Huh?
This book lost me. It wasn’t as bad as Borges but I still felt lost and confused. I mean I think I understood the overall concept of the book but the little details here and there just confused me. I don’t know if I like or dislike this book, for me it’s just there, like something I don’t quite know how to feel about. I will say though, whether it was intended or not this book did a good job of making the reader feel uncomfortable and frustrated at times with the narration of the story.
Going back to how I felt reading the book, there was something about David’s character that made me feel uneasy. His interaction with Amanda was so strange and I always felt unnerved whenever he spoke. Everytime David said “that is not important”, I wanted to scream. Like why isn’t it important??? What do you know that we don’t know?? Every single time he said “that is not important” I anticipated something big to happen next because I had this uneasy feeling that there was going to be a big revelation. I don’t know what it was about David’s character that made me feel like we were playing a game, like somehow his mentions of certain details not being important, were all part of some kind of puzzle. It truly felt like David was playing a game with Amanda, like somehow he knew the end of the story but wanted Amanda to tell it. Maybe I just didn’t understand David as a character or maybe I just hated him. Either way his character was quite confusing and frustrating to me.
Moving on, the reason behind Amanda’s sickness was interesting. The idea that Amanda (and Nina) had been plagued by the poisonous water was a unique idea and wasn’t something I was expecting. Sometimes during the story I would forget that Amanda was sick, just because of the interaction between David and Amanda and how she was telling the story. I wish the importance of agriculture pesticides was explored more or mentioned more clearly during the book. Also, the symbolism behind the worms was interesting. They kind of represented the illness that was contracted from the pesticide spray in the water. Worms are tiny little things that grow and slither around you, without realizing, kind of like the illness that spread in Amanda.
Overall, this book was interesting and confusing, it truly felt like a fever dream.
Question to think about: Why did the author chose to convey the importance of pesticide poisoning, in such a creepy and unnerving way? Did it add something more to story?
Hey Alizey, I certainly share some of your thoughts on how easy it was to get lost while reading. Often, I forgot who was speaking and had to jump back a page to re-catch the switch in perspective.
In terms of feeling – I’m sure we will all agree on feeling pretty unsettled and uneasy throughout his thriller-like read. Like you mentioned, I was also waiting for something crazy to happen, feeling like we were getting closer and closer to it with every one of David’s whispers. I didn’t really grasp the more simple idea of the poison being from the environment, and it was slowly killing them, but was instead waiting for some kind f jumpscare?!
Understanding the aspect of the pesticide poison was briefly mentioned though, which made some sense… But why it had to be so eerie and confusing? I’m not sure. My question for the week was going to ask what the meaning of the worms was exactly, and I think if someone could answer that question, they may have a similar response to why she chose to write in such an unsettling way. I mean – it certainly drives home the scary thought of invisible poison that could be hidden in your water… but there must be more here than just sharing this fear with the reader…
“I don’t know if I like or dislike this book, for me it’s just there, like something I don’t quite know how to feel about.” That is already very interesting, because the book is built so that we have that feeling. The most important thing has happened: you agreed to enter the game. It’s as if the atmosphere became more and more rarefied, as if we had fallen into a game of “Hide and seek” where characters became more elusive. And after reading your comments I see that you have found several parts of that puzzle, which you have already begun to put together. You will see that you have done very well when we discuss the novel in class.
Hi Alizey,
Really great discussion.
I really empathize with you when you say that you don’t know how to feel about the book. Me too. I don’t like or dislike this book particularly – it was just there.
I think this is largely to do with the many questions left unanswered… How did the town get to this place, where infection and death is abundant? How does the witchcraft by the lady in the green house work? What’s that lady’s story? What happens with David afterwards? And, to your point, what is “not important” as David often says?
Maybe that’s the point of this book – to leave the reader with more questions, many more questions that the few answers provided. We feel uncomfortable with that, but perhaps we shouldn’t shy away from the many unknowns of the world, and of the many stories we tell.
Take care,
Curtis HR
I understand why you might not like the book, but I found the obliqueness to hold a certain amount of charm. You as the reader are not always supposed to know how concepts like witchcraft and “perfumed” fields are intended to interact with our known reality, if at all. The mystery of modern corruption wrapped up in strange dreamlike phenomena can only be something inspired by Marquez’s magical realism previously studied in the course. For this homage, I liked it quite a bit!