This is one of the problems of the form, I guess, isn't it? In conventional terms, it has to offer resolution. But the real-life journey and issues it indirectly expresses quite possibly don't suggest that any such resolution exists. The writer can't leave their readers eternally stranded and bewildered, and yet they themselves remain stranded and bewildered.

And so the ending to the novel may ultimately feel false or contrived.

A fantastic piece, Anna. Thank you.