A Complicated Kindness

[IslandHead]

I had to read the novel A Complicated Kindness for my English class. I didn't care for it. I read most of it in under a day. I didn't retain a lot of it. Has anyone read the novel here? I'm having trouble figuring out what the main theme of the book is.

[Storm]

Do you know how to figure out a theme? I ask because it's something that is often not well explained in high school classrooms.

I've never read the book.

[IslandHead]

Do you know how to figure out a theme? I ask because it's something that is often not well explained in high school classrooms.

I've never read the book.

Kinda :P

I know the definition "an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature."

The book is really non-linear and its a story about angst filled 16 year old girl in a small time, and it jumps around her childhood. I just don't relate and the story does not make a theme seem overly apparent.

I am really struggling to find a recurring idea in the novel.

Any tips?

[Storm]

That's an obtuse definition - no wonder you're having trouble.

A theme isn't necessarily a lesson, and it's not a single word either. What was the author trying to do when s/he wrote that book? Why did they write it?

As an example, one of the themes of Romeo & Juliet is the Power of True Love. Another is The Folly of Pointless Feuds.

The Great Gasby would be the Futility & Corruption of Materiality (namely in 1920s America and the class divide that it caused).

---------- Post added 02-06-2010 at 10:14 PM ----------

Ok, yick. I just read a summary of the book and I can see why you didn't like it. It reminded me of a teenage version of "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" (which by the way, is a horrible book).