Ken’s Comments (group member since Jan 21, 2020)

Ken’s comments from the The Obscure Reading Group group.

I think there are a few Woolfians in the lot, Yvonne. Me, I'm still the answer to the question "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."

Worse, I'm a Kindle-phobe. Oh, I've read on the Kindle. I just never warmed to it, which is why my picture is hanging in all the post offices of TREES.

This third and final week of discussion is specifically for events in the stated chapters, but also for thoughts on the book as a whole.

What did you think of the writing style, the author, the plot, the characterization, the dialogue, the social issues, the psychological aspects, the book's place as a work in the Victorian era, etc.

Miriam wrote: "I think she tried to educate her child, as swe can see in the first chapters to became as his father should have been for her."

Yes, Miriam. Helen is laser focused on her child once she realizes all is lost with her husband. Admirable.

Cindy wrote: "It's ok, Ken. I've finished the book and find myself not liking any of the characters much including Helen. (Except for the children who don't have a big role.)"

Yes, it's a particularly tricky book to keep track of what happens when, only because the "what" happens over and over again, but each time with a little more or a little less detail.

Not long into Section 2, every modern reader is suing Arthur for divorce and hating males of the species. I exaggerate, but....

Glad to have you in the group, Miriam. I'm sure you'll catch us in no time. Enjoy!

Mea culpa. (Latin for "forehead slap") Had to return my copy to the library and I thought that note was Part II.

Sorry, Cindy. I deleted the remark as spoiler material and will return to it next week!

Compared to others in town, Gilbert doesn't come off so bad. Yeah, punching out a rival is immature (and Gilbert talks about Fergus!), but it highlights the extent of his passion and just how slim the pickings are in this rural area.

Here's my complaint about Helen (please don't hurl brickbats): She's way too good to be true, almost to the point of being unbelievable.

Yes, it is all rather predictable as far as the narrative goes.

Welcome, Amy.

I cannot recall that Hattersley scene. Which chapter is it?

Agreed with all the comments about entrapment. Although Arthur has not struck Helen physically (at least so far), the psychological abuse reminds us that there are more women than we even know stuck in abusive (of both varieties) relationships like this today -- some that want to get out and can't, some that DON'T want to get out because they still "hold up hope of changing him," and some that will be happy to tell you, black eye and all, that they are in love.

To that I can only say, Oh my God.

Good to see you're well into the book, John.

Early on in the first week's discussion, someone mentioned the Brontë family, specifically how the lone son was a failure compared to the three sisters.

I wonder if Anne's insight into alcoholism is based entirely on watching her brother. All the scenes with Arthur, Sr., and his "pals" reek of college-aged behavior now (though I suppose, even today, some "men" carry on this way with their drinking pals well past their late teens/early twenties).

Honestly. Reading the scenes where the men are drinking and giggling at each other's antics is difficult. I might be hypersensitive because I gave up alcohol altogether in 2004 and now, when I'm around heavy drinkers, I see things from an entirely different lens, starting with how LOUD they are and how funny they THINK they are (but aren't).

Is this Branwell's claim to fame? Insight for sister Anne?

Week #2 of discussion moves to the middle portion of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, in which the short digression into the Tenant's diary becomes the entire section.

To avoid spoilers that might ruin the reading experience of others, be sure to confine all comments to events in Volumes I and II only.

Matthew wrote: "Grooming in the other sense of the word is sadly done a lot today. As I teach ages from 4 up to teenagers it is something I have to learn about extensively in Safeguarding. "Grooming" is establishi..."

Well, if there's a more modern use of the word, there you have it. A lot of words have been appropriated in weird ways. Some I thought innocent are now out of bounds.

"Manipulating," yes. "Grooming" seems less accurate, as that means to prepare, usually in a good sense.

Speaking of Section II, though the discussion technically begins Monday, per usual I'll be putting it up Sunday night. for readers ahead of our time.

Yes, tomorrow night brings the Super Bowl with its overinflated commercials that are supposed to be "just that" (but seldom are), but either after that competition around 9:30 EST or maybe during halftime the thread will appear.

The ritual at Super Bowl halftimes remains the same each year: I vacate the room to avoid the halftime show and my wife enters to watch it. She calls it "the best part." I call it "regrettable."

But back to Ännë, I'm sure we'll be asking her tomorrow night how the supposed brief digression of Helen's diary turned into Godzilla and took over the book, wresting it from King Kong Gilbert with a flash of reptilian finesse.

(Begging the question: Did Ms. Brontë even know about Tokyo Bay and the Empire State Building?)

Ginny wrote: "Diane wrote: "I agree that the whole diary thing is very clunky. My interest has waned with Helen's diary entries. Whoever heard of repeating entire conversations word for word in a diary? I have f..."

I agree, Ginny. The writing is far from clunky. As Laysee states above, Brontë is a skillful storyteller. The writing flows nicely.

I'll part ways with you, though, in calling it "poetic." I guess that depends on your definition. Poetic writing brings me to a standstill now and then. I hit a sentence that has unusual word pairings with a powerful effect, for instance, or the imagery is so beautiful I have to stop and treat myself to a reread of the sentence -- for sheer enjoyment purposes.

With this book, it's more of a slide read. I move and I move quickly, sometimes to see what happens (the storytelling element) and sometimes because the writing seems overwrought and is hitting me with the cudgel of excess -- which, as we've established, is part and parcel of Brontë's times and its writing style, not any fault of her own.

Tolstoy is a sensuous (vs. sensual, the less acceptable word for a family thread like this) writer and yes, very modern. He is constantly painting pictures, then adding the more neglected four senses to place his readers there, and I mean *there.*

The English Victorian writers, on the other hand, seem more focused on telling a story, I think, like we're sitting beside the fireside listening to them. So we're not THERE so much as there "once removed."

That comes under the category of opinion, of course.

Like Nick, I am more than halfway through part two and feeling like I'm reading about college drinking days with the guys (only these are grown men... physically, anyway).

Jean, there is no protocol. Even though I addressed Diane, anything seen on thread is fair game for anyone to comment on. Thank you for your expertise on not only the home country but Victorian Lit. in general. It's been a while since I visited the good old Land of Victoria, book-wise.

And Diane, your #47 seems entirely fair and well-said. It's fascinating how one's time in history affects speech. Also how very different literary styles unfold in different countries during similar time frames. (Speaking of Russian, I think of Tolstoy, who writes such factual, sensory-based stuff compared to his contemporaries in, say, Victorian England.)

Stacey wrote: "Ken wrote: "Ginny and Carol,

Guilty as charged, I, too, am finding the extended aside that is Helen's diary a plow. I tend to do that as a reader, though. Grow impatient to get back to the main st..."

To answer your question, Stacey, yes, of course! I often get lost and confused in the big bopper novels with many characters or language much different from what I'm used to.

It took dogged determination to get into 19th Russian novels, for instance, especially with the patronymics and nicknames adding to the confusion!