Okay, I have been a terrible blogger. I can’t remember when I wrote my last post! As all of you know it is a crazy, hectic time of year. It’s tough to find extra time to do anything, especially write. On top of the Christmas craziness, grades were due for school and as all educators know (especially English teachers) this is a very time consuming period. But, there is good news! My grades are done, I am on vacation, and I got a camera for my birthday from the hubs, so I can start to add pics and different posts to my blog! Exciting! Merry Blogging Christmas to me!
So the last post I left was about Brooklyn Follies. I was not thrilled with it at the time but to be fair I was only halfway through it. I’m glad I didn’t completely judge it because the book does pick up at the mid point when the character of Lucy is introduced. The plot begins to move again and it gained my interest. However, one of the main ideas of the text is an uncomfortable one. It is the idea that we essentially have no control over anything in our lives and chance dictates everything. This is an uncomfortable idea but I have to appreciate the fact itself. Chance does direct all of the lives in the book. Tom, Nat, Lucy, and essentially all of the minor characters cannot escape the fact that fate and chance rules their lives. Anything that happens to them is essentially out of their control.
This forces readers to consider the ways that chance has controlled our lives. We like to think that we are planners. We plan for the careers we desire, the relationships we have, the upcoming holiday menus, the vacations we look forward to, our outfits for the next day, and our dinners for the night. All of this planning makes us feel incredibly comfortable and in control of our lives. The sad fact of the matter is that all of this planning is in vain. We can’t control our lives; in fact, we can’t control anything. This is a diconcerting thought but the book itself is not alltogether disheartening.
When Tom’s new girlfriend finds out that her daughter and a female divorce are engaged in a sexual relationship, she is angered and talks of kicking the two out of her house, screaming at them and forcing them to end the relationship, Tom suggests that she let it go. He tells her that there is nothing that either of them can do about it and that her anger and desire to control the women’s relationship will bring her nothing but heartache and pain. He reveals what he has learned throughout his journey; we do not have control over our lives or the choices that other people make. Attempting to gain control over these things will not end well. Instead, we should deal with whatever the situation is, do what we can with it and move on. This sounds much easier than it probably is but it is good advice nonetheless.
Overall, this is a book that I appreciate and one that, in the end, I would reccomend. It is funny at times and moving at others. Although it is not my favorite, I appreciate it and its messages and I think that others would enjoy it.
Think about it: How has chance affected your life? How has it brought you to where you are at this very moment?
