Would you describe Amory as a reliable or unreliable narrator? Can any of us be entirely reliable narrators of our own story?
Created: 05/30/16
Replies: 8
Join Date: 10/15/10
Posts: 3442
Join Date: 10/25/12
Posts: 83
I believe Amory was a very reliable narrator, due to the fact that I was half way through the book, before I realized she is a completely made up person. Brilliant on William Boyd's selection of who told this story. Armory told a very believable personal and historical story. Not only was reliable,but she became someone the reader could identify with. I loved her journal writings.
Join Date: 07/16/14
Posts: 374
She is as reliable as any of us can be when narrating our own stories--we accent those things we choose to share and leave out those things that are too exposing. Her journal writings may have been the most revealing and I, too, liked them very much. I keep a journal and my sister said, rather snidely to me the other day, oh, everything is in that journal, including your side of our relationship--to which I replied, oh, no, there are lots of things not in that journal--things I don't want out there when I'm gone. I think that is true of us all, especially when the " when I'm gone" draws closer.
Join Date: 02/18/15
Posts: 497
I think that Amory was a reliable narrator. She told it as she saw it and believed it at the time. Her journals then added more information after she had some time to look back at the situation and to give further thought to what had happened. Does age add to our reliability?
Join Date: 08/30/14
Posts: 265
Join Date: 02/03/14
Posts: 271
This is Amory's story being told only through her eyes. We do not get any perspective of her from anyone else. therefore she is only as reliable as one can be about oneself - not much! To give a full view of someone or something usually requires multiple view points.
Join Date: 06/19/12
Posts: 408
Join Date: 08/07/11
Posts: 54
Amory was reliable and believable; however, I thought William Golden in Memoirs of a Geisha portrayed his female characters more believably and accurately. And in She's Come Undone by Wallace Lamb, it would have been impossible to identify the author as a male. I didn't like the constant repetition of the phrase "I remember" at the beginning of so many of Amory's reminisces. I couldn't really identify with Amory's character.
Join Date: 05/14/15
Posts: 49
I felt that Amory was a reliable narrator and character, particularly bc she never shied away from embarrassing moments, even to save herself. She was an open character who almost presented her story as a reporter might, not sparing details to paint a nicer picture, but rather reporting the story as it was. Makes me wanna read more from William Boyd :)
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