The first novel that I managed to read is The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi. This book got me interested right away; it was easy to understand and I highly suggest it to anyone. If you have that burning desire to open up a book, then I'd suggest for you to quickly read it NOW so that when you finish this post, it'll make sense!
Okay, there are a few passages that I want to look at because, honestly, they don't make sense in the real world! Once you read them, you'll understand where I'm coming from. Take a look at this one. The book's text is in a different color than my own thoughts. Just remember that TillyTilly has brought Jess here:
Colleen McLain's kitchen was much, much neater than Jessamy's.
...The room was filled with a light steam, which was emerging from the pot bubbling out stewy smells on the cooker. Meat, potatoes and some kind of green vegetable, maybe. It was the bubbling pot, the fact that Mrs. McLain was actually in the process of making dinner and would probably return tot the kitchen any minute, that alarmed Jess.
"We're going to get caught, TillyTilly!" she whispered. She ignored TillyTilly's snort of derision as her eyes began surveying the room for places to hide.
Both Jess and Tilly froze as the sound of a woman yelling floated in through the doorway. From upstairs?
...Jess laughed aloud, then clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. TillyTilly began pulling her towards the kitchen doorway. Jess bent her knees to make herself heavier, but it didn't work. Tilly continued to drag her, and she began to panic.
...They were tussling in the passage now. Jess managed to snatch her arm back.
...Then Mrs. McLain came down the staircase, swinging down the passageway towards the kitchen, a laundry basket filled with crumpled clothes tucked under her arm.
(oh no!)
Jess seized her friend's arm, realizing that she and TillyTilly were standing directly in Mrs. McLain's path, that they couldn't just run away without making things look worse than they were-
But Mrs. McLain wasn't looking at them.
Her eyes seemed to slide over them as if they were part of the pristine, stripy wallpaper that covered the passage walls.
How could she have missed them?
...What had just happened?
..."How come Mrs. McLain couldn't see us?"
TillyTilly looked at her without smiling or saying anything. It was a patient look, come on, Jessy, think about it.
..."We're invisible," she said hesitantly, then at TillyTilly's nod, more boldly: "We're invisible!"
"And she can't hear us, either, so I don't know why you were making such a fuss about me laughing," TillyTilly added.
(pages 100-103)
Alright, that's a bit of the story that just baffles my mind. The two are invisible? What?! Oyeyemi only confirms that this happened later in the story when Jess uses that secret against Colleen. It clearly happened. I mean, Jess knows something about Colleen that nobody else knows - except, of course, for TillyTilly - but it still doesn't make sense. This book is not about fairy tales, and while it's not based on a true story, it wouldn't surprise me if some other little girl has gone through such a strange experience herself.
Both Jess and Tilly froze as the sound of a woman yelling floated in through the doorway. From upstairs?
I rewrote this line because if Tilly knows that no one can see or hear them, why does she freeze? Maybe because she didn't expect the yell, but the line has an intensity that makes me feel the same way that Jess is surely feeling, like, Oh crap, I don't even talk to this girl and now I'm going to get caught and then she's going to call my mum, and why did I even come here? I don't like this girl! Oh man, I hope that yelling isn't for me! I guess one of the biggest parts of this passage that I like is that it really shows the mystery of TillyTilly and what's going on in Jess's mind. While I never truly understand who TillyTilly is or if she's actually real or not, this part of the novel really makes me believe that she is.
The next part I want to look at is when Shivs meets TillyTilly; it's probably the creepiest part of the whole book, if you ask me.
Jess looked at TillyTilly, who held up a finger to her to indicate that she couldn't say anything, then began walking in a wide circle around Shivs, noiselessly climbing up onto the bed and jumping down again when she had to walk behind her. I don't get why she does this. It's definitely creepy, though. The fact that all she does is walk around Shivs, but Shivs still knows she's there is just mind blowing. She was looking at Shivs carefully, unsmiling, almost grim-faced. This just shows how much TillyTilly dislikes Shivs. Jess, watching, was briefly worried that TillyTilly might break her promise and do something, but she showed no sign of any such intention.
Siobhan was struck by how cold she felt, but it was a constantly moving coldness, sometimes giving way to normal air, as if it was expanding all around her. She feared that it might tighten, and she longed to rub her arms, but didn't dare drop them in case she saw TillyTilly. She didn't want to see her at all: from the moment that Tilly had come into the room, Shivs had felt a...badness. It was the only way to describe it: it was like being sick and hearing rattling in your ears that wasn't really there; it was slow, bottomless, soundless, creeping...and it wasn't just inside her stomach, but inside her head as well, slowly building in pressure. She'd had to make sure that she wasn't imagining it, she'd needed the security of Jess's touch to ensure that she wasn't alone in the room with this...thing. This was not another girl. This was not the kind of imaginary friend that you'd mistakenly sit on. She was a cycle of glacial ice. This paragraph really just shows how bad TillyTilly is. If Shivs can feel these things without even seeing the girl, then I'm not sure I even want to know what TillyTilly really is.
...She almost shouted out, almost. But she didn't-she was tougher than that, and anyway, she realised with a breathtaking suddenness, this was not her fear to hold but Jess's. This thing meant to harm Jess, punish her in a bad way, the worst way, maybe. Siobhan was scared that Jess was going to die. She had to tell her.
(pages 204-205)
This part of the story just gets me scared. I reread this, imagining myself to be Shivs, and tried to experience exactly what she did. The description in this passage is so intense and so eerie that it got my heart racing again even while I was typing it. At this point in the book, it's still incredibly hard to say if TillyTilly is a real person or not, but her spirit is definitely there. There is something with Jess, making her experiences legitimate, not just part of the imagination. It also played a major effect on Shivs, too, because she left almost right away after "meeting" TillyTilly.
The book, as a whole, is a rather interesting read. It makes you question yourself as you read it because it's hard to tell what's real and what isn't. While I hope no person, especially anyone as young as Jess, ever has to experience anything like this, I'm sure there are many that do. This book peers into different worlds that many people don't experience or even think about, and makes us wonder what could really be out there.
Oyeyemi is a fantastic writer, and reading her writing was a wonderful experience. If you read this book because of this post, then I think I've done my good deed for the day!
No comments:
Post a Comment