The Keeper of Stories

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death by suicide, child death, physical abuse, death, and cursing.

“As he closes the door behind her, she wonders if the story of life is a tragic comedy or a comic tragedy.”

This Chapter 1 cap sets a cerebral and pensive tone as Janice reflects that Geordie’s successes and fame did not prevent a mostly solitary lifestyle. Her reflective question on whether life holds more tragedy or more comedy reveals Janice’s tendency to seek meaning in the background stories of others, and her interior monologue about “the story of life” shows that she is capable of metaphorical thought.

“The truth is, Janice is a worrier. […] She worries about the state of the oceans, plastic bags, climate change, refugees, political unrest, the far right, the far left, people who have to feed their children from food banks, diesel cars, could she recycle more?”

This rhetorical question demonstrates the usage of the third-person limited viewpoint while it lists the concerns that Janice feels consume her. Significantly, these growing worries paradoxically demonstrate that Janice is a passive person early in the story—she senses the worries piling up but directs no thoughts or actions toward controlling them or improving the worldly issues that drive them.

“There is a darkness hidden in the story—a huge unspoken issue that she thinks is being ignored. Something is lurking. This makes her uneasy, lending her to think of her own childhood, and if there is one place she has no wish to be, it is back there.”

Janice’s interior monologue regarding Fiona’s traumatic loss of her husband presents a tone of dark and ominous foreboding. It also foreshadows future points in the narrative when Janice will be forced to face her own past. Janice indicates to