Posted by Astronommy 4 years ago Report

An interesting duality of Claire's: to her, nudity feels both like blank slate state incapable of conveying her true self/selves, and a radiant beacon asserting her ownership of a place, or at least a way to celebrate her sense of security in that place.

She also appears to be in a thermal sweet spot there, too, with the warm Mid-Western autumn and presumably a strict above average climate control in Adam's house, and capable of retaining heat better than most due to her stature; women are apparently more sensitive to the cold and drafts on average, and appreciate the comfort/self-expression aspect of clothing, so even alone, prowling around a la Lady Godiva is a rare luxury in outside of the summer days, and outside of the tropics.

The call with Alison is an important as chilling reminder of the costs Claire's been incurring with her decision to stay in Addieville; even if it's not yet at the burned bridges stage, there's definitely bridges shifting around the riverbank, there's something like smoke in the air. Claire's focusing on her local progress while failing to pick up on or brushing off the surly curtness at the other end of the line, does a good job of emphasizing her losing touch with her old life, I imagine if she does manage to either pry Adam away from his customized comforts, or extradite her friends, the reunion would be a good deal cooler.

This novel is cool in that any time anything Adam-touched gets brought up, the reader can count on some cunning adaptations to be mentioned alongside the usual environmental descriptions. Wonderful to see the truck get inducted into the family of Adam-friendly spaces!

Good on Claire for making the effort to soak up and appropriate the small town chic, anything to make life work for her and her significant other! Even when facing the dread prospect of a family get together, when the family is so massive, unavoidable, and influential in the ways affecting her!

Posted by 4ofSwords 4 years ago Report

Yes! I'm trying to better appreciate that consistency of character doesn't mean unitary motivation. She may not be the most reliable narrator even on her own motivations and habits, but even that doesn't need to be consistent for *her* to be consistent.

Or something, anyway!

Posted by Astronommy 4 years ago Report

If you're referring to the first paragraph, I didn't meant that there was any real contradiction, just layers of interplaying needs and goals, like you said.

It's true that inconsistencies can play into a larger pattern that is self-consistent, like an apprehensive person who'd refuse an offer they'd really like taking two times out of three, and it's true that it writing characters like that well is scratching the ceiling of the humanly possible as far as fiction-crafting is concerned; they also allow for course-correcting left turns that are easy to justify!

Ms. Carver has been firmly established as a Pandora's puzzle box, even though she's been the one eagerly picking Adam's locks for the most part.