Thank you @lacrucita, really much appreciated :).

I did mean for that moment of the narrator's passive response to Rebecca's death to be shocking. But I also tried to build towards it in such a way, that the reader feels there is something wrong with the narrator.

For example, she says things used to happen when she was younger, real things involving tears. But she must have seen so many deaths in her recent years, since she is really old. She has grown cold towards the things happening around her now, she thinks life was only meaningful when boys were fighting over her.

And I tried to show how she's jealous of Rebecca, having her son visit every month. Hinting at how everything about Rebecca's life is better, even her shoes. She quietly resents that Rebecca uses her to feel better about herself.

I think the learning part for me is to understand how much of these things the reader picks up on. Whether they should be a bit more explicit, so that the uncanny feeling that 'something's wrong with the narrator' builds even before the dramatic turn of events. I agree with you, definitely, that stories are allowed / supposed to have an effect on the reader. But I do think I have a lot to learn about how much information to give, and how to make a dramatic turn of events shocking, sure, but also believable enough. Maybe, since the relative dying without the narrator moving one finger is quite absurd, the build up could have been more strong?

Thanks so much for your feedback. And yes, planning on sticking around this time! :)