Bonus Blog: Desire Me (by Sam Cooke) ~Ashlyn Scism

 This whole novel was like a sad fever dream. What really captured my attention was the characters and their sense of purpose. I want to talk specifically about Raymond Rambert. His journey reminds me of T.S. Elliot’s Cocktail Party. The parallel is between Celia and Rambert. Both characters start out as hopeless romantics. In both stories, they are rudely thrust back into reality. This acts as a sort of awakening to their “true purpose”.

Rambert was a French journalist full of dreams of his wife and the life they will have when he returns to Paris. Unfortunately, the plague strikes, and the whole city is placed under lockdown. Refusing to give up on his dreams at first he plans an escape. However, this escape plan never comes to fruition. Slowly, Rambert finds his place in the community helping where he can. He decided to stay and fulfill a different purpose.

Celia is head-over-heels in love with Edward— Or so she thinks. She agreed to the affair with a married man because she was convinced he loved her. When it is revealed that he maintains some strange affection for his estranged wife, her fantasy is shattered. She realizes that her hopes that Edward would eventually marry her are naïve. The next morning she has come to terms with the new reality. So she decides to find Nuer purpose elsewhere. She moved to California and it is later discovered that she became a missionary. She ends up dying a martyr fulfilling the ultimate religious act.