I really enjoyed this short!
I think im a sucker for stories about true friendship. In this short, the narrator is so dedicated to her friend Harriet. After my first read, I didn't really get the sense that the narrator was an exceptional friend, but after reflecting on the ending, i had second thoughts. I'm sure other people may interpret this story differently, but I thought it was interesting that the story both starts and finishes with a the narrator hanging out with some sort of unimportant friends. They aren't the ones she's really connected to. In fact, even though she believes in UFO's and extraterrestrial life, she doesnt even share her beliefs with them. She hides them! I interpreted her hiding her beliefs as something really intimate actually. I thought she loved her friend Harriet so much, the time they spent together and, after Harriet's suspicious disappearance, all the narrator wanted to do was to believe that Harriet was telling the truth the whole time about aliens. So after Harriet disappears from their town, she starts to re-believe (for the sake of Harriet? for the sake of honoring her as a good friend? or was it just better to think Harriet was right than believe that she was wrong and crazy in her death). But her rebelieving in extraterrestrial life is something so intimate between her and Harriet, and also between her and Harriet's dissappearance, she she doesn't share it with her new friends.
The way the author structured the frames feels like s/he really wanted us to focus on the characters' facial expressions and individual characteristics. This is quite different from say Lucky. None of the other memoirs we have seen actually focus so much on expression (consistently). I liked that. I also, from the get-go, loved that the characters are dorky looking. It makes them all much more relateable.
not much more to say! see you all tuesday.
(rhyming haha)
- shaina
I think im a sucker for stories about true friendship. In this short, the narrator is so dedicated to her friend Harriet. After my first read, I didn't really get the sense that the narrator was an exceptional friend, but after reflecting on the ending, i had second thoughts. I'm sure other people may interpret this story differently, but I thought it was interesting that the story both starts and finishes with a the narrator hanging out with some sort of unimportant friends. They aren't the ones she's really connected to. In fact, even though she believes in UFO's and extraterrestrial life, she doesnt even share her beliefs with them. She hides them! I interpreted her hiding her beliefs as something really intimate actually. I thought she loved her friend Harriet so much, the time they spent together and, after Harriet's suspicious disappearance, all the narrator wanted to do was to believe that Harriet was telling the truth the whole time about aliens. So after Harriet disappears from their town, she starts to re-believe (for the sake of Harriet? for the sake of honoring her as a good friend? or was it just better to think Harriet was right than believe that she was wrong and crazy in her death). But her rebelieving in extraterrestrial life is something so intimate between her and Harriet, and also between her and Harriet's dissappearance, she she doesn't share it with her new friends.
The way the author structured the frames feels like s/he really wanted us to focus on the characters' facial expressions and individual characteristics. This is quite different from say Lucky. None of the other memoirs we have seen actually focus so much on expression (consistently). I liked that. I also, from the get-go, loved that the characters are dorky looking. It makes them all much more relateable.
not much more to say! see you all tuesday.
(rhyming haha)
- shaina
Shaina- I didn't even think to consider this a story about friendship. Going over it though I see that in fact, it is also a remarkable story about friendship. I do believe Lucy was a great friend and her friend Harriet's disappearance and their drifting apart visibly weighted heavy on her.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fresh perspective!
ReplyDelete'The way the author structured the frames feels like s/he really wanted us to focus on the characters' facial expressions and individual characteristics. This is quite different from say Lucky. None of the other memoirs we have seen actually focus so much on expression (consistently). I liked that. I also, from the get-go, loved that the characters are dorky looking. It makes them all much more relateable.'
ReplyDeleteI agree! It's why I loved this short so much. The art here is so refreshingly, and the facial drawings highly characterize the characters.
We also get the sense of Harriet as an outsides and those friendships have a pervasive loyalty that i think is really illustrated here Shaina. You fell for it and so did I. So short...so moving.
ReplyDeletee