Since my last post about Sophie's World, much has chanced. Sophie has changed from a confused girl with a crappy friend to a confused girl with a crappy friend who breaks into old cabins, steals mail, leaves, and then comes back with friends to steal more mail and a [magic] mirror.
There are also hints that a UN officer in Lebanon is controlling Sophie's life and is chasing her philosophy teacher around the barren winterlands of Norway.
Regardless of this suddenly1 darker plot, Sophie has continued to get philosophy work from the Philosopher (who is now the Hermit Formerly Known as Philosopher. Or Alberto, as his dog calls him). She has learned about cynics and saints, stoics and fallen empires, Jews and Buddhists. Summer and frost-giants2. She also learned that sneaking off at 6:45 in the morning to walk to an abandoned church, miles away, is a good idea.
Based on the facts that this class has done nothing but freak out Sophie, piss off and/or worry her mother, alienate Sophie from her friend3, and cause to Sophie to sneak out of her house/randomly break into buildings, I really need to question how good an idea it was for Sophie to get tangled in this course/world domination conflict. Her teacher just seems kind of off. In one letter, he scolds her looking out her window to see who has been leaving her anonymous letters (I'd say it's pretty normal to try and quickly solve that mystery) and says she must never disobey him,4 and later, on the phone says they suddenly have to meet in person. Now, I doubt he's gonna be some crazy kidnapper (that would completely destroy the atmosphere built in this book, and cause such a mood whiplash that the book might just end), but I have to wonder why Sophie doesn't get even slightly worried.5
Also, I was skimming through the book, trying to find my page, and found a page where Hermit is giving her drinks, and then there is mention of her vision changing. I don't have the context for that passage, but seriously. Why. Does. Sophie. Trust. Him? Unless this is some proto-Matrix red-pill/blue-pill kind of metaphor, I'm gonna be freaked out when I get to that part of the book.
So yeah, the book has actually drawn me in with those oddities. Despite the fact that the book has kind of turned into 20% novel, 80% condensed philosophy textbook, I'm still engaged, and hope the rest of the book is this interesting.6
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1 Well, not suddenly. This happened over about a quarter of the book. As opposed to the previous post, which covered two chapters. I guess this actually a decent pace for the plot.
2 The fact that those last 2 sentences are true makes me love this book even more.
3 You might have noticed that I'm keeping that singular. I'm doing that because it has only been implied she has other friends. So far, the only people shown to exist are Sophie, Sophie's Mom, Joanna, a dog, a beret wearing hermit, and one of Sophie's school teachers. Norway seems like a very lonely place.
4 He criticizes her for being curious. He then goes on to talk about how living without exploring your world is a horrible way to live, and says she must be curious. I'm getting some very mixed messages from this guy...
5 I don't know when the term "stranger danger" first popped up, but even without mnemonics, it should be easy to tell that his guy could be trouble.
6 That statement is true, but also shows about a fifth the kind of mood whiplash I'd expect from this turning into a kidnapping story.
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