Visiting Rites by Susan Musgrave: Thoughts

 Visiting Rites 
- Suzan Musgrave

       The author hooked me right away as she immediately began to use imagery to build the scenery in my mind. Moreover, she brings notice to the fact that on first glance a person can get one idea but when they look a second time they are able to see the image more clearer.

     Furthermore, the author made it no secret to say she was talking about a visitation at a prison. Vancouver Island Regional Correction center or Wilkes to be exact. As the author continued with the use of imagery, It piqued my interest to know who she was going to visit and boi was I shocked. At the very end of third paragraph the author reveals that the protagonist is going to visit her husband that got arrested for robbing a bank just two days prior.

“If you want peace, prepare for war” 

    As the story progresses and my interests grows, a bomb is dropped. Not only is the main character sticking besides her husband in prison but they had actually gotten married in prison in 1986. Guess who was in prison? Guess why? STEPHEN is apparently a serial bank robber and this is not her first time sticking around. If you have not guessed it, Stephen is her husbands name.

    This revelation made me more curious as to what else would happen in the story as I haven’t even reached far into it. There is absolutely no guessing!

    Moreover, THE BIZZARITY OF IT ALL HAS INCREASED! Not only has Stephen refused to see her and suffering is from withdrawals, the director of programs threatens to suspended her visitation because they found microscopic residue of cocaine on a letter she sent him and the items she came with. 

    She finally is able to see her husband. They converse and exchange conversation, make googly eyes and do the prison cliché, hand against the plexiglass. When she finally is leaving the prison a security guard recognizes her. I thought the security guard recognized her from the news for staying with her prison bae but to my surprise, no, she is a famous poet. I really thought she was a regular person who made who got wrapped up in love and prison life. Turns out that she’s a famous person who got caught up in love and prison life. 

    The security guard stated she admired everything she did except for her marrying a criminal which got her thinking. Life, people’s opinions, how she feels and what she’s missing. Writing helps her escape it all. This again is a play on the point in the very first paragraph. On first glance a person can get one idea but when they look again they are able to see the image more clearer.

Final Thoughts

This story was extremely interesting and gripping. It was filled with loads of imagery and every paragraph had an unexpected reveal. This made it even more gripping. My attention did not sway at all! safe to say this was an excellent read!