The Only Way to Learn

 

“Maybe I got stuck. Maybe in every life I am stuck. And maybe there isn’t a life where I’m not stuck.”

“Well, I think you are wrong.”

“Okay, then. I would like to try the life where I am not stuck. What life would that be?”

“Aren’t YOU supposed to tell me?”

 

            Slowly building up to the highlight of the book, the writer gave us a thrill of a ride. With every new life Nora tried, there are new characters, new life plots, and new relations. The different fates brought many more elements to consider. Nora’s can be seen to struggle with many considerations and many ‘if’s. Throughout the journey of conflicts, beautiful words of encouragement were present as numerous eloquent quotes.

           Before letting Nora decide, the librarian, Mrs. Elm, hands over a book titled ‘The Book of Regrets’. The number of regrets written inside the thick heavy book gave her such pain and misery that in a matter of seconds, Nora closed the book. Mrs. Elm said the agony was necessary for her to choose a life. She continued to choose a life where she and her ex-fiancé, Dan, were still together. Then, she chose a life where she went to Australia with her friend. Third, she chose a life where she didn’t give up on swimming. All of her choices come with new acquaintance such as, friends that were regular customers at Dan’s pub, a new stepmom, Joe’s husband, and many more. Each of Nora’s life has new characters with a new relation to her. Nora tried to act as she knows them while beating around the bush to keep up with the new life, but everyone noticed and could tell that the Nora they knew is different.

All the life she tried wasn’t a match for Nora. None of them feel like it’s ‘the right one’ for her. The author serves a realistic look at what could have been Nora’s life. The unthinkable elements and factors were detailed in each part of the story. I paid attention to the descriptive word choice the author used for me to picture the journey from Nora’s perspective. Reading it made me embark on a voyage into Nora’s shoes.  

The passage I read these past weeks were filled with so many amazing quotes. Let me share a couple of my favorites here. The first one is “Doing one thing differently is very often the same as doing everything differently.” This is very much emphasized in all the stories as Nora chooses one life over the other. The second is from a conversation between Nora and the librarian.

“Maybe I got stuck. Maybe in every life I am stuck. And maybe there isn’t a life where I’m not stuck.”

“Well, I think you are wrong.”

“Okay, then. I would like to try the life where I am not stuck. What life would that be?”

“Aren’t YOU supposed to tell me?”

I read this conversation more than two times. After a moment of contemplation, I finally realized the reason for what Mrs. Elm said.  It was “The only way to learn is to live.” The quote was once mentioned in the first quarter of the book, but I’ve only realized its meaning towards the highlight of the story. I hope in the upcoming chapter Nora can continue to try and welcome new things, while dealing with her anxiety and depression in the pursuit of happiness.