Reversal (Camren/Norminah)

Author's Note: Thank You :)

Hi friends,

This isn't an update or an epilogue, I just wanted to pop by and make a masterlist of points that I thought might help any future readers, or you lovelies who made it through Reversal with me understand what was happening in my head. It's confusing and frustrating, but like I said it's one of those things that really rewards you for reading slowly. Now if you're anything like me, and dislike reading slowly this might help. (Also if you're like me and tend to skip to the end of a completed book to read the last line like a killjoy, this'll be gold.)

I'm going to go chronologically. If you have any questions, please ask them. I don't bite. :) (Most of the time.)

***

It's pretty obvious, but Begin Again refers to Camila's need to quite literally begin again.

Camila is your typical angsty teen ass-wipe. There's no real way to sugar coat that, she's a giant dick that doesn't like talking about her problems and thinks running away is a better fix than confrontation.

The whole idea of "a world where everyone is the same" comes from her broken family. She's a suffering writer that believes peace can come from uniformity.

Shawn's the nerdy best friend who cares about her too much and hides his feelings.

Dinah's the unique go-getter who insists Camila has a gift for literature.

The first time Lauren's wrists burn happens when the first semblance of a "reversal" shows up, which happen to be the sun and moon paintings.

Lauren shows off her power for the first time in Ch.3 during the car accident, then again in Ch. 16 when they break into the hotel and 18 when she loses her trust for the night. Both times happen to be moments when she's particularly emotionally invested in Camila.

Lauren is the reason why Shawn ends up confessing his feelings to Camila after years of staying quiet and shy.

Camila's "assholery" continues to be a result of losing the people she loves.

Camila's journal entries (which are fire by the way) outline the seven stages of grief. Yes, I recognize there are typically only five in the traditional Kubler-Ross Model, but I added "shock" and "testing" in because shock in particular was pretty important. The stages are: Shock, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Testing, Acceptance.

Just to break it down real quick:

- Shock: Discussion about lightning and electricity
- Denial: Skeptics and their power to dispute science
- Anger: The dark as fuck iSpy poem that I pulled out of my ass
- Bargaining: The ignorance of those locked in the past
- Depression: The seahorse genus - Hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that is associated with shrinkage for individuals suffering from depression
- Testing: Life is about making mistakes, dreaming big and widowing down to more realistic expectations
- Acceptance: The passage about the push and pull of the ties in the last chapter

The last entry is the same as the first words of the book. The power and influence of Camila's memories and how they come back around by the end when she fights to remind Lauren of their time together.

Lauren doesn't drag Camila back the way Shawn happens to, or gives her advice like Dinah. She tends to just accept the girl's attitude and mannerisms. I think the sex helps a little with her very mature sense of patience.

By Ch.16, the girls have officially found a sense of home in each other. It's easy to assume the burn is because of love, but I insisted this was more than a love story. :)