I cried. The story, narration, imagery, everything about this book was so sad and touching that I couldn’t help but shed some tears as I read it. Perhaps the reason I felt so strongly about it is because one of my best friends passed away last September and I couldn’t help but think of her from time to time as I read. Also, I think reading it while listening to some sad slow songs wasn’t the best idea either (but if you want to have a more emotional experience, I definitely recommend it).

Moving on, one of the main aspects of the book that stood out to me the most was the detailed imagery. Compared to the last two readings I felt like I could clearly visualize everything that was being depicted, which helped me connect with the story a lot more. I felt like I was there and all the things that were being seen and felt, were being experienced by me. One of the descriptions that stood out to me the most and painted a very clear imagery was “She takes a step. She crosses the double ring of mist surrounding it, and enters shoulder high into the fireflies, as in a floating golden dust”. (pg.183). I don’t quite know what it was about those two sentences but I felt as though I released a breath I didn’t know I had been holding in. The mist added a level ambiguity which was interesting to see in a novel where the reader essentially already knew the stories “outcome”.

Touching a bit more on that ambiguity surrounding the mist, it could also be seen as a symbol for the transience aspects of a person’s life. Like how moments in a person’s life are fleeting and ever changing, much like the mist that comes and goes based on the changing events in the narrator’s life. Furthermore, I also felt like it represented the narrator’s love life quite well. The different characters in the narrator’s life, evolved and changed to represent different moments in her life, and each character that she loved became an embodiment for a different “chapter” in her life.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this story even though it was an emotional rollercoaster and I truly enjoyed the use of mist as a symbol (as you can see from how much I talked about it).

*also I know my title is boring but I’m too uncreative to come up with something interesting*

Question to think about: Like I mentioned with mist being a recurring symbol throughout the story, I’m curious why Bombal used it to reference her life? Did the mist perhaps represent something much deeper…like death?