S - Chapter 1

In the first chapter Eric finally reveals his real name after letting Jen believe he is someone else. We also find out he flooded the English Department and was expunged from the school for reasons he is not ready to tell yet. I particularly liked the enclosed newspaper article about the flooding. After Jen doesn't reply, for what I assume was a few days, we see how much Eric needs her input, he begs her to write again.

I'm beginning to really like Jen, she is much more open minded about Straka's whereabouts (perhaps because she does not know as much about him as Eric) Jen is the one finding clues in Caldeira's footnotes.

She believes the footnotes leave hidden messages to Straka, such as the address of a place the two of them could meet. As Jen is struggling with what to do with her life (something we can all relate to) she is throwing herself into this mystery and I, like Eric, hope she doesn't let this jeopardise her school career.

I'm intrigued to know what Jen is hiding from Eric, her yellow pen self admits when she said I've been nothing but honest with you, she was not being exactly true.

Who is this mysterious company paying Eric to continue his research? My immediate thought was Jen, but if that's true where did she get the money from? Could it possibly be Straka or Caldeiria?

As Jessica said, the writing between Jen and Eric is sometimes hard to decipher but I think after a whole chapter I have found a comfortable flow when it comes to reading their annotations.

I think the theories about who Straka is are hilarious, I really liked the one about the little girl who claimed to have written Straka's books, and the long-dead nun she claimed to be channeling.

I love Jessica's suggestion about the S symbol being a message from Straka. The idea that someone else could be reading the book alongside Eric and Jen is just so exciting.

So much of my enjoyment of this book so far has come from Eric and Jen's interaction and the mystery about Straka that I have paid little attention to the plot of Ship of Theseus. In chapter 1, we find out very little and the questions: Who is S? Why can he not remember anything? Why have the sailor's mouths been sewn shut? interest me less than questions about Straka.

I feel like the mystery of Straka is much bigger than just Jen, Eric and Moody and I can't work out if Caldeiria is helping or hindering the race to find out who Straka is.

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Rebecca x