Digging Up Artifacts: An Archaelogical Expedition…

Despite all the  pictures making this a relatively short read, it was probably more exhausting for me than a far longer, more straightforward novel would have been. The need to dig and analyze and make hypotheses about the couple felt more like sociological research than anything else, but i guess that’s because it was.

We know from the begining that this couple splits, there is no suspense, no asking “What will happen?” We know this because of the note that introduces us to the couple, discussing regrets about breakup and casually running in to one another. This tells us that the plot points aren’t necessarily the most important thing to take away, it emphasizes instead, a need for scrutiny. Prepared, I began trying to read into every detail, one of which being the prices. I know this is a fictional auction and I know no one is buying these items, but some things I took notice of were comparisons of similar items in each o=person’s life. Books for instance, photography books were more expensive than her cooking ones. I found those instances interesting. Sometimes, like in the case of the sunglasses, the prices were about equal, so i can’t make a sweeping statement, making my question about price somewhat difficult to answer.

Speaking of pricing, the Valenitine’s Day menus were interestingly priced. They were $50-65, far more than any other hand written note seems to have been. The “Auction” being dated for Valenitine’s Day, this seemed significant to me. The menus list off food, but offer no specifically spelled sentiments, which makes the food itself the sentiment, something auction goers would not be able to buy anyway. Her carefully prepared menus, then, are the remnants of the two closest things to her heart coming togethe; food and Hal.

Speaking of food, Lenore’s food love seemed to border on obsession for me. She not only works in the food business through her column, she also keeps a pretty detailed list of food that she consumes throughout the day. She keeps meticulous track, which makes me wonder about her relationship to food, since keeping trackof what one eats is often a tactic used in dieting. She often records healthier snacks, like celery and apples, but spends her days making cakes. I found the contrast interesting. The food obsession continues with Lenore’s lamentations about Hal’s disinterest in food. He is not a foodi and this makes her upset. He seems to usually support her career by buying her cookbooks and things for presents, but she needs more.

This brings me to gifts. I was startled when Lenore buys Christmas presents for Hal like salad tossers, but I was equally confused when Hal buys Lenore an expernsive camera. It felt to me like the pair were projecting their own interests onto one another, which didn’t seem particularly healthy. Why would a non-foodie want salad tossers? It didn’t make much sense to me.  Hal doesn’t want a dog, so he gifts dog figurines to Lenore? That seemed to me like rubbing salt in the wound, but I guess her dog sitting does destroy his rubber shark, so who am I to judge?

The sunglasses that used to belong to an ex were a little disturbing, but what really made me cringe was that the couple called a t-shirt the sex shirt because wearing it meant they were ready for sex. This would possibly be a cute little inside joke, until you learn that the shirt belonged to Lenore’s ex boyfriend, adding a creepiness level for me.

Overall, this book made me feel really uncomfortable, not because of the content, but because of what we were doing. Inspecting such personal items felt sad and a little dirty to me. Looking at a two page layout of Lenore’s bras made me feel incredibly instrusive. I wanted to get out of their heads and out of their bedroom. The tactic was unique though, and it forced us to build an incomplete narrative into something we could understand. This was a pretty strange experiment, but makes you think.