Union Atlantic
discussion
Buddy read - Aug 16th, 2015
date
newest »
newest »
Sofia wrote: "Next step :)"
Omg how am I supposed to formulate an answer to your next comment after spa kitty!? Shrimps must be delicious with cucumbers.
How was your swim with kindle? :)
As to question of consent... Technically, there is a rule that if either party was deceived, there is no consent. But I guess self-deception (on Nate's part) doesn't count :) it's mostly just my brain playing with words and associations, don't mind me.
Swim was the best. The kindle waited for me patiently to come out before we recommenced our union :Pconsent - I just got confused that's why I asked :)
Wow, that interview was seriously great. Haslett is so damn eloquent. I really admire him and I am thinking about reading his short stories now.
Thank you all for your kind wishes. I am feeling much better now, even though I still resemble a hamster. :D
yes, I'd love to, Sofia! When do you want to start?
how about Fri 11 Sept?
Yes, that is perfect for me. :)
Maya wrote: "also, more messy thoughts on Doug:So, I’ve been trying to figure out why I felt so much sympathy for Doug. It’s mostly, I think, what we all have already mentioned - that he doesn’t want to feel...."
Oh Maya, I'm so with you with the sympathy for Doug. So sorry that I write so late, you guys are probably already totally over it at this point. I was running around like crazy over the last few days and only had time for quick in-between-check-ins and no elaborate comments.
Doug was, while very interesting, not really accessible for me until the scene with his mother. That scene had real emotional sucker-punch quality. Especially him being in the flat, walking the familiar paths, thinking "I carried you, he wanted to say. Down this passageway, from our couch to your bed when you couldn’t walk, I carried you."
Dammit, that gutted me, it really did. All that, her quietly desperate attempts to keep him from leaving again, his ephiphany that he actually built the house for her, that she didn't need him saving her, that all the guilt and unbearable responsibility he fled from to save himself and still could never get rid off, was all in vain.
Emotionally he is stuck, stuck, stuck at that point in time, he managed to escape physically (that is more than most children manage and tells you a lot about his desperate strength) but never ever managed to get away even an inch emotionally.
I don't think his mother ever abused him sexually, but part of the insidious, devastating emotional abuse was that she treated him like a dependable partner not a child. Exactely like you said, Sofia, the man in the house.
At the same time Haslett somehow made me feel for the mother as well. She probably shied away from contacting Doug fo years because she feared that confronting all the guilt and longing woud endager her hard-earned sobriety. Perhaps she thought to better keep her poison away from the one who got away.
So, I think tragic is the right word. An understated but tragic relationship between these two. Really well done. And in the end this scene outdid the emotional impact of all the other characters incl. Charlotte's self immolation - I don't even know why. Maybe because of the glacial build up.
Oh well.
Morning everyone, hope that if you want to read his anthology, youll join in our BR (Carol and me ) :)
Sofia wrote: "Morning everyone, hope that if you want to read his anthology, youll join in our BR (Carol and me ) :)"i'll join you. thanks, Sofia xx
Great Maya, I'll do a thread later :)
I won't be able to join, too much going on. But I will lurk :D
Dani wrote: "I won't be able to join, too much going on. But I will lurk :D"Yes do :)
all discussions on this book
|
post a new topic
Union Atlantic (other topics)
Books mentioned in this topic
You Are Not a Stranger Here (other topics)Union Atlantic (other topics)
If A wants to have sex with B for reason X (undisclosed) and B wants to have sex with A for reason Y (undisclosed) and they are both OK with that, why is that questionable consent?