So I just finished this. With the author and book unknown to me I did not wish to spend the money on buying the ebook and so requested the paper book through my local library. That system did not have the book so I had to wait for a special request out of the Chicago library system. So anyway . . .

First this was a pleasure to read just from the quality of the writing. On that I agree with everyone. The paper book I read really did not have any discussion about the book. None coming from the author nor any coming from a knowledgeable critic whose judgment I should be expected to defer to. As to considering the latter I prefer to read a book and form my own opinions, to let the book mean what it means to me without being told I'm wrong. So with that offered my analysis differs somewhat what others have said here.

First I have read Dolls House and do not really see the clear parallels that others here say they see. Specifically I do not see that Nora's character was significantly altered by the experience of her marriage. Nor that here marriage was the source of her unhappiness or feelings later in life that she had been denied happiness. Her longing for a bright future that never materialized was there before she even met her husband, continued during her marriage, and because she was not really married for that long, continued for the greater part of her life which occurred subsequent to her divorce. Just as an aside I read the section from how she first met her husband (she found herself attracted to his father actually, rushed off in confusion, and on return found that the father was gone and her eventual husband was there) through their divorce twice to try and understand it. Little explanation was provided as to why she married him. In her account there never seemed to be much indication that she ever felt any great love for him. In fact through out her life other than that marriage as far as emotional and sexual intimacy she preferred men who were for one reason or another just not available for that; gay, not interested, or married. Before, during, and after her marriage.

I'd go further and say that I wonder if anything would have made her happy in life. She really seemed to always be an emotionally distant person with everyone through out her life.

I also had a different take on the meaning of the Lancelot fantasy. In particular with respect to the ending where it recurs. I wish I had the ebook so I could quote the final two paragraphs here but it would mean having to type it all out. However, the mention of that seems to be to be conflated with the recollection of her long suppressed memories of her father, his death, and funeral. That loss when she was so young having much to do with how her character and life turned out.