Obdicut posted:

Sure, but he still gets shot about a zillion times and survives, and is able to beat komodo dragons and sharks and stuff in hand-to-hand combat. Or he doesn't really do anything and just wanders around an island with people looking at him funny.

To put it another way: Unreliable narrator is only a useful narrative device if you've got some counterpoint that shows reality, otherwise it's just 'Well, anything could be happening!" Even then it's an iffy device, 'cuz a lot of people are going to come away with the obvious meaning, like Wolf of Wall Street.



They're not the same conversation and they are not exclusive of each other.