In this book, there are many things that symbolize other events, and are microcosms of the book as a whole. Overall I liked these things in the book a lot. The fact that I noticed so many makes me believe that if I look a bit harder I will find a lot more.

One of the things that I noticed was that her mother does not use the same toothpaste (or did not used to use the same tooth paste). She had three different kinds because she would get bored of having the same tasted in her mouth each night. This is a good characteristic that describes the way she treats other things. She has run away from her home 2 times, and cannot keep a friend for more than a month.

Even though this was an interesting part in the book, and at the beginning I like the book, overall I do not think is was very good. I thought that the end was pretty bad. There was not enough closer in my opinion. When she finally met her mother I would have liked her to explain herself better. Also I think that the explanation of her not wanting anyone to feel sorry for her was kinda… weak. It was the end of the story, and I personally was ready for some really interesting explanation or confession to be made by her mother. Sure it turns out that Clarissa’s father was Anna Kristine’s son, but that just seemed unbelievable to me. First it does not seem likely that she would run into her grandmother, and also that her grandmother would know for sure that she was her granddaughter.

So to me the ending of the book was a disappointment, because also I would have liked to see things tie into each other a bit more. Or at least have Clarissa’s next move be a bit more explained because I am not sure if she really did move to Hong Kong and not tell anyone of her past, or if she was just hoping something like that would happen. That final explanation of the rest of her life seemed to come out of nowhere.

I definitely thought that the book was set up for a good ending. Especially because of all the unexpected turns taken in the beginning of the book. From Clarissa running away in the first place, to Eero not being her real father either, to her finding her mother in Finland, and not her father. But no, her mom says that she didn’t want people to feel sorry for her, and then Clarissa never sees Pankaj again. That was a situation with some potential too. If she was to reunite with Pankaj, what would happen, how would he feel, what would be said or explained, would/could they live together after that. I will never know, and to tell you the truth, that kinda bugs me. When writers leave out details at the end to let the readers imagination fill in the blanks, personally I would like to have the questions answered in a most interesting, emotional, exciting, and appealing way… but no, not in this book.

Like I said before, there were many symbols and such things that I noticed in this book. And because of that, I think that if I were to look closer and do some close readings, I could find some more great symbolism. So herein I shall find the inspiration to formulate my paper about the book.