What were your thoughts on the ending of the story? I've read a couple of reviews that called the Latin translation bit "heavy-handed."
And what did you think of Edith and her reaction to the way her little game turned out?
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6 comments:
The Latin didn't bother me.
Edith was a very flippant person. I found her to be an unlikeable character.
I thought the focus on Edith at the end was misplaced. I thought the focus really needed to be on the couple.
Yeah, what did you make of the change in focus from Johanna to Edith at the end?
I'm not sold on the Latin, but I think it worked OK.
I think the story HAD to end with Edith. It had to come full circle back to the person who was responsible for the couple hooking up. It had to come back to that town as a point of reference, a point of perspective (the where are you going, where have you been? of Joyce Carol Oates). And I think there's a sense that Edith, the creator of this couple, doesn't fully appreciate what she wrought, but that she will, oh she will when she gets a little older.
The change in focus shifted throughout. At first you think the story is going to be about the station agent, then her, then the old man maybe ... Munro is a goddamn, MF'ing genius with this narrative shift, and she does it in other stories.
Her narrative gaze is so fricking lifelike. Everything in media res. You don't grasp what's going on for awhile and then — boom! — without realizing it, you're suddenly in the thick of it like you've always been there. Goddamn genius.
I think that second comment from me was actually from Erin.
I also was intrigued in which characters developed and which didn't. I assumed the station agent was going to be a part of the story or at least summon some conflict between himself and Johanna before her getaway. Instead he was a useful way for the reader to "see" Johanna and give the context for some foreshadowing.
I also thought the girls would be incidental characters, a reason to explain how Johanna met Ken. I loved how they were used instead.
Ending with the girls left Johanna and Ken's union a nice mystery. I could see the subject of the letters never coming up in the course of their marriage.
And I liked the Latin.
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