Response to Part 3

[Em]

Daaaaaaamn. Okay, so. Yes. We have some "completion" in both the sexual and the vital sense. I'm... not surprised that Kath and Tommy's suit does not pan out. In that vein, I think the book is calling for authentic action in the moment (not in retrospect). Over and over again, the tragedy of this book seems to be that characters, for one reason or another, either do not know how or simply do not act according to their authentic desires in the moment .

Man. The way people's authentic desires are complicated, obfuscated, or simply suppressed is all kinds of real, though.

So, an interesting question that I think the book raises is: How do we get past all the inauthenticity when the work of our imagination might be the only thing keeping us going (hopeful).

It might sound facetious, but I think it's a pretty effing serious question.

I'll probably edit this response tomorrow when I've had time to sleep (and dream) on it.

[Jeremy C. Brown]

Sorry I'm late... just finished this book. I'm a little surprised not to have seen more discussion on it too, as I think it's a real thought provoker. Anybody still interested in talking about it? I can see these three threads have received quite a few views but no comments.

[Jeremy C. Brown]

Em I think your comment about authentic desires being obfuscated resonates with me as I think back on the book. It always bugged me to read about how a character would react in a way that I feel wasn't true to their authentic feelings. Ruth was huge on that with pushing Kath away with Tommy. Also I think of your comment when I think of how at the end there Tommy pushed Kath away...

But maybe these were authentic feelings... in that case it makes me wonder. Do we sometimes sacrifice our intimate relationships because we elevate our unshared experiences to the point that they outweigh our shared experiences?