Line #8 Literature/Schroder


1	[[quoteright:228:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f2cf871c9154a05c872c3a057cf31a18.jpg]]
2	''Schroder: A Novel'' is a 2013 novel by Amity Gaige. The plot focuses on Eric Schroder, an East German immigrant who creates a fictional identity (Eric Kennedy) as a young child when he applies to a summer camp. He continues to go by this name (as well as using a fictional back story) for several years. Along the way he marries a woman named Laura and has a child. His marriage eventually disintegrates and he struggles to maintain his life as well as his relationship with his six-year-old daughter, Meadow. During a parental visit, he flees home and takes her with him on a road trip through New England.
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4	!!''Schroder'' provides examples of:
5	* BilingualBonus: The novel features repeated uses of the German language (mostly because it is Eric’s first language) A few of the lines are left totally untranslated.
6	* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Eric takes Meadow to meet his father. She has an asthma attack before it can happen and later finds out that his father has been dead for a couple years.]]
7	* DrowningMySorrows: Eric engages in this at multiple points after he separates from Laura.
8	* FatherIWantToMarryMyBrother: At one point Meadow tells her father, Eric, that she wants to marry him when she grows up.
9	* FramingDevice: The story is gradually revealed to be [[spoiler: a letter that Eric is writing to his wife, Laura.]]
10	* FromTheMouthsOfBabes: Meadow occasionally says profound things and has a surprisingly large vocabulary for a six-year-old. The fact that it is pulled off at least somewhat believably can be partially attributed to the fact that [[WriteWhatYouKnow some of the dialogue was based off of things that the author's son actually said.]]
11	* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler: “I let you down. I let you down. I let you down….”]]
12	* PaintingTheMedium: At one point in the book [[spoiler: the phrase “I let you down” is [[BrokenRecord repeated for three whole pages.]]]]
13	* ParentsAsPeople: Played straight with Eric and Laura. Both try their best to take care of Meadow, but are both shown to have their own problems. Eric's relationship with Meadow is shown to be loving and well meaning despite the fact it is dysfunctional.
14	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Eric is prone to using complex and several syllable words. It even rubs off on his daughter, Meadow. [[spoiler: This is later deconstructed when Laura becomes frustrated with this habit, telling him that it makes him sound extremely aloof and self-important.]]
15	* SexForSolace: This is a major motivation for Eric sleeping with April.
16	* SpiritualSuccessor: The novel has been often compared to being in the style of Literature/{{Lolita}} (sans the pedophilia).
17	* UnreliableNarrator: A downplayed example. The entire story is recounted to the audience by the protagonist after the fact so [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation the reader could easily question whether he is being entirely honest about what happened.]]

Context Literature / Schroder