The Kindness of Women *Spoilers*

[Jo]

I am reading this now and had a few thoughts to write down before i forget.

I was wondering about the way this book is written. It skips through time concentrating on certain events. I found it odd that he would skip the birth of his first two children. Also that he skipped so much time between leaving shanghai and going to university.

I really felt for him at the beginning of the book when he talked about england and he seemed so lost and unhappy. I was happy for him when he got a family together. It's interesting to read about his life after the war but i can't connect the two people together. The war child and the grown up living in england. Maybe he felt that way too or maybe it just came from the big gaps in his story. I wonder why he did it this way?

[DJ]

Hi Jo,I will try to get this finished this week.Apologies for the delay....
Were we the only people reading it????

[Jo]

I'm not sure actually. I think a couple of others were interested but i doubt they actually read it. Looks like it will just be you and me again!

[DJ]

Oh well'we could try for another run like EOTS...
Sometimes people just don't know what they are missing...LOL!

[Jo]

Lol agreed. Yeah it would be fun to have another conversation like that. There is more to discuss in this book aswell because it spans over more time. When i first started reading it i felt like i was being punished with more war camp stuff! Luckily it didn't go on for too long.

[DJ]

Yeah'I know what you mean about he start of it..If I remmber right you had to let me know that it was worth stcking o as I also thought that I was being re interred into the camp and it mad me really unhappy....

[Jo]

Yeah that part made me want to throw it in the bin, but i ended up really liking it once i finished it.

[DJ]

Keeping my fingers crossed!

[DJ]

Mmmm,ok I have a terrible admission to make ......I in truth prefered THE EMPIRE OF THE SUN,this one was disturbing to me....Possibly the amount of Drug usage and all the talk of Car Chases and Accidents and Death.
I was put off quite early on by the birth scene and I guess I never really got put back on track with it.
I actually really disliked his character in this one,he was a complete misoyginistic git!!! I was appalled by the way he treated women......
Sorry it made my blood boil!
But then again at least I wasn`t bored by it.....

[Jo]

I'm quite shocked to hear that you didn't like him in this one. I prefered him a lot more to the child version. There was a lot of talk of drugs and car chases but he knew some very broken people. He himself was broken. I wasn't alive around that time but i imagine life was pretty shakey after the war. Did you end up finishing it? Were there any parts you liked? I thought it was so sad when he lost his wife.

[DJ]

I read the whole book,I don`t give up as I always hope things will get better.
I didn`t like his Adult attitude to the war as both my parents had lived through it and lost many loved ones.
And as well with Dads death.........

But that`s the great thing about books what one person loves another hates.I didn`t hate it,I just really disliked it,I guess I would have thought that what he had lived through should have made him into a kinder more compassionate Human Being,as he should not have wanted to watch people suffer.....

[Jo]

I understand that. Also we have probably both had very different lives. I imagine it was hard to read after what happened with your dad aswell. What i liked most was that it was spread over many years rather than the monotony of the war camp. For me, compared to the first book it was a lot more interesting. After reading this one, they feel like completely different people.

[DJ]

Yeah,we were coming at it from different perspectives..And also with Dad.
I did feel therereally wasn`t enough interaction between him and his children,what did you think??

[Jo]

I can see where you are coming from. I mean it was obvious that he loved them and they meant a lot to him but they were skimmed over a bit. I felt like a lot of the more important things were skipped over and he concentrated more on the bad stuff rather than the good.

[DJ]

Yes,maybe that is what put me off as I felt that there was not a good sense of balance.Maybe if there had been more about him having to deal with the pressures of single fatherhood I might have had a lot more patience and sympathy with him when ho would "lose it"??

[Jo]

Yeah that's fair enough. Maybe he thought it would bore people if he talked about all the good things that are quite everyday after Empire of the Sun being so different. Who knows?!

[DJ]

Hi Back again,mmm maybe but a little bit of the good stuff would have been nice.....

[DJ]

PS I would still have loved to skip the re hash of EOTS at the start!!

[Jo]

Oh yeah me too. I think he should have just gone straight to his life after. I thought the re hash was really not needed.

[DJ]

I know!!
It just dragged on.I mean. I get that he put ot in for the sake of anyone who hadn't read EOTS but couldn't he have put a disclaimer saying you could possibly skip the prologue of you have previously read EOTS??

[Jo]

LOL that would have been good. I was like a punishment reading it again. I looked through all of the chapter names so i could guess when it would end but there were no clues so i read it all.

[DJ]

Snap.I tried to do the same.I kept having to put it down as I would get so irritated!!

[Jo]

I'm impressed you finished it. At least theres not a 3rd book!

[DJ]

LOL yes I am much relieved there isn't a third book.
I ways fi oh books even of I hate them as O always hope they will get better....

[Jo]

I normally give it about 100 pages depending on how much i'm not liking it. Some books get less, some get more.

[DJ]

Good Plan...
Just call me PollyAnna from now on...LOL!!