I feel as if I have said this a few times this semester, but this is a new literary style and tactic for me. I have read autobiographies before, but never one like this. I feel although this is an autobiography or a memoir, Allison tries to keep us on our toes, as we read. I think she best accomplished this through the contradictions that I have picked up on so far in the book. I feel like as I am trying to absorb the story, I find myself thinking back to previous things that she said or photographs that were shown. For example, she will talk about how the women in her family are ugly because they are poor one minute, but give a physical description of why they are ugly, but their looks to that of movie stars. At one point, she talks about how one physical feature, the high cheekbones I believe, make them look like peasants, but then later she talks about the high cheekbones in relation to movie stars. The contradictions just throw me off, because it changed how I pictured the story happening.
I also feel that she keeps readers on their toes by throwing in little phrases that make you question what she is saying. There is no doubt in my mind that she experience all of the things she discusses in the novel, but I think it is very important to think about the perspective of the story, just like with the previous book we read. At some points during the reading, I felt a little bit unsure of whose perspective it the “story” was coming from, because I know it is supposed to be autobiographical, but their was something about the way it was told that just threw me off. Maybe it was because it was the adult version of Allison looking back and telling the story. Maybe she understood or had an epiphany about what happened and that changed her perspective in it. I am still trying to put my finger on it.
I wanted to touch on the photographs, because I know that was discussed in class today. I love photography, and think that pictures can be worth 1000 words. One thing that kept crossing my mind as I was reading was why she selected the photographs that she did, which is something I tend to think about in general when I see a photograph. I want to know what it was about that picture; what was the story behind it; what made it stand out to her from others? I feel like some of these questions could have been better addressed in the “story” by having captions instead of having the context of the photo in the “story.” I also think it is a little bit of a contradiction to have an autobiography or memoir, which is told from the individual’s perspective, and then have photographs, which she did not take, because they are from else’s perspective. I sometimes wondered who took the photographs and what their story was in relation to Allison’s.
So far, I am glad we are ending the semester with this type of book. I graduate at the end of the month, and I think Allison is on to something when she says, “the 2 or 3 things I know for sure.” Anything can happen and life can change in an instant. While trying to figure out what I want the next step to be for me, I have been stopping and thinking, what do I know for sure? Right now, I know 1 thing for sure, and am using it to try to help me figure out what comes next.
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