Literary Fiction - Don Quixote in Annie Hastings

The call from women for strong women characters is answered in a book entitled The Travels of Annie T. Hastings. The main character, Annie, is haunted by her past, to be sure. But that haunting has produced a unique, strong, and even eccentric older woman. As an older woman who has struggled with an event in her past when her daughter was taken from her, Annie resolves to find the girl, now a grown woman. Annie, on a shoe-string budget, crosses the country to reach her goal. But along the way, she faces many challenges. And with each challenge conquered, Annie gains strength and insight which prepares her for meeting her daughter.One important theme which pervades the book is the matter of perception. Annie locks horns with Sister Rose, head nun of the shelter where Annie stays. But the reader slowly senses that Annie's point of view of Sister Rose is askew. Annie demonizes Rose who only tries to help. But Annie's pride and anger at the church blinds Annie to Rose's true inte
ntions. The reader must read between the lines. The reader must learn that Annie is telling her story from her subjective point of view. Annie is not intentionally an unreliable narrator, but unreliable she is. And Annie is not introspective enough to understand this.The theme of perception is clearly seen when Annie arrives in Chicago and demands her antiques from her nieces. Certainly the nieces are trailer-park trash, but Annie has exaggerated the value of the maple table and the lingerie chest. She doesn't exaggerate as subterfuge because she really believes in the value of the furniture, though clearly they have little value. The paintings of the clowns highlights the theme if one had missed it. Her hope that the wide-eyed clowns may someday be as valuable as a painting by Renoir is evidence enough to see that she is a modern, female version of Don Quixote.But matters of perception take a close reading, and the reader must be prepared to read, even, between the lines. O
ne many levels this book, The Travels of Annie T. Hastings, is a literary investigation into the nature of how, we as individuals, tell stories, tell our sense of truth, from a limited perception. We all have a bit of Don Quixote in us.

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