• The “swipe right, swipe left” mechanism of dating apps (e.g. Tinder) is reflected through the husbands descending and ascending the ladder —> ("Swipe right" means to like or accept someone, while "swipe left" means to reject them)

“And thanks to the attic… she can send him away without even having an awkward conversation about it.“

(P. 61)

“She wanted to know that if something went wrong her first thought would be How can I fix this? and not Should I leave?”

(P. 98)

Coco

“Only the attic, and the light bulb, which is, admittedly, starting to glow just a little.”

(P. 29)

“It must be nice to be that sure of anything, to risk the mistake, to have the big party.“ - Lauren about Elena’s wedding

(P. 99)

Coco

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Visual language is similar to Lauren’s attic that is “generating an endless supply of husbands”

https://www.alfiecaine.com/biography

House description (Chapter 15)

Magic, mystery, unknown.

----switching from darkness (unseen, unknown) to lightness

implies its supernatural power and the uncertainty of possibilities

Rain:

It reminds me of the movie 'Coherence', in which darkness also represents uncertainty and the house at the end of the road represents one of the possibilities.

• Intense repetition echoes mechanism of the attic

• Claustrophobic atmosphere reflects Lauren’s overwhelmed feelings when choosing a husband

• 31 years old: a “big milestone” in a woman’s life where she’s expected to have a stable career, husband and even children —> Lauren feels lost about what she wants in life

• Lauren just broke up with her ex, Amos and still has not gotten over him (transitional period between an old and new relationship)

• Watching her friends get married and “settle down” and feeling unfulfilled

(P. 136)

—> a flawed method to make decisions as most flowers have odd numbered petals and humans are inclined to start with an affirmative —> they always end up with the answer they want

—> Near the end of the book, Lauren plucks petals to choose whether she wants to continue generating more husbands or stop entirely

Rain: What do you think of this story? husband can be changed at any time.

Him: After marriage, the problems that didn't appear before will appear to surface. Many people I know aren't satisfied with their spouse, they presume what would happen if they were married to a different person. But can anybody perfectly fit for anyone, to find 'the right one' out of 7000 billion people? the possibility would be very very low. the point is, that people tend to fantasise about a perfect partner, someone would meet all their requirements instead of spending time being with their partner, to understand your partner, learn to compromise, and to face the problems in marriage, to solve problems.

• Lauren changes husbands very quickly ----- showing unwillingness to stay longer to learn what these husbands are like ------ to dive deeper into their 'relationship'

• Use sticking notes to write a 'criteria' to assess coming husbands, keep them if they meet her standard ------- want the husbands to align with her standard, instead of communicating, making compromises and solving problems with the husbands.

  
  

  
  

• People in modern times pursue productiveness and efficiency. It spoiled many aspects of human life; environment (non-degradable materials), industrial food (leads to disease), amusement culture, and relationships (快餐式恋爱/婚姻）.

• Lack of attitude to dive deeper to explore self, other people and the environment.

He’s wearing a “grey T-shirt and soft tartan trousers.”

“the big grey landing… is, somehow, blue. And it has a rug. It never had a rug before.”

“The sofa is dark brown… when she left this morning it was green. The clock on the wall has Roman numerals instead of normal numbers.”

“Her old vase on the shelf has tulips in it, her wonky lino print of an owl is gone. The books are wrong or in the wrong place, the curtains have been replaced with shutters.”

“Most of the pictures are wrong… One of them is of a wedding.” (p. 4)

“an arch of maybe-roses” (p.34)

“Flowers and grass and a wooden table. A dozen little brown birds that take off as she approaches.” (p. 34)

“In the back corner, a big netted box with mazy branches inside and a blackbird outside, gripping on and pecking through the holes.” (p. 34)

“a wooden lattice, taller and growing all over with vines, some of them green and some with clusters of tiny white flowers and some pouring with long purple strands… a gate in the middle of it, connecting the two halves.“ (p.35)

“The attic is a metaphor for the brain - a space right at the top of the house, where all manner of creative and imaginative happenings might occur, a place where memories are stored, and made.”

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Magical moments happen throughout the book, while Lauran looks for a practical solution to stop magic from continuing. She wants her life to be on the ground once again, instead of changing and flowing all the time.

------- Perhaps using colour (high-resolution colour vs. black and white. Detail vs. simple. Textured vs. Smooth. Surrealism vs. reality....)

👆more references

1. A lot of the interactions in between appearing and disappearing of husbands revolves around the stairs
2. Opposite to the attic, the stairs more or less symbolises the relationship/ dynamics in a marriage
3. Where the attic is about come and go, stairs is about ups and downs
4. The loops follows Lauren whenever she decides the husband have qualities which she is into -> deciding to let that husband stay -> discovering the flaws -> letting them go

• Despite Lauren’s hostile reaction in the beginning of the book, he stayed calm and concerns over her well being
• When discovers Lauren’s lies about her whereabouts and suspected infidelity in the second appearance, Michael appears upset and disappointed, remained calm and checked the attic when asked to
• Michael values communication -> “But maybe I should also tell you that I looked through your phone a while back. Which I shouldn’t have done, obviously... I’m sorry, I should have just talked to you about it at the time, but I looked through your messages and that one wasn’t there any more. Obviously it could have been from a spammer.” -> “He wants so badly for her to be able to explain everything.”

• Michael being described as “he sounds very industrious”
• Is said to be training for a marathon

Coco

• Detailed descriptions of the house and surrounding sceneries
• Includes a lot of extravagant deco on the house
• Suggested that Lauren might have been the second or third wife-> trophy wife(?), might have not been a marriage entirely out of love

• The CCTV room next to alcove
• “she can see herself standing, looking at the screen, her stiffening back, movement as she turns to look up. Above the cabinets, a squat grey cylinder is nestled discreetly. She has to force herself to turn away from it and look through the rest of the screens” -> a bit of an allegory of the marriage itself
• Hanging birds (similar concept to above)
• ‘I don’t know the gym code, I’m not allowed in case I drown. Look on your phone.’ A bit controlling regarding the son’s saftey
• There isn’t a lot of trust within their supposed marriage: codes to access doors, suggested alert system, Lauren avoiding cameras, Lauren sneaking in later in the story.