When people speak in this book they don’t have quotation marks
around what they say. Instead, to
indicate that somebody is talking the words are in italics. Me, being a constant reader, and always used
to quotation marks, I was surprisingly taken aback and struggle having to get
used to the italics used for talking.
When I read, when something is in italics, someone is
remembering something, or thinking. When
I read, it’s like I’m playing a movie in my head. So when I see something in italics, and somebody
is thinking I see them doing whatever they’re doing and having a narrative in
the background of what they’re thinking.
For example if a person in a book is listening to what someone is
saying, but not really paying attention, instead thinking I see them sitting
there, nodding their heads with a narrative in the background of what they’re
thinking like: I never realized that
other piercing in her ear…. Or when somebody is remembering something
and in the memory someone is talking, it’s in italics, so I see this memory
playing in my head, but the image is blurry since it’s a memory, therefore not
clear. Also the talking is distant. So when I imagine a memory the talking is
distant and the image is blurry.
Everything that goes on in my head when I read is impacted
by the font, size, or italics. That’s
why it’s so hard to get used to the italics in this book indicating talking,
like normal talking, not memories or thinking.
When I read this book, I really have to think, because if not, then I’ll
get sidetracked and the image in my head of what’s going on when somebody’s
talking will become like a memory,
because that’s what I mainly think of when I see the speaking in italics in
this book. I have to train myself to realize and
understand that they’re speaking normally, not thinking or remembering. It’s unexpectedly extremely difficult for
me.
