I’ll be ending this post by applying the formulation of 4Ps (purpose, preview, prior-knowledge and predict) to complete the pre-reading steps.
I haven’t finished the whole book but I wrapped up the first chapter quick. I was really interested by the very first page, and I think it’s very important for an author to grab the attention of reader within the first few paragraphs. I was reading it on my bed with my sleeping husband by my side, while I inhale in and out my taro-tasted vape to replace a coffee while I read. Because I am a FOMO, I love to see booktok, a trend emerging from tiktok for fellow book readers, and thanks to booktok—I found this book.
The first page was very intriguing for me, I loved how it helps to make the story even more intense without having to go all the way hundreds of pages to get to the climax. Exactly the first page was the climax then it slows down a bit but very slowly.
At the end of this chapter titled “The Head”, I tried to explore my prior knowledge to see how much I can find another meaning of this chapter, does the head represents the woman’s traces throughout her life? with the head shaped so horrendously (I can’t imagine if this chapter is being put on a screen or adapted into a movie, it would be a nice body horror one). The horrendous shape of the early state of the head could represent the women’s early traces of life filled with mistakes, any type of mistake indicating she was still young and clumsy, again, full of mistakes. As time goes by, the head began to have hair, perfecting the shape just a little bit. By the end of it, the head has smooth skin, perfect body and limbs. The head is now a young woman, the youthful and smooth version of the woman while the woman is now old, soggy and angry. The traces of the women’s life, be it mistake or not represented by the disfigured head which then eventually become perfect.
I had another interpretation though, when the head finally came out in a perfect shape with its body and confiding in whatever it had to say, it said something that an upset child would say to their parents. Related to “I wasn’t asked to be born but here I am being abused, tortured, unwanted while you demand me to be grateful for every bare minimum that you’ve given me” you get it?. I wouldn’t spoil much but it’s something like that.
I already figured out that the head is going to replace the old version of the woman, but of course it’s a mystery, we don’t know what’s gonna happen if her old husband has seen the youth version of the woman while the old (original version) had disappeared, do they wonder?.
Before I make a connection, I should have done the 4Ps.
- Purpose : I’m reading it because I favor fiction more than anything else, especially its first page’s nature of horror, I wanted to see body horror being described and something unreal. I want something thrilling and I got it instantly by the first page.
- Preview : I read the first page hoping for a horror twist, I didn’t interpret much, I just wanted to see if the head is a haunting being. However, my husband interpret it as an aborted fetus or an unborn one, indicating a sense of regret from the woman that is now forming into something tangible, thus, haunting the woman
- Prior-knowledge : I know in general, a head represents the essential atom of a whole living being, that’s why when you want to kill something quick—destroy the head. I knew there would be something related to mental destruction with the main character, as it wouldn’t be exactly a full-mode horror with no explanation or interpretation.
- Predict : I predicted the head would represent something but I just don’t know yet, so I ran to my original expectation hoping for a small monster from a toilet.
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