Brain Pain discussion

This discussion covers I. Orcas Island –thru- II. Pitch Dark, pg. 5 – 95


I wonder whether he will ever ask himself, say to himself, Well, she wasn’t asking all the earth, why did I let her go?

I was reading the second part of this at lunch today, though I haven't quite finished it. It seems clear that there is more plot in this one than in Speedboat, and also there is information withheld from the reader, thriller/reveal style.

And yet, I found that what was leading me on through the book was not the plot or a desire to find out what happens, but rather an immediate sense of her fear in this section. Her time in Ireland seems to be filled with strange and vaguely ominous events, and somehow the fear attached to them is motivating. I suppose it is a little bit wanting to know as well, though I think it's tied deeply to the sense of unease.

It's more of a wanting to know how bad whatever the bad thing is than a wanting to know the thing itself, if that makes sense.

Or, you know, if any of it makes sense.

Okay, I've finished the first and second sections, and am now wondering, is she nuts? Kate Ennis, that is, not Renata Adler. Renata Adler I don't care one way or another if she's nuts.

Also, in some weird way, I feel like this is a more successful version of what Death Kit was trying to be, though for the life of me I couldn't explain why.

Nicole wrote: "Okay, I've finished the first and second sections, and am now wondering, is she nuts? Kate Ennis, that is, not Renata Adler. Renata Adler I don't care one way or another if she's nuts.

Also, in s..."

I don't think she's nuts, but she is having a kind of breakdown as she separates from her married lover, who she realizes hasn't contributed much to her life. What comes through is that she's essentially been a convenient sex aid for a married man - so yes, maybe that seething anger is manifesting as a kind of nuttiness...

She seems more paranoid than angry. Worried she's done something wrong, worried she's committed a crime, though she can't really say what it would be be, plotting her defense, her trial, her arrest strategy, worried they ("they") are after her, worried about agents, the IRA, being followed, being tracked. Leaving in the middle of the night, covering her tracks, not covering her tracks, feeling she is being watched and observed. This is very odd behavior, and the fear she feels is heavily contagious as you're reading. Or at least as I was reading, anyway.

Though I suppose that the second section does also have an edge of feeling taken advantage of (she consistently seems to allow and accept this, and from everyone she meets from the car rental guy to the police to the servants at the castle) and repressing her anger about it, which might mirror her treatment by her (now former) lover in certain ways.

Nicole wrote: "She seems more paranoid than angry. Worried she's done something wrong, worried she's committed a crime, though she can't really say what it would be be, plotting her defense, her trial, her arrest..."

Yes, definitely paranoid. I saw that as a reflection of how a mistress is forced to live with the secret of her lover's infidelity. As the "other woman", she is forced to stay in the background, in the shadows, under the cover of lies and deceit. Her "crime" is loving and sleeping with a married man. Not really illegal, just as removing a rental sticker isn't really illegal either.

Anyway, not to belabor the point, Pitch Dark has a much stronger feminist edge, and part of that edge is the shit that a woman has to put up with to satisfy the needs of a cheating married man. Lots of melancholy, bitterness, and under-the-surface anger in this book. The Irish trip takes place just as she is attempting to break up with her lover, even though she repeatedly tells him she isn't breaking up.

I guess I could see that, though I would still definitely describe both her behavior and her internal dialogue as pretty nutty. They're not mutually exclusive, I suppose.