Let the Right One In has seems to be a pretty big departure from what we've read so far in this class. While some of the themes seem to be similar to other stories that we've read, they are dealt with in a much different way. One example of this was the idea of sexual taboo that was found in some of the other stories that we've read. While we have seen stories that have dealt with the sexual desire between man and woman, woman and woman, and man and man, Let the Right One In introduces us to the idea of the desire between an aging man and a young child.
In other stories that we read, such as Dracula, I felt as though the sexual element of the novel was sort of subtle and was usually hinted at rather than directly discussed. While this was enough to make people uneasy at the time of Dracula's release, it was difficult to understand why (considering how different modern society is from Victorian society). However, Let the Right One In seemed to maybe "modernize" this concept of taboo, giving it a form that makes even modern audiences extremely uneasy.
This kind of dark uneasiness carries on throughout the novel. The characters were really interesting in their own way, as well. While there were many interesting characters and relationships throughout the novel, I found the relationship between Oskar and Eli to be the most interesting. It seems as though they are drawn to eachother because they are both outcasts, and neither of them are what they initially seem to be. Not only is Eli not just your average friendly neighborhood girl, she isn't a girl at all, and she's also a vampire. Oskar, on the other hand, is a small boy who gets bullied a lot, but beneath the surface is a dark and violent side that he usually keeps to himself. It was interesting to see the way that they depended on each other.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was a lot weirder than some of the stories that we've read, which was very hard to get used to at first, but it ended up making the story something really unique and unlike anything I've read before.
I agree with your post. This is definitely a different theme then what we are use to reading. Granted there is a vampire in this story but that almost seems to take a back burner for me. There is a lot of story going on within this book. Hakan being a pedophile and Oskar with his being bullied and his fatasies of being a killer. It also has ties of companionship that is needed by both Hakan and Oskar and Eli fills that void in both of them. This novel definitely is very dark and completely different then just dealing with vampires and their lives. It seems like we are viewing the vampire through the eyes of or stories of the people around her.
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