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Kat writes -
Kara Mae Brown's first description of Bath drew me into the city. Never having visited there myself, I felt compelled by this mysterious "coy city" that "pried through the fog." Although I enjoyed the immediate description for both its ability to draw me into the story and for its vivid, lush language, it wasn't until I was introduced to the character of Greg that I fully appreciated this opening image. Brown juxtaposes the coy nature of the city with the coy nature of Greg. Both are foreign, yet alluring and familiar. The narrator's first glance of Greg is very much like her first glance of the city. This circular motion of the prose (which is later repeated at the end of the piece) painted the city as a romantic yet troubling place, a place that one can never fully understand. And, like love and crushes and ourselves, we too can never fully understand.
This piece isn't just about Bath or Greg. It isn't just a travel piece, nor is it merely a love story. It is the story of young girl struggling to find herself, and she does, if only for a moment, as she watches a man from the arched doorway, entranced by the light of Bath--the same light of Jane Austin, the same light of the Romans--and she learns to grow up, just a bit. She learns to let go. These complex emotions, coupled with the beautiful descriptions and narrative scenes, make Bath and this young woman's story particularly alluring.
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