Veronica

11/13/08

In the novel Veronica, Gaitskill appears to focus less on an actual plot but instead on the friendship between the main character Alison and her now deceased friend Veronica. Although I have only read a few chapters into the book I realize that Alison and Veronica were good friends, but I question the nature of their friendship. Alison talks a lot about how she is no longer a model and has Hepatitis and a lousy arm, but says she is thankful that she does not have a young, attractive friend who says she just needs to love herself. Now that Alison is no longer so focused on herself as being a model and has health problems, she undoubtedly feels bad for patronising Veronica during her struggle with AIDS. It seems to me that Gaitskill portrays Alison doing what seems typical of attractive, egotistical people; having friends around who are ugly or have problems so that they can make themselves feel less shallow. Unfortunately, most people, attractive or not, have a habit of keeping people around who have in their minds "problems" so that they can feel better about themselves. The reason Alison thinks about Veronica so much is that she is now in Veronica's shoes and probably wishes she would have been a better friend.