I. and F. Attend a Manifestation
Beautiful Losers (p.71 to 128)
What We Thought Was Going to Happen
In the previous post, we wrote about what we thought was going to happen in the next few pages. We hoped we would learn more about the characters' lives and that we would understand more and more the way they act and the way they think. We were right about some of it, but not everything. In fact, we learned a lot about F., I., Edith and Catherine Tekakwitha's lives due to the series of small events that are narrated in the different chapters that allow us to understand them better. However, we do not really understand everything yet, mostly because, as we said, the book is not a continued story so it is very hard to try to put the pieces together and get a good portrait of what types of lives they lived.
Mood of These Pages
While reading these pages, you necessarily go through
a lot because it is not a straight story, it is separated little stories from
the life of two characters. It can be tough to follow me while I am typing
that, but believe me, the novel is just as tough to follow. Every page of it is
confusing because you can rarely connect things, you must just accept every
page as it is. Going deeper into the section, characters are making things that
are difficult to believe in, such as public masturbation. It makes you question
the authenticity of the story. Are we in a dream? Is this really happening? Is he
only thinking about that? These are just questions that we are having every two
pages while reading this novel.
What We Think Will Happen Next
We think that the different story lines should link in some way in the next part of the book even though they aren't going on at the same time. We should also learn things we didn't know about the main characters and it should impact the rest of the story a lot.
Quotes
" We were sitting on some trunks in an unused solarium on the third floor of the orphanage, a glass-roofed room dark as any other because of the soot deposited by a badly placed chimney - we often hid here." (Beautiful Losers, 29th chapter)
This quote explains how I. and F. grew up in Montreal, in a Jewish Orphanage. We think that the fact that they were always together as kids is probably part of the reason why they are very close in the story. We also think that growing up in an orphanage probably forged their personalities.
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| "Catherine Tekakwitha was baptized on the eighteenth of April (the Month of Bright Leaves) in the year 1676." (Beautiful Losers, 41st chapter) |
This passage says that Catherine Tekakwitha decided to get baptized. While reading this chapter, we asked ourselves if the tribe that Catherine was part of supported her for converting and becoming a Christian. We also wondered why she decided to get baptized.
"A week later she was under the elevator, a "suicide"." (Beautiful Losers, chapter 44th)
This part of chapter 44th surprised us a lot. We knew that Edith had passed away because I. said it multiple times, but until that part of the book, we did not know that she committed suicide. We wondered if she ended her life because she was unhappy about her relationship with I. and F. We also wondered how I. felt when he learned that his wife was no longer alive. According to us, he was very sad, because during the first part of Beautiful Losers, I. seems sad and unmotivated, so it is probably because of the death of his wife (and also the death of F.).
Other Informations
After reading the second quarter of the book, we realized that F. is a toxic friend for I. We think that F. does not bring happiness to I. because he is constantly questioning him and making I. rethink everything he does. Also, the advice that F. gives to I. does not necessarily help I. In summary, we do not think that their relationship is beneficial for the both of them, but we think that I. does not see that.
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In the 47th chapter, we had a glimpse of what living in Quebec in the 20th century was like. I. and F. went to a manifestation for the separation of Quebec from Canada. During the late 1900s, that was a very important subject for the French Canadians and it helped us understand how it really was then. |
References: (for the pictures)
Are you disappointed that the book seems rather complicated to follow and do you find it more difficult to get into the story?
ReplyDeleteYes, we were disappointed because the book was complicated. it made the story harder to follow. We often had to go back a couple pages because we were lost. That also made it difficult to get into the story. thank you for the question.
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