So Ed. I feel bad leaving you behind with the likes of the Drinkwaters and the Mouses, but it's finally come to that. Please report to us whether you also gave up on the book. Better yet, maybe you'll continue reading, the book will finally click for you, and you can tell us what it was all about.
I feel pretty good about my 245-page investment of time. Larry has said a couple of times that he feels bad having guided us to this book but I think he must stop that. If we continue reading as a group (boy is that an overstatement) each of us may go through the same thing. Even worse, we're going to come across a book that one of us hates and another one loves. Or maybe that's better for a book discussion blog.
Pam
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
230 - 240
I must grudgingly admit that when confined to 10 pages I can find some interesting things in this book. The musings on the joys of reading and books (pp 230-231) are nice. The book Auberon shows to his dad ("is this book true?") seems like it may touch on a significant piece of this story: that someone has written down the story of this family in advance.
I get that 2 of Lilac's great grandparents were brother and sister and therefore some people, Daily Alice for example, are somewhat embarrassed about this intermarriage, if that's the right word. But why does Auberon act like Lilac is an imaginary friend? Maybe there are 2 Lilacs: one real, one imaginary?
And is Momdy another name for Sophie Dale? (probably something else I missed in my half-assed reading).
What does this mean?
Parturient montes et nascetur ridiculus mus.
The passages about Smoky and Daily Alice passing the time (bottom of page 240) are nice.
This may be it for me.... I gave it good try, found it worth my time, but that time is running out.
Pam
I get that 2 of Lilac's great grandparents were brother and sister and therefore some people, Daily Alice for example, are somewhat embarrassed about this intermarriage, if that's the right word. But why does Auberon act like Lilac is an imaginary friend? Maybe there are 2 Lilacs: one real, one imaginary?
And is Momdy another name for Sophie Dale? (probably something else I missed in my half-assed reading).
What does this mean?
Parturient montes et nascetur ridiculus mus.
The passages about Smoky and Daily Alice passing the time (bottom of page 240) are nice.
This may be it for me.... I gave it good try, found it worth my time, but that time is running out.
Pam
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Genre
From wikipedia:
Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting. The genre is usually associated with the overall look, feel and themes of the European Middle Ages (including architecture, dress and technology), while the actual setting is often a fictional plane or planet where magic and magical beings are commonplace.
Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of technological and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three (collectively known as speculative fiction).
The characters in Little,Big continue to stay vague to me, and apparently if I can’t describe what a character is like (“character A was in her mid-30s living in New York in the 1930s and blah blah blah”) then I can’t find a reason to keep reading. Am I being narrow in my inability to find the rhythm of a fantasy? Lots of books move back and forth in time and place, but this novel seems excessive in that regard. I wish I just bounce along easily, reading a few pages about one slightly “off” character followed by another. A great deal of the writing is nice.
I’d like to pose some questions to the remaining reader(s), god knows a bunch of them pop up on every page, but I don’t care about the answers.
Here’s my new plan, developed as I sit here at the computer, 12:30 late Friday night, trying to find something worthwhile to say. I have arbitrarily picked page 230 (“It wasn’t until Auberon was past seven years old that….”) and read straight through for 10 pages. I’ll report back about those 10 days in my next post. Might be just another harangue.
We watched the movie Atonement tonight. Missed it at the theater. Very nice. So true to the book, which I like.
Pam
Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting. The genre is usually associated with the overall look, feel and themes of the European Middle Ages (including architecture, dress and technology), while the actual setting is often a fictional plane or planet where magic and magical beings are commonplace.
Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of technological and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three (collectively known as speculative fiction).
The characters in Little,Big continue to stay vague to me, and apparently if I can’t describe what a character is like (“character A was in her mid-30s living in New York in the 1930s and blah blah blah”) then I can’t find a reason to keep reading. Am I being narrow in my inability to find the rhythm of a fantasy? Lots of books move back and forth in time and place, but this novel seems excessive in that regard. I wish I just bounce along easily, reading a few pages about one slightly “off” character followed by another. A great deal of the writing is nice.
I’d like to pose some questions to the remaining reader(s), god knows a bunch of them pop up on every page, but I don’t care about the answers.
Here’s my new plan, developed as I sit here at the computer, 12:30 late Friday night, trying to find something worthwhile to say. I have arbitrarily picked page 230 (“It wasn’t until Auberon was past seven years old that….”) and read straight through for 10 pages. I’ll report back about those 10 days in my next post. Might be just another harangue.
We watched the movie Atonement tonight. Missed it at the theater. Very nice. So true to the book, which I like.
Pam
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Another view
Seriously folks. How about if we agree to make a final decision when we get to about p. 350.
As for me I'm skimming the annoying parts such as the Noisy Bridge Rod and Gun Club and Ariel Hawksquill. (BTW, Ariel is a Hebrew name that means "lion of God.") Instead I'm concentrating on the parts I'm enjoying like the story of Auberon coming to NYC. With all the people centered around Edgewood I was finding it claustrophobic. Someone had to leave.
I think what's bothering me (us?) is that we're halfway through the book (more or less) and we still can't figure out what's going to happen. Perhaps, like the gift-wrapped box in Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, that's what's going to happen. It's just a vehicle to tell a story.
ITMT, in addition to shades of Through the Looking Glass, Crowley has added possible nods to The Wind in the Willows and also Doctor Doolittle. We've also determined that George is known for his use of and generosity with his stash of hash. Other parts of the ambiguity have also become clearer.
Does this make it a tour de force? Let's try to reserve judgement until p. 350.
As for me personally I'm less enamored of his language now than I was 100 pp. ago. But there are still parts of the narrative that I'm enjoying. The development of Auberon is lovely -- esp when contrasted with Ariel Hawksquill. And the notion of this bizarre farm (commune?) in the Bronx. . .
I have this feeling that at some point we have to get over the hump. Maybe we will.
My thoughts for tonight. One last thing: Can we try to post a bit more regularly?
Ed
As for me I'm skimming the annoying parts such as the Noisy Bridge Rod and Gun Club and Ariel Hawksquill. (BTW, Ariel is a Hebrew name that means "lion of God.") Instead I'm concentrating on the parts I'm enjoying like the story of Auberon coming to NYC. With all the people centered around Edgewood I was finding it claustrophobic. Someone had to leave.
I think what's bothering me (us?) is that we're halfway through the book (more or less) and we still can't figure out what's going to happen. Perhaps, like the gift-wrapped box in Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, that's what's going to happen. It's just a vehicle to tell a story.
ITMT, in addition to shades of Through the Looking Glass, Crowley has added possible nods to The Wind in the Willows and also Doctor Doolittle. We've also determined that George is known for his use of and generosity with his stash of hash. Other parts of the ambiguity have also become clearer.
Does this make it a tour de force? Let's try to reserve judgement until p. 350.
As for me personally I'm less enamored of his language now than I was 100 pp. ago. But there are still parts of the narrative that I'm enjoying. The development of Auberon is lovely -- esp when contrasted with Ariel Hawksquill. And the notion of this bizarre farm (commune?) in the Bronx. . .
I have this feeling that at some point we have to get over the hump. Maybe we will.
My thoughts for tonight. One last thing: Can we try to post a bit more regularly?
Ed
I'm back at it.
I'm back to reading the novel. Eddie guilted me into it. We (he and I) agreed to read to page 350 (gasp) and then reassess. Join us if you will.
While I was shopping for fruit just now I had a thought: I'm going to stop thinking about plot and time and family structure. I have an inkling of some sociopolitical intrigue (maybe BladeRunner-ish?) coming up so that also makes me want to continue. I'm just starting book 2 on page 204.
Nesting Canada goose from the pond next door to our house.
Pam
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
"goats laughed and bewailed in the garden apartments and ate orts from claw-foot bathtubs."
I think it was that sentence that led me to say, finally, I give up, I just can't finish this book. Or maybe it was the introduction of the Noisy Bridge Rod and Gun Club. Or the Cosmo-Opticon.
I guess we can safely say that Little, Big is a fantasy, set roughly in the 20th century somewhere near New York City. The world inhabited by Smoky and his relatives, as well as some talking fish and highly literate mice (rodent-type mice), isn't governed by the same laws of time and space that we are familiar with. Maybe I simply don't have the kind of brain that can fully appreciate fantasies, but I just didn't find any charm in all this. I read some lyrical passages, but that wasn't enough for me to truly engage in the "story." And the quirkiness of the characters was enjoyable and sometimes entertaining but the hopping back and forth in time (am I right about that?) made it hard for me to know who these people are in relation to each other.
I don't think this is a bad book, but I know it's not giving me the kind of reward that well-written books or cleverly plotted books can offer.
I feel bad leaving Ed, and maybe Larry and Paula behind, but I'll read your comments with interest and maybe even chime in if I have something worthwhile to say. Meanwhile I plan to finish reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan (not just an interesting book but an important one that I highly recommend) and then I'll start The Book Thief.
Sorry guys, I gave it a good try but I'm 61 and the shelves are sagging with good books I want to read before the end.
Pam
I guess we can safely say that Little, Big is a fantasy, set roughly in the 20th century somewhere near New York City. The world inhabited by Smoky and his relatives, as well as some talking fish and highly literate mice (rodent-type mice), isn't governed by the same laws of time and space that we are familiar with. Maybe I simply don't have the kind of brain that can fully appreciate fantasies, but I just didn't find any charm in all this. I read some lyrical passages, but that wasn't enough for me to truly engage in the "story." And the quirkiness of the characters was enjoyable and sometimes entertaining but the hopping back and forth in time (am I right about that?) made it hard for me to know who these people are in relation to each other.
I don't think this is a bad book, but I know it's not giving me the kind of reward that well-written books or cleverly plotted books can offer.
I feel bad leaving Ed, and maybe Larry and Paula behind, but I'll read your comments with interest and maybe even chime in if I have something worthwhile to say. Meanwhile I plan to finish reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan (not just an interesting book but an important one that I highly recommend) and then I'll start The Book Thief.
Sorry guys, I gave it a good try but I'm 61 and the shelves are sagging with good books I want to read before the end.
Pam
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Website
I just found an interesting website about a special edition -- fancy one for $95 -- of Little, Big. There is an interview with Crowley who seems to be about as odd as his characters.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Dreams
pp. 153-154
She [Sophie] had always lived her best life in dreams. She knew no greater pleasure than that moment of passage into the other place, when her limbs grew warm and heavy and the sparkling darkness behind her lids became ordered and doors opened; when conscious thought grew owl's wings and talons and became other than conscious.
Starting from the simple pleasure of it, she had become practiced in all its nameless arts. The first thing was to learn to hear the small voice: that fragment of conscious self which like a guardian angel walks with the eidolons of self with which we replace ourselves in Dreamland, the voice that whispers you are dreaming. The trick was to hear it, but not attend to it, or else you wake. She learned to hear it; and it told her that she could not be hurt by dream wounds, no matter how terrible; she woke from them always whole and safe -- most safe because warm in bed. Since then she had feared no bad dreams; the dream Dante of her leaned on the dreaming Virgil and passed through horrors delightful and instructive.
This lyrical description continues (p. 154)
Don't you wish you could dream like that.
Some other comments:
When George Mouse shows up in Part III Crowley writes (p. 147) that he had taken 500 mg. of Pellucidar. Google this.
On p. 159:
One mouse late at night. I don't want to ruin this scene. For the author who is so particular about punctuation AND capitalization, I doubt that he mistakenly made this reference to George Mouse lower case. Especially considering it comes after the section about the Meadow Mouse (c + lc) trying to discover the secret of winter (from p. 129).
Names are obviously important and seem to represent more than just what characters are called.
Ed
She [Sophie] had always lived her best life in dreams. She knew no greater pleasure than that moment of passage into the other place, when her limbs grew warm and heavy and the sparkling darkness behind her lids became ordered and doors opened; when conscious thought grew owl's wings and talons and became other than conscious.
Starting from the simple pleasure of it, she had become practiced in all its nameless arts. The first thing was to learn to hear the small voice: that fragment of conscious self which like a guardian angel walks with the eidolons of self with which we replace ourselves in Dreamland, the voice that whispers you are dreaming. The trick was to hear it, but not attend to it, or else you wake. She learned to hear it; and it told her that she could not be hurt by dream wounds, no matter how terrible; she woke from them always whole and safe -- most safe because warm in bed. Since then she had feared no bad dreams; the dream Dante of her leaned on the dreaming Virgil and passed through horrors delightful and instructive.
This lyrical description continues (p. 154)
Don't you wish you could dream like that.
Some other comments:
When George Mouse shows up in Part III Crowley writes (p. 147) that he had taken 500 mg. of Pellucidar. Google this.
On p. 159:
One mouse late at night. I don't want to ruin this scene. For the author who is so particular about punctuation AND capitalization, I doubt that he mistakenly made this reference to George Mouse lower case. Especially considering it comes after the section about the Meadow Mouse (c + lc) trying to discover the secret of winter (from p. 129).
Names are obviously important and seem to represent more than just what characters are called.
Ed
Thursday, April 10, 2008
And the winner is . . .
The next book we plan to read is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It has been published in English and Hebrew. Take your pick. It's available from Amazon (in English). We plan to start reading it in mid-June.
Ed
Ed
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Stalled, but restarting.
A few days ago or more I stopped reading at page 114, for no particular reason. Other reading, and other stuff, interfered I guess. But tonight I will resume reading. At least that's the plan. Hope others are still engaged in the story and plowing ahead.
Pam
Pam
Sunday, April 6, 2008
What's going on
The family (really indistinguishable from the house) protects what is in the woods from people and vice versa.
Through the Looking Glass
I'm taking the dope metaphor one step further. To Through the Looking Glass.
Is this reminiscent of something you read a long time ago:
p. 108
. . . Over the water a kingfisher shot, laughing, iridescent in the sun, just above the evening which had already obscured the stream. I'm not mad, August thought.
p. 109
. . . August, fish in his creel, went to the bank and sat, waiting. The kingfisher had laughed at him, not at the world in general, he was sure of that, a sarcastic, vindictive laugh. Well, perhaps he was laughable. The fish was not seven inches long, hardly breakfast. So? Well? "If I had to live on fish," he said, "I'd grow a beak."
You shouldn't speak," said the kingfisher, "until you're spoken to. There are manners, you know."
"Sorry."
"First I speak," said the kingfisher, "and you wonder who it is that's spoken to you. Then you realize it's me; then you look at your thumb and your fish, and see that it was the fish's blood you tasted, that allowed you to understand the voice of creatures, then we converse."
"I didn't mean . . ."
"We'll assume it was done that way." The kingfisher spoke in the choleric, impateient tone August would have expected from his upshot head-feathers, his thick neck, his fierce, annoyed eyes and beak: a kingfisher's voice. Halcyon bird indeed!
"Now you address me," the kingfisher said. "'O Bird!' you say, and make your request."
"O Bird!" August said, opening his hands imploringly, "Tell me this: Is it okay if we have a gas station in Meadowbrook and sell Ford cars?"
"Certainly."
"What?"
"Certainly!"
It was so inconvenient speaking in this way to a bird, a kingfisher seated on a branch in a dead tree at no more conversational a distance than any kingfisher ever was, that August imagined the bird as seated beside him on the bank, a sort of kingfisher-like person, of a more conversable size, with his legs crossed, as August's were. This worked well. He doubted that this kingfisher was a kingfisher at all anyway."
And so on. I'm don't want to type any more. But I suggest you revisit where I left off on p. 110.
Ed
Is this reminiscent of something you read a long time ago:
p. 108
. . . Over the water a kingfisher shot, laughing, iridescent in the sun, just above the evening which had already obscured the stream. I'm not mad, August thought.
p. 109
. . . August, fish in his creel, went to the bank and sat, waiting. The kingfisher had laughed at him, not at the world in general, he was sure of that, a sarcastic, vindictive laugh. Well, perhaps he was laughable. The fish was not seven inches long, hardly breakfast. So? Well? "If I had to live on fish," he said, "I'd grow a beak."
You shouldn't speak," said the kingfisher, "until you're spoken to. There are manners, you know."
"Sorry."
"First I speak," said the kingfisher, "and you wonder who it is that's spoken to you. Then you realize it's me; then you look at your thumb and your fish, and see that it was the fish's blood you tasted, that allowed you to understand the voice of creatures, then we converse."
"I didn't mean . . ."
"We'll assume it was done that way." The kingfisher spoke in the choleric, impateient tone August would have expected from his upshot head-feathers, his thick neck, his fierce, annoyed eyes and beak: a kingfisher's voice. Halcyon bird indeed!
"Now you address me," the kingfisher said. "'O Bird!' you say, and make your request."
"O Bird!" August said, opening his hands imploringly, "Tell me this: Is it okay if we have a gas station in Meadowbrook and sell Ford cars?"
"Certainly."
"What?"
"Certainly!"
It was so inconvenient speaking in this way to a bird, a kingfisher seated on a branch in a dead tree at no more conversational a distance than any kingfisher ever was, that August imagined the bird as seated beside him on the bank, a sort of kingfisher-like person, of a more conversable size, with his legs crossed, as August's were. This worked well. He doubted that this kingfisher was a kingfisher at all anyway."
And so on. I'm don't want to type any more. But I suggest you revisit where I left off on p. 110.
Ed
Saturday, April 5, 2008
The Fox peaks into the pages
Here are some things that puzzle me or ponder me:
Family tree - Auberon Drinkwater reveals the key.
I think it is New York and up along the Hudson. As Smokey leaves the city, things become "disordered." According to whose definition? Perhaps the opposite walk toward the city brings disorder.
Smokey: born when his father was nearly 60; inherited the Barnable anonymity (pages 5 and 9.)
I think he remains somewhat anonymous with his new family.
Smokey's ideal was the Dreamland of the comic book where boys could dream.
"...he would be the one that it had been promised she would find or make up."
"Take Smoky upstairs. He's in the imaginary bedroom."
What is going on here?
Last paragraph, page 37. Who is Sophie talking about?
The house is the world of Edgewood, inside and out.
My favorite "shiver maker": page 79. "And he found the faces."
Family tree - Auberon Drinkwater reveals the key.
I think it is New York and up along the Hudson. As Smokey leaves the city, things become "disordered." According to whose definition? Perhaps the opposite walk toward the city brings disorder.
Smokey: born when his father was nearly 60; inherited the Barnable anonymity (pages 5 and 9.)
I think he remains somewhat anonymous with his new family.
Smokey's ideal was the Dreamland of the comic book where boys could dream.
"...he would be the one that it had been promised she would find or make up."
"Take Smoky upstairs. He's in the imaginary bedroom."
What is going on here?
Last paragraph, page 37. Who is Sophie talking about?
The house is the world of Edgewood, inside and out.
My favorite "shiver maker": page 79. "And he found the faces."
Nice, page 102
“Before the war, things were different. Nobody knew anything. You could go walking in the woods and make up stories and see things if you wanted. But there was no excuse now. Now knowledge was there to be had, real knowledge, knowledge of how the world operates and what must be done to operate it. …. August drew these knowledges on, reasonable and close-fitting, over the mad muddle of his childhood, as one draws on a duster over a suit of clothes, and buttoned them up to the neck.”
Pam
Pam
Friday, April 4, 2008
Nominations for next book?
Is it too soon to start nominating books for the next round? We could always just recycle the losers (such a harsh word) from the last round. But maybe we could have a rule that if a book doesn't make it in one round it can never be nominated again. There are so many books that this forces us to always have fresh books on the list...
Pam
Pam
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
An Odyssey
As with many novels Little, Big is an odyssey. I expected it to be a journey for the characters. What kind of surprised me at first is that it's also very definitely an odyssey for the reader. There's more: Little, Big is definitely unusual (grammar, layout, language, events -- and certainly the characters). As the odyssey progresses I'm getting used to it.
As a case in point vis-a-vis the dual odyssey (characters and readers) I was definitely confused at first but so was Smoky. He seemed to deal with the strange events which made me realize that I could as well. As I think I said previously I don't mind being confused. There are certain things I'm willing to take on faith. Either the author will resolve them or he won't.
I was waiting to see how Crowley was going to pull off the wedding. I was not disappointed. I loved the way he described the vows. He may not have been the first person to mimic what people hear or how people talk. But he was definitely successful. And highly original.
I think his originality is what I'm dealing with. So far there is almost nothing in this book that I've expected. The names, the places (esp the house), the people. . . they are all cut from a different cloth. But that's not a bad thing. It's just, well, different.
I'm reminded of The Time Traveler's Wife where I don't think I got it for about the first 100 pp. This isn't taking me as long.
This is definitely not the usual kind of book I would read so that's a very good thing. I've also never been in a book club so I'm enjoying discussing different points.
So now I want to get into the gist of what I have to say.
Other authors would have included a bit more passion -- or sex -- leading up to a wedding. Crowley doesn't do that. (He may do it afterwards but I haven't gotten there yet.) I'll assume that Smoky and Daily Alice will get together so I'm willing to wait. What surprised me a bit was that Sophie (Daily's sister) seemed to have a bit of a "thing" for her sister. I wonder where this is going.
Character development. I think it's in the details. Daily's great aunt is a honey. As the first person Smoky meets when he gets to Edgewood it's fitting that she should accompany him to his wedding. BTW I personally think that someone from his extended family should be there with Smoky. But again, I'm willing to accept that there's a reason that he gets married alone. I also found it somewhat quirky that Daily's mother was berry picking the day before the wedding. Again, that's my reality sneaking into what I'm reading.
That's leading me to one of my conclusions. This is a novel. Crowley sets the rules. He doesn't have to be bogged down by "annoying" details like chronology, accepted behavior and missing pieces of the puzzle.
We've already discussed language. And I'm certain we'll continue. I want to add that I'm also enjoying the names.
I think that's about it for now. It's mid-morning here and I'm playing hooky from my appointed tasks for the day. I'll try to get back to this later today.
Does that mean I'm hooked? Yep.
Ed
As a case in point vis-a-vis the dual odyssey (characters and readers) I was definitely confused at first but so was Smoky. He seemed to deal with the strange events which made me realize that I could as well. As I think I said previously I don't mind being confused. There are certain things I'm willing to take on faith. Either the author will resolve them or he won't.
I was waiting to see how Crowley was going to pull off the wedding. I was not disappointed. I loved the way he described the vows. He may not have been the first person to mimic what people hear or how people talk. But he was definitely successful. And highly original.
I think his originality is what I'm dealing with. So far there is almost nothing in this book that I've expected. The names, the places (esp the house), the people. . . they are all cut from a different cloth. But that's not a bad thing. It's just, well, different.
I'm reminded of The Time Traveler's Wife where I don't think I got it for about the first 100 pp. This isn't taking me as long.
This is definitely not the usual kind of book I would read so that's a very good thing. I've also never been in a book club so I'm enjoying discussing different points.
So now I want to get into the gist of what I have to say.
Other authors would have included a bit more passion -- or sex -- leading up to a wedding. Crowley doesn't do that. (He may do it afterwards but I haven't gotten there yet.) I'll assume that Smoky and Daily Alice will get together so I'm willing to wait. What surprised me a bit was that Sophie (Daily's sister) seemed to have a bit of a "thing" for her sister. I wonder where this is going.
Character development. I think it's in the details. Daily's great aunt is a honey. As the first person Smoky meets when he gets to Edgewood it's fitting that she should accompany him to his wedding. BTW I personally think that someone from his extended family should be there with Smoky. But again, I'm willing to accept that there's a reason that he gets married alone. I also found it somewhat quirky that Daily's mother was berry picking the day before the wedding. Again, that's my reality sneaking into what I'm reading.
That's leading me to one of my conclusions. This is a novel. Crowley sets the rules. He doesn't have to be bogged down by "annoying" details like chronology, accepted behavior and missing pieces of the puzzle.
We've already discussed language. And I'm certain we'll continue. I want to add that I'm also enjoying the names.
I think that's about it for now. It's mid-morning here and I'm playing hooky from my appointed tasks for the day. I'll try to get back to this later today.
Does that mean I'm hooked? Yep.
Ed
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Time and place
The explanation of the worlds "composed of a series of concentric rings" is quite beautiful (pp 43-44). Sounds plausible to me.
I have to get over this feeling that I'll never engage in this novel if I can't pin it down in time. Are we being introduced to an entire family without regard to chronology? It never occurred to me that time and place are so important to me, but apparently they are. Onward!
Larry said:
"The comments on punctuation, grammar, layout and general oddness comments were unexpected. But I do see how that makes reading this cumbersome. I just try to give my self up to the story."
Pam's thoughts on above:
I KNEW you would say something like that. I just knew it. This crowd has been talking about such matters for so damn long that we can hear conversations before they've occurred.
Pam
I have to get over this feeling that I'll never engage in this novel if I can't pin it down in time. Are we being introduced to an entire family without regard to chronology? It never occurred to me that time and place are so important to me, but apparently they are. Onward!
Larry said:
"The comments on punctuation, grammar, layout and general oddness comments were unexpected. But I do see how that makes reading this cumbersome. I just try to give my self up to the story."
Pam's thoughts on above:
I KNEW you would say something like that. I just knew it. This crowd has been talking about such matters for so damn long that we can hear conversations before they've occurred.
Pam
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