Teresa
A book that deals with the fine line between reality and the world of performance. When does one cross that line and is the crossing of that line even noticeable? In circumstances where one is encouraged to become a character, where do you stop being yourself?
The characters of this book must deal with moral ambiguity and ethical compromises that they subject themselves to as well as are encouraged by their teachers and the school environment. Their environment wants them to blur the lines between themselves and the character the are playing. This blurs their reality and leads to their lives being a performance of a life and ethical compromises later on. They are manipulated into being one thing when they could be something else. The school, Dellecher Classical Conservatory, stereotypes their students. Putting them in a small niche that channels them in only one direction. Rarely do groups of students in different educational paths interact. These circumstances lead to tragedy later on. One character even describes Dellecher more as a cult than a school. A place “where anything could be excused so long as it was offered at the alter of the Muses.”
The trauma and guilt are never addressed by either the students or the school. They are simply swept away and ignored. The students themselves are reluctantly given counseling. But the circumstances are never really addressed by anyone. This leads to more ethical compromises and more guilt. Actions are taken by the characters, like drug use and sexuality, to cope with the events of their lives. They know, in a way, that they are being reduced. But, they do not know how to deal with it. Which leads to the “cult of excess”. The characters do nothing is moderation. They do not know how.
If the characters were encouraged to be themselves are not the characters they play, would any of them have become what they were when the story ended? Would they have chosen differently then they did? How did the manipulation of the school environment and the teachers, primarily, and their own families, secondary, transform these characters into who they are in the book? When does fiction become reality? Is anyone strong enough or aware enough to find the traps and avoid them?
This has been an interesting book to read. It was not so much about a murder mystery, though that does happen. It was more about what happens when the line between reality and fiction/fantasy are not just blurred, but encouraged to be non-existent. It touches on what can happen when people become characters and not the individuals that they are. A lot can go wrong when people are pushed into a personality corner and not allowed to come out and be themselves, or even find out who their true selves are.
A book that deals with the fine line between reality and the world of performance. When does one cross that line and is the crossing of that line even noticeable? In circumstances where one is encouraged to become a character, where do you stop being yourself?
The characters of this book must deal with moral ambiguity and ethical compromises that they subject themselves to as well as are encouraged by their teachers and the school environment. Their environment wants them to blur the lines between themselves and the character the are playing. This blurs their reality and leads to their lives being a performance of a life and ethical compromises later on. They are manipulated into being one thing when they could be something else. The school, Dellecher Classical Conservatory, stereotypes their students. Putting them in a small niche that channels them in only one direction. Rarely do groups of students in different educational paths interact. These circumstances lead to tragedy later on. One character even describes Dellecher more as a cult than a school. A place “where anything could be excused so long as it was offered at the alter of the Muses.”
The trauma and guilt are never addressed by either the students or the school. They are simply swept away and ignored. The students themselves are reluctantly given counseling. But the circumstances are never really addressed by anyone. This leads to more ethical compromises and more guilt. Actions are taken by the characters, like drug use and sexuality, to cope with the events of their lives. They know, in a way, that they are being reduced. But, they do not know how to deal with it. Which leads to the “cult of excess”. The characters do nothing is moderation. They do not know how.
If the characters were encouraged to be themselves are not the characters they play, would any of them have become what they were when the story ended? Would they have chosen differently then they did? How did the manipulation of the school environment and the teachers, primarily, and their own families, secondary, transform these characters into who they are in the book? When does fiction become reality? Is anyone strong enough or aware enough to find the traps and avoid them?
This has been an interesting book to read. It was not so much about a murder mystery, though that does happen. It was more about what happens when the line between reality and fiction/fantasy are not just blurred, but encouraged to be non-existent. It touches on what can happen when people become characters and not the individuals that they are. A lot can go wrong when people are pushed into a personality corner and not allowed to come out and be themselves, or even find out who their true selves are.