Friday, September 02, 2011

Beli

In many ways, Beli seems like as much a main character as Oscar does. Her story takes up about half the book, and is pretty compelling and overwhelming.

What did you think of her character development? Did her actions make sense to you? How much are we supposed to sympathize with her?
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3 comments:

kc said...

I thought that story was going to turn out differently! You could understand that she'd be messed up from the horrors of her early childhood, but the particular kind of messed-up I didn't see coming: the way she rejected her kind caretaker and all good advice and desperately latched onto men who were cruel or indifferent to her. I just didn't follow the direction she went. I don't understand why she was so cruel to her own children. She valued people who were worthless and didn't value people who were worthwhile. I found it bizarre.

1:42 PM, September 06, 2011
Erin said...

Yeah, Beli was the toughest for me. I had the impression that we were supposed to root for her and sympathize with her, but I really didn't. Like you, I just couldn't understand her choices and the way she treated people. And are we supposed to think that Beli's crappy childhood and then the way she treated her own kids are part of what made Oscar the way he was?

11:29 PM, September 06, 2011
kc said...

Good question. The relationship between Oscar and his mom was murky to me. Beli seemed to avoid her children by working incessantly. They basically raised themselves, with their mom swooping in as a random authoritarian force when it suited her.

I guess he was like her in being so foolish and self-destructive in love. It was hard to watch both of them in that context. It was like the only decision they were capable of making was the obviously wrong one. Oscar's sister had a bit of that, too, in her choice of needy, selfish men, but she seemed able to eventually recognize her mistakes and move on to something better instead of returning for more and more pain.

12:03 PM, September 09, 2011

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