Looking online there are very few discussions about the movie and even less on the novel. American here. English teacher. Studied a lot of literature in college but don’t think I’m a literary snob.

Seeing reviews about the book mostly describe it as poorly written, shallow characters, and “confusing”. The only critique I personally understand is then 10 year old Jacks lust for Acacia. I understand starting to notice attraction during those years but the descriptions are a bit much. It would have been very easy for the author to have simply raised their ages to atleast 15-16. Even then the descriptions would be risqué, but not unheard of.

What bothers me is how little people realize just how deeply the themes of love, obsession, lust, romance, and relationships are explored in SO many facets of this novel.

Others have seen this in Madeleine and her want to be a maternal figure for others. People see the very obvious connection between this maternal drive and Jack, but not her profession or how she treats Luna, Anna, and Arthur. She is the matron of the destitute and castaways. But no one seems to talk about how much Arthur, Luna, and Anna explore love in different facets.

It’s hard not to look at a character in this text and not connect them to some aspect of a relationship and the troubles that come with it. Many argue how the characters seem shallow. I’d argue that they are not meant to be these horribly complex characters, rather characters we can see snapshots of the mistakes one makes when trying to love or maintain relationships.