Honestly, my response to your entire post is relief, because I read this and really didn’t like it, but everyone else I knew liked it and thought it was really profound. For myself, I don’t like mystery boxes that never get opened, and if the mystery isn’t getting explained, then maybe authors shouldn’t plant clues that lead nowhere.
Also, if it were just about growing up, why have Jinny’s choices toward the end make any difference at all? People don’t generally get to choose whether or not to grow up. (Is that what leaving on the boat is about—she tried to stay a child and you can’t, so she has to leave anyway? But why would that ruin things for everyone else? What choices, IRL, can a literal child make that will ruin the lives of a whole neighborhood and cause nature to encroach upon them? I am clearly not cut out for allegory.) At no point in this story does it sound like Jinny gets to make an informed choice because she (and, to some extent, everyone else on the island) has incomplete information.
…clearly I didn’t realize how grumpy I still was about this book. Thank you for your critique, so I could grumble alongside you! :)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2023-12-28 09:43 pm (UTC)Also, if it were just about growing up, why have Jinny’s choices toward the end make any difference at all? People don’t generally get to choose whether or not to grow up. (Is that what leaving on the boat is about—she tried to stay a child and you can’t, so she has to leave anyway? But why would that ruin things for everyone else? What choices, IRL, can a literal child make that will ruin the lives of a whole neighborhood and cause nature to encroach upon them? I am clearly not cut out for allegory.) At no point in this story does it sound like Jinny gets to make an informed choice because she (and, to some extent, everyone else on the island) has incomplete information.
…clearly I didn’t realize how grumpy I still was about this book. Thank you for your critique, so I could grumble alongside you! :)