Word: schlink
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...funny and touching story, the success of it still lies in Schlink’s ability to dissect human motivation surrounding love. The man’s obsession with his wife’s past, which he slowly uncovers, is at first ambiguously displayed, but eventually Schlink gives us reason for his journey: his own insecurity, his newfound feelings of inadequacy and his flawed, human curiosity. These motivations don’t appear selfish through the careful eyes of Schlink. Rather, they seem pointedly human...
...diatribe on one man’s emotional polygamy. Thomas is married with children to Jutta. He becomes entangled in an extremely serious affair with Veronika, who wants a larger commitment from him, and after years of his double-life, she gives birth to his child. At this point, Schlink begins setting up Thomas’ ultimate flaw: obliviousness...
Thomas descends into the relationship with Veronika with practically no thought of its consequences, which Schlink writes with a playful awareness. He almost winks at the reader through the page with his treatment of Thomas as a naive prisoner of lust. Eventually though, Thomas seeks escape from both of his lives. He begins a sexual relationship with a much younger woman named Helga, furthering complicating his odd situation...
...child-like dependency. Thomas’ life becomes highly complex, and he keeps up the charade for no explicit reason, except that he is simply too weak to knock off a couple corners of his triangle. This is most certainly the crux of the story’s charm. Schlink takes incredible joy in keeping Thomas’ motivations unclear. Though this makes “Sugar Peas” far less believable than the other pieces, it also makes it infinitely more fascinating. Schlink asks the reader to come up with the answer in “Sugar Peas...
...triple-life becomes unbearable, and rather than facing the situation, he drops everything and travels the world for a year, with hilarious results. But eventually, his vacation ends; Schlink’s conclusion to “Sugar Peas” is appropriately surreal and viciously funny. Here Schlink adds a layer of sarcasm and thick irony that is missing from the other stories. The result is sublimely wicked; Schlink takes a very subtle, yet decisive revenge on Thomas, creating a more biting and much less thematically obvious tale than some of the other stories...