Bourne

I felt like this novel dealt a lot with the concept of self, identity, and the changing of such. There's a great deal of fantastical, supernatural, and metaphorical imagery in this novel, and although like A Wild Sheep Chase, this novel liked to ride a bit on the ambiguous and weird, unlike AWSC, Bourne also focused a lot on the emotional relationships and changes between the characters. Change seems very prevalent in this novel, which takes place in an ecologically barren futuristic city that is terrorized by a giant flying bear named Mord. When the protagonist Rachel first discovers Bourne in Mords fur, she takes on a role liken to motherhood, wanting to care for Bourne and keep him safe, and Bourne seems to have the mentality close to that of a child, not seeing death as a bad thing, and at first existing in a very black and white mentality as he begins to learn. Its through Bournes learning and changing, which eventually becomes literal as he learns to shapeshift into Rachel and her boyfriend Wic, acting as them to one another without their knowledge. Likewise, Rachel has to undergo change, as she goes from wanting to nurture and care for Bourne, to having to let him go. The concept of change can even be reflected in Mord, whom is implied to have been a human at some point before changing into the beast he is in the novel. From what I gathered, the concept of the weird in this story seems to revolve around metaphorical oddity that tells a well rounded and in depth story concerning human nature and the idea of self-identity and change through unconventional characters, settings, and situations.