So I finished Blankets...

...and I have to say that the final chapters were not exactly what I was expecting. I guess I'm used to novels and movies that feel compelled to end on a dramatic note--a wedding, a death, a battle. We all crave closure at the end of a story; we want to be able to read the final words of a book and know with certainty the fates of the relevant characters. Cliff-hangers are maddening. I wouldn't exactly accuse Blankets of such, but the ending does seem rather abrupt and not especially...well, conclusive. It makes enough sense, I suppose. I mean, this is supposed to be a portrayal of Craig's childhood and adolescence. In this sense, the story ending with him growing up and going off to college is to be expected.

However, Thompson is very selective with his presentation of the fates of the characters in the story. We learn that his brother gets married, for example, but we never hear a word about Raina or her family after Craig says his final goodbye to her. Given the first person narration, it makes sense that our knowledge of Raina ends when the protagonist is also cut off from her. But at the same time, one can't help but wonder what became of her. Thompson is careful to present to the reader a very dramatic and unstable family situation, but we never learn what happens with Raina's graduation, or her parent's divorce, or the tension between Ben and Raina's father. In this sense, the reader feels slighted by the hitherto reliable, if a bit sporadic, narration.

Similarly, I was surprised by the open-ended nature of Craig's fate. The last few chapters tell us how he grew closer to his brother, renounced Christianity, and broke up with Raina, but there's no clear ending note. I half-expected at least a few throwaway lines about how he graduated from college, found someone else, started working on graphic novels, etc...Instead, the story ends with him taking a walk in the snow which, while certainly in keeping with the meditative tone of the story, seems arbitrary. I don't need the words "THE END" stamped on the last page of every book I read, but I do like the sense of closure and reassurance that I get from a good, solid ending.

I'm supposed to have a roster of the blogs of the other members of the class, but after wrestling with things for a while, I've decided to attend to that at a later date. Maybe it would help if I didn't wait until 3 in the morning to write my posts. I'll get the hang of this blogging thing, yet. In the meantime, I leave you with a picture from my formidable humor folder. I believe you will find its grave and serious nature to be a welcome reprieve from the irreverent tone of my posts.