The Life Before Her Eyes
Laura Kasischke
pg 273 (End)
I wouldn't necessarily say that I disliked the ending of this book, but it did confuse me. Throughout the book, the perspective was alternately placed on two sides of the same person; 17 year old Diana and 40 year old Diana. As the book details middle aged Diana's perfect life that is rapidly falling apart, flashbacks to teenage Diana's violent past give insight as to why she acts completely different as an adult. In the last chapter, the older Diana accompanies her daughter to the zoo, where a series of bizarre events lead up to an escaped wolf attacking her, at which point she surrenders herself to it and dies. The book then jumps back to where it started, with younger Diana in a bathroom a school, being forced to choose between living or sacrificing herself to a school shooter. The next couple of pages reveal the decision that she makes, and show that her future life had actually flashed before her eyes. I honestly had to reread the end a few times before I understood what happened, and overall I was pleased with it and thought that it made sense. I had thought that the book would end with 40 year old Diana killing herself from the guilt that she still obviously felt over the shooting, but I don't think this would have been an appropriate or intelligent ending for this book. The actual ending makes you think about your own life and choices, and the character killing herself wouldn't have really left the book with an important message at all.
This book does sound confusing how she wrote it. If you could rewrite it a different way would you? Is more revealed by the author writing this way? Should she have written it in chronological order?
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