Response to reading/brainstorming for narrative

After reading the entire novel, I have to say, I was not expecting it to end the way it did.  I thought that she was going to encounter her real father and not ever see her mother again.  I was very surprised.  I really enjoyed reading this novel but I was not satisfied by its ending.  I longed for more pages.  How could she just end the book by stating that she was to have a new life?  I was concerned as to how she was to accomplish this and forget her past and keep it from her husband.  She basically did what her ex-fiance did to her.  She hides what she knows from her husband.  I wonder how she was psychologically stable enough to have a seemingly "normal" life after all that she has been through.  

She tries to find her real dad after discovering that the man that was taking care of her her whole life had not been her biological father.  Her real father was somewhere in the world and she set out to find him.  She completely leaves the life she had behind her and focuses on her one objective.  She ends up finding a lot more about not only her mother who had left her at age fourteen but a lot more about herself.  She was able to leave everything just like her mother. 

I was very disappointed and disturbed when after miles and miles of endless travel, she encountered her careless mother.  Her mother was angry that her daughter had found her and was very inconsiderate of her.  How could someone be so cruel to their daughter?   She first leaves her and doesn't talk to her after years and years of her life and finally when they encounter each other, her mother doesn't even care about her daughter's existence. There must have been some serious psychological issues between the genes of this family.  Clarissa's mother is very dysfunctional and seems to have given this gene to her daughter.

For my narrative, I am currently brainstorming on several different ideas on which I could write about.  One option is to research more about the Samis and their lifestyle.  I would incorporate parts of the novel in order to give a better understanding about the novel and where it is taking place.  I would have a clearer picture in my mind of what was happening and where.  I would be able to eliminate gaps or borders that have blocked me from understanding the culture.  For example, I would like to learn more about the reindeer and the importance.  I found it interesting that it was rude for a person to ask a Sami how many reindeer they had.  It was like asking a person how much money they have.  

Another option is to analyze a particular character.  I feel like I would like to analyze Clarissa's mother.  I am very interested in her psychological flaws and would like to further investigate how Clarissa is effected by this. I am very interested in psychology and throughout reading this novel,  I have been constantly attempting to figure out the psychology within each character.  Each one has a particular flaw, some have more than others but the mother's character was exceptionally peculiar.  I was thinking of possibly writing a paper on the psychology of the characters.

Another possibility is to do a close reading on a passage or a few passages.  While doing so in class, I found it interesting.  We discovered some foreshadowing that I wouldn't have otherwise discovered.  We also found different sentences that had multiple meanings.  It would be interesting to get a better idea of this novel and really dig into its meaning.