A Worn Path

Okay...no...wait...what? Awesome story, totally awesome. Phoenix Jackson sounds like the long lost member of The Jackson 5.

Among the many questions a-rumbling through my noggin about this story, the most prominent is of course: is the grandson dead? Does it even matter? It matters to me!

First let's simply agree that our dear friend Phoenix is just not quite all together mentally. The vast majority of the dialogue in the story is either her talking to herself or addressing bushes, trees, animals, and at one time, a scarecrow. I would hardly call it a stretch to say that Phoenix is suffering from dementia, or at the very least is extremely confused. So really, it could be very likely that the grandson is very much dead. This is evident by the behavior of the nurses. They repeatedly ask "is he dead," and act as though they already know the answer. One of them even says "Just tell us and get it over with. Is he dead?" This seems to indicate that all the nurses secretly know that the kid is dead, but are just waiting for Phoenix to accept it. The head nurse, however, steps in and gives her the medicine, apparently calling it charity, indicating that she feels it's better to have her go on living her illusion than to force the truth on her and destroy her emotionally. So what does it mean if he's dead? Well it indicates that Phoenix is clinging to the boy. His existence fuels her entire journey and gives her purpose. So even after he dies, she goes on believing that he's alive in order to keep this sense of purpose. Why, one could even argue that her delusion that her grandson is alive is in fact all that's keeping her alive. But I'm sleepy, and don't like arguing.

I remember this was relevant somehow....

Nineteen - Last Words

"'We could have had such a damned good time together.'...'Yes, isn't it pretty to think so?" (p. 251). These are the last lines of the novel, and are therefore probably important. There was also something about bicycling and a beach somewhere in this chapter, but I don't get that. I get this though. Okay, so Brett is utterly delusional. She has idealized the only relationship that she can't have literally to the point that she can't see herself living any other way. Her thought process appears to progress thusly: "All the relationships I've pursued have ended in disaster, I cannot pursue a relationship with Jake, therefore, only a relationship with Jake will not end in disaster." I'd put down about a 98% chance that even if Jake didn't get his tallywacker blown off, the Brett-Jake duo would have ended exactly the same way as all the other relationships in this novel: everyone gets mad and intoxicated, not necessarily in that order. But Brett has idealized it to the point that she really believes that no matter what, if things could have worked out, everything would have been sunshine and rainbow-spewing pandas. However, I like to think that things worked out for the best because they can't make the sticky. All the other relationships that have been based on sex have fallen apart, but Brett and Jake, whose relationship seems to be based purely on unconditional love, as opposed to lust, has held together all the way through the end of the book. I think Jake's mildly cynical response shows that he recognizes this and can at least appreciate an eternal existence in The Friend Zone.

This is The Friend Zone. I can think of no better way to end our blogging adventure than with a demotivational poster.

Overall, this was an okay book. I could have thought of some better ways to spend the last week of summer, but I was recovering from major oral surgery anyway, so no big loss.