The Garden of the Forking Paths was a compelling read. Being a fan of parallel universe/time-travelling fiction, I find that some elements in the story itself was confusing, however it was extremely fun and enticing towards the end.
Some actions of the main protagonist were bizarre, action such as killing Doctor Albert. It was strange to think that killing his friend Albert would be the best option to reveal the location of the artillery park. However, it would make sense if all the other possible decisions converge and occur simultaneously in this scenario.
The more logical actions would be having Tsun going to Albert’s house as a friend, chatting about Ts’ui Pen’s novel and labyrinth, with Albert alive at the end and providing a shelter for Tsun to hide.
In the second scenario, Tsun could have come to Albert’s house as an enemy after seeing the similarities of his friend’s name and the name of the artillery park, killed Albert without a single conversation and succeeded in revealing the location of the artillery park through the media.
However, in the story itself, Tsun came to Albert’s house as both an enemy and a friend, after exhausting all the possible option to reveal the location of the artillery park, killing his friend who had the same name as the park itself was the only way to achieve the goal. It was funny how the outcome was the combination of the two most logical actions for Tsun to execute and it would further emphasis on the theme of infinite possibility the narrative brings up.
I really enjoyed the narrative elements in The Garden of the Forking Paths, even when the actions of the protagonist were strange at times. The lack of logic in the narratives further invokes the audience to think of a possible outcome and timeline of the narration.