"I think Malcolm is unreliable only in the sense that he's trapped in his own perspective and, partly as a result of his depression, not especially sensitive to the feelings of the other people around him (namely, the woman he's marrying). I think the clarity and the self-awareness with which he recounts the crisis, though, indicates that he's a fundamentally trustworthy narrator."
"It's December, 2020, the first year of the pandemic, and, in New York, the marriage bureaus are closed, so they decide to go upstate for the wedding. Exceptional circumstances open up narrative possibilities. I eloped in scenic Hillsdale, New York, in December, 2020, and though my experience was free of catatonic despair, cocaine, and unexpected sexual power plays-it was, in fact, unambiguously lovely-the strangeness of the situation and all of the logistical details struck me as good fiction material."
Malcolm and Violet decide to marry; Malcolm is a writer and Violet a physician. Malcolm experiences "a depression so deep" that he feels as if he is pretending to be himself. The narrator’s unreliability arises from being confined to his own perspective and, partly due to depression, from limited sensitivity to others’ feelings. The narrator retains clarity and self-awareness, which supports overall trustworthiness despite occasional dramatic self-diagnosis. The wedding takes place in December 2020, when New York marriage bureaus are closed, prompting an upstate elopement. The post-lockdown strangeness, logistical oddities, ambiguous etiquette, and intense intimacy-driven emotions shape the emotional trajectory.
Read at The New Yorker
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