Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
I liked the specialized vocabulary, the first indications that things were not what they seemed.
As for the unreliable narrator, I see no reason to doubt Kathy's accounts of events, but I think her understanding is limited in a typically clone fashion. Ironically, I think both Tommy and Ruth show significantly greater penetration; perhaps they were a better match at that.
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I can see that my use "unreliable" has been interpreted in the sense of misleading rather than simply not reliable. I didn't mean to suggest Kathy was trying to intentionally mislead the reader but (as you say) her perspective is that of a clone. I believe it would be ill-advised/not-reliable to look for details like "have any clones ever tried to escape" from a narration by Kathy (or any of the clones). They are unlikely to have been told even if there had been, and their nature - as revealed, reliably I would suggest, by Kathy's narration suggests they would find it difficult to believe there was anything to escape from, and may well misinterpret explanations (or willingly believe a lie) surrounding any such event (like, perhaps, the ghost in the woods).
I had originally thought that Tommy - with his rages - might have been showing greater insight (albeit not recognising it as such), but that seemed to fade (until the final rage). I came to believe that his relationship with Ruth was actually part of burying his younger, more distressed self behind the acceptance that came with being with Ruth. I think Tommy and Kathy, together, had a greater chance of insight than any of the three individually, and so Tommy joining up with Ruth was a way of avoiding that insight.
I don't think Kathy ever really understood Ruth all that well. I got the impression that Kathy was a friend of convenience to Ruth - as were all her friends, including Tommy, but Kathy was more reliable (to Ruth) than most. I think Ruth was smart enough that she could have been insightful, but self-interest (in a purely social form) got in the way.