Walker's comments (member since Aug 23, 2009)

Walker's comments from the Gather Yourselves Together group.

I finally received a copy of the book and I took the test. I came out decidedly as an INTJ, a RATIONAL and somewhat frighteningly dubbed "The Mastermind." (p. 199) I read that section through and it does fit me well (my wife read it too, and she said it fit me to a tee).

I will comment further when I have read more of the book, which so far I have used mostly as a reference.

I still have not gotten a hold of the book, but I will be interested to take the test when I do, and I'll be sure to post up after.

This is the thread for our December discussion book, David Keirsey's Please Understand Me II. Your comments and observations are welcome.

As for me, I have not gotten the book yet, so I have nothing to say.

I'll put in the chat section for Please Understand Me. I'm up for another book, but let's make it a short one.

I'm currently reading The Whole World Over by Julia Glass--she wrote The Three Junes--and I like it, but at 498 pages, I'm afraid it's too long.

Hmmm...What about Flowers for Algernon? I wouldn't mind reading it again.

Walker wrote: "Meg wrote: "Brilliant, Walker! I concur... Can somebody set up a chat section for Please Understand Me (as I am technologically inept)?"

Done. Check it out.

Meg.

Why not let's put Mary and O'Neil off until January, and come up with something you can get a hold of for December (i.e. Please Understand Me II)? I think it's much more interesting when we're commenting as we read with others.

For my part, I can get just about any book quickly.

If we do it this way, we're set for two months at least.

I'm up for reading anything interesting, fiction or non-fiction. I have not read Keirsey's book and would be happy to do so. I have read Life of Pi and Flowers for Algernon, both good choices. The latter is much shorter, if I recall correctly.

I also want to suggest Justin Cronin's Mary and O'Neil (see my message #10 over here http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2355...)

Great assessment Becca. I thought the segments having to do with Lakeside were the best in the book--a real missed opportunity for the author to develop it, as you say.

Happy Thanksgiving one and all.

I finished a couple days ago; it gets maybe two and a half stars. Given this and the various responses I note from this group--Elena could not finish it, Becca's having a hard time with it, and no one else has weighed in--I'd say we might think about working towards another book for December. I am currently reading Justin Cronin's Summer Guest, and I really like it. So, I have already placed an order for his highly-acclaimed first novel, Mary and O'Neil (winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Stephen Crane Prize). Anyone else up for that in December?

I am almost finished. It does improve. My advice though: skip the "SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA" sections (several are interesting, but I did not find them crucial to the narrative). You can go back and read them at a later date if you are so inspired.

Not to worry Becca. I consider myself more or less off duty here on Goodreads.

I am through Part One, entitled "SHADOW," which I would say puts me at about the 1/3 marker--200 pages out of 600. I continue to have mixed feelings about the book. I understand Shadow, the character, much better now, but I still find the basic story convoluted, and I am especially annoyed by the "SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA" segments. Whatever momentum is generated by the dreamlike central narrative (and there are parts that are very well done) is derailed periodically by these sections. It's kind of the same feeling I get watching "Headline News," where there's a main newscaster, a related news box inserted somewhere on the screen, all the while there is a news streamer running along the bottom. Too kinetic for my old monorail brain.

My son says I don't know how to do visual multi-tasking. Apparently, I don't do literary multi-tasking any better.

Anyhow, I press on. I await the appearance of the American money god.

I received American Gods yesterday, and I am 50 pages or so into it. Having never read anything by Neil Gaiman before, I have nothing with which to compare the book. Moreover, there are 600 pages to go, so my observations are based entirely on incomplete information. That said, I'm nevertheless happy to get the discussion going.

The protagonist, aptly named Shadow, seems a bit bland and one-dimensional so far, and his reaction to the news he receives (I'm trying not to give away anything here) is really flat. But maybe that's intentional, as if to say that's what prison does to a guy.

I must confess, I am puzzled and also put off by the closing scene in Chapter One, a segment entitled "SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA." I assume it will be germane to the plot, but right now it feels like it's there primarily for shock value.

Meg. I teach high school as well--English. 28 years and no regrets (so far).

I could not find a copy of the book yesterday, but I've ordered it online, so I should be on board soon enough. I hope the event invitation yields a good response. For my part, I'd like to see maybe 8-12 people taking part in the discussion; from my years of teaching, that seems to be a good size for promoting diversity of opinion coupled with a sense of belonging.

From the September Hunger Games discussion:

Message 26--Tiffany: "How about a Neil Gaiman book? American Gods maybe."
Message 31--Meg: "My vote is When We Were Orphans then American Gods if no one objects."

Neil Gaiman's American Gods it would appear to be. I'm going to try to pick it up today if I can. Should we create it as an "event" and invite all the members of this group, just as a reminder?

I took it more as a drama than a mystery. To me, it's an orphan's inner search for wholeness expressed by his outer search for answers, and while Uncle Phillip solves "the mystery," still I saw the real issue as Christopher's quest for meaning.

How are other faring in this enterprise?

I would have to say, Meg, that you are pretty much on target when you note that virtually everyone in the novel is an orphan in some form and therefore strange scenes like the final one involving Akira serve as a psychological reflection of orphanhood (if that is a word). Still, I thought there were simply too many of those kinds of episodes. It like "OK, I got the point already..."

Interesting, your insight into that aspect of the novel makes me more and more sympathetic to Miss Hemmings. She's just looking for love much in the same way Christopher is looking for his parents -- by fits and starts and lots of cul de sacs. It makes sense that his own search is so emotionally fraught that he makes leaps of faith that simply defy what one might find believable about a successful detective.

You also make good points about the narration and especially about his willingness to question his own recollections.

Ultimately, I agree with your three-point rating.

Goodreads just ate my first two entries. Some kind of maintenance issue. I'll try again.

I finished the book today, and I confess it is not among my favorite Ishiguro works. In my honest opinion, the novel needs a good, hard edit -- to be pared down by 50-75 pages. The final escapades in Shanghai, in particular, I found annoying, and like Elena, I had no clue what was going on with the search for "the house." I thought is was an extended hallucination.

As Elena points out too, Ishiguro seems also to have conjured up a good number of dead-end characters in this narrative. Both Jennifer and Sarah, for example, need to be rescued by "The Epilogue," and I was especially displeased with the treatment of Akira when he was re-introduced, even though I understand the symbolic necessity of it (I don't want to give away too much here).

In all, I can see why this received a lower rating from Goodreads members than most of Ishiguro's other works. It's still a decent enough read, but not nearly as tightly composed as I had come to expect from him.

As I have moved along in the book, my suspicions that Christopher Banks is an unreliable narrator have increased, initially for the reasons Becca mentioned above and then because of some further similar episodes, most notably with Anthony Morgan, another of Banks's schoolmates.

As a result, I'm not inclined to pass judgment too hastily on anyone as seen thorough his eyes, Miss Hemmings in particular.

Is he really a detective?