Reading the Chunksters discussion
Archive 2015: Literary Readathon
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Q discussion week 3 9/27: Pages 162 - 241 Part Two, Chapter 5 - 24
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Would you like to postpone reading part 4 for a week in order to catch up?
Teanka wrote: "Would you like to postpone reading part 4 for a week in order to catch up?"I'm on point with the reading but would like the extra week for posting, if that's okay with you... We'll probably be able to speed up down the road actually, what say you?
Sure, it seems like a good idea. I've had a problem with posting too as you know :) I'll correct the schedule accordingly. As for speeding up, I think we can manage when we're closer to the end.
Phew, I am glad you ladies decided on a slight break. I (obviously!) fell a bit behind here!So far, this was my favourite section. Part One was too fragmented to my taste, and I don't mean skipping back and forth in time. It covered a very interesting period of time and squeezed it into some 150 pages. Basically, there wasn't enough space for any details.
Weirdly, I agree completely on the fragmented lack of details in part 1, but have the exact opposite conclusion! It was my favorite section so far exactly because I wasn't bogged down in details and names and dates and places. Part 3 for me was too much narration of historical details, too little action to keep my attention. The details are hard because the characters seem to come and go and change names and places rapidly, as well as I have a profound lack of knowledge of any of the history of this time to fill in some gaps.
What do you think of the main character? Do you like him?
I've been thinking about this one and I don't think I like him but until now I couldn't place my finger on exactly why. I think you have nailed my thoughts, though, in your next comments...What drives him? I just can't get a grasp on what this guy wants or is searching for or trying to accomplish, and that is probably why I don't find myself having much sympathy for him. I don't actively or strongly dislike him...I just don't really like him. I do need to have some connection to a character in order to sympathize, and my inability to figure out what is making him tick is annoying me.
We also get another glimpse of Q. I wonder if we'll be able to recognize him in Munster.
I was wondering if we'd notice him as well! I am assuming he'll be a character in the story that we will see (different name, obviously!)!
This is a historical book about a very interesting period of time in European history. I know a lot of the facts and names from that period, but usually I focus on the monarchs and countries, Charles V, Luther, the Pope, politics. This book is unique in its point of view.
I agree on the point of view! I am just really wishing I knew anything of the history of this period so I could more easily orient myself in this slightly fragmented narrative. I am hoping that we get in to a bit more action (not just the narrator sitting around telling his latest story) because I found that I could follow those parts much easier and was much more drawn to the story.
Here is to starting week 4s reading! :-)
Kaycie wrote: "I've been thinking about this one and I don't think I like him but until now I couldn't place my finger on exactly why. I think you have nailed my thoughts, though, in your next comments...What drives him? I just can't get a grasp on what this guy wants or is searching for or trying to accomplish, and that is probably why I don't find myself having much sympathy for him. I don't actively or strongly dislike him...I just don't really like him. I do need to have some connection to a character in order to sympathize, and my inability to figure out what is making him tick is annoying me."I think I feel the same, most of the time. He seemingly wants to give power to the poor and acts in their name but I feel that what he does is harming much more than helping people (look at how many were killed in various places). What I don't understand is how can he go on having lost his faith? The Anabaptists are supposed to be passionate about their cause, and he isn't. I'm starting to think that he and Q may be much alike.
I'm starting to think that he and Q may be much alike. Hmmm...interesting thought! Do we know much about what makes Q tick? No, right? Just his letters to his boss so far. I like where that thought is going!
What do you think of the main character? Do you like him? On one level, it seems utterly unbelievable that so many mishaps happened to one man but on the other, it's because of the times he lived in and also he made his own choices. What I find most puzzling about him is that after Frankenhausen he seems to have lost his faith in God altogether, or at least this is what he claims several times. (i.e. on page 172: "My friends are dead and I've discovered that the words of the survivors mean nothing to me. God no longer has anything to do with it. He abandoned us one spring day, vanishing from the world with all his promises and leaving us with life as a pledge. The freedom to spend it between those white thighs."
So why does he keep fighting in the Anabaptists' cause? What drives him? Also, do you think it was fair of him to follow Hofmann to Holland if he knew in his heart he didn't share his beliefs? He left his cause easily enough for Jan Matthys, because he already believed "that we had to reach this truth: no faith without conflict. That's how it's always been and even if none of my faith means anything any more, something's coming back today, something fiery that I had lost on that plain in May. It's the knowledge you gave me: we will never free our spirits without freeing our bodies. (...) We'll go on fighting. Again. Or we will die trying. " (page 237).
Essentially, for him it's no longer a question of faith, it's question of fight for freedom which is why Anabaptists seemed so dangerous to both the Catholics and the Lutherans.
We also get another glimpse of Q. I wonder if we'll be able to recognize him in Munster. At least we've been forewarned this time of his imminent appearance.
This is a historical book about a very interesting period of time in European history. I know a lot of the facts and names from that period, but usually I focus on the monarchs and countries, Charles V, Luther, the Pope, politics. This book is unique in its point of view.