Mary,
I hope we haven't soured you on the whole book blog thing--to answer your questions, I felt that the overriding theme was IDENTITY--(in fact, I feel a whole entry could be devoted to that question)---anyway, I thought the whole book was a process of letting go of who you were or who you thought you were. In my opinion, Shannon's act at the end was a blessing as well as a curse: she was giving her brother something that society valued highly (a persona of a beautiful woman), yet she herself wanted to rid herself of all that came with that...the whole book was about how people identified themselves and how those identities were arbitrary.. why else would you write "postcards to the future"? The past is gone and the present is just a bridge to the future, a future where you can be anyone/anything you want to be. I particularly liked how the threesome changed their personas in every new town. It was like the author was saying, hey, just because someone told you who they were, that doesn't mean that is who they really are..who they are is subject to change.

tina | June 20, 2002 11:01 PM

No. No. I'm not soured on the book blog because one question hasn't gotten any answers so far. I just realized that talking about one book every day for two weeks is a bit much. I'm thinking that reading for the first three weeks of a month then discussing for one week will be ample to a) keep everyone's attention and b) thoroughly explore the subject.

I agree that the whole point of the book is about identity. It's something most of us have no control over because we didn't ask to be born. I think the characters fail to realize that the way to really change what they don't like about themselves ought to be an internal process rather than an external one. As for Shannon, her big noble effort at setting her brother free of Shane seems very selfish to me. She also gets something out of the deal so it isn't very noble.

I can also identify with the title. Sometimes, I wander through life feeling like a complete freak, a monster, but no one sees this but me. It's like you know your faults, you know what's wrong with you, and you even hate yourself sometimes, but no one sees you for what your really are but you.

mary | June 21, 2002 9:22 AM