Apologies, I missed this when initially posted and regret it. An illuminating and touching read which puts the book into context. Reading about her affliction brought me to tears at this point:

> At times, she said, bright sunshine has felt “like an oppression, a weight leaning on me”; she often retreats to a darkened room. In the late two-thousands, when her illness was at its worst, she was unable to get out of bed, experiencing depression, social anxiety, and agoraphobia.

Thanks for sharing the article, it resonates with me immensely. I went through similar hypersensitivity issues due to a car accident and brain injury, and still deal with some of that fallout. Knowing this background about Clarke makes the protagonist's perspective at the end even more meaningful to me.