The book of oddities

The book of oddities

In "the book of oddities", Mike Loewenrosen, gives us a rarefied glimpse of a poetic journal, of simple thoughts, full of melancholic hopefulness. We encounter along with the heroine, erosion of self and arrival in a state of mind where words are powerless, insight is captured, and prevailing currents propel the heroine forward into unexpected adventures, and resolution of understanding the world and it's values.


In the book of oddities, we are introduced to Anna, a young, beautiful, heart-searching heroine. Having given her self up far too often to elusive sexual encounters, Anna, is left with empty memories, wounds of loneliness and cognitive dissonance. Anna's haunting questions never cease. Is it her fault, someone else's, or the collective unconscious? In the middle of another restless night of dreams, just as she finally drifts off to sleep in search of answers intended to calm her soul, she is removing her make-up, when a man suddenly appears sitting next to her. Is his presence and intentions good or bad? Can she trust him?

Anna wakes the next morning overcome with exhaustion, as if she had not slept the night before. As usual, each weekday, she leaves for work. When a new coworker introduces himself to her, Cibelius, she is amused and awakened from her exhaustion, but also recognizes a subtle shift in her self and realizes that her attitude towards men has become cynical, aloof and indifferent. She is scared of admitting to herself that it might just be her, causing the situation she is currently in. That's why, without a particular destination, she decides to get on a train and go somewhere, anywhere else. Just to forget about everything. A small village turns out to be her final destination. Anna exhales, finding her breath and calms down. Sitting idly on a bench she feels content and is able for the first time in a long while to talk to her own inner child. After their lengthy conversation she realizes what it means to be grown up. Somehow relieved she strolls through the village until she ends up before an old freight-train station. The old dilapidated and outmoded trains fascinate her and she walks around among them. When she spots an old car with an open door she hesitantly enters it and lets the day pass before her eyes. As she is about to leave - finally in a good mood - the man she has seen before stops her and strikes up a conversation. Finally she can see him, since - what she doesn't yet know - is this man is nothing but her own animus male side. Anna is captured, nervous at first and yet decides to stay as something baffles her about this guy. Quickly she realizes what they have in common, but also what differentiates them. As they are talking, Anna's observations become clear and she realizes how much this man appeals to her, she can see it. Finally, everything seems to turn out right for her this time...but at the end of the story, the reader finds out, that everything was just in her head. Anna has been "diagnosed" with the beginning effects of schizophrenia - Anna's haunting questions, the man in her dreams, her spontaneous train ride and final destination, the small village - is a home for the mentally ill.