“I can no longer read properly” (118)

I feel like this class has changed the way I read. I am not sure how, but I definitely think if you had handed me this book a few months ago, I may have just given up. So, perhaps our professor was correct in his presumption that the books aren’t getting easier, we are just becoming better, more equipped, readers. However, I scanned through some of the blog posts, and I think my partial enjoyment of this book is a very unpopular opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t love this book or anything and don’t plan on rereading it or recommending it… but it wasn’t the worst or most confusing of the term for me. 

I thought the book was enjoyable enough in the beginning, though very odd. The middle (ish) around the 50-page mark when Owen’s perspective and the “Philadelphia” novel sort of took over is when I think the piece started to lose me a bit. It was tricky for me to decipher whether the perspective was from the young woman in New York, Owen, or the mother (the young woman but older). However, as further articulated in the video lecture, perhaps this juggling of identities is intentional, and the similarities between the two souls is more than mere coincidence. Perhaps in a sense they are one. By the end, this book won me back over. I think the last ten pages just flew right by, so I had to read them again. I loved imagining the mother and Owen encroaching on each other’s lives through the table. As the passages became more and more similar and shorter, it felt like a speed up… kind of like how at the end of a digital Solitaire match when you get towards the end the game will automatically solve the rest for you. The cards speed up to find their home and everything falls together for the victory animation to display. That’s how it felt for me at least. 

Anyways, what I actually want to write this blogpost about is Fleabag! If you have not seen the show, you should definitely go watch it… and perhaps skip this post because there will definitely be spoilers…. In 3….2…..1:

Okay, was it just me or did the life of the young woman remind anyone else of Fleabag? From the dry humor (which I loved in this book), to the startling mentions of casual sex and masturbation (I only use the word startling as I feel in media/life this is more of a taboo topic– especially for women), to the presence of ghosts. Further, the sexually charged female friendship she has with Dakota reminded me a lot of some suspicious scenes between Fleabag and Boo. Honestly, Dakota reminded me of Boo in so many ways. They are both very silly, their friend sleeps with their boyfriend (oop…), they have a pet that they love (Dakota with the cat), the list goes on. Another connection is that both Fleabag and our narrator are unnamed… or is the narrator named? I read this whole book but can’t remember if she had a name… that’s rather embarrassing haha. Let me know if I am wrong and she does have one. I have about a hundred more of these connections jotted down but I should cap this post soon. One last point: both Fleabag and our narrator seem to be “breaking the fourth wall.” I feel like when the narrator shifts to her older, present figure, she is talking directly to us, where when she is reminiscing, that is just the story playing out. Then, just like in the second season of the show, her inner thoughts are sometimes interrupted, or overheard, by her love interest. This is exactly what happens to Fleabag with the priest. I thought this aspect in the show was so cool the first time I watched it, and when reading this novel, it gave me the same feeling of awe. 

Question: If you have watched fleabag, did this book remind you of the show at all? If it didn’t originally– does it now?