Plot spoilers below for anyone still waiting for their albums and whatnot...
Well, as for the story of the "old" lady, she's not actually old. She disappears for many many years but when she returns she's still 28, even though she was born 104 years ago. Which leads me to my next point...
Why is nobody addressing the weird, potentially paranormal shit going on in this woman's life? She is being visited by unnamed beings and is talking about going somewhere with them. I suppose these could be hallucinations that come from isolating herself, buuut a lot of the signs point to maybe not. I mean, she wrote a diary entry as a teen that mentioned some weird related shit (a mysterious girl talked to her about how she can come back if she wants to, etc., and her sister told her not to mention it to anybody), and there's a copy of the weird "Key of Skeleton" book that was supposedly given to her by "them" in the deluxe edition. Sure, things are a bit ambiguous but I don't understand how people can just be saying "she reenters society" or "she dies" with all of this other crap on the table.
Anyway, I've listened twice so far and it's gorgeous, but it's going to take some further absorption.
Nonono, the way I read it is she returns as a 104 year old women, but dies age 28 cause that was her age when she disappeared. She only had 28 years of life as a regular person. But I do have to say that the way I read it, the years don't add up. So there could be something to say about your view.
Well, the 'aliens' are hallucinations. I don't see SW writing about paranormal or even extra terrestrial beings. I think she saw things, and even drew things while under the influence of hallucinations. But your point remains, this wouldn't be in the deluxe edition if it had no influence on the story. So maybe it's a key to understanding her disappearance better, I just don't hope SW comes out and says: 'well my idea was that she was abducted by green marsians'
Well first, I'm not sure I'd agree that SW wouldn't write about paranormal or extraterrestrial stuff when his last album was all ghost stories
Anyway, a few other points I want to make, first regarding Lena Springer.
The end of the entry for 28 March 2013 says:
Reports were made by the family and an investigation was undertaken by authorities, but no trace of his missing aunt ever surfaced. The year was 1876. Lena Springer was 28.
Herr Springer was able to produce an old family photograph of his mother with his aunt Lena. It was the exact likeness of the woman killed on the busy Vienna street.
Lena Springer died 104 years after her birth, at the age of 28.
I think that last line is pretty self-explanatory. She was born 104 years ago, but she was 28 when she reappeared/died. Also, if she came back as an old lady she would not have looked exactly like the photograph, which had to have been taken before she went missing. Ya dig?
Anyway, I'm willing to accept that she
could be having hallucinations, but I don't have enough reason to fully buy that idea.
Regarding the isolation thing... It's not like she has completely disappeared from society for years. There are entries in the blog where she talks about going out, like to a party and a bar. There are periods where she says she hasn't talked to anybody in a while, but she's still talking about going to work as of April 2014. So no, I don't really buy that it's just "she's totally isolated and then reenters society." It doesn't add up.
Sure, all this talk about being "ready to go" could be killing herself because the voices say so, but again it doesn't really add up for me. One of the major reasons? The entry from 12 January 2015: if she's totally just out of her mind and making this all up, how the fuck does that photo exist? That legitimately creeps me out and I can't think of a logical explanation for it that doesn't involve actual "visitors" who are watching the two girls.
I'm sure I'll have more opinions on this the more I read through the book