Matthew’s Comments (group member since Mar 08, 2015)

Matthew’s comments from the Reading List Completists group.

Finished up - this was good. Maybe I am skewed by almost three decades of loving the movie, but I think the movie is better than the book. The film definitely cleans up the story line a lot, but a lot of the dialogue is the same in the movie as it is in the book.

Someone definitely just got skewered through the mouth with a broom handle - and there were lots of details about it!

Greetings,

Time to vote a Sci-fi/Fantasy book for June/July. It will be up through June 10th:

Click for the NPR Sci-fi/Fantasy Poll

This section made me think of the movie The Mask - mild mannered, unable to perform to your fullest without the mask. But, with it, you are an unstoppable crime fighting love machine!

Looks like I will have to make you an offer you can't refuse - our June Completist read will be

Sigh . . . in the end this just didn't do it for me. And, Courtney, I don't think I ever found the place where the action started. This was just kind of a blah and confusing book for me.

We are currently reading/discussing

May 24 to May 30 - Chapter 7



If you are referencing things ahead of this section, be sure to use a spoiler tag. If it is a discussion of something in this section (or, later on, a section prior to what we are reading), I don't think a spoiler tag is necessary.

Have fun and happy reading!

Done, but still willing to discuss! :)

Went to the Indy 500 today so I missed my reading time, but I am hoping to have some dedicated reading time tomorrow as I have Memorial Day off. Since I read this last on Friday I have been eager to continue - I am coming up on the Cliffs . . .

I don't think my copy mentions Stephen King. It is the original hardcover - 73 or 74, so pre-King. What year was the version you are reading published?

Kirstin wrote: No, it's only a couple of pages. 110 seems to be that one. Oh joy!"

Oops - I guess I should have put a spoiler tag on revealing the super long footnote - now I have ruined the surprise! ;)

Kirstin wrote: "It's the first really long footnote."

Ah, that may be the first one I skipped - is it the one that is about 28 pages long?

Welcome to the Part III party! Don't have my copy on me - so I will have to check footnote 90 later . . .

I am sad to admit that around page 350 I gave up on reading the footnotes . . . they were frustrating more than adding to my experience . . . I know, some people will probably be disappointed with me because of this!

Kirstin wrote: "Finished Part II last night! I love Hal and Orin's phone conversations. And yes, "Something smells delicious!" is haunting! Ugh! I think one of the points of this book is to make us laugh at someth..."

Oh yeah - "Something smells delicious!" - he went there and, is it a little scary that I am glad he did?

Janina wrote: "Another great chapter. I'm intrigued by the depth of characterization of all "heroes". I wonder where the overall storyline is going .."

"heroes" in quotes is good . . . they are heroes but they all seem to be dancing on the edge of chaos! You want to cheer for them, but then you find out how twisted their minds are - but how real that makes them!

Only 5 more days to vote, vote, vote! :)

Courtney wrote: "I hope this isn't a spoiler but the last part of the book really picks up. All of the stuff you have been reading has been the build up. Soon the action will start."

That's good! I just got done with about 10 pages of weird stream of consciousness stuff that was a bit hard to follow.

Yeah . . . when it is easy to follow story followed by stream of consciousness, I should probably be taking notes!

Courtney wrote: "If you have a cheap copy of the book, I would consider annotating and summarizing each page as you read."

Unfortunately, I am reading a Kindle copy. From what you are saying, I am glad that I did not get the audio version.

I feel like when I get done with this, there will end up being very little actual story for the amount of pages I am reading . . . that is not necessarily a bad thing, but when I look back (and I am around page 200), not much has happened yet.

Just finished the intro . . . I am not sure if it is for the purposes of the story, or if he is really telling the truth (since the intro is written as non-fiction), but the author's relationship with his wife and son is a bit messed up. That is why I am thinking it may just be done for humorous effect - or perhaps it was a bit more normal of a family relationship in the seventies!

RachelvlehcaR wrote: "Don't read this messages until you've read all the section of September 16th.

September 16th

SPOILER:
I enjoyed reading this section. I think mainly because it was just pure survival. Ed really..."

Harsh - that's the truth!

I kept thinking about how just a few days before everything was normal in these guy's lives, and now they will have to go through the rest of their lives always thinking about what happened, always worrying that it will come back to haunt them.

Interesting point about the book not having romance . . . it is true that it seems like most books - no matter what the subject matter - try to fit a romance in. They did have Ed and his wife early in the book, but it seems like that was more to show their normal lives before things got crazy.

And, I don't suppose Bobby has any love for the locals after this experience!

It was interesting to hear them come up with their "story" and try to make sure everyone was on board. I could hear the pride in Lewis's voice when he told Ed he came up with a good plan. However, Ed was kind of babbling and I was pretty sure he was going to blow it!