Jordan’s Comments (group member since Jan 18, 2015)

Jordan’s comments from the Return of the Rogue Readers group.

Garret, you mentioned that Uncle Julian was your favorite character. Who was your least favorite?

Everybody! Tell me your favorite and least favorite characters!

I agree with your interpretation, Sarah. At first I dismissed Merricat as "just insane," and was doing insane things because that's what quirky, whimsical young girls do. Well, they don't usually murder their family, but you know what I mean.

I thought the story was moving in a different direction and when it ended how it did I initially felt that it was incomplete. At that point I enjoyed the story, but that was mostly because I like the setting and the overall vibe. The idea that Merricat killed the family because of how they treated Constance completes that picture for me.

The way the townsfolk trashed the house and then later roamed freely chilled me too. Yes, I was upset. I think that was part of the story I wished had been written, some kind of retribution. I suppose it's much more realistic that no such thing occurred.

My favorite line in the book was “All cat stories start with this statement: "My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”

From what I hear everyone is done reading, so I thought I would open the discussion up a little early.

Here is a clip from the upcoming movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CumZP...

You managed to make me regret my word limit.

No, sorry. It must be at or below 500 words. That's the challenge. :)

After consulting my attorney I have chosen Shirley Jackson's "We Have Always Lived in the Castle."

The book is ~160 pages. I'm thinking Sunday the 14th of June should give us enough time.

"Hey! Guess who just turned 83! This guy! #longevity"
-TForster_22

I think I am with you. Eventually it would get old and I would want to leave.

I think if a sequel was done today it would be at the risk of being some cynical, pretentious babbling. I could see some storyteller trying to be edgy by showing Shangri-la, a century later, in ruins and disarray due to everyone losing sight of whatever meaning it once had. Like angsty teenagers had taken over. One guy would show up and teach them all how to love again. *shivers with disgust*

What would you change to make Shangri-la into the kind of place you could stay at forever?

Garret: What if Wool is the sequel and everywhere but Shangri-la is a wasteland?

Tye: Does that mean you would leave town like Mallinson? How about you, Garret, would you stay or go?

I thought Lost Horizon was a good read. I liked the story, the characters, and it kept my attention. I ejoyed the charm of a world long gone, but it was not without it's unpleasantness. There was more wonder back then. There were still places that were inaccessible and unknown. Today we can see any part of the planet on Google Earth, by plane, or if we have the money we can pay a guide to take us there in relative safety and comfort. Traveling to and from Shangri-la was a dangerous, often deadly, undertaking and that's what kept it secret, kept it safe. I don't know if such a place could exist today. If it did, how long before Monsanto or Dow Chemical found a way to seize control of the land, forcibly relocate the residents, and stripped the land of whatever magic was once there?

Open: May 17th

The book is about 250 pages, so let's say Sunday the 17th for the discussion. Sound good?

What are you thinking, Garret?

From what I have gathered, the next books expand on the history of the Silos and might give you more of those details.

You both keep talking about this book as a romance novel and I don't agree. I am not sure what the real plot of Wool was, but I didn't think it was romance. There definitely was a romantic element to it, but there just wasn't enough to it for me to buy into the idea that this was an apocalypse-themed romance novel. The romance was a vague sub-plot, if that. It seemed like an afterthought to me, or some half-baked idea. (half-baked in the traditional sense of being only partially complete, not like that stoner movie).

Then again, Wool itself seemed only 3/4 baked, or maybe 7/8 baked.

It amuses me that I asked how you would tweak the story, limiting your edits to 25% or less (because I knew what to expect from a less restricted question), and your responses were to write a new book and to trim the text by exactly 25%. What would you have said had I not given that 25% limitation? Tar and feather Hugh Howey? :)

So, if I had to change up to 25% I would replace much of the rambling latter third of the book. I'd cut out all traces of romance between Juliet and that guy she met twice, I'd cut out all that nonsense with the kids in the second silo, and I would add some grim reveal. Perhaps in Solo's Silo Juliet could find tapes of news footage from during the apocalypse or a detailed history of the various silos and their revolts, or really anything that made me care about their fate even just a little bit.

I was unaware of the hype this book had. I actually had a copy from a year ago that I never got around to listening to.

I feel bad that this discussion is so brief, but I think we are all on the same page. It wasn't a bad book, necessarily, just not what we were expecting...or very good.

To change the pace, if you guys were the author/editor what would you change about this book? Serious answers, and let's say you can't alter more than 25% of the text.

Romanticized how? I agree with the long-windedness. You know me, I become disgruntled when a book starts to drag on. The story of Wool could have been cut by 30-40% without losing any real integrity. Either that or more action needed to happen. The author just took too long to set up the scenes.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I cranked up the speed on my audiobook player and it wasn't so bad. As I read through the book I found myself clicking my tongue at what I felt was lazy writing/research, but some of those things became plot elements later and I retracted my "tisking." What comes to mind is the convoluted nature of the screens, the fake scenery, etc. At first I thought it was a pointless complication, but then as the story unfolded I realized that it was all part of some grand scheme and that I wasn't alone in thinking it didn't make much sense.

Other things were not so easily dismissed, however. I don't know if this was an artistic liberty in the audiobook, but Jahns had a Southern accent. How does one person out of 1000+ end up with a Southern accent? The narrator of the audiobook did a fare job, but some of the voices were grating. Bernard, for example. The voice was so hokey and awful that I almost stopped listening. He sounds like some old-timey cartoon villain. When I mentioned this to Garret he made the joke that you can almost hear him curling the ends of his thin mustache...and that's dead on. I am sure that was the narrators intent, but it was a little much for me.

I would really like to hear the rest of this story. The setting is cool, the characters are a little cliche and weak, but I care enough to want to know more. I am just not sure if I can handle two more books.

So, what did everyone think?

Open: April 26th

Following the established order of book selection Tye has it next. He has chosen Wool by Hugh Howey. Wool is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story set in a world where people have retreated into an underground silo. The surface is toxic and for generations they have lived in the silo, a city that extends deep underground. Wool was released as a series of e-books and we will be reading Wool Omnibus, which consists of the first 5 books.

The book is 550 pages, so let's set the discussion for April 26th. That's two and a half weeks.