Was it love?

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel Lilla Stjärna
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lombano
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Re: Was it love?

Post by lombano » Fri Mar 29, 2013 9:15 pm

Opeth wrote:I think in a twisted sense, yeah it was love... I don't think it was romantic love on Theres' part but I think that it was some sort of love, the hand holding was definitely significant. Maybe it could have even developed romantically, perhaps it was Theres' way of showing she wanted to take things further or maybe it was just her wanting comfort, I don't know, I really can't say with Theres. I will really have to read Little Star again, in fact I want to right now. I feel that John really did a brilliant job of digging into a teenager's mind.
I view it in the same way in the case of Theres, that there was love though I'm unsure if it was romantic love. What do you think of Teresa, was it love in her case?
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Re: Was it love?

Post by Opeth » Sat Apr 06, 2013 6:03 am

I'm not sure what to think about Teresa, if it was love she felt for Theres or if it was just obsession. I'd really like to read Little Star again, I rushed reading through it the first time. I think there is a part before the girls bury themselves where Theres and Teresa are heading back from somewhere and Teresa asks Theres if she loves her or if she wants to kiss, either one I'm not sure. Anyway I'm sure Theres replies with a no. When Johannes is standing before Teresa with his eyes shut I think she ponders that he was perhaps the only boy she ever loved. I think she was capable of love but I can't remember all that much about Teresa's feelings towards Theres.

I'm going to start reading my copy of Låt den rätte komma in tonight for the first time so I was thinking I'll read Little Star along with it but I only have a copy of it in Swedish & I'd like to read it again in English, so tomorrow I'm off to the library if I get a chance. So mm, I'll get back to this after I reread it.

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Re: Was it love?

Post by lombano » Sat Apr 06, 2013 8:02 am

Opeth wrote:When Johannes is standing before Teresa with his eyes shut I think she ponders that he was perhaps the only boy she ever loved. I think she was capable of love but I can't remember all that much about Teresa's feelings towards Theres.
That brings up a pretty interesting point - perhaps Teresa was once capable of love - in the days when she and Johannes were friends but turned her back on it. At any rate, to me Teresa, at the time she meets Theres, does not seem capable of love. She's obsessed with Theres but I see nothing to indicate she actually is in love, or loves Theres in a non-romantic way, etc. Teresa, although not motivated by lust, seems to me to be more like Haakan than like Oskar.
How we define true love exactly, or how relevant this criterion is, is problematic, but I think it's interesting to apply the following test: would this person be willing to give up their ostensible beloved if it were in that beloved's best interests? Haakan clearly wouldn't. Just as clearly, Teresa wouldn't - when she feels slighted by Theres also hanging out with the other girls (talk about jealous) she nearly makes the recording of Max Hansen and Theres public because she knows it would harm Theres.
Put another way: Teresa seeks out someone she herself thinks of as "brain damaged," claims to be in love but never seems to at all question what would actually be in the best interests of her ostensible beloved (not even hypothetically or in a best-world scenario), and gets dangerously jealous when said person makes new friends, but is willing to accept a second-in-command position in the gang (she has no gang of her own - but her position in the gang and the nature of the gang allow her to take life-and-death decisions over others, whereas before she was a powerless outcast) and takes a course of action that will almost certainly lead to her ostensible beloved being put in a cell with padded walls and the authorities throwing away the key. Does this sound like love?
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Re: Was it love?

Post by Opeth » Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:12 am

I think she was always capable, it seems like she always did love Johannes she just decided to turn her back on him and everyone else. Once Theres came into the picture everything & everyone really just finally faded away. So I agree she was obsessed with Theres although she claimed to be in love with her, of course like you said defining love is difficult when it comes to person to person. I feel she had an obsession with Theres and she was also in love with her, it is strange that she never questions her best interests. But I think you can argue that she had loved and that was good enough for her, she went out with a bang at the peak of her life. Think about the letters she sends:
WHY? And this is our answer (wait for it now): BECAUSE!!!
I don't think she really cared if she died, if Theres did, she was locked away in a cell or if all of the girls were. It reminds me of There Is a Light That Never Goes Out:
And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine
The way I interpret it is that the person is so content with their beloved that they wouldn't mind dying together right at that moment.

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Re: Was it love?

Post by lombano » Fri Apr 12, 2013 3:34 am

Actually in this respect Teresa reminded me more of Haakan - Haakan never asks if what he's doing is in Eli's best interests (and even tries essentially to starve Eli into sexual submission) and certainly never asks if someone else might not be a more suitable partner for her. Teresa is in this respect exactly the same. I never really got the feeling she loved Johannes - liked him, yes, but no more. I never got the feeling she loved anyone, ever.
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Re: Was it love?

Post by Opeth » Mon Apr 15, 2013 11:22 pm

She reminds me more of Håkan as well although there are some similarities between her and Oskar. I feel that she was in love with him, there were signs from when they were at the river (or was it a beach?) together, to the hostility she felt towards Agnes and their relationship and the murder of Johannes. The thing with Teresa though is she seemed very empty a lot of the time, just how she views herself. I think she even goes as far to say that she is soulless at one point. :(

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Re: Was it love?

Post by lombano » Tue Apr 16, 2013 3:25 am

Opeth wrote:She reminds me more of Håkan as well although there are some similarities between her and Oskar. I feel that she was in love with him, there were signs from when they were at the river (or was it a beach?) together, to the hostility she felt towards Agnes and their relationship and the murder of Johannes.
I don't know - she certainly felt jealousy, but this may have been wounded pride rather than any genuine affection. For that matter, Haakan also felt jealous. I can't remember any hint of real tenderness of Teresa towards Johannes, whereas with Oskar we have it pretty early on (his sadness over Eli not knowing her own birthday, his worrying over her being cold, his stroking her cheek).
The thing with Teresa though is she seemed very empty a lot of the time, just how she views herself. I think she even goes as far to say that she is soulless at one point. :(
Well, I think she was right, she had become a "creature without a soul."
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Re: Was it love?

Post by Opeth » Thu Apr 18, 2013 12:48 am

That's true it could be interpreted as that. Mm, she showed little affection to anyone unlike Oskar.

I agree she had practically nothing left by the end except what she felt towards Theres, I can't quite remember how she felt towards the other girls. From memory it seemed like she just felt empowered by having a voice in that group.

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Re: Was it love?

Post by lombano » Thu Apr 18, 2013 4:05 am

Exactly, she seemed to feel empowered but didn't seem to even particularly like them.
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Re: Was it love?

Post by Opeth » Mon Apr 22, 2013 10:00 pm

I can't recall what the girls really thought of Teresa or if it's said, I know they kind of admired her for being part of Tesla but that was about it. Teresa was the last to be buried wasn't she? I don't have the book handy here..

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