Thematic work in books—that's my main reason for reading: to expand my thinking, to be surprised by new ideas. Yet it always fascinates me how the theme that resonates most strongly with me, or the one I choose to focus on, is not necessarily the one that stands out to someone else.

Take my current read, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Much of the online commentary centres on the book's treatment of gender or on its linguistic peculiarities—the latter being how it was first recommended to me. But regardless of my love for exploring language, I find myself drawn instead to the book’s themes of fragmented identity.

Even though Breq (the narrator) is an AI, it seems they have constructed a self through the narrative of their own existence—much as Jean-Paul Sartre argued that existence precedes essence. However, at least where I am in the novel (roughly 35% in), Strigan does not seem to accept that self, given a quaint conversation about "restoring" Breq.

It makes me wonder whether Breq can be read—thematically, metaphorically—as a way of thinking about the self more generally.

Will see, it may be too early to say.