Dan’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2009)

Dan’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

Let's go Kerry! Catch up! :)

I'm thinking the same thing Patty.

Hey guys, who's leading The Big Sleep? We can probably get rolling on that at this point.

Anyone still reading this? I know that Leslie and I finished but what about the rest of ya?

I'm thinking we're just going to condense the discussion thread down to this one if we don't have any other readers.

Smarty, Kerry, Tracy?

So I failed to post pictures a while back. For that I apologize. I am going to be moving into a house (of my own!) in the next few weeks so I promise to get photos of my library up when I've got it put back together again.

My issue with the review is mainly about how much space is dedicated to the potty humor bits in the book. It makes it seem like that the potty humor is a primary part of the book.

It's totally fine that she didn't care for it, however the crudeness is the primary thrust of her review but not Johnny's primary thrust. AM I RIGHT, BOYS?

I think it would be just as easy (and as not fair) to go through one of Weiner's books and pull out some sort of female trope or behavior and lambaste her for it.

Yeah Leslie, I can see why say it can be exhausting. For whatever reason I found myself intimidated by this book at the outset and found it much easier and more enjoyable than I expected. It can move slow at times but nowhere near as slow as I felt Moby Dick did at times.

I approached this book on a chapter by chapter basis knowing that they were only about 20 pages long and this seemed to alleviate any intimidation.

I haven't been following along with notes, though I have from time to time kept my own notes but I haven't done so consistently. My edition of the book has a simple and crazy useful family tree in the front. I would have been really lost without it. I found this family tree online which is a good deal of fun:

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Here's the link for the full size image:http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs20/f/200...

While perhaps Hugh has covered much of what I am about to say I’m going to say it anyway (and do so less eloquently) I’ve returned a few times to the first sentence of the novel to attempt figure out what point in time a particular scene was taking place. It wasn’t until maybe the fourth or fifth time of reading the first sentence that I realized that it contains three points in time.

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

So there is the current time that the sentence is being written, then the future where he faces the firing squad, then the past where he discovers ice. So Present, Future, Past. Perhaps if i was a better reader this would be the type of thing I would have realized upon first (or even second reading). Isn’t this a great setup for the way time is handled in the book?

I am finding it easier to read as I progress. In fact, I am liking it more and more as I progress as well. You are right Smarty, the characters, descriptions and setting really are incredibly lush.

Don't give up Kerry!

So how's everyone doing so far? I have been moving along at a slow (for me) and steady pace.

If you are having trouble with it, what parts are dragging you down? Is it an easier or more difficult read than you expected?

Due to my inability to stop reading DFW, and reading about DFW I must say I am looking forward to D.T. Max's new biography on the man Himeself. An excerpt from it can be found on The Daily Beast here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek...

It also turns out that if you are a Mac user you have the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus built in to the standard dictionary. It contains "Word Notes" by DFW, among others. Here's a link with the details: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/...

Kerry, the points that you mention brings to mind the disconnect readers may sometimes have when reading non-english, non-western, or even non-american literature.

We read through the lens of our cultural norms and that often impacts how we feel about a novel. In the United States we see plenty of families with sons and grandsons named after their forefathers. I'm not at all knowledgeable about South American family traditions but perhaps that is something that is quite prevalent (or perhaps was more so when this novel was written).

I think the same thing can be said of the "love interests" you find to be creepy. It wasn't that long ago that marriages took place at a time we would all be uncomfortable with. So yeah, it may be creepy to us now just as I am sure people of a past era would be appalled by some of the things we as a culture do now.

Alright, I just got through with chapter seven and am now permitted to read your post Leslie. First of all, let me say that comic is incredible. Great find.

I was under the impression that Rebeca killed Arcadio perhaps because her excuse that she was in the bathroom and couldn't hear anything is so difficult to believe. If I remember correctly the blood was running from his ear but it's not like you could shoot yourself or be shot in the ear to avoid a bullet hole.

I can't really answer the bit about the overwhelming smell of gunpowder. Maybe it's to signify foul play in the mystery of his death? After a bit of internet searching I saw the suggestion that it signifies the smell of war and how violence had consumed Macondo.

We seem to be losing characters at a really rapid pace for only being a third of the way through the book. I am hoping that we will jump around in time more and see the Macondo prior to the conflicts and enveloped in solitude.

The last paragraph of chapter 7 describing Jose Arcadio Buendia's death is wonderful, and brought to mind the ending of Joyce's The Dead.

Then they went into Jose Arcadio Buendia's room, shook him as hard as they could, shouted in his ear, put a mirror in front of his nostrils, but they could not awaken him. A short time later, when the carpenter was taking measurements for the coffin, through the window they saw a light rain of tiny yellow flowers falling. They fell on the town all through the night in a silent storm, and they covered the roofs and blocked the doors and smothered the animals who slept outdoors. So many flowers fell from the sky that in the morning the streets were carpeted with a compact cushion and they had to clear them away with shovels and rakes so that the funeral procession could pass by.

I am trying hard not to read your post Leslie as I am just about to start chapter 7 now.

I am still thinking about the town of Macondo and how it's been governed so far. It was self-governed until contact was made with the outside world, then the magistrate moves in. He brings guards or troops on to help keep order. Then sides with the conservatives which causes a rebellion followed by Arcadio's reign which was a terrible thing that ends terribly.

So it seems to me that Macondo (quickly?) loses it's innocence. Once power was established in the town it becomes a town fraught with problems and issues of power.

I think i am just rambling now.

Hiya folks, tonight I went to see Jess Walter read from his ridiculously good new book Beautiful Ruins, then stopped by the FilmBar for a beer. Now I am about to dig into some more Marquez before nodding off.

Kudos to Elizabeth for the LaCroix, i too have a can of lemon sitting right beside me.

What can we make of Jose Arcadio's return?

I found it pretty humorous. The descriptions of his size, his appearance, his feats of strength etc. are wonderful.

I was just reading some more biographical info on Marquez and it turns out he is pretty well known as a friend of Fidel Castro.

And after a cursory search of google I see that the isolated Macondo can be seen as a utopian communist society until the arrival of big government (or in this case, the magistrate Moscote).

So if this is true what is Marquez getting at here, if anything? Can a communist utopia only exist in isolation? Does connection to the outside world always ruin the utopia? Does it matter at all to the story?

Some people can't put this book down, so here's the next discussion thread.

Hey Leslie, No need to worry about sticking to the schedule. Go on, race ahead! I am willing to create the next discussion threads as soon as we need them. I just want to keep people talking and allow others to avoid spoilers as best as possible.

I am almost to the end of chapter 4 and I am really enjoying the details too. So far my favorite detail may be:

...and the glass with his (Melquiades) false teeth, where some aquatic plants with tiny yellow flowers had taken root.

Isn't that lovely?

I can't say I like seeing this:

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2...