Who is JAL in the novel?

[a_contemplative_life]

Makes you wonder what his mother thought of the novel!

[drakkar]

You bet I was thinking about that when I was walking around the house and the courtyard.

[AntoNorbert]

What if Oskar and Tommy are both JAL?
The one before, the other after the Death of his father.

[a_contemplative_life]

What if Oskar and Tommy are both JAL?
The one before, the other after the Death of his father.

Quite possible. The question, I suppose, is how much of his personal experiences went into Tommy’s character.

[Unconditional]

Some part of me wants to believe if I'd travel back in time and go to that location I'd see everything happening. Except "Eli" being a vampire, if there even was an Eli or if it was just an imagination. Seeing this as a sort of autobiography makes everything so real

[a_contemplative_life]

Some part of me wants to believe if I'd travel back in time and go to that location I'd see everything happening. Except "Eli" being a vampire, if there even was an Eli or if it was just an imagination. Seeing this as a sort of autobiography makes everything so real

That realistic quality is one of the things I really enjoy about the novel. That plus the fact that all the main characters have very realistically human qualities that make the readily relatable.

[Redlips]

Oskar. In the novel, Oskar lives in the very apartment JAL grew up in. JAL also "had" three bullies, and he also torched a locker to get peace. Even the first names of many characters are real. Now is the question: Who is Eli?

JAL said once that the book was true, only written in the form of a novel. So...like you, I am wondering...who was his Eli?

[dongregg]

Allow me to speculate that Eli/Elias is the imaginary friend that IRL JAL wished he had.