At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teresa?

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel Lilla Stjärna
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a_contemplative_life
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At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teresa?

Post by a_contemplative_life » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:26 pm

Spoilers

Okay, I felt badly for them up until somewhere near the middle of the story. I guess it was when they murdered the shopkeeper in cold blood that I was no longer able to feel anything for them. This was unlike the situation with Eli, who tried to retain her humanity throughout. I guess this story is more about the effect of insanity than anything else. There wasn't even any love story to grasp at. You can see Teresa's sanity slipping away, but I just couldn't find it within me to like anything they did after that. It was all horror from then on in.
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drakkar
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Re: At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teres

Post by drakkar » Wed Feb 22, 2012 5:36 pm

Thing is, I never did...
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
- Karl Ove Knausgård

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metoo
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Re: At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teres

Post by metoo » Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:10 pm

Neither did I…
But from the beginning Eli was just Eli. Nothing. Anything. And he is still a mystery to me. John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Re: At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teres

Post by PeteMork » Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:28 pm

I lost most of my 'sympathy' for Theres in the basement. :shock: It was replaced with the kind of sympathy I might have for any wounded, but still dangerous, predator.

My sympathy for Teresa evaporated when they murdered the shopkeeper.
We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain. (Roberto Bolaño)

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Re: At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teres

Post by drakkar » Wed Feb 22, 2012 7:47 pm

A cultural issue? Two Americans lost sympathy, two Scandinavs didn't....
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
- Karl Ove Knausgård

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Re: At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teres

Post by a_contemplative_life » Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:54 pm

I guess I should ask the two of you, then, why you felt that they were always sympathetic. :?:
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Re: At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teres

Post by gattoparde59 » Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:19 pm

I have very mixed feelings about the two girls at the center of this story, right up until the end. I disagree about this being a love story. The difficulty is reconciling this with what the love story leads to.
drakkar wrote:Thing is, I never did...
I am with a-c-l on this one, I would like to hear more about why Drakkar feels the way he does.

What is sympathetic for me? That the two are outsiders and underdogs, the "little people" versus the "big people." In my own fiction the main character is always female, always the underdog, always motivated by revenge whether it is rational or not.

It does not surprise me that a-c-l would not like these characters, given what he has posted in the past. That makes sense from his point of view.

To answer the original question, I began to have misgivings about Teresa when she started in with the flies. A sort of foreshadowing of the end btw. As for Theres, she did not choose to be the kind of person she is (if she is even human :shock: ). She has her own version of things and acts accordingly.

I'll break open the story and tell you what is there. Then, like the others that have fallen out onto the sand, I will finish with it, and the wind will take it away.

Nisa

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Re: At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teres

Post by lombano » Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:25 pm

I too lost all sympathy for Teresa when they murder the shopkeeper. As for Theres, I'm not sure - I didn't completely lose sympathy for her during the basement incidents, lost a lot of sympathy for her when I lost it for Teresa, yet even in the end I didn't find her quite as unsympathetic as Teresa, who as far as I'm concerned turned into a complete monster, even before she murdered Johannes.
So it seems I'm basically on the same page as the other North Americans.
I disagree about this being a love story.
I'm not sure myself either way.
To answer the original question, I began to have misgivings about Teresa when she started in with the flies.
I too had misgivings, but I still found her mostly sympathetic.
Bli mig lite.

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Re: At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teres

Post by EEA » Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:19 pm

I don't think I did I or else I would have not finish the book. Both of them do horrible things and yet I went a long on their journey wanting them to reach what they wanted.

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Re: At What Point Did You Lose Sympathy for Theres and Teres

Post by intrige » Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:40 pm

I always cared for them too, didn't lose anything.. :roll:
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