Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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All She Wrote
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October 2012, week 2: All She Wrote
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On to chapter 12. :)So, Anna screams and J.X. sees the stepson running from the room but Anna deflects and later lets Kit know that Ricky had been there but acts erratic. Kit and J.X. go down to the cottage and surprise Victoria, who seems too interested in Nella's manuscript.
Curiouser and curiouser... ;) Lots of people in places where they don't belong, confusione, suspects, etc. Who's main suspect at the moment? I remeber that when I read the book for the first time all my theories were shot to hell by now and I didn't know who could be trusted anymore (as intented, I assume ^^).
There are funny remarks again, like
It's hard to say who was more flabbergasted, her or us. Well, me J.X. did not flabbergast. (p. 127)
There's one little detail, that I found interesting.
"(...) We - the police - might not always be able to prove it, but we almost always know the bad guy." (p. 129)This little slip, I think, gives us more insight in J.X. (something some or all of us asked for a while ago ^^). Although he's been an author for a number of years he still seems to think or feel as a cop.
Mod
Calathea wrote: "Who's main suspect at the moment? I remeber that when I read the book for the first time all my theories were shot to hell by now and I didn't know who could be trusted anymore (as intented, I assume ^^)."
Sadly, I've never been very good at solving mysteries. So, when reading the book the first time I naturally suspected all the wrong people all the time. If I remember correctly, my main suspect might have been (view spoiler) at this point. For obvious reasons I had to abandon that theory quite soon when the story continued...
Anyway, I found this interesting (page 131):
I flipped through Nella's manuscript, read a few lines. It was illogical, but it did affect my opinion of the work knowing that Nella was dead. But was that sympathy or was that merely a more open-minded reading? I wasn't sure.
This left me thinking how much feelings like this actually affect our reading experience? They must have an effect, don't you think?
Mod
This little slip, I think, gives us more insight in J.X. (something some or all of us asked for a while ago ^^). Although he's been an author for a number of years he still seems to think or feel as a cop."
Once a cop always a cop — that applies to J.X. then. :)
Johanna wrote: "This left me thinking how much feelings like this actually affect our reading experience? They must have an effect, don't you think? "I'm sure they do. What one thinks about a person carries over into our thoughts and feelings of what they do or the results of their work. That's one of the risks of author-reader-interaction (which is more common nowadays) I think. Author personality colouring our experience of their work. Or not only personality but other things that you know about them, too.
Mod
I'm sure they do. What one thinks about a per..."
Yeah, after reading Nella's script the first time, Kit also got to talk to Nella a bit and to see how passionately she wanted to be a writer. So it probably wasn't only the death that affected Kit, but also the fact that Nella's dreams would never come true.
On the other hand Poppy's story seemed to have a shocking effect to everyone (because the story really was vicious), but I wonder if Poppy had written a sweet story, how would have everyone taken it?
Aaaanyway, back to real life. I've started reading Special Forces. I've seen people praising it enthusiasticly for a long time now. Many of them are persons whom opinions and recommendations I think highly of. I've read quite a few of Aleksandr Voinov's books and I like them — a lot. And I enjoy reading his thoughts here in GR. But my point is that all this creates a huge amount of expectations on the book in question. I have my hopes really, really high when I approach a book with this kind of background. So yes, just like Calathea said, author-reader-interaction (and I've got to add: reader-reader-interaction) definitely has an impact on our reading experience — especially nowadays, like Calathea said.
I've been also pondering lately if I'm more strict or more gentle while rating the books of my most favorite authors. I suppose I even might be more strict with them. I mean, I would love to have a whole different scale of stars for Josh's books. I realize that some of his books that I've rated with 4 stars, would probably be 5 star books for me if they were written by some random author. But I can't just give all his books 5 stars, can I? Because even among his books, some are more dear to me than others. Anyway, I'm afraid that when I'm familiar with someone's writing style, I in fact do have pretty precise expectations. And when all the interaction is added to the picture... well, at least the interaction with a nice author makes me happy and extremely loyal to him (couldn't resist using Kit's adjectives). :)
Johanna wrote: "Aaaanyway, back to real life. I've started reading Special Forces. I've seen people praising it enthusiasticly for a long time now. Many of them are persons whom opinions and recommendations... "The impact is definitely there. I know what you mean when you describe high expactations for a book because of what you know of the author or what (internet)friends told you. There are authors whose books I buy although I know that the stories are (just) okay because the impression I've got of them through their internet persona carries over to my attitude towards their work. I'll possibly look more favorable on the stories just because I like the author. (And it works the other way round, too.)
Johanna wrote: "I've been also pondering lately if I'm more strict or more gentle while rating the books of my most favorite authors. I suppose I even might be more strict with them. I mean, I would love to have a... "
That is an interesting observation! Especially, as it reads like my own thoughts black on white. *lol* I don't know how to solve this conflict. We should introduce the Josh-scale in our reviews to make clear that compared with 95% of the other books in the genre Josh-books are always 5* but we'd like to differentiate and compare Josh-book 1 with Josh-book 2 and 3. ;-D
@ all: The new week has started. Feel free to continue posting your thoughts in this topic. To follow the discussion on chapters 13 to 18 look here: October 2012, week 3.
Mod
LOL. Exactly. :)
Josh-scale, lol, you're right.
I have little to add to your observation on Chapter 12. This is the chapter where the mystery plot thickens. I shared Johanna's suspicion during my first reading. For example, when they meet Sara running up, did you think like me that she was pretending she was running up, that she was all disheveled because she was running away to run back up again?A few colorful notations that made me snicker:
If Sara hadn’t screamed, my instant assumption was that it had to have been Anna, but of course it could have been one of the servants. I’d have screamed too if my daily duties had included dusting that much bric-a-brac.
and in a few lines
“I got the same story you did. She didn’t bother to try and explain the guy running from her room.”
“Maybe it’s a common occurrence.” I wasn’t serious, just letting my mouth flap while I thought—a bad habit of mine.
Immediately contradicting his good intentions of the previous chapter! :)
J.X. at the beginning was very skeptic of the attempted murder attempts, but he slowly adopts a suspicious mind. He tells a few things that could be in a manual for the perfect cop - we, the police:
[...]nine times out of ten, the most likely suspect is guilty.
Motive is the least important aspect of any murder investigation.
Criminal record is always pertinent.
Q&A with Josh Lanyon
Books mentioned in this topic
Come Unto These Yellow Sands (other topics)Come Unto These Yellow Sands (other topics)
Heart Trouble (other topics)
All She Wrote (other topics)
I think this tells a lot about Kit. His need for this to be a shared/joint experience, that it's not only about him (despite J.X. offering) and his readiness to accept his share of "responsibility". It's a step in the direction of a equal partnership. There's another hint for this when Kit decides that he'll soon let him but will ask the same of him. I like that. ;-)"
Yes, I liked this part too. It shows that Kit actually is willing to meet J.X. halfway. He's willing to step out of his comfort zone. It's nice to witness how Kit is at least briefly from time to time considering doing some sacrifices himself. And most of all it means that Kit truly feels safe with J.X. :)