Monday, September 12, 2005

As Simple As Snow

I just finished the book "As Simple As Snow"

Um, what would be the emoticon for "absurdly, passionately, bone-chillingly frustrated"? If there was one (and if I used emoticons), this would be the place for it.

Well-written and haunting, the book creates memorable characters with mysterious backgrounds and inexplicable motivations. The plot layers mystery upon mystery, grabbing you, begging you to read to the conclusion....

....said conclusion then containing no answers at all.

Stick a damn needle in my eye, willya?

I mean, I'm not (one hopes (or at least I hope)) a total cretin, and I like having my brain engaged in a good read. In fact, if I remain unengaged I'm unlikely to want to finish the book. But c'mon. You can't make me read it and then explain nothing!

Anna disappears...is she dead? Or pretending to be dead?
Anna communicates with the narrator from the dead...or does she?
Anna hated the art teacher, for no reason we can readily discern (yet the art teacher is a mysterious character, so we want to know what happened there).
Anna listens to shortwave radio channels that broadcast nothing more than continual strings of numbers. What's that about?
The narrator's best friend leaves town (or is he dead, too?). Later he returns -- where was he? Why did he leave?

These and a kabillion other mysteries create a dense and intricate, fascinating world...but they all remain unanswered. Nothing at all gets answered. Nothing.

Especially the most mysterious question of all -- why did I spend so damn many hours reading the stupid thing?