Patrick’s Comments (group member since Mar 09, 2009)

Patrick’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

All I can said is if that fellow who intercuted Pride and Prejudice starts demanding to be treated as an equal to Johnathon Lehen as a writer, I will pay five dollars to each person who kicks him in the nuts sack for me. :/

If you are gonna to judge an artist on the way he acts in life, you probably would hate the musician, Mozart, who insisted on living a life of luxury, lining the walls of his home with silk despite owing tons of money to tons of people.

That's interesting what you wrote, Margaret.

Because it would seems to others that by being someone like a poor aunt, that person is causing others' suffering by his or her presence, and some dark part of me believe that maybe one or two of those who witnessed the aunt's presence would silently urge her to hurry up and die already or off herself.

There is something grimly funny and heroic for someone to be assumed to disregarding considerations of those so called normal people to continue to live, and as a final coup de grace, continue to show up at various family or friends' outings so others could pity her even though nobody wants to be pitied.

Also, I would like to add that it seemed that the girl who stood up for herself by slapping the boy and taking the hat with the ribbon back, suffered a double standard injustice, and I find that fairly common to the type of the downtroddened people like the poor aunt. I like to think if that poor aunt got drunk one day, and stood on a chair yelling at the type of her lungs, a few home truths about how much humanity truely sucks as a group, a more socially apt person (Perhaps the maid in honor, or the groom's best man)would have whispered, "How dare she! Even after we invited her to our wedding reception, and after we tolerated her presence all these times." It is almost similiar to Kafka's Metamorphosis except this is more like a ghost story rather than a bug story.

Stories like this give me the strong desire to appeal to people who are suicidal to stop yelling "Goodbye, cruel world!" whenever they leapt off the ledges and from now on, start yelling, "Goodbye, uncomfortable but indifferent world!"

I don't think anyone was really cruel to the poor aunt, more of trying not to look at her, or stay away from her, like 'Shhh! That's aunt is really badly off. Try not to catch what she have.' It is kind of like people avoiding me as a Deaf person whenever I talked funny or yelp out, or use sign language or avoiding that person because of being developmentally delayed, or because of deformity, or because he or she is gay or is a transexual, pre-op or post-op. I think it is more of the poor aunt's reminder to us of a person's weakness, flaws, faults, vices, all the way to a person's or everyone's mortality. Which is closely related to death so Ben could have read this right.

All I can think is it is one of those surreal stories that have a point or something that might end up having us trying to discuss What's The Meaning of Life? It seemed as if it is fumbling for a philosphy but settled on how overlooked someone can be in term of life, family, or culture.

I think I should learn crafting so I can build a shrine to appreciate such a supportive reader like you, Margaret!

What about Gravity's Rainbow? I bought that book ten years ago and have not read past page 50!

As for the story, I think that Gurov is a little bit predatory in his approach to falling in love with Anna, since he is getting on in his years, and he might see himself in the mirror as aged, and Anna as youthful. That would probably be why Gurov is considering this development as a beginning, rather than as a means to end.

Brian wrote: "my friend wrote... It is apparent truth when we argue that the glass is half-full. Similarly to those who see it as half-empty. The ultimate truth is that the glass is half-filled.

He's a happy guy."

Let's consider for a moment that the glass is half-filled...with pee. Do those who see it as half-empty are happy that it is at least half empty or still repulsed? So many questions, so many questions...

Shel,

Thank you very much for organizing this short story discussions and links. I feel I have a lot to learn about story telling.

I could not help but point out that despite all the talks of twisted paths, circular or otherwise, labyrinths, forking paths, infinite actions, choices, the past, present, and future, the spy Dr. Yu Tsun appears to be very single minded in his mission. He has already decided the future for himself and for Albert and even took a single turn, the left turns that would end eventfully at Albert's house. It seems as if the author is purposely contradicting himself when he used the main character's as a chess piece moving relentlessly toward his goal: to use Albert's dead body as a code for the city Albert. Also, it looks to me as if the circle, which is closed, is more inevitable than the infinite possibilities of different lines or different acts.

The shape circle is known to be a symbol of perfection, from the legend of the Pope making Leonardo Da Vinci draw a circle to prove his artistic skill and talent.

I think the author is also hinting on the idea of story telling, or rather the shape of the story, whatever be a circle or a twisting path reaching the end. It seems to paraphase Stephen King's story telling labyrinth club in which the bulter said that you could get lost in there.

I think there is a bit of complaint on how darn hard it is to make up stuff on paper in every novel that I have read.

Just a few things that I mulled over while reading this neat short story.

Sjfinch wrote: "If a book makes money, it is simple fiction.
If a book makes no money, it is literary."

I like that! I will probably use that as an excuse for not quitting my day job.

I remember reading Voltaire, he made violence almost like a Three Stooges comedy but with blown up body bits resulting from a blasted cannon.

Have you read American Tabloid by James Ellroy? It is a huge masterpience of an epic crime novel set against the backdrop of the Kennedy's Assassination. Will check hesh kestin's novel in November...

I always felt that the literacy books are books by long dead authors but there is more to that. Those kind of books from the 1800 are literacy BECAUSE they are relevant and their impressions of the world and human's condition are so great to last that long to still be read even today.
I dare think that J.R. Rolling will have to wait to be dead for about a hundred year before her works could be considered literacy even if Stephen King called her body of work as to belonging to the ages. As for that Twilight author, I am sure her passing on to the netherworld would be watched closely with baited anticipation:)

Thank you very much for that link...I read the whole thing and really love how O Henry used the fallacy of imitative form to show two entirely different and opposite versions of what the writer and the editor believed in.
It is very very funny at the end and it would have made a great comedy sketch. I can't wait to see what others think of that great short story so I can understand it at a deeper level.

I read it and reviewed it twice on Amazon dot come and on myspace fiction file; check it out if you wish, four people found my review helpful so why not join them?

I am halfway through it but had a hard time getting into it. It seemed like a knock off of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, or maybe the source for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I still think it is a good piece of work, and think it is well written, I think my attention span is decreasing in my age.

I really like that Joe Chip is stuck without quarters and always asking to borrow coins despite being in charge of Mr. Runciter's firm.

I do not think it would make a good movie becaue like Brian said, it is mostly book of ideas of the future, however I have not really grasped the meaning of this book and how it related to society except in term of dem evil ads men poisoning our minds.

I guess I will have to finish this book to get more out of it.

Hugh wrote: "Jonathan, thanks for the kind words on my reads. It's an interesting give-and-take; sometimes it's a bit easier to be honest about some key thing that is bugging you when you know the other person ..."

I honestly wish you would have ended this story with "annnnd her name was Stephenson of Prescription for Love fame! True Story. " for the shock value.