After reading the first sixty pages of “A Head Full of Ghosts,” I immediately thought of our conversation about postmodern horror. Specifically, I thought about the fourth element that defines postmodern horror, namely, that there is no narrative closure and ambiguity. From the opening chapter, it is clear that the protagonist Merry will be recalling a story from her past, a story from fifteen years ago. This gap between her current memories and her eight-year-old memories make me suspect that she will be an unreliable narrator.
My suspicions began to grow when in the second chapter there is a blog post about the reality TV show, “The Possession,” which is based on the exorcism that took place in her home. The blog makes it clear that the show was popular and interesting enough that someone would want to write about it. Where there is one blog there are usually a hundred more. This means that there are multiple perspectives on what happened during that time that probably influenced Merry’s memories and thoughts on that time making her account even more unreliable. She even confesses that she consumes a lot of media and they, plus her nightmares, mix with her memories of that time jumbling them (13).
Finally, when Merry starts to recall her childhood and we are introduced to Marjorie, the cause of all their trouble, it is clear to me that Merry looks up to her sister a lot. She puts up with her stories, teasing and mood swings. My worry is that Merry’s affection for her sister will cause her to leave certain details out of her story because she wants to remember Marjorie how she wants and not how she actually was. Merry’s unreliability as a narrator leads me to believe that we may never know the full truth of what happened during that time and we will be left with an ambiguous ending to a complex story. Nevertheless, Merry is the best person to ask since she was physically there when it all went down; so unreliable or not, we have to trust her.