The Ceiling was a very fascinating and disturbing story in which author Kevin Brockmeier brilliantly presents a strange story of a falling mirror coming to squish the characters of the story. There is so much symbolism and representation, and the deepness of the story is amazing, it seems it is much more than it seems. The more one looks at the story, and thinks about it, the more different sides are portrayed and the more interesting and profound the discoveries are. That is another strength of this story. It is so multi-dimensional and gives everyone a chance to connect and relate to it in some way or another. The more the reader leaves their mind open, the deeper and deeper they will delve into the genius of this story. It really is a luminous story that any reader will fall into the greatness of this story. So I will try to explain what I got out of this story and why I think the author wrote it.
First of all, after doing a little research on Kevin Brockmeier I discovered that there is practically nothing about the man. I found no insight into the creator of this story. Nothing. How is it that a man who wins a prestigious a prize as the O"Henry award doesn't get any attention whatsoever? What I was really interested in was how big a part his own life played in some of his literature. Did he use his own life for inspiration? But alas, I found nothing. So the man remains a mystery, and his reasons for writing remain unclear.
The story has one main character, the narrator, and three major role players, which include the wife, the son and the wife's lover. Each character, though not showing any emotion whatsoever, or knowing anything about them, has a richness and quality and sense that they are genuine in everything they are and do, much like real people. The author does this so well. Without knowing anything about these characters, we can identify and empathize with them, which is quite strange because they are all basically strangers to the reader.
