Analysis of Why I Killed My Best Friend Novel by Amanda Michalopoulou - Book Report/Review Example

Why I Killed My Best Friend Why I Killed My Best Friend is a novel written by Amanda Michalopoulou and published by the Open Letter on May 15, 2014. The 258-page long novel brings a story revolving around Maria, a young girl who is relocated from Nigeria to Greece to continue with her education there. However, she is depressed by this move as it takes her away from her lovely African continent. Although she is a native of Greece, she is not pleased with its language, school, food, classmates and the air she encounters in Athens. Later, she gets happiness after the arrival of Anna Horn, a Parisian girl with whom she develops a strong, but controversial friendship that continues during their time in school and many years after the completion of their studies. This paper gives a critical and in-depth analysis of the novel. It does this by focusing on the author’s thematic concerns, stylistic devices and characterization as demonstrated in the play. To begin with, Amanda clearly brings out the theme of friendship in the novel. Although they came from diverse cultural backgrounds, Maria and Anna become great friends in Athens. Being that they were foreigners, they felt out of place. Having been born in Nigeria, Maria had fallen in love with the life there. Thus, she had regarded Africa as her favorite continent. In fact, she had forgotten that she is traces her origin to Greece. Since she never appreciated that, she was so remorseful when taken to study in Athens. However, her sorrows came to an end when she met and befriended Anna. Apart from being foreigners in the school, they had to become great friends because they shared a lot of similar views and philosophies in life. This made them to establish a very strong bond that could not be broken regardless of the competition they had against one another. They could go to class and attend demonstrations together. Later, this friendship continued even after the completion of their studies at a time when each of them was now a grown up woman. However, despite their inseparable friendship, these girls had disguised enmity between them. They had a created fiercest competition over boys, political beliefs and future ambitions. For this reason, Amanda reports that Maria "charts the ups, down, and fallings-out of the powerful, self-destructive bond only true best friends can have." This theme is really exploited by the author in the novel. It is properly illustrated throughout the novel. This shows that the author was keen on delivering his message to the readers. The other theme that prominently features in the novel is the urge for political revolution. The story is introduced at a time when Greece as a nation had just come out of the dictatorial regime. This was a time when authoritarian rules were used to govern the people. Since everyone was interested in having a political freedom and democracy introduced into the country, they worked hard to achieve it. Students such as Maria and her friend Anna were not left out of this struggle. However threatening it was, they actively participated in advocating for change in the society. This was evidenced when they organized, supported and participated in mass demonstrations on several occasions. At one time, the government had to react to their actions by using tankers to kill demonstrators. However, this did not kill the urge for revolution. In fact, the revolutionary ideologies held by Maria and Anna did not stop. It continued even after the completion of their studies in Athens. It was the sole reason why Maria for instance had to traverse the entire world by going to France, Switzerland, Mexico, and Bangladesh before eventually returning to Nigeria to preach the same message. This theme also clearly articulated by the author. Although she was keen on tracing the personal changes in the lives of the characters, the author manages to blend it to the politics and revolutionary struggles that had united the two friends to be together both while still in school and after their completion. In the novel, the author makes a good use of characterization. Since she was concerned about producing an educating, informative and entertaining novel, Amanda introduces the audience to Maria and Amanda as the main characters of the novel. The actions, utterances of these characters can be used to identify and comprehend their actual characters. Although initially strange to one another, the two ladies manage to establish a very strong friendship. Despite their differences, they learn to cohesively mingle and live at peace with one another. As the protagonists, their actions can be used to understand the major theme of the novel. Their unending urge for change is typical of revolutionary characters that are out t brings changes to positively transform the society. The reaction of Maria at a time when she goes to Athens is not peculiar. It is typical to that of any ordinary child who feels remorseful for leaving a place they identify with and go to a totally new location in which they have never been before. Similarly, Anna’s reactions to Maria’s artistic talents show how individuals might at times be jealous of their friend’s achievements. As the author demonstrates, competition is a natural human behavior. A proper use of the characterization enabled the author to develop the themes of the novel. Having read the novel, I would like to point out that the characters’ behaviors, actions and words spoken by the protagonists and other minor characters played a very significant role. Had it not been for this, Amanda would not have managed to communicate the themes of the novel. For example, the continued urge for change by Maria, Anna and their fellow students clearly brings out the theme of revolution. Had it not been for their unending efforts, no change would have been realized in the autocratic Greece society. Rather than contributing to the development of themes, the characters used in the novel also played an important role in developing its plot. Since the entire story was revolving around the experiences of Anna and Maria, the story would not have continued if they had ceased to form part of the novel. Otherwise, it would totally change it to a new thing. There experiences in their mother countries, in Greece and in the countries they toured after school constituted a large portion of the novel. It is all that the entire story centered on. If Maria, for instance, had stopped her adventures, the revolutionary struggles that had begun in Athens would have come to an abrupt end. She had to continue with her struggles to Geneva in which she "overturned the Central Bank Director's Mercedes and spent two days in jail for it." later, she as not deterred as she went back to her Nigerian country to “shout slogans against the oil companies that were engaged in massive corrupt practices.” Therefore, it was a good idea for the author to keep on following the movements of this character wherever she had gone to preach for revolution. In order to demonstrate her writing prowess, Amanda used literary devices in an appropriate manner. After knowing exactly what message she wanted to communicate, the author settled down to identify the right stylistic devices that would suit her audiences. Although this is English version is an interpreted version of the novel, it depicts a clear picture of the way the author had written the book. It is a real product of a scholarly work that brings out the story in an organized, clear and detailed manner. The story has a broader scope and deep analysis and presentation of the ideas. It has no allegations and rumors that are typical of shoddy exaggerated literary works. Even if the novel has some elements of creativity in it, it really presents the actual events that occurred in Greece at a time when it was recovering from the autocratic regimes that had denied Greeks democracy, justice and freedom. On the other hand, the author uses a lot of figurative language in most of the parts of the novel. This was seen in instances when the author describes Anna as ‘human bee buzzing around bringing back stories like pollen’ to show that Anna was actually an active lady who would spend her time to what mattered to her. The other devise used by the author in the writing of this novel is flashback. Since the story is focused on following the life movements of Maria and her friend Anna, it does not do that in a chronological manner. Instead, it keeps on dating back to the past events that are periodically used as reference as the story unfolds. The dwindling timeline of the play is seen throughout their expansive history which runs from the 1970s, through the 1980s to the 1990s when they are now mature women. This style contributed in making the story more lively, appealing and engaging to the minds of the audience who is kept up dated on the past and current events in the life of the characters. The manner in which Amanda wrote this novel qualifies her as a literary icon who can coin an amazing story from the actual events that took place at a time in the history of man. By choosing to link the experiences of the characters with the government, the author was keen to show how the manipulation of the political system to oppress the common citizens ignited an urge for revolution, an urge that could not be stopped whatsoever. Indeed, the novel’s setting is appropriate for the story because it shows how people boldly reacted to the oppressive autocratic regimes in Greece. At the same time, the choice of the themes of friendship and political autocracy was a right thing. All of theses were thoroughly exploited and illustrated throughout the novel. On the other hand, the novel chose to rely on its characters for the development of the plot and themes of the play. Even if the protagonists had a very unique kind of friendship, the content of the novel really qualifies its title to be the way it is. Why I Killed My Best Friend would be an appropriate title since the protagonists were not just ordinary friends, but were also foes in equal measure. This is why the author coined the term ‘frienenmy’ to describe it. In fact, at one time, Maria said of her friend that "She makes me feel useless unimportant. Stupid." p. 171. This implies that their friendship would not only bring happiness to her, but could at times be a very big burden to her. In conclusion, Why I Killed My Best Friend is an amazing novel that brings a very interesting, educating and entertaining story. I enjoyed reading it because it is flawlessly written and has a flowing story rich of catchy words throughout it. It uses literary styles that suit the whole story. Moreover, the story is easier to follow because it personalizes the Greece history by associating it to the protagonists. Once the history of the protagonists ca be properly understood, understand in the lay can not be a challenge at all. For this reason, I recommend it to anyone who is interested in knowing much about the political history and revolutionary struggles in Greece. It can also provide a lot of education on how exactly everyone should treat their friends in order to peacefully coexist regardless of their diversities. By accepting to be the best of friends, Maria and Anna demonstrated friendship should not be narrowed to one’s tribe’s people, but to everyone irrespective of their race, nationality or religion. IF Maria was considering nationality, then she would not have befriended Anna who was originally Parisian. For sure, I had nothing bad to say about Why I Killed My Best Friend because it is the best novel that I have read so far. I only urge every reader to add it into their must-read list because it has a value to add into them. Read More