Thursday, August 21, 2008

Two narratives

What did you think of the book's structure, alternating between Roseanne's story and Dr. Grene's? Did you find one more compelling than the other? Does that structure work?

2 comments:

kc said...

I was a little dubious about the structure to begin with. It took me a little while to warm to the doctor, but once I got into the rhythm of it I enjoyed it. It was incredibly intricate, when you think of it, telling a story that way, with shifting, interweaving narrative.

I fell in love with Roseanne's voice first, before I realized their similarities, and her plight was so engrossing that I'd have to say I found her narrative more compelling, but I was terribly fond of him, too, the way he looked at life, his extraordinary humility, and in the end their voices were inseparable to me.

Erin said...

I had a similar experience. Early in the book I found myself wanting to hurry through Dr. Grene's sections to get back to Roseanne's story. After a while, though, he won me over with his humility and compassion, and I thought the two stories wove together beautifully.