The one person that is consistent throughout the entire book is the one character we have never really met. Ona has a power over the entire family because of her suicide. Ona was the one that helped keep the family together. After her death, Nina moved out. She was the one who always brought Leon back home, after her death Leon leaves longer than he ever has. The guilt everyone feels over Ona's suicide runs the entire book. Each chapter is either in what is assumed the present, and then the rest is flash backs. Some are from growing up and Ona is alive and a little girl. Some are from the days leading up to Ona's death. One of he final flash backs is the climax of the entire book, the actual day of Ona's death and the few days following it. Everything in the book leads up to that crucial moment. Whenever characters appear to be doing fine, their brake downs are because of the guilt surrounding Ona. Everyone wonders if there was something they could have done, wishing that they had told her something while she was still alive. They all believe that if they had only known and said something they could have saved her life. The guilt tears the whole family apart. The one person we don't get to really meet in the navel, is the one person the novel really revolves around. The one person that has a special power and control over every single character.
Irene Bloomer
Ona is the elephant in the room that is forever stuck there. Most likely due to the fact that they do not have the answers as to why she committed suicide as well as the Chinese culture of remembering and honoring all ancestors, Ona was taken away too quickly that left a tear in their world.
ReplyDeleteP.S. You wrote navel instead of novel and I find it hilarious
Because this family relies so heavily on the pre-established roles in the typical family of society, once a key role is taken away no one knows how to pick up the pieces. You're right in that a tear has been made to their perfect little world, and the only person who even attempts to patch the hole Ona left behind, is Lei; but even she is too fractured to make the connection a real one.
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