Hi gkmoberg1,gkmoberg1 wrote:I have read this again. There is a deep sense of being out-of-place.
Consider
- Our protagonist is out of place, first by being a guest at Karin's place and then also, and surprisingly, second by finding a distance between himself and his own home during his brief return visit.
- Anna is out of place for two reasons - first her being at Karin's place and thus also being a visitor, and then second because her goal is Oskar and to not be at Karin's.
- Even Karin is out of place. And for yet two more reasons. First, she is without Stefan. And second, this is odd, but the unsettling element of the two adults discussing Karin's own mortality and how life -Anna's really- will continue. So even though Karin is present, we find them considering is that her presence is transitory.
Okay, you can say I'm reading too much into this. However the net effect is that at the end of Part Two, the three characters are each out of place from their lives. This couples well with the dual uncertainties the story provides in just the curiosity in wondering how Anna came to be as she is, plus the unresolved and entwined story lines of what has become of Oskar, why Anna and Karin had to leave Barcelona, and perhaps a there's yet a level of detail regarding Stefan's final days.
Before, I was struck with the stranger-comes-to-town plus going-on-a-journey themes. This evening I am struck with how everyone herein is found to be out of place and that the only things that feel to be solid and for certain are the two story layout of Karin's cabin and the tempting waft of bacon and kaffe coming from the kitchen.
please, more!
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I must say I have mixed feelings about this new review of yours but then as with the fine craft of writing one can often create unintended ambiguities. However, you are right on the main theme of 'being out of place'. In a sense this quite true and very intentional.
All the characters are essentially out of place in a way. for example and not giving too much away: the narrator has been pulled out of his normal existence and still feels like a visitor walking into a very unusual situation. Karin and Anna are in a new situation themselves when for them destiny should have been fixed and unyielding yet, by a cruel twist of fate, were thrust together.
I may have been in error in putting up part 2 when essentially it was the first part of part 3 but I felt it was important to show the transitory stage of the narrator and his observations only which could portray everyone in an awkward light. That was unintentional.
Thank you for your opinion and it has made me rethink how I should tell this little tale. So its back to the notepad to rewrite a few things.
Be well