Fortress of Solitude

[Guest Edgy DC]

by Jonathan Lethem

(DON'T READ IF YOU FEAR MINOR SPOILERS)

A few questions:

Why does Lethem change to the first person voice in the last third of the novel?

Why did a magic ring have to appear in what was otherwise a non-magical story?

Was the magic real? I guess so since Mingus and Robert witness it and acknowledge it as adults. It just (1) initially seems to be a drunk's delusion bought into by an imaginitive boy, and (2) seems out of place.

[Guest sharpie]

I was initially put off by the magic ring, too. I think his making the ring seem imaginary and then be real was very deliberate, however. The last third of the book isn't as good as the first two-thirds but the first two-thirds is better than anything else he has written, in my opinion.

I think he changes from first person to third person as a device to signal that we think of ourselves differently when we're adults than we do as children.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Not reading this thread.

Put down FoS for some reason shortly after beginning it, will resume later.