Great! Now What?
By: Whitney White
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch was a great book to end the class with, in my opinion. The ending is left up to interpretation by the reader, and although the common consensus was that the entire book except for the epilogue at the end was a great big “If”, When I initially read the book I thought it was a post-apocalyptic afterlife in which Shannon and Courtney reconnect as the resurrected version of themselves and although they still have the scars to prove that the past happened, they are moving forward in life from the point when Courtney was killed. This conclusion made me happy for Shannon because, after everything she went through, she deserved to get her wish, which seemed to be living a normal life. She fantasized about Courtney and herself being like her mom in old age often. The conclusion that this epilogue signifies a reboot of life back to when Courtney was attacked except, she survived is the one most accepted. This conclusion indicates that everything we read never actually happened and that the terminus is still in the future. This ending is disheartening because we come to love Shannon as a character for her can-do spirit and all the sacrifices, she makes to save people. Both conclusions left me to ponder, “What message is the author trying to convey”?
I think this story could signify the importance of living in the present moment. In the end, the terminus still comes despite Shannon and NSIC’s best efforts to prevent it. This ultimately means that everything they did throughout the entire book was in vain. This review of the book mentions how the terminus is ultimately going to happen no matter what (he also gives a nice diagram explaining how time travel works).
Shannon kept saying “Someone else would quit” to keep herself going when she wanted to give up. However, nothing came of this. It is not clear if she even saves Marian because she is an echoed Marian. From my interpretation, this means that another Marian could very well be killed horrifically although one is saved and that makes Shannon feel better one was also buried. What does that tell us about life? For every tragedy, we negate another one is going to occur. This is certainly realistic given the world we live in. There seems like for all the beauty there is also a ton of ugly. This can leave the reader to conclude that the author is a nihilist. I think there is more to it than that though.
I think the positive takeaway from this book could be a message of never giving up. Even though the Shannon we knew was an “If”, it was a good “if”. The person she was, was a person that anyone could respect. Someone who shows perseverance and always wanted to do the right thing even after so many letdowns. She was failed in an “If” by Nester who betrays her, yet she still finds it in her to forgive the present Nester back in Terra firma and not hold him accountable for something he had not done yet. She also saves the life of the lawyer and does not give up trying to stop the terminus even after the FBI takes over. Even if Shannon never happens, she is a good example of the type of person someone would want to be. The author could be encouraging readers to enjoy the here and now because the past cannot be changed, and the future is unknown. The only thing we have is the hear and now. I concluded that this is the message I want to stick with because who wants to read a book and be told, “and that emotional roller-coaster did not happen and may never happen”. The End!
*very happy that I started my website with a “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” reference and got to end my final blog post with one!