Week Four: Annihilation

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer was very intriguing from the start.  For starters, once again the characters are all nameless, followed by the quote "I would tell you the name of the other three if only it mattered ... Besides we were always discouraged from using names: We were meant to be focused on our purpose, and anything personal should be left behind."

The best part was the weirdness of it. It was mysterious, unique, and most of the time I had no idea what I was reading or what was happening, which made it even more captivating to me. The weirdness was so compelling, I found myself stuck into reading it to find out the answers — funny enough, the thrill was more frequent while in the dark, rather then when I actually got to find out the answers.

One of the most interesting aspects to me was how the book could be interpreted in two ways: either we were reading the character descend into madness, or watching her stay sane while the place itself just morphed into a strange place in which we are just incapable of understanding. Or perhaps, in a way, she was never sane to begin with — this being a type of exploration which has been explored more frequently nowadays in both writings and cinema. Are we going crazy? Is the world going crazy? Or were we always crazy?

The book itself makes everything seem rational, and to a certain extent even cold, making us buy into her behavior and also believe that she is one of the most sane characters, but as the story develops things just keeps getting weirder and weirder. The book made me feel like I was experiencing this so called "visit" to the Area X along with the characters, and traveling down this craziness beside them, being affect just as they are.

As I read it, I also tried to grasp the meaning behind it and the lesson it was trying to teach, as typically I feel that whenever there is "weird" there also lies a message... but this work proved harder to interpret then most.

To an extent, the interpretations you can make of the events are tied down to your own beliefs and experiences, just like the character's. For me, for example, at it's core Annihilation felt somewhat like it was about introversion, and this distinguish guilt felt between the character and her husband, an extrovert. But more than carrying a meaning, this piece itself felt like it was more about the mood it transmitted.

In other words, behind all the weirdness of this book it didn't hide a deep meaning or realization, in my view, but rather a sensation. The work itself felt like it was about exploring the feelings and the sensations to the reader, rather than teach them a life lesson in a very creepy way. In fact, it felt just extremely creepy, unsettling and weird, with rather a very difficult message to grasp or none at all... which in all honesty, made it quite entertaining for those same reasons.