What a thought provoking article. I loved her interpretation of the ending of both the book and the film. I read the SS first and the line about Ennis waking up sometimes in joy etc had me in floods of tears. I was in so much pain by that stage that when I read the lines, the sheets wet, some times the pillow, I was struggling to breathe. It is so desperately poignant, all he has to warm him, as per the prologue are his memories and the shirts.
By the time we reach the epilogue, both in the SS and the film, our emotions have been on a roller coater ride of joy and despair and we may feel we can take no more, yet little do we know.The final searing pain is yet to come.
I have never read the SS or seen the film and not been emotionally crucified by the ending. I feel akin to the way Ennis does when he retches in the alley, having come down the mountain.
In the film as those first few notes of wings penetrate my very core, so the tears flow unchecked,in the book I am reduced to a quivering wreck by the lines about the sheets and pillow.We are brought, more so I feel in the book, full circle. That is in no way a criticism of the film which I love equally but differently. The presence of both in my life have awakened emotions and memories long since thought dead and buried. The very writing of this post has made me stop and evaluate things once again.
I am an avid reader and never before have I been so completely winded by a story, yet I feel honoured and privileged, to have been given the gift of all that constitutes BBM. I feel sorry for those who simply do not or will not "get it " The rich tapestry of my life has been enhanced by both mediums.