The Enchanted Greenhouse

“He reminded Terlu of a hermit crab, the kind that used to swarm the beaches of her home island—his gnarled body tucked inside his ornate outer shell, with only his claws exposed. […] If the judge was a hermit crab, then she was an oyster, extracted from her shell, splayed open and exposed to the elements.”

The metaphor comparing the judge to a hermit crab reflects the official’s hostility toward Terlu while the metaphor likening the protagonist to an oyster underscores the precarity of her position as she awaits her sentence. Durst’s use of precise adjectives like “extracted” and “exposed” further emphasizes Terlu’s vulnerability and adds to the tense, melancholy mood of the novel’s opening scene.

“Around her, the courtroom erupted into shouting. Rijes Velk stormed toward the dais, while Terlu sank deeper into her chair and hugged her arms around herself. It was only when the judge demanded silence that she realized she was screaming like a dying rabbit.”

The simile comparing Terlu’s screams to the sounds made by “a dying rabbit” illustrates the main character’s fear and despair after the judge decrees her sentence. The fact that rabbits are small prey animals and the specification that she sounds like a “dying” creature indicate that she has no hope of escape from the draconic judgment.

“She dreamed sometimes, or almost dreamed, since it was never true sleep. Statues can’t sleep. In her favorite dream, she was standing in sunlight, listening to music. Ahh, music! And she was tasting a pastry. Or tasting a kiss. And there were people all around her, voices and laughter that were the most beautiful music. All around her, it smelled like roses. But the dream never lasted, and then once again there was nothing, nothing, nothing.”

The author fills the passage with descriptions that appeal to multiple senses, such as the auditory imagery of “voices and laughter” and “the most beautiful music.” These vivid sensory details emphasize Terlu’s isolation and yearning because she’s cut off from the outside world during her time as a statue. The