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Not really a review - just organizing my thoughts after having just read this terrific story...

The details and voice in this story are so striking & strong that I thought I was reading a memoir.

Summary: Adult Andy remembers the downfall of his family that began in earnest when he was 12. Boy Andy loses himself in a richly-developed alternate world, while blacking out and wiping out memories of the real one. Boy Andy becomes obsessed with a stranger-come-to-town - a "Dreadful Double"/ghost-of-Christmas-future character who takes up residence in the boy's old secret hiding place. What will become of Andy?

Themes: Identity formation & reinvention; Memory; Imagination; Doppelgängers; Fate; Family; Fear of becoming one's parents; Siblings; Childhood Ego Defense; Secret Identities; Outsiders

Function of Characters:

Brother: His existence lends the reader side-access into Andy's childhood - very important as Andy is quite unreliable and has large chunks missing from his memory. Of course the brother may be unreliable as well - Andy sure thinks he is - but his presence adds a layer of complexity and access that would otherwise be missing. It also rings very true that siblings would experience & remember different upbringings.

Wife: Andy's wife functions somewhat as a stand-in for the reader. Being a stand-in, she easily acts as a role-model for how the reader might choose to react to Andy, setting a tone sympathy and acceptance. This is important, as Andy is strange, disconnected from reality, and did some objectively awful things as a child (such as torturing cats, stealing, and spying). She reacts as many readers would to the things Andy says, therefore we don't have to be distracted with our own struggles against such a complex, complicated character. She guides the reader toward a sympathetic, take-him-as-he-is approach toward Andy. As a no-nonesense straight-man, she serves as a counterbalance to her unmoored husband.

"Dreadful Double": DD functions as a ghost-of-Christmas future, filling young Andy with dread over who he might become. DD is a blend of Andy's parents (drunk, sneering, distant, cruel) and also parts of Andy himself (alone, weird, outsider) - a man whom Andy clearly does not want to become, yet fears becoming. Yet Andy also seems intrigued by the man, having an "empty longing" for and "eager dread" of him after he disappears. DD also adds a mysterious, magical element to the story, as he is so odd & we also can never quite be sure of the veracity of what Andy reports to us.

Open Questions / Areas to Explore:

Are Andy's wife and daughters real? They certainly could function as real, but also could easily be Adult-Andy's fantasy family. How did young Andy grow to secure himself such a lovely family with which to balance himself?

I can't quite nail the mixed feelings Andy seems to have for DD. I understand the fear of failing & becoming like DD as an adult. My take is that the reason DD hovers so strongly over Andy's memories of this time is because Andy is profoundly concerned with what type of man he'll become, and the danger of becoming sad & creepy DD is always there. But why the longing & eagerness?