I found this work to be the most interesting one that I’ve seen so far. It seemed strange to me at first that the pacing was so slow, but then it made sense- the few words revealed upon the clicks did tend to complement the photos on the site. It surprised me that there are actually relatively few words in the narrative- it seemed much longer than it actually is, due to how it’s split up. The images on the site look very morbid, formal and creepy. The all black-and-white motif was a special touch.
I enjoyed reading the narrative, and determining the plot of the story by clicking through. It was akin to overhearing a phone conversation- including the parts where you wish that you could hear the other person in order to better understand. I’m thinking about the “tiger” part here… that was the only part of the work that stumped me. The girl seems relatively young, but of dating age. I got the feeling that she was being supervised in a fashion- “After dinner, they left us alone”, with “they” being her parents or guardians. It seemed ironic to me. She is only left alone when in the safe company of yet another guardian; in this case, her boyfriend. The tone that the conversation takes seems to be quite topical and shallow at times- she asks if he likes her dress (at least I hope she’s the one saying that part- if not, the war had a greater impact than anticipated) and is giddily excited for their wedding after he proposes. The part that intrigued me the most was the part that may have addressed infidelity (“He was my neighbor/ it was only once/ forgive me). There seems to be much depth to the relationship presented here: guilt and defensiveness play right along with faux-joy and confusion.
Plot was what drove me to click through “My Boyfriend Came Back From The War” more than once. While I enjoyed the photos, it was the plot narrative as well as guessing which dialogue parts were missing that made the piece fascinating.