“I’m a writer; I tell stories. I want to tell the stories of their lives. It doesn’t really matter where I start. We’re always in the middle; wherever we stand, we see only partially. I know also that everything is connected, the constellations of our lives moving together in harmony and disharmony. The past swirls along with and inside the present, and all time exists at once, around us. The ebb and flow, the harmonies and dissonance—the music happens, whether or not we describe it. A story is not a line; it is a richer thing, one that circles and eddies, rises and falls, repeats upon itself.”
This passage occurs in the prologue before the story begins. It is a case of foreshadowing and explication. What this writer is describing is the book that is about to begin. It is not a simple linear story but rather one in which the past and future move about freely and locations shift. Offering up this explanation of what is to follow is important because the book is not a simple and straightforward narrative. The immersive experience of reading this complicated narrative an integral element of the understanding and enjoyment. The writer wants to make sure readers know what they are about to embark upon because the structural component is more complex and demanding than much mainstream literature. The writing of the story is the real point of the story.
"This strange eventful history that made a life. Not good or bad—rather, both good and bad—but that was not the point. Above all, they had been, for so long, wildly curious. Just to see, to experience all that they could, to set foot anywhere, to speak to anyone, taste anything, to learn, to know.”
This passage offers a commentary on the meaning of the title. The book is about lives lived, hopes fulfilled or dashed, and the random quality of fate. One of the most interesting elements of the book is that it is set against the backdrop of momentous global events but the most significant moments of those events are introduced referentially. In other words, the novel is about the smaller and intimate moments in the individual lives of people experiencing the societal changes brought about by the wave of history constantly moving forward. This philosophical observation has certain existentialist qualities which is appropriate considering how French history is so important to those major historical upheavals taking place along the periphery. It is a directive to remember that our control over the events which change the world is non-existent in most cases and for most people. The important thing at the level of the individual is recognize that our own histories are strangely intermingled with these great events but not necessarily defined by them.
“I remember a time when I had no fear; and then suddenly came the time when I was afraid of everything, when I could see Death and Disaster hiding in every corner. I pine for the time when I felt free; I think of it as being like Adam and Eve in the Bible, only I don’t know when ate the apple. I cannot remember what changed or when, for me, I only know it’s different now. When I was smaller I thought maybe I was God, or a part of God, but now I know this isn’t right. Is God in us? Above us? With us? If He is all - powerful, why do such bad things happen?”
The story takes place in different time periods and focuses on a different characters but most of those narratives are told from the perspective of a third-person observer. The only character in the book who is allowed to adopt a first-person perspective to tell their own story is Chloe. When she veers away from personal historical accounting and indulges in long philosophical passages like this it becomes apparently that the anonymous person declaring themselves a writer in that prologue must be Chloe. Her admission to sometimes having fantasies of possessing god-like powers is a subtle reference to the power of storytelling. Writing is the ultimate means for human beings to “play god.” This particular passage tempts with the possibility that Chloe is a far less reliable narrator than she might at first appear. Her questioning of whether God might either not be all-powerful or is abusing his power can be interpreted as more of Chloe’s introspective compulsion to move beyond merely telling stories and so that can pursue her real ambition which she confesses in the prologue: to save lives.
