Beyond the end

This whole novel endorses the following quote – “History has no beginning and no end, there are just events that people give the shape of stories in order to understand them better …. And in order to tell a story one must chose what not to tell.” (p.194). This work is metaliterature and it was wonderfully created. It was a written story about Noria, who was writing down her short term as the tea master and her discoveries which she found from CDs (which had the Jansson expedition stories written on it ). Throughout the whole novel, we the readers were trying to understand what was written, Noria was trying to fill in the gaps between the CDs and past events, and the people on the expedition was trying to find the truth as well. It becomes really skewed and parts become lost as things are translated from people to people.

The second part of the quote describes the ending the best. Itaranta didn’t chose a happy ending and she killed off the main character for a reason. I think this ending is the most unfilling but reasonable because most of us want a happy ending. But sometimes, this happy ending just doesn’t exist. Instead, she leaves off questions that will form another story.

It truly speaks about the perspectives that stories are written in. It has bias no matter what. Taro, is one example. I couldn’t stand his presence in the book at all until he said “because if this is all there is, I might as well enjoy it.” (p.247) This made him less despicable because he doing what he needs to do – he resembles us in a way that we want things and don’t want to let go of it.

Overall, this book was amazing. Itaranta ties in the motifs clearly into the story while not mucking up the details. it was skewed in a way for us to hate the military and fear for the future, but the way she did it was great. Her writing really reflects the title of the book – it was memorable and it still continues.