As
many other have said, I too have heard good things about this book and I dove
into it with enthusiasm. Firstly I found the book to be a bit confusing, for
example the Michael’s reoccurring dream about the house was a passage in the
novel that I found myself having to read over again before I could grasp the
concept of it. Though I found myself confused at times, I do somewhat enjoy the
book though I find the idea of Michael and Hanna’s relationship to incredibly
disturbing. Their relationship is one that is entirely dominated by Hanna, as
she is the dominant personality in the novel thus far and he is the submissive,
bending himself to please her wishes and apologizing for things he did not even
do to simply please her once again. Though when one originally looks at the
relationship it is obviously one that isn’t accepted by society and would be
normally described as rape (since he was 15 and she was 36) and one I found to
be very scandalous, is one that proves to be somewhat necessary for Michael’s
personal development and allows him to feel “at east in my (Michael’s) own body.”
(41) Due to his illness he was both weak in spirit and in overall physical
state. Hanna gave him the opportunity to bounce back from that providing him
with a, “manliness” he wanted to show off, “success at school got my (Michael’s) teachers’ attention and assured me
(Michael’s) of their respect” and “…girls I (Michael) met noticed and liked it
that I (Michael) wasn’t afraid of them.” (41).
The
commentary made by Michael is very interesting as we can tell he is revisiting
past events he adds insightful commentary about memories and his experiences as
a whole. I am interested in what will happen to Michael now that Hanna has disappeared
from his life and he has been left heart broken.
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