WEEK THREE ~ THE DAY OF THE SCORPION ~ June 30th - July 6th ~ PART TWO - A History and PART THREE~ A Wedding, 1943 (73-110) No Spoilers

[Jill H.]

I own the books in old, rather dirty paperback editions (yuck) but at least I have it. It is a keeper.

[Hana]

My copies of the books are arriving this week!!! I'm really looking forward to it. I wouldn't dare buy the DVD until after I've read the whole series. I understand it covers more than one book.

Also don't read the summaries on Amazon.com if you want to avoid a massive spoiler on Book 3. I was horrified and will say nothing more. Bad on you Amazon!

[Jill H.]

Thanks for the tip.....that's why we have non-spoiler threads. It's no fun to find out something that is going to happen five chapters in the future. Especially with Scott, since his writing leaves so much open to the reader's interpretation.

[Hana]

I agree. I hate spoilers! One of my big problems with the classics is that everyone assumes you know how, say, Pride and Prejudice ends and, well...,if you don't...how much more fun will you have if you are just as much in the dark as the heroine.

And you are so right about Scott: he is such a master at dropping subtle hints that may or may not be misdirection. It's brilliant and spoilers really do take away from the pleasure of living fully in the same world and the same moment as the characters.

[Francie]

I liked this passage on page 102 (Kindle edition): "Ideas seemed to have a life, a power of their own. Men became slaves to them. To challenge an idea as an alternative to accepting it was to be no less a slave to it. Neither to accept nor challenge it was the most difficult thing of all; perhaps impossible."

[Jill H.]

Scott has a way with words, doesn't he?

[Martin]

Neither to accept, nor reject is a very Buddhist notion, and given the way Scott has structured the sentences makes it quite a coincidence if he wasn't aware. He also acknowledges the difficulty in cultivating that middle path between acceptance and rejection.