theduckthief’s Comments (group member since Apr 10, 2008)

theduckthief’s comments from the The Classics group.

This is for discussing "The End of It".

Hi jzhunagev. We're reading "A Christmas Carol".

My logical mind would simply not accept that horses could build houses, milk cows and fix meals. Did they get the Yahoos to plow and plant their fields? If so, I assume the Yahoos must be able to understand their horsey language.

And how gross is Gulliver? He makes clothes from the hides of Yahoos as well as a boat. Does he kill them or just scavenge dead bodies?

"Imaginary diseases that only women have". My mind went immediately to women being diagnosed with hysteria way back when but I don't know of an equivalent in Swift's time so I have no idea how condescending he's being.

Also, what was with the comment about certain horse coat colours resulting in more or less intelligent horses?

Overall I did not enjoy Gulliver. It had its moments but was too chock full of boring description. The satire was lost on me and I suspect that's because I'm so far removed from when Swift wrote this. Some truths are universal, such as a distrust of lawyers and politicians but many of Swift's comments went over my head. It didn't make for a good story as I didn't feel there was enough meat in the story to keep it interesting. Instead I think this would have worked better as a lecture series or a sock puppet play. I would love to see this as a play with puppets!

First off, Lilliputian and Laputian are too close. Bad Swifty!

Laputians = masochistic much? Either that or they need some guy to smack them with a bladder to help them concentrate. (They don't seem too bright)

I loved how the Laputians were into math but were absolutely horrible at it. This includes their food ie, mutton carved into an equilateral triangle.

Is the floating island made of diamond? Swift says 'adamant' and my knowledge of X-Men says this means diamonds. If so, the bottom wouldn't crack if it tried to crush a city.

On the positive side, this is very sci-fi and I like the idea of the royal family being virtual prisoners. But again Swift has to add his own blend of boring, such as the description of how the lodestone works *snore*

And then he mentions brain transplants and immortality and I get all interested again. And calling people back from the dead? Alright! This is definitely my favourite section of the book. But then Swift fails me again because we read that he talks to Caesar and Alexander the Great but we don't get the conversations.

Look Swifty, if you're going to have Gulliver talk to such luminaries, you need to give us something more meaty besides their names!

Also, I didn't get the whole "Dutch trampling on the crucifix" bit. While both statements are inherently racist I don't know where the Dutch angle is coming from. Were the British and Dutch fighting at this point? West Indies maybe?

In the unlikely event that a tie should occur, (though strangely enough it's happened before) I'll make the deciding vote.

Sorry guys but I really want a themed book for December. "A Christmas Carol" it is then. You still have a week to get the book so no rush.

Alright guys I've used the random number generator at Random.org.

I thought we could vote on two themed books and two books from the Master List. Random.org gave me 1 and 4 for the themed books, meaning "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens and "The Gift of the Magi" by O Henry. It also gave me 1 and 24 for the Master Book List, meaning "Little Men" by Louisa May Alcott and "Silas Marner" by George Eliot.

Here's the poll. It starts today and ends next Sunday to give you a week to get the book.

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/41...

Alright hands up who thinks CS Lewis "borrowed" this idea for "The Silver Chair".

Finally here we get some description of action, albeit really gross, ie Gulliver killing the rat. Also, the fly stingers. I didn't know flies had stingers but, ew.

It's interesting to see how he's treated as something between a pet, a plaything and a child. As well how the "Brobbies" are completely fenced in by mountains and rocky shores.

I liked how he thought their society was somehow defective because they don't have wars with other countries and the fact that the king is horrified by his description of gunpowder and its effect. Silly warmongering British.

Alright so if you have a themed choice for December, just post it on here and by through random number generator I'll pick two.

Hi guys

I'm just wondering if you wanted to do a themed pick for December's book or do you just want a few themed titles to pick from for next month? Let me know. Thanks.

First off, Swift has some extremely convoluted sentences. I think he would have benefited from the Hemingway style of writing.

In the fake publisher's letter he says that he omitted most of the boring stuff but I think he had the whole thing backwards. Many parts, especially the job allocation description, were desperately boring.

Swift skips over the voyage and the shipwreck which I think would have been interesting and a good way to get to know Gulliver. He also edits quite a bit of what happens in Part I.

I also think this would have been more exciting if Swift had written the whole thing in present tense. It would have had more immediacy.

The Lilliputians were pretty smart about drugging him with the drink but everything about his time with them happened too quickly. I wanted to know more about the place he lived in. Swift called it a temple "polluted by an unnatural murder". It was also funny to read that the Emperor was past his prime at 28!

Some things I did find frustrating about the Lilliputians though was that they didn't seem to know about glass, clocks or paper. They seem confused when going through Gulliver's effects although they clearly use paper as Gulliver was brought up on charges. Was Swift just trying to show how alien Gulliver was to them?

I loved that special candidates had to essentially limbo for a promotion in office as well as the Great Egg Conflict and the fact that they bury people upside down.

Hi jzhunagev. Welcome to the Classics group!

We're currently reading "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. You can find the discussion topics here. http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

Any future books that we discuss will be under the month coming up in the topic section.

This topic is for discussing "A Voyage to Lilliput".

This topic is for discussing "A Voyage to Brobdingnag".

This topic is for discussing "A Voyage to Leputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Clubbdubdrib and Japan".

This is for discussing "A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnhms".

Is Gulliver anything like Crusoe? They have different experiences but both are adventurers far from home.

As well, what about Odysseus and his shipwreck? Cast Away? Lost?

The theme of being shipwrecked on a deserted island never seems to get old.

Hi Cathaleen. Thanks for the book suggestions! I didn't include Diderot's "The Nun" as that was our September book. If you missed our discussion on it you can find the topic here. http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

So it is official folks! We will be reading "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. You've got a week to get your hands on a copy.

I completely agree with the fact that she treats her readers as intelligent. It's nice that she assumes we can infer what's happened. I hate when writers spell absolutely everything out. It leaves nothing to the imagination.

I too found it to drag a bit while they were still at the house but this was thanks to my comparison with the film. The revelations don't take as long and Mrs. Danvers is actually present at Dr. Baker's.

It's interesting to see that everything comes out when it finally begins to rain. I love how du Maurier tied nature so closely to the plot of the book.

I really enjoyed the book and loved the ending. It leaves something out, leaves something to be imagined. It's much like the rest of the book where information is held back and du Maurier doesn't tell us everything.