The Bronze Horseman discussion
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Anthony and Vicky
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Tina wrote: "What are your thoughts about Anthony and Vicky's relationship?I think it was a little strange. I really didn't like reading about them being intimately involved. Him being much younger than her,..."
Yeah that was such a shocker I mean I never saw it coming!!!!!
I don't know I mean when he lived with Vicki he was only a toddler. When Alexander comes back they pretty much live in different states and I imagine they only saw vicki at Christmas and such. I didn't mind it. I actually would have liked to read more. I felt like Vicki was a lost soul and so was Antman so it seems right.
I'm a little torn on this one. I guess it wasn't necessary for the plot so it is really a question of taste over necessity and I suppose my main discrepancy with it-or one of them (think I might have to read TSG again, as I only read it once, to really digest it again)-is that all along Anthony complains as a child that he doesn't like Vikki, that he doesn't want her to be around. Is that b/c Tatiana left him w/ her and he has bad feelings? Or was it Vikki? Presumably if she was good to him he would have loved her. So it came out of left field for me that this is who he would somehow choose to love. Also I think maybe part of the reason it isn't a high point for me is that it's just all of a sudden there. I mean the whole story deftly tells of T&A detail for detail. Then in TSG it jumps and boom they are together and w/o a whole lot of back story. So while I'm not particularly disturbed by it, I'm not sure I get it or FEEL the connection between them. I mean I know the story is T&A's mostly, but the link between them just didn't grab me. So it was OK, fine, but nothing that completely had me saying 'yes'!! this is right!! I get it!! --it just didn't do that for me like the other stuff that PS usually evokes in me.of course, I only read it once so I suppose reading it again might give me a better understanding.
for me i found it hard imagining anthony as a grown man - even when he went to vietnam im pretty sure he was older than alexander was at the beginning of the series yet still was a boy. i guess thats how you feel when your son becomes an adult... hmm maybe thats it - you get so emotionally involved that you forget he isnt your son!? to me when i picture anthony i instantly visualise zac efron. hmm maybe christina hendricks or whatever her name is as vicki?
Megan wrote: "for me i found it hard imagining anthony as a grown man - even when he went to vietnam im pretty sure he was older than alexander was at the beginning of the series yet still was a boy. i guess tha..."(view spoiler)
I think when he was younger he didn't want Tatiana to leave him again and always felt if Vicki was around that is what would happen. Then not much is said in regards to his feelings for her when he is older.
I really feel that Antman's character is so sad. He is really effected by his parents circumstances and it is transcended into his adulthood. Going to war, I believe Vicki was his true love. Very star crossed but true. In TSG when they are watching old video footage of Vicki my heart just aches for him and her. She has an awful fate with the cancer.
I think that Anthony's feeling toward Vicki early on in TSG, when he is scared to see her, is a reflexion of Tatiana leaving him so long with her, even though Vicki was good to him. I just was hit hard when their relationship was let out. I still think is doesn't fit the story. A little creepy for me.
Megan wrote: "for me i found it hard imagining anthony as a grown man - even when he went to vietnam im pretty sure he was older than alexander was at the beginning of the series yet still was a boy. i guess tha..."You know I cannot imagine Zac Efron only b/c I see him as looking so much like Alexander (maybe that is b/c two Alexanders are better than one-haha). But I do suppose he was going to have to look a bit like Tatiana too (although funny, my boy looks EXACTLY like me and not at all like his dad....so it is possible. But perhaps I am remembering wrong, did they say that he looked a lot like Alexander or is it my imagination? But perhaps Megan you have a different idea of what Alexander looks like than I do. I compeltely and totally see Henry Cavill and no one else. I know he wasn't really around when Paullina wrote this, but I had to check the date on the book b/c in my mind she wrote him a lot in the image of HC. That said, the Alexander in my mind is actually THE BEST version to me. Definitely HC-ish, but better!)
Tina wrote: "I think that Anthony's feeling toward Vicki early on in TSG, when he is scared to see her, is a reflexion of Tatiana leaving him so long with her, even though Vicki was good to him. I just was ..."
Tina, you make a good point. I totally see now that Tatiana's leaving him w/ Vikki is why he would be scared to see her. I cannot believe I did not get that in the first place. Hmmm. Definitely have to read T&A again.
if i remember correctly anthony was the spitting image of alexander but with tatianas mouth. i think the other children were fair like tatiana. i kind of wish paullina simons focussed more on their adult children because i felt there were too many characters to get to know at the end which was confusing. apart from anthony the rest of their children and grandkids were a blur to me. waaaaay too many character introductions as once...
I think so too. Anthony does look like his father. Big boy, dark hair and dark complexion. And yes it does say that he has a full mouth like his mother.I agree Megan, when I first read TSG, I had to keep going back and re-reading about each new child, and their ages. It was getting confusing. But I didn't mind them once you get them squared away, it made Tatiana and Alexander's lives complete. It showed how they loved having their growing family around them all the time. :)
I have to agree with you Megan. It was not only a mass of characters, but a sudden jump to it. Confusing, and as we were walked step by delicous step through their lives it felt a little unsettling and odd for PS to just jump to the end of their lives and wrap it up with a slew of characters. It's not that I don't like that they had a lot of children. I think that would completely fit with their love for one another and their love of family. It was just the careful descriptions of the characters suddenly disappeared for a quick finish. I did love ALL three books and their were parts of TSG (the fight scene-whew!) that left me breathless, but I did have that slight problem with the ending. I'm not certain what I thought she should do...another book? That might have been overkill, I mean HOW much can they go through?? (that is my one worry w/ Outlander. I mean I am crazy(!!!) over that book and am now on DFIA but I am curious how this can go on for 8 books! Yikes!) So I get that she had to wrap it up and I'm not going to give advice on how she should have done it-she is the master- only I'm not sure that particular ending-or the way it came about blew me away.
i have issues with paullina simons as an author to be honest. don't get me wrong,the bronze horseman is and probably will be my favourite book of all time, but i found the second quarter of the bridge to holy cross completely redundant and whilst the summer garden pulled on the heart strings of the tragics like me, if you weren't as invested in the characters well it would be a hot mess!! waaay too much focus on the lead up to "the fight", not nearly enough focus on the vietnam section and the end a jumble of characters and political talk. maybe its just me but personally i would've liked to have seen a changing of the guard so to speak so these characters she introduced could be extended in future books maybe. thats something i absolutely adore about jennifer donnellys rose series the way she shifts the focus of the central characters with each book yet still incorporates them into the story.
I completely agree with you Megan on the T&A book. I mean I can't say I didn't enjoy it as I loved Alexander/Tatiana and reading about them did give me pleasure. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed in the second book. You put your finger right on it, it was redundant. She spent so much of her time (PS) writing page after page of what happened in TBH so that sometimes I was just like enough already. I mean I totally get it that she has to give back story for those that didn't read TBH, but it was way too much rehashing for my taste. I like it much better how DB does it in DFIA. I did like TSG better but as I mentioned in an early post, the sudden flip to the end and the jumble of characters gave me a bit of a jolt. Usually in films and in books the first of a series is ALWAYS the best and we obviously both agree that TBH far outweighed the latter two of the series. I hate to complain too much for as I said any Tatiana and Alexander is better than none and I certainly didn't NOT like the books.
Said it wrong-even with my minor criticisms I did LOVE the books.
Megan wrote: "if i remember correctly anthony was the spitting image of alexander but with tatianas mouth. i think the other children were fair like tatiana. i kind of wish paullina simons focussed more on their..."My one and only thing about that dinner thing was who the bleep cared about Washington?????? What was up with that???????
Toni wrote: "I have to agree with you Megan. It was not only a mass of characters, but a sudden jump to it. Confusing, and as we were walked step by delicous step through their lives it felt a little unsettling..."They J&C go through it all but all great! lets just say Diana likes description!!!!!!!!!!!Long winded comes to mind!!! :)
Kelly, I wonder if PS added Washington to the character list to show that anyone is welcome into their house..boyfriends included and the teacher (can't remember her name) that is invited and hooks up with Anthony later on. But I do agree with you..who really cares about Washington!!!
Tina wrote: "Kelly, I wonder if PS added Washington to the character list to show that anyone is welcome into their house..boyfriends included and the teacher (can't remember her name) that is invited and hooks..."I would like to see some of the grandchildren get a story...
I also am still waiting for DG to write about Jamies parents she said at one point she would write a book about them. It is a great love story too! Ellen was his mom's name.
I felt it was weird about Anthony and Vicky, not b/c of their age, but b/c she was there when he was born, took care of him when he was lttle, fed him, changed his diaper. Going from that to a romantic relationship was a huuuuuge jump for me. It felt like too much even for 20 years.A&T is a bit of a blur for me, cause I just kept waiting for A to escape or Tatia to find him, so I rushed through the book. I loved the remiscing, though. The bits about Leningrad and Lazarevo were really great for me, but I struggled with Tatia's grieving and attempts to get over A. and move forward with her life(with other men).
The ending of TSG made me cry, even though it was a happy one. The remembering, looking at photos and videos, it was just hard for me. And I liked the introducing of grandchildren, b/c it showed they had a grand family and that their children found happiness. But that last scene, with Shura crossing the street undid me. The thought of having 60 years with the love of your life... That's how I want the Outlander series to end, not with death, but memories.
Mimi wrote: "I felt it was weird about Anthony and Vicky, not b/c of their age, but b/c she was there when he was born, took care of him when he was lttle, fed him, changed his diaper. Going from that to a roma..."Mimi, I so agree. She was like a mother to him, then them having a romance is just a little weird!!
I agree with the both of you it was a very big jump and I did have an open mind about it but I never 'felt' it, it just didn't mesh with me.Kelly I would love DG to write about Ellen and Brian and even the horrible Simon of Lovat...he probably thru a bunch of poison curveballs their way. Those two would be a GREAT love story!!!!!! Why is DG so obsessed with LJG? Don't get that at all when you have E&B just perfect for a great novel. I'll be first in line if she writes of them, plus little Jamie...although I do love the man Jamie (sigh)I'd love to hear about him and Jenny and Willie, I just love all of them.
I never thought of it but you are right Kelly, a book about the grandkids might be interesting. The thing I didn't love in TSG was that all of a sudden with like a chapter left they suddenly introduced all of these kids and grandkids etc...It was confusing, esp after the detailed lives of T and A and Anthony..it seemed odd, so hearing about them or their kids might be interesting. I think I'd like it much more than Alexander's parents..we'll see..
Toni wrote: "I agree with the both of you it was a very big jump and I did have an open mind about it but I never 'felt' it, it just didn't mesh with me.Kelly I would love DG to write about Ellen and Brian ..."
I hated how that Washington fella was always being mentioned who the hell cares about him!
Yes and Ian being young and off run up a muck with Wee Jamie!
At first I was wondering who in the world Washington was upon reading your post Kelly. Then I remembered (unfortunately!!). Seriously, what the hell was that? He was soo annoying and you're right, who cares about him!!hahaAnd yes, Ian and Jamie. I love Ian. NOT in the same way I love Jamie of course...but I do like him a great deal, and I like him with Jenny. It would be fun to see how their young romance blossomed. Remember it was Jenny who roped him and branded him hers without much say on his part. Though I think we all can easily infer that he was not in the least bit unhappy about how that one turned out!! I really love Lallybroch and all it's Frasers!!! I'll always love Jamie - swoonworthy OR wee! This story seems like it is just bursting at the seams to be written (well in MY mind at least ;)), I wish DG would put away LJG and all the rest and get on with EandB and the like! I haven't yet read Echo so I don't know where Jamie Claire, Bree and Roger were left off but I can still safely say ENOUGH (and I've only read up to TFC)...and Please start anew with the Fraser's that born us our beautiful Jamie!!!I've one thing to say to DG about that 'Je suis prest'!!!!!!!
Toni, I think I'm going to have to sink my teeth into Drums of Autumn - I see your posts about Ian and I don't know if you mean Snr or Jnr?! You know who I thought was a right bitch? Jenny! I did NOT like her one bit - she's like the epitome of a bitchy sister-in-law! LOL! Maybe if I jump back into the series, I might change my opinion of her...
Megan wrote: "Toni, I think I'm going to have to sink my teeth into Drums of Autumn - I see your posts about Ian and I don't know if you mean Snr or Jnr?! You know who I thought was a right bitch? Jenny! I did N..."I didn't really take Jenny as a bitch, I think she is strong minded like Jamie is. She and Jamie have a great relationship, I think. She doesn't let him get away with anything, and she tells it like it is. I really didn't like what she did to Claire, but I think she was just looking out for Jamie and trying to protect hime.
I also agree about Washington in TSG. At first I thought he was going to be some kind of trouble maker. But he didn't turned out to really bring anything to the story. My take on that whole scene with the all family at Thanksgiving is PS is trying to show that Tatiana loves to have her family in her house and all together, it doesn't matter how many people show up. Washington was an outsider as well as that teacher that came to dinner and started talking to Anthony, and eventually married him. She was kind of thrown in to the story also.
Megan wrote: "Toni, I think I'm going to have to sink my teeth into Drums of Autumn - I see your posts about Ian and I don't know if you mean Snr or Jnr?! You know who I thought was a right bitch? Jenny! I did N..."I was kind of lukewarm on Jenny. Sometimes I thought her fiesty, but then when she would get into it with someone she would be vicious and I didn't take to that. When she hurt Claire with Laoghaire though, that just boiled my blood. I know what her explanation was but it held no water with me. She says she does it for Jamie, but she is doing it for her. It is Claire that makes Jamie happy. Didn't she see he was a shell of himself until Claire came back. I get that she is his big sister and protective, but he is a grown man who went thru unfathomable pain. When he finally in twenty odd years finds peace and happiness she tears it away and hurts Claire fiercly. Even when she apologizes it's still with a stiffness. It doesn't seem genuine. The one part I do like about Jenny is her and Ian Sr. They are sweet together. I think he is the only person she shows softness to. There were parts when I liked Jenny, but she just fell apart for me as the books went on.
I do love both Ians though. Ian sr. is so dear and Ian jr. is just, well, so dear too. I adored wee Ian. He was such a sweetheart and in DoA he just breaks your heart!!! That's all I'll say Megan, but it was the one part in that book that really put a knife in my heart. I am NOT a Roger and Bree fan at all. Wish I was, but just cannot feel anything for them. Bree is so cold and so harsh to me. She has no feminity and DG I think was trying to write her as very modern, a contemporary teenager (well, in the 60's that is) but she just comes off as kind of crass and narcissistic and for a love story, she shows no warmth or romanticism. It always makes me cringe when she uses phrases like 'jugbutt'. That might make me sound strange, but it just makes her seem so crude and lacking in all of the class and sophisticated demeanor that Claire and Jamie both have. She just comes off as a sassy brat. I know people are going to toss rotten tomoatoes at me now, but it is my humble opinion. I wanted to like them, but it went no where for me. I am trying to read The Fiery Cross but it is really slow. Whereas I read the first four books in three days each, I am on my tenth day and only half way thru. It's run it's course with me. I love Jamie and Claire. I love their dynamic. But enough it enough. They are actually kind of boring to me now. I kind of wish I had stopped after Voyager to be honest. I've lost some of that lovin' feeling! I used to be all googly eyed for Jamie Fraser and though I do LOVE him, he doesn't hold that swoony-moony place in my heart anymore like yon Alexander does. He used to. Perhaps I need a big old break from JandC and the rest of them to let the love flow back to me. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.....I hope that is so Jamie Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser! Paullina had it right...stop after the trilogy! (well she had to, TandA were fairly ancient by TSG's end-but she knew to sew it all up for her readers). You know who I do like who practically disappreared after the first three and definitely by TFC...Fergus. I really like Fergus but he's barely mentioned. Hmmmm..I think I posted this in the wrong thread. All this Outlander stuff in the Anthony and Vicky thread. Well Megan, we should chat Outlander on the thread on this TBH site.
As for Washington, he was so arbitrary. I've always maintained that Paullina spend soo many wonderful pages describing in her gorgeous prose the details of our protagonists lives. Then suddenly in the last few chapters of TSG she quickly throws in a dozen people who we barely get a glimpse at, children, grandchildren, daughter-in-law's, son-in-law's, boyfriends, girlfriends, friends, etc....It just seemed soo out of place and Washington is just kind of the poster child of that crazy mess to me. Its as if he was plucked from some other book and stuck in the pages of TSG. He does not have any place or reason there.
Toni wrote: "Megan wrote: "Toni, I think I'm going to have to sink my teeth into Drums of Autumn - I see your posts about Ian and I don't know if you mean Snr or Jnr?! You know who I thought was a right bitch? ..."Toni I LOVE this post and yes I was like hmmmm Anthony and Vicki??? LOL
I love how you put it with Jenny and Bree... I feel the EXACT SAME WAY I so want to love Bree but I feel she is crass and harded as well. Not a soft bone in that girls large body... and I don't mean fat but damn DG paints her as some sort of AMAZON woman! and Roger is a total Beta wimp!
Okay time to throw the food my way!!! LOL
As for Jenny I do not forgive her in anyway and she is trouble!!! I just feel it coming and I won't say anymore because you haven't read all.
Also, I would stop and take a break because you seem burnt out. ABOSAA is really really good.
:)
Kelly wrote: "Toni wrote: "Megan wrote: "Toni, I think I'm going to have to sink my teeth into Drums of Autumn - I see your posts about Ian and I don't know if you mean Snr or Jnr?! You know who I thought was a ..."Kelly I seriously think that calling Roger yon Beta wimp is my very favorite post ever! I laughed for a good ten minutes because it is sooo true!! You also reminded me of the other reason that I found odd in regards to Bree. She is described at one moment as this gorgeous vision of a woman (juggbutt and all--I cringe!) and the next as a big boned Amazon woman without a feminine bone in her body! Not that you have to be tiny to be attractive. I myself was a model when a bit younger and so my two best friends are 6ft tall (I'm a wee 5'10 1/2" myself LOL)my point being is that I've been around very tall women many years and very beautiful ones at that, so being tall can be attractive, but Bree is just described as a brute! I mean in one scene DG describes Claire buying her going-back dress in a size 8 then Bree's as a size 16. Then when Bree goes back she's wearing breeks and DG says over and over how the men were just all up in a twist over her arse. Putting those two scenes together I got Quite the picture in my head!!
I thought you had a very good idea about putting down the book for a bit. I am so burned-outlander! (a weak attempt at a joke :) )I did decide to read one more chapter to see if I was ready to do so and leave it to start The Winter Rose. Well, not only did I completely agree that putting it aside was the only thing to do, but it was soo funny in that the scene I read was the absolute description of all we were saying about Roger and Bree.
Scene-The fiery cross (set up: Roger has just returned from the stand down against the Regulators. It is his first time ever in leading men, he goes forth with the notion he will be in an armed battle of sorts (Roger who's held a gun once in his life-not a warrior)and is gone for over a month living rough and in the freezing cold of snow. When Gov Tryon sends them home it's weeks on the muddy trail, cold still and when they get home their covered head to toe in mud and frozen and tired to the bone. When he gets home the first thing he does is wash quickly just to go and be with Bree. He wants to hold her and make love to her.
They are together in bed and he smells something which she says is goose. He asked what the occasion is and she says (this is sweet lovely Bree talking remember)
Scene:
'For Christmas" she said. "What?" He groped blankley trying to count the days, the events of the last weeks had completely erased his mental calendar. "When?"
"Tomorrow, idiot!" she said. (end of scene)
She's just lovely, no? My husband would go pick me posey's if I talked to him like that. RIGHT!! Now of course Roger would!!! I think Bree must have wrenched the backbone straight out of him with her callused hands and her manly strength.
A little farther down....
Bree quickly gets up after Roger was so insensitive not to remember it was Christmas (Damn that insensitive Roger!!).
Next scene after getting back and very briefly laying with his wife. She gets upset as I mentioned and tho he'd rather lay with her he now has to get up and go muck stalls and do chores for Jamie. He gets up in a fog still from it all and must quickly get dressed.
Scene:
Roger sits up and shakes his breeks absentmindedly, sending a shower of dried mud fragments pattering over the floor. "Don't to that!" "What the hell's the matter with you!" says Bree. "What's the matter with you?"Roger replied. "Matter? You shower dirt all over the floor and you think there's something wrong with ME?"
"Sorry, I didn't think.." He jerked his breeks on, talking fast. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't think of it being Christmas. It was-there were importnat things to deal with; I lost track. I'll make it up to ye. Perhaps when we go to Cross Creek for your aunt's wedding I could-"
"To hell with Christmas" she said. "What?" he stopped. "To hell with Christmas, the hell with Cross Creek, and the f$#@&ing hell with you, too!"(end scene)
Okay, so when I read this I this I thought wow she must be pregnant and having a hormonal moment with him. I waited and waited. Well, it wasn't a moment like I imagined. No babies on the way. No one with illness or anything of the sorts. Why was our gentle sweet little Bree so upset with our beta wimp Roger?
Because she worked hard to wash the floors and set up candles and he didn't notice!!!!!!!!!
I'm not sure which of them I can 't handle more!!!Whiny or Wimpy? But seriously what does he see in her? Because I can tell you that after she yelled at him for another half hour regarding what an awful person he was he was saying sorry and feeling guilty as sin. Ugh!! Yes, I need a long break from these two.
Sorry I must say farewell for now Jamie and Claire. I will miss you. But your offspring are verra verra messed up in the head and I've got to get the hell out of dodge before I throw yon Outlander series in the auld fire, aye?
Kelly I am glad you said ABOSAA is good. Gives me a reason to push thru at a later time. Plus you piqued my interest with Jenny....what does she do I wonder????
Toni wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Toni wrote: "Megan wrote: "Toni, I think I'm going to have to sink my teeth into Drums of Autumn - I see your posts about Ian and I don't know if you mean Snr or Jnr?! You know who I..."Toni, read the Winter Rose, you will not be disappointed. If you miss Jamie now... you won't be after meeting Sid!!!! YUM!!
Tina wrote: "Toni wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Toni wrote: "Megan wrote: "Toni, I think I'm going to have to sink my teeth into Drums of Autumn - I see your posts about Ian and I don't know if you mean Snr or Jnr?! Y..."ohhhh Tina you are tempting me 5 more days till vacation and I start TWR!!!
Toni wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Toni wrote: "Megan wrote: "Toni, I think I'm going to have to sink my teeth into Drums of Autumn - I see your posts about Ian and I don't know if you mean Snr or Jnr?! You know who I..."Toni LOL at your whole ranting post I LOVE IT!!! They are just impossible to like. Whiny and Wimpy Blahhhh!!!
The chemistry is just blah with them!!
We will probably be reading about Sid at the same time :)
I am also 5'10" and did a teeny bit of modeling.... If you could call it that just local for Bridal stores and local shops!
I was so relieved to see this thread. One of my biggest beefs with TSG has always been the relationship with Anthony and Vikki. It felt totally creepy and out of left field to me. At the very end when they are watching the videos, I did feel sad for him and I was glad it was a real relationship and not just a passing fling, but it still felt a bit incestuous to me and I didn't enjoy that part of the story.
I see what you are saying Kira, but she was living in across the country and didn't see him that often from 2 on. Until obviously he got older and well you know what happens then..I was in complete and utter shock NEVER saw that one coming. But I have no problem with it. In fact I would love her to write a short novella about them but it would be a tragedy not a love story.
Kelly wrote: "Toni wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Toni wrote: "Megan wrote: "Toni, I think I'm going to have to sink my teeth into Drums of Autumn - I see your posts about Ian and I don't know if you mean Snr or Jnr?! Y..."So Kelly you know very well the issues of always being last in line in school, having to dance with your prom date while looking at the top of his head etc...LOL
I love being tall now, it brought me to practically every country on the map and lined my pocket nicely but boy oh boy did I hate it as a young girl! Add to it the name Toni - with everyone saying it's a boys name and my childhood was not quite the Disney movie! haha Listen Kelly modelling is modelling no matter what you did-big or small.. you know I learned this early on in modelling I guess as in other things in life, a lot has to do with luck. I got scouted on accident in my early teens and went off to NY and Paris at 17 (I graduated hs at 16, didn't drop out-feel I have to add that in for some odd reason...the insecurity of the dumb model stereotype I guess)so I got lucky but if I wasn't in that place at that time it might not have happened. One of my best friends (one of the 6 footers mentioned) who was my roomate when I lived in Greece (she is from Denmark) is gorgeous and has the loveliest heart. Obviously the agents wanted her in Greece because she was flown over and put up in the model's hotel, but she NEVER worked. In a year she never worked once. I worked, others much less lovely than her in soo many ways worked. She rarely worked in her whole career for some odd reason, but not for lack of the right requirements. So it's all a bit of luck too. I totally consider your modelling real. Who knows Kelly you might have been the next Giselle had you high tailed it to NYC!! Maybe I would know you! Wow, that would have been so fab, another model that reads!!!! I was teased righteously by my fellow roomates in every city b/c I always brought an extra suitcase filled to the rim with books whenever I would leave my base in NY (where was Kindle when I needed it!). I would have died being abroad constantly without books in English for me to read. Ok, I don't even know where this is going as most my posts go. Ugh! I did have a point at one point in my decision to write this but I obviously lost it along the way. My mind seems to move a bit faster than I can keep up with at times! Where are you from by the way Kelly? Are you American? Australian (I've run into a few Aussie's on this site)?
I am really excited to read The Winter Rose. The Sid Malone/Charlie Finnegan thing in The Tea Rose was one of my FAV parts. I loved him then and only got bits of him. A whole book of Sid Malone..Yay!!! How far have you read up to? I must catch up so we can chat about Sid :)!
It is nice to leave DG for a bit. I do want to come back to Jamie again WANTING to read about him and Claire. Besides being bothered by the Rog/Bree union (poor Jemmy, hopefully Bonnet is his father. Just Kidding!!!!!!I don't wish THAT on the wee babe). I do like the name Jemmy though. Cute. I hope he turns out to be a wee Jamie instead of a wee version of his own parents. Ok time to wrap it up. I seriously need to add an egg timer to my posts.
See you over on TWR page Kelly!!
As for Vicki and Anthony. It came as a massive shock to me too and though it didn't really mesh with me I don't know if it was because it was 'too close to home' or anything of that sort or if it was just because it was just so quickly dropped on the reader and then quickly explained. There was no real emotion to it besides the obvious circumstances. We never got a chance to 'feel' their relationship. So I didn't love it, but again, I don't know where that emanates from. As I posted before, PS wrote so detailed about twenty years of Tatiana and Alexander's lives (around 2000 pages) then suddenly the whole rest of their lives were told over three chapters, so it feels a bit of a knock across the head to just have Anthony's relationship with Vicki to be such a 'big' situation but so sparsely emotionally investigated. This was at least better than the entrance of the kids, grandkids, etc.. (Washington!) that were basically dropped on us fifteen pages til the end of the trilogy, but still a bit of a black hole. If it were not something so surprising and odd and as some say akin to incestuous relations in a way it wouldn't have mattered as much, but to drop that bomb and all that went with it soo quickly, it doesn't give the reader the opportunity to examine the relationship, 'feel' it and then decide. It's basically just accepting it on the word of Paullina and the sad events around it and not on the actual relationship itself.
As I said, I didn't love it, but if PS did what Kelly had brought up and wrote a novella, I might then, upon further immersion in their relationship feel a great deal differently about it......
I AM BUYING AN EGG TIMER TODAY!!!! How I get anything done in my life with these kind of posts (if you think this is bad you should see my emails!!) I will never know!
I would rather PS write a whole novel about Anthony. His life would be so interesting, seeing what he has seen and how it affected him. We'd find out more about Moon Lai and wtf he was thinking. :) I'd LOVE to read about Anthony and Vicki. I was shocked but I got used to it very fast and it seemed to be true love. I think Anthony has a good story to tell. I asked PS about it once. She hit the LIKE button but then said that her new novel was about Alexander's parents.
Toni wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Toni wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Toni wrote: "Megan wrote: "Toni, I think I'm going to have to sink my teeth into Drums of Autumn - I see your posts about Ian and I don't know if you mean..."Toni, I want you guys to read The Winter Rose soon... I want to talk about Sid...Oh so yummy!!! The bad boy...everyone likes a bad boy..and Sid is a good, bad boy...sigh.... Am I peaking your interest!!! :)
Tina my interest was piqued upon the last few scenes of The Tea Rose and I've been dying to read all about Sid since, but your post has me panting all the way to my bookshelf where I shall rip the book out of it's spot and devour it immediately!! Will post soon!!!!
Peg wrote: "I would rather PS write a whole novel about Anthony. His life would be so interesting, seeing what he has seen and how it affected him. We'd find out more about Moon Lai and wtf he was thinking. :)..."I agree Peg. I'd love to read about Anthony and Vicki-you're so right, he'd have a lot to say and an interesting point of view. Perhaps you turned Paullina onto a great idea though and she will seriously consider it post the Barrington parents book. I'd love that!!! And you are soo right. What in the world was he thinking with Moon Lai? I'd love to find out. Could be incredibly interesting???!!!!
Peg wrote: "I would rather PS write a whole novel about Anthony. His life would be so interesting, seeing what he has seen and how it affected him. We'd find out more about Moon Lai and wtf he was thinking. :)..."Oh Peg, Moon Li that made me sick to my stomach! Evil!
I never saw it coming....and when the thing between Anthony and Vikki came out I was like wtf? Really?Not because she was so much older than him. She wasn't just her mother's hot friend who would come over from time to time, but she was to him almost a second mother, even if later he saw her less. I mean, I always saw crazy Vikki as a sort of part of the family!
In the end it didn't disturb me that much, I just couldn't picture it happening, given the premises!
It took me 3 rereads to fully appreciate and love TSG. TBH will always be my favourite book, but TSG was necessary imo. Because Tatiana and Alexander's story, even if with a happy ending, isn't a fairytale, and without TSG I would have felt the story incomplete. First time I read it, I felt several time the urge to throw the book out of the window. And in the same time I would have rushed to take it back.
Paullina Simons is a great author because she gives you a hard time in dealing with her characters and stories! :-)
Well said, Evelando! It is no fairytale, and that's what makes it so real and so painful. Anything that Simon writes I take it like gospel, so I never really disliked anything too badly in the book. I know a lot of people have complaints though!
I think it was a little strange. I really didn't like reading about them being intimitly involved. Him being much younger than her, and She being like a second mother to him. Their relationship should not have went down that road. (In my opinion)