CONCLUSIONS

When I chose this hypertext I though that it would be about magical adventures or something like that due to seeing a photo of Buddha in the first page. However it turns out to be a realistic story about an ex-alcoholic named Anthony that fell in love with a prostitute called Betsey and who has problems becoming a vegetarian. Although I don't normally like realistic stories this hypertext fiction was enjoyable due to its simplicity. It doesn't focus on a large number of characters or a specific time in reality; this story could have happened in the 60s, 80s or even the 90s. I was surprised how even though on the first page there's a photo of Buddha, it has little to do with the story. The only reference occurs in April (17chakra) where he comments about enlightenment due to his relationship with Ginnie Foot. To try to complicate the story a little bit, the same extra events can occur in different months depending on each path or month that you choose. It looked like Anthony's notes where jumbled up but it still didn't affect the whole line of the story.

Another curiosity I found was the reference to Japanese/Indian culture in the story. Betsey's floor was covered with tatami mats which is typical of Japanese homes and they started trying to practice yoga pretty quickly. Although Buddha is in the first page of the hypertext, Anthony didn't seem to focus on that religion but on Hinduism where they believe that the seventh chakra is located in the head and if balanced with the other six parts of the body it can produced consciousness, enlightenment. Finally, throughout the story we can see how Anthony gets obsessed with a vegetarian diet but in the end it changes and eats a typical Japanese plate, sushi, continuously in order to not talk about his recovery to his old friends.

Besides this curiosities I personally believed as I said in the section of Time that Anthony's story is like the formation and execution of a storm. This ex-alcoholic suffered two not lasting relationships that just like the title says even after that it helped him some how to change and stabilize into a better future.

Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Carolina Cody Aldaz
cacodyal@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press