Linger
By Maggie Stiefvater
A lot of people have fears. But Isabel's not afraid of anything... except herself. In the book Linger, by Maggie
Stiefvater, the main characters are Grace, Sam, Cole, and Isabel. I would like
to focus on Isabel. She was an interesting character that had many interesting
qualities. She faces many difficulties and finds many ways to deal with them.
One of the difficulties Isabel faces
is dealing with her brother’s death. Isabel feels responsible for killing her
brother with a vaccine that was supposed to cure him. His death was not
intentional, yet Isabel feels horrible. Isabel deals with her depression by not
thinking about it. She pushes it to the back of her mind and focuses on reading
about medicine because she is considering becoming a doctor. For example, when
Sam asked, ‘ “It’s a little bit of overkill, isn’t it, unless you’re planning
to become a doctor?” “I was considering it,” Isabel said, in such a stark way
that I didn’t realize she was confiding in me until the door went ding again, admitting another customer.’
Isabel confessed to Sam she wanted to be a doctor, like her mom. Isabel rarely
openly confesses like she did to Sam. I think this reveals that Isabel is be
more then just a popular girl at school. She has dreams (becoming a doctor) and
challenges (her brothers death). This makes her a real person that the reader
can relate to. Everyone has their own way of escaping their fears. For Isabel,
it’s learning about medicine.
Isabel is friends with Grace, who is
similar and different to Isabel. Grace and Isabel are both good liars, and they
are both stubborn. They don’t open up to people easily and are afraid of what
could happen if they do. Grace, on the other hand, is a good girl who rarely
gets in trouble, and Isabel gets in trouble frequently. Grace strives for her
parents’ affection, while Isabel doesn’t seem to care. Their relationship is
perfectly balanced. I think their relationship shows that Isabel wants to be
around someone who agrees with her in most cases, and has voice of reason in
other situations. For example, Grace said, " 'If you crap out of school now, you won't get into a good college, and then you'll be stuck here in Mercy Falls forever,' Unlike Rachel... Isabel made a face. 'Thanks, Mom. I'll keep that in mind.' " Isabel may not seem to like the advice, but I think she secretly likes having someone look out for her. Isabel wants to find someone to replace her parents, who are
not there for her.
I like Isabel because she is not the
kind of person you can take one look at and know who they are. With Isabel, you
have to spend time with her to get to know her. As the book went on, I learned
more about Isabel and I realized she was a hard character to read. This was
refreshing because it caused me to think about her and the way she dealt with
her problems.
Isabel is a tough
character who faces many challenges. The way she deals with them shows me what
kind of person she is and how she reacts to certain situations. Isabel was one
of my favorite characters in this book. I’m glad the author chose to write part
of the book in her perspective. Although I wonder if Isabel will continue to
develop into a new person in the last book of the series, called “Forever”.
