BROKE MY BRAIN. Let me start off by saying that I didn’t dislike like the novel…I was merely confused by it and tended to get lost at times when I was trying to follow along with the storyline. Also, before I begin an “analysis” of this book I have to mention that I didn’t enjoy the non-linear storytelling. We’ve had quite a few books this term that were non-linear and I never enjoyed reading those because following along without getting frustrated was never possible. I feel like linear writing brings a sense of structure and order, that I may not always experience in my everyday life, so I desperately crave for it in the books I read. Anyways, let’s move on before I over-analyze that statement and turn this into a therapy session.

The first few chapters of the novel made me feel really bad for the narrator. The difference between her life before and her life now, made me think about the benefits that come and go with living a life in solitary or with domestic responsibilities. However, as the story progressed I started feeling more uncomfortable. The uneasiness and displacement the narrator felt in her own life was felt by me…like I started questioning the space around me. I think the unconventional writing structure (not having proper chapters) added to that chilling environment being established in the novel. The lines between reality and fiction were blurred….with elements of supernatural added to it. Furthermore, if I’m being honest, there were times when I thought the narrator was dead. Like the way she slowly started withdrawing from her “former self” and increasingly became more and more withdrawn from society….which definitely made me think she was dead or was at least dying.

Moving on a bit from the death aspects, the metaphor “sustained breath” (pg.4) was so intriguing to read. She mentioned how she was “short of breath” but I feel like by the end she achieved the “sustained” she was looking for. The life she had before that she longed to have again, was full of temporary feelings that came and went, without a stable sense of self. However, with her children she found a different kind of solitude (that she didn’t fully realize) that repaired those feelings of loneliness…at least in my opinion. The ending was open-ended and for me a “sustained breath” was achieved.

Question to think about: It is mentioned that White (the narrator’s boss) constantly sees his dead wife at a tree outside his house, I’m curious to know what the importance of mentioning that was? It wasn’t expanded on further, yet it seemed like an important event. Was the author trying to convey an important message?