Usually they say that one’s life flashes before their eyes right before they pass on.
I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing Ana Maria life through Bombal’s unique storytelling structure. Although Ana has passed and can no longer interact with the world as a living being, A Shrouded Woman is filled with interactions and connections through the her thoughts and recollections as loved ones visit her. This appreciation for life and the people in it can only be expressed as she has passed and now views her own life from an outside perspective, like a ghost. Each section of the book features a new person that impacted Ana’s life, and provides the reader with a new outlook on who Ana was and how she changed over time. It was interesting to read how overtaken she was from her first love, how it swept her with passion and then tortured her with heartbreak. Then later in life she sees that her daughter finds herself in an almost identical circumstance, she knows what that is like and teaches her daughter as someone who has been in her shoes. I typically feel encumbered by the introduction of many characters in quick succession, but I feel that this book’s use of each individual gave new meaning to Ana Maria.
The use of frequent perspective changes between first and third-person allowed me to experience the emotions and feelings of Ana in some moments and then watch her from afar in others. This seemingly chaotic back and forth of narration then experience was like watching a movie that I was in, changing scenes and cutting between frames of different perspective. The book also features a plethora of illustrative and artistic imagery that often fostered a bittersweet feeling in me as a reader.
Although Ana’s life, like many others, is filled with suffering and pain, I was inspired by her thoughts after death and the contentment she was able to find. This work showed to me the beauty in the pain, and I was able to look back on Ana’s life like it was my own. I hope that I can find peace as she did while I am still living, and I think this book has given me a good experience to get started. Last class we talked about the purpose of literature and if they should make people better, I think that this book served that purpose. 4.6/5
If you died and was in a ghost-like state, who do you think would visit you first and why?