“Onward” By Emma Donoghue was a really interesting and fantastic reading. I was very drawn into the story and I read it in one sitting.
I was surprised by how isolated and lonely Caroline’s family was. She couldn’t have friends and she had to rely on her ‘services’ for money to take care of her family. This added a layer of sadness to the reading.
Something I found very effective was the descriptive language that Emma Donoghue used in the story. When she describes one of Caroline’s visitors as having a greasy mustache and whispering in her ear, I felt uncomfortable and grossed out which could also reflect how Caroline was feeling.
Though I really enjoyed the reading, something that I found confusing was the ending. Overall, I think the story was rushed a bit and I would have loved more details about the family and their lives. Fred’s request that Caroline speaks with Charles Dickens left me questioning the meaning behind this.
This leads me to my first question I have about the reading, which is- Why did Fred believe that speaking to Charles Dickens would help the family?
My next question is regarding the smaller parts of the story for example the lilies or the jewelry. Did these smaller parts of the story have a larger meaning?
My AHA moment was when I finally understood why Caroline was so eager to get Fred out of the house- she needed to do her work which was seeing the visitors. When I finally understood what the visitors were clarified a lot to me.