I had not seen your interpretation--possibly because I am not a great writer/reader of fan fiction. I do kinda think that there's a real sense in which Siob is at the heart of the book, in their absence, but I was afraid that I thought that because I know the book started out with Siob as the main character, and then as one of the main characters, before being removed from the book entirely. But your take puts Siob back in the (absent) center in a really interesting way.
I'm going to add, though, that one of the remarkable things about the book is that a lot of people have enjoyed it and been provoked by it in several different ways--that there seem to be a _lot_ of different ways in to the book. For me, it was a book about a bunch of different kinds of bad parenting, with each of the parents demonstrating different shortcomings, and the society demonstrating different shortcomings in different facets of the ways society raises children, all with the best and most loving intentions. If I had read it at a different time of my life, that part might not have been what I focused on.
On another note--Benjamin Rosenbaum is (in my experience) very responsive and very interested in how people read his work. It's possible that he would enjoy getting an email with your take, and also possible he would write back with his own take on your take. I've had quite a few interactions with him over the years, and while I don't exactly _encourage_ you to write to him (because that's always awkward), I don't think you would _regret_ writing to him. Even though he may disagree with you, which wouldn't necessarily mean that he'd be right anyway.
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Interesting!
Date: 2022-01-12 01:26 am (UTC)I'm going to add, though, that one of the remarkable things about the book is that a lot of people have enjoyed it and been provoked by it in several different ways--that there seem to be a _lot_ of different ways in to the book. For me, it was a book about a bunch of different kinds of bad parenting, with each of the parents demonstrating different shortcomings, and the society demonstrating different shortcomings in different facets of the ways society raises children, all with the best and most loving intentions. If I had read it at a different time of my life, that part might not have been what I focused on.
On another note--Benjamin Rosenbaum is (in my experience) very responsive and very interested in how people read his work. It's possible that he would enjoy getting an email with your take, and also possible he would write back with his own take on your take. I've had quite a few interactions with him over the years, and while I don't exactly _encourage_ you to write to him (because that's always awkward), I don't think you would _regret_ writing to him. Even though he may disagree with you, which wouldn't necessarily mean that he'd be right anyway.
Thanks,
-V.