The Bridegroom was a Dog

This novella began very oddly from the start. I find it strange when novels actually begin in the middle of the book and then continue on from there. The story sort of reminds me of "Alice in Wonderland" where it just seems like a sort of disillusional setting that match its strange characters. It just seemed like the main character was in a fuzzy dream for the most part. She did not seem like she knew what to expect or where exactly she was at, regardless of the address she did have. She is either just bewildered by the commotion that her new surroundings are making, or she is in somewhat of a daze. She does not register who is talking to her or what is actually happening around her.

The short mention of her childhood story writing experience stood out to me. I thought it strange that she would fell out of place enough to admit that the story she had written many years previous could actually be taking place presently. She felt like she was in a whole new world and was experiencing new things. It could prove later in the story to actually be what is happening because it just sounded like some sort of a foreshadowing to me.

There were several references that I did not understand, either because the author is trying to be vague or it was a translation error, either would not surprise me but are both confusing at times. There was a mention of a "redcap" which I guessed to be some sort of military figure because of the words used in the sentence like "march" and "robot." I just figured that the "redcap" was a formal character because of there very stiff stature described. Also the child's chanted song was thought provoking in that I was completely unsure of why they were mesmorized by her shoes or heels. The must have known what they were because in their song they said something about heels. It was really strange I was totally lost in why the children were so odd, not that the woman was not.

While the young woman was on her way to school the last day she attended, it was weird how she said it poured rain so much hat her shirt was see-through, but she did not care . Later, while at school, it was really odd how the professor was not the same as the last time she had been there. Also, I do not remember either the young woman noting that her professor was pregnant, nor the professor saying that she was; which makes it odd that all of a sudden she was just on maternity leave.

Further on, the new professor seemed like a weird one also, to say the least. It seems like a lot of these people in this short story are very harsh, and not friendly at all when meeting this young woman. I wonder if they just do not care for people foreign to their city or if there is something about the narrator that hasn't been mentioned. -It could be possible because one can't ever fully trust the person behind the story; different versions come from different people.

I also noticed how just about everyone this lady met asked about her husband. Can these women not function with out knowing the full extent of another person's marriage relationship and status? Is it a way of gossip or just to get to know someone better? I can see that at points maybe it is just a conversation starter because the people are hardly acquaintances, if even at all. Therefore, assuming that most women have a male spouse could just be a way to strike up something to say. Though, it could be possible that they sense something weird about this woman's relationship, maybe they know about who lives in her house or something of that extent? Whatever the cause, most of the people the woman encounters are rather hostile to her, the professors, police man,, the women (and child) in the hospital waiting room, the receptionist... Even the doctor had an off-attitude towards her for no particular reason, the mysterious "husband" that would never show his face, and the head nurse in the hospital- to name a few. It really makes me curious as to why the people treated her in this manner throughout the short story.

The first story in this book is so ridiculous. The writing is so choppily thought out it was almost as if reading it was like talking to a child that would tell you everything that happened in their entire day in one huge, blended, never-ending sentence. I have no idea why the author would write such unusual, not to mention disturbing, stories such as this first one about the dog being told to do inappropriate things to the princess, to begin with, but the different versions of the story told by people living in different areas was also disturbing with all the incestuous activities occurring.

On the first page of this story a housewife was described as being in a "six-mat room" preparing tea. All I could think of was the videos and research found online and showed in class of the different arrangements of the mats during the precise tea ceremonies. After reading on a little in the story I began to think how odd it was that something seemed to be "normal" in the book. There were not an irregular number of mats, but the proper amount. It just seemed that this book was so bizarre that the author would have messed the precision and tradition of the tea ceremony and room up to fit along with the rest of the obscure activities.

Everything; every topic, description, pointless conversation was dragged out into a scrambled and unusually flowing paragraph. For example, the sign in front of the school, a pointless piece of property or decoration, was talked about for almost a page and a half. It was ridiculous that something as insignificant as the sign would be of the readers' concern enough to have gone on in such detail. The people around this sign's area were also strange in that they would eliminate in the public streets just like the pigeons and other animals. It seemed bizarre that the people would be capable of keeping clean their own homes and apartments if they were that strange.

When talking of the rumors on page eleven, it was said "it was best not to believe everything they said." This was a clue to me to not listen intently into what the author was saying during this reading. Why would she waste so much time with such a crazy novella? I just have not enjoyed any part of this reading because everything is so completely disorganized and blotched together. I found it ironic that she would even admit that things should not be regarded in such high esteem in the novella, it was almost humorous.

The whole obsession with the oral intake and possible digestion of bodies and body parts was disturbing and hard to follow or understand. However, when it related to the the Gotthard tunnel and then continued on to began talking about the meaning of "Gotthard" as "God" and "hard" things were somewhat confusing. The narrator kept refering to Gotthard as a "he," which I supposed was was most people viewed God was so that was alright. Then she said that the Gotthard tunnel was actually carved from a mountain it made me confused as to why exactly she did not refer to the mountain as a she. A mountain is considered part of "Mother Nature" so I would have called the tunnel, if I had considered it any sex, a "she" but I suppose she was too busy thinking about what it would feel, and hoping it was a male because people enter the world through a woman and never enter a man, like to be swallowed by the tunnel to consider if it was a male or female.

She thought of herself as a writer, what I would consider a professional, at the beginning of this story, but as I read on I realized that she had writing skills and writing as well as words filled up her life, but she was definitely not a professional writer if anything but a strange overgrown child. She acted within illegal jobs, which she did not describe as if it were a big deal, just a way to make a living. She felt like being a "professional" was something that was intangible or impossible for her to achieve because for starters she was only thirty and she was not exactly a writer all the time. Why would she describe herself as a writer at the story's start if that was not what she actually was? It was so weird.

The character seemed to always be physically demonstrating her explanations or thoughts through assaults on her friend Reiner. She said she had stuck her finger into his ear and throat and also in a different thought she admitted to spinning him around into the sand on the beach, which was a really disturbing section by itself. It made me wonder what Freud would have thought reading this book. She was also obsessed with the thought of feeding just one index finger to his cat after she had died. Why a cat? Why an index finger versus a pinky or ring finger? I could not figure out any significance in her crazy thinking. I am a Christian and I do not understand or empathize with her thoughts at all as to why she would be so curious or obsessed with these oral fixations. She always switches the topics all of the time to unrelated and, if possible, more unusual things.