wtf is happening? - faces in the crowd?
Hi Everyone!
Many of the novels we have read so far have been confusing for me in the beginning, but then make sense as I get further along in the book. There had always been a point that I begin to understand what exactly is going on. Unfortunately, that was not the case for the novel we read this week. Although Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli wasn’t necessarily a difficult read, in fact it was probable one of the easiest because the sentences flowed nicely, it was still chaotic and impossible to understand fully. I kept hoping that by the end it would all connect and I would know who’s life we were following and how they all connected but that did not happen.
After about 5 or 6 pages I realized that we were switching back and forth between the woman’s current life and her past. However she kept saying it was fiction, which I hardly believe. Then all of the sudden it switched to a male narrator which I later realized was Owen. When Owen got to the part where he was talking about a woman writing a novel, where she communicates with ghosts and there were similarities between what was going on in Owens life and what was happening in the woman’s life, I was like finally, it will be revealed how this all connects at the end!! Big surprise: that didn’t happen. I really hoped that after I watched the video lecture this week it would become clear what exactly was going on but throughout the whole lecture there was nothing definitive and every time, I thought we would find out specifically who’s life the novel was centered around it would always be followed by “perhaps.”
I don’t know how to fully explain it but when I think about this novel I just feel uneasy and dissatisfied. I think it’s mainly because nothing was clearly explained and I hate having to make up my own endings or think about how people might possible be connected. I like knowing exactly what is happening and who’s life we are following, and even would like to be told when it switches between different narrators or times in the narrators life. I hate the fact that if I had to explain this book to someone else, I would have no idea what to say or where to even start. Would I say it’s a woman writing a novel? Is she even writing it? Is it 3 different stories? Or 1 or 2 connected ones? Is what’s being told even true for the narrators? I have no idea.
My question for my classmates is: do you like the fact that this book is open to interpretation, and that you can think of how these characters may or may not be connected?
Lauren, I. like that you pointed out the contrast between the simple, flowy nature of the sentences versus how difficult and complex the narrative is. It's interesting that you see the writing about her past as nonfiction! I actually started questioning whether anything in this character's narrative was actually true - I kept thinking that maybe her present was fiction too (like you kind of mention at the end). They kind of DO connect in the end though - the earthquake and the last few pages are very much overlapped with each other.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment!
- Tesi
Hey! I emphasize with your confusion about the book- I feel like if I were left to my own wits end I wouldn’t actually piece together what the point of the book even is (I’m honestly not even sure I still grasp that at this point) but somehow it was still an enjoyable experience for me. Maybe it has to do with the writing being easier to read? I felt that this weeks read was more enjoyable. To answer your question, I think I like the fact that this book is open ended and ends at a really surprising place with a surprising end, it felt like a nice touch to end it. But I think there’s a lot of holes, as the author has said herself, in the story that leads to confusion because we sort of expect them to be filled. I think I can somewhat appreciate not knowing fully in its entirety for something to “make sense”.
ReplyDeleteAlso this was my comment, I forgot to turn of anon. Sorry
Deletedo you like the fact that this book is open to interpretation, and that you can think of how these characters may or may not be connected?
ReplyDeleteHey Lauren, yes I like that its open to interpretation, I guess all books are. I imagine your referring to whats real and whats not. I think that the true message of the book is around the lives we live and the power of revisiting or changing. I also think the characters are clearly connected maybe even are each other at some point in time.