingly well-written. I don't usually go for the angsty stories, but this one actually doesn't fail 4.5/5 from me.

 

Hmm. I'll start by saying I despise Ron Weasley. I despise angst as a genre. I despise any story where any Weasley (excepting maybe Bill) gets a position of high authority during the war.

With that said, I really liked this. Same complaints as others about the style (parenthesis and whatnot), but this is a story about a character who doesn't really exist anymore. He doesn't live. He survives. And that's terribly tragic, which is probably why I give this a 4/5 overall.