The Uses of Enchantment - Heidi Julavits
Mary Veal, a sixteen-year-old girl, is abducted outside her school. Weeks later, she reappears. Her story, which parallels other known stories, may or may not be true. Mary's story is told from a number of perpectives - all of them in conflict. What is the truth? This book highlights the perils of memory, the false security of denial, and the use of the imagination. In the end, the reader realizes that "Memories are shoddy things, even under the best of circumstances" (81) because "one can find what one wants to find, which does not necessarily mean that what one finds is actually there" (247). The question persists: "What is the difference between one's memory and one's imagination in the end?" (112) Julavits is a great writer but I ultimately had a hard time following this tale. In fact (and this may simply be a reflection of my own ignorance), I'm still not sure what the ending meant. Or is that the point: that the conflicting stories makes it impossible to come to any strong conclusions.