Lucy’s Comments (group member since Sep 08, 2014)

Lucy’s comments from the Discourse in a Digital Age group.

Read it years ago and totally loved it -- must review so we fans can discuss!

Just a cotton-pickin' minute here -- is that an insult, compliment, or what??
Hugely will miss the discussion tomorrow pm -- have fun without me (not too much, tho'!)

Yes! I'm 3/4 thru my second reading, and finding that the humor and, as you point out, deep character studies help mitigate some very painful parts I know are ahead. I hope any of us who really get into "The Sparrow" will read the sequel, "Children of God", because it's just as powerful an exploration of the psychology of belief, and of the dangers of interpreting alien cultures thru the lens of our own, as well as being a completely satisfying end to the story.

Anne is right -- this book demands close attention; I remember being very confused by the beginning on first reading it 25-odd years ago. Please stick with it, everybody -- such a good story, so much to discuss! (The Church in general, Jesuits and their mission specifically, human beings' history of "discovering" alien peoples & cultures and imposing our values/belief systems, just to start with..)

I think the tear-provoking quality of this and similar books is that they are within our realm of experience -- not that any of us necessarily have personally suffered from or lost a loved one to cancer, but that the characters & setting of "Fault..." are recognizable to us and we can readily imagine ourselves in the story. As horrifically tragic as "Running the Rift" was, and even knowing it all really turned out that way, it was very difficult for this middle-class, comfortable & safe American at least to picture it happening to me.
But yes, cancer, in children especially, should be right up there on the "human rights violations" list.
Did the FroYo help?

No whining now -- you certainly knew from the movie previews that this was a girly bk, and a weeper on top of that! But I'm surprising myself by enjoying it thorougly, mostly because of the witty repartee between Augustus & Hazel Grace.

I'm about 1/3 thru, dreading with every page the inevitable slaughter. The descriptions of the Rwandan landscape and wildlife (and even of Jean-Patrick's family's cattle) are so evocative (and yet matter of fact, as if we all have colobus monkeys in the vegetation overhead!) - the author obviously knows & loves the country. I'm struck again (as after seeing "Hotel Rwanda")at how [willfully?] ignorant we were when this was all happening in the '90s.

Oh my gosh! We lived in Chicago for 25 years, and I always thought Lane Tech a powerhouse of learning. Sad to learn of the CPS' feet of clay, and I hope some [empty] heads rolled in their administration over this debacle. Yea for the students, teachers and librarians who didn't take it lying down!

Amen to comments that first half is difficult to read (difficult to understand what's happening and why we should care), but when connections start to be made interest picks up at a gallop, and now I hate to be almost at the end. Luisa & Cavendish chaps. are my favorites, and I'm bummed that it's ending with the dreary Adam Ewing. Discussion tomorrow pm should be hot & heavy!