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Decision at Delphi
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Decision at Delphi: October Group Read Chapters 16-30
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I'm enjoying it, even though I'm finding it very talk-y.MacInnes sure is piling a lot of action into a very short time frame.
I'm so glad the action picked up in the last third of the book, because I was really struggling with all the characters, especially since some of them have two names. So if anyone is starting the second half, hang in there because the ending is really quite thrilling.
Mod
Very talky, talky, isn't it?
Yes, I guess dual timelines weren’t much of a thing in those days so a lot of past action had to be explained. But at least we have the suspense of wondering who’s lying and who’s telling the truth.
Sorry, I DNF’ed this one - wasn’t holding my interest, and I suspected one character, then saw a spoiler comment among my emails that confirmed it, so I put it aside. My nerves are stretched with all the election news, I’m nervous about the outcome and desperate for entertaining distraction! I may return to it at some point, since I bought a used copy - I still like MacInnes, I loved The Salzburg Connection, but this just wasn’t for me.
I get it, Susan! Bits of this came uncomfortably close to resonating with current politics—or maybe it’s just that nearly everything reminds me of current politics these days. Very stressful. I am a poll worker so I’ll have to remain in suspense even longer than most. I don’t even get cell service at my polling place so I won’t be able to sneak updates during the evening hours.
Abigail wrote: "I get it, Susan! Bits of this came uncomfortably close to resonating with current politics—or maybe it’s just that nearly everything reminds me of current politics these days. Very stressful. I am ..."Bless you for doing it, and thanks for understanding! I’ll be so glad once this is over - there’ll still be plenty of work to be done, though, so I don’t kid myself everything’s going to be right as rain. But it’s at least a start (I hope), to getting things back on track! Good luck with working the polls, and stay healthy!
Thanks! It’s scary, but our elections officials are doing all they can to make polling places safe. The integrity of the vote is a quasi-religious thing for me, so willing to risk my life for it.
Thank you for your commitment and service at a scary time. Take care!
Mod
If you are allowed to, post about your experiences when this is all over. :)
Just about to start Chapter 21. Pace still glacial, but picking up slightly
Mod
Hi, Carol, I just found this thread again and your query (I couldn’t remember which thread it was in!). My Election Day was long and exhausting but inspiring. We were well-staffed for once, with the help of some charming young people volunteering for the first time. We laughed a lot and threw little parties celebrating first-time voters. When no voters were present we talked a lot about issues of the day with mutual respect for disagreements and moving carefully around partisan trigger words.The day is a long one—arrive at 6:00 for setup, polls open 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., then counting and putting everything away and two people to drive the ballots to the collection site. Sixteen hours all told, and I stayed up another five watching returns. But everyone was courteous and patient, workers and voters alike; no crazies came to our (admittedly hard to find) polling place.
This whole process, nationwide, has been a testament to the durability and functionality of our elections system. Everything had backups and redundancies built in—and we sometimes needed them, as when our electronic check-in system for voters failed but we had a paper backup registration list. We were making a small procedural error, and the voting machines and scanner communicated with each other and reported the discrepancy in vote tallies, so a human expert was sent out to tell us what we ought to be doing. No ballot data was lost! And around the country, it’s inspiring to see the patience and hard work that goes into counting every ballot, and working with each problematic ballot individually to see that the voter’s opinion is registered if at all possible.
I encountered over 200 people over the course of the day and was concerned when I had some fever and other symptoms a few days later, but it passed off.
Did I see in your review of this book that your were recently a poll worker too? What was it like for you?
Mod
I'll answer you in our off topic thread Abigail :)
Remember: No open spoiler please!