No, not quite, they never actually get that far, unless you count that one dream sequence. But the main character is obsessed with young girls/teenagers. The title comes from this picture of the daughters of Czar Nickolas II, which he has hanging on his wall. He has this whole fantasy about how maybe one of the Bolsheviks who murdered them was at least a little bit in love with the oldest one, and felt bad about killing her, hence the weakness of the Bolshevik. It's also this great big parallel with the story as a whole in which we're supposed to see the girl as this ethereal princess and him as low rabble who endangers her. Or something like that.
The book really plays with the concept of judging a man by what he thinks, or by what he does. My perspective: I don't care about the philosophical implications; I just don't want to spend any more time in his head, thank you very much.
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Date: 28 Oct 2008 07:17 pm (UTC)The book really plays with the concept of judging a man by what he thinks, or by what he does.
My perspective: I don't care about the philosophical implications; I just don't want to spend any more time in his head, thank you very much.