Sag Harbor: The End

            The ending of Sag Harbor left me wanting more. There were scenes I felt were unresolved and more from Ben’s life I wanted to understand. I also found myself wanting to know more about Ben’s sister’s life and her experiences in this household. Elena’s presence in the story kind of reminded me of Julia from BSG. Both older sisters act like mentors for their brothers since they went through similar experiences when they were young.

            Elena doesn’t have much of a presence in Sag Harbor, but she left a deep impression on me in the last couple chapters of the novel. When she was telling Benji to get into a good college so he could get out of this house I felt that, just like Julia, she had a story to tell too. Her appearance left me wondering how she was able to escape and her feelings about her parents. When Sag Harbor ended I wanted to see more interaction between Elena and Benji like how Jason and Julia bonded at the end of BSG. Elena’s presence was like a look into Benji’s future and what he might end up like. I think this was important because we don’t get that much information on what happens to Benji after that summer in Sag. The ending left me wondering what happened between Benji and his dad and if he was able to escape like his sister. Another detail that added to the air of uncertainty the novel brought was Benji’s reliability. Benji asking whether or not everything was real makes the reader wonder if this story was an idealization of his past and what happened after that summer to cause Benji to idealize it. The ending of Sag Harbor made me want to reread the book knowing that Benji’s narration might not be accurate or true. I think rereading it would lead to a lot of different interpretations of events that happened earlier and also the meaning of certain characters like Elena.