I think that we can make strong connections between the Powerbook and ELIC. In general, both characters, Oskar and Ali are looking for someone or something. All these things that they find on the search, whether throughout the boroughs of New York or across the internet, come up as useless; not the “buried treasure” they would have hoped (PB, 73). However, both Oskar and Ali are looking for “meaning inside the data” and as Ali says, “looking for you, looking for me, trying to see through the disguise” (PB, 74). While they are trying to look for a certain someone, they both disguise part of the journey to find themselves and their identity.
Another cool connection I made was just how alone both Oskar and Ali feel. They both feel as though nobody can relate to their struggles; that there is no one who will even listen…
It will be interesting to see if that someone comes along in the PB to fill that role… we shall see :]
