Jonathan Lethem’s Girl
in Landscape is a difficult novel to define as each page brings questions
of uncertainty. My reading experience
was something along the lines of comfortable discomfort. Throughout the story, I hesitated to believe
the truth behind any event; the author constantly forced us into inquiries such
as, “Is this really happening to Pella or is she dreaming?” and “Is this normal
behavior among the Archbuilders?” As
Pella drifted off into her reveries or her deer state of mind, she herself was
unsure whether her experiences were real or imagined. The entire novel was in a setting that no
reader can relate to: first futuristic Brooklyn and then a different planet
entirely. The author still incorporated relatable elements through his characterization and tragedies (Caitlin’s death,
for example), but even then the story plays out in an unfamiliar way. When Pella’s mother collapsed in the
bathroom, her son continued to watch television like nothing had happened. Of course, one could argue he was in denial
of a tragic event, but because the setting is a pre-determined unknown
environment, as readers we must ask ourselves: has the craze with TV and media
become this sick in a futuristic world? I believe Lethem
wanted to create something fresh – a twist on the typical genre. Thus, I sort of dived into the reading with
the notion that nothing should be expected.
He introduced us to a world that could potentially make sense if we were
raised in it. However, Pella was an
outsider and her observations and ideas regarding the new culture became our
own.
However much the novel led me to confusion, I found it very
refreshing. Many authors pull from their
past and their surroundings to create a story for the reader to curl up in and
become part of. Jonathan Lethem has created
a story for the reader to watch curiously from the sidelines. I think that every novel has to be relatable
in some way, however miniscule, and Lethem achieved this by handing his
audience the same position as his main character. Pella has stepped blindly into a new land,
only knowing what her mother has informed her (which, of course, we’ve been
informed as well). I think the defining
aspects, then, are not the events that actually take place, because their
validity is always in question, but instead Pella’s reactions to these
events. This embraces her coming-of-age
and learning from unfamiliar experiences and this is something everyone can relate to. If we were reading Girl In Landscape through the eyes of an Archbuilder, I think we’d
be completely lost. But we read it as
Pella, an outsider, and find it relatable in this way.
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