This piece is really good, because the narrator's mother is such an engaging presence, and because the aneurism experience makes an effective story arc. At the beginning of the piece, we're introduced to the mother enough to become attached to her, but then we're not entirely sure if she's going to survive, so there's a subtle tension that propells the story forward. The daughter's story takes place in the background, offering a nice reflective aspect without upstaging the mother's more dramatic transformation. This piece reminds me once again how powerful it is to have dialogue between people who know each other intimately- there is a warmth and immediacy when the mother and daughter share their memories of the crisis experience. Great idea to get sound of the mother singing. Reminds me of a TAL piece with a daughter interviewing her dad and getting him to sing the jingle he wrote for his nascent cable channel featuring 24/7 puppies- hilarious, and instantly makes the singing dad into a hugely sympathetic character.

Not sure the effects made it better- there was something a little phony about the siren and hospital machines, because it forced me to imagine a) that the daughter or some unknown person was there recording in the hospital while the mother was in critical condition, or b) that the sound was recorded later and added in artificially. This is a case where faking it wasn't effective- maybe urgent-sounding music would have created the crisis atmosphere more effectively.