Greg S > Recent Status Updates

The long disgressions remind me of The Shining but King’s novel would be written eighteen years later.

“I will…” and “she will…”

“…was free of the city.”

Strange old lady scene. I wonder..

Maiden; Vixen; Scoundrel;

Chapter 1: all exposition.

Good one, Woolf. — “Charges against her were (1) that she was dead, and therefore could not hold any property whatsoever; (2) that she was a woman, which amounts to much the same thing;”

My biggest problem with this book is also what I like about it: these complex sentences that can stretch to twenty words or more. Also the pacing is nice, and almost like reading sheet music. But really there’s no plot. I’m almost page a hundred and I think only a few things have happened: the rise to dukedom, transformation, the return to London.

“but right now he needs our help”

Ah, the old pronoun game.

Seriously? Menstruation? Wha-why?

So many dependent clauses you forget what the subject was. — “Among the hurry of these thoughts, however, there now rose, like a dome of smooth, white marble, something which, whether fact or fancy, was so impressive to her fevered imagination that she settled upon it as one has seen a swarm of vibrant dragonflies alight, with apparent satisfaction, upon the glass bell which shelters some tender vegetable.”

“…being like a wave which returns to the deep body of the sea;”

“Obscurity is dark, ample, and free;”

“Green in nature is one thing, green in literature another. Nature and letters seem to have a natural antipathy; bring them together and they tear each other to pieces. The shade of green Orlando now saw spoilt his rhyme and split his metre. Moreover, nature has tricks of her own.”

Mostly descriptions of places and things.

“he used to hold onto Mummy’s skirt in those moments so that he didn’t get left behind.” — aw so cute and innocent

That doesn’t make sense. And also horrible

Nah. It’s called being a bad listener. — “There was something childlike in the way grown-ups had a need for stories. They held a naive belief that by telling an inspiring anecdote…”

Arborist tries and mangles an explanation of…Depression, I think it was?

Now I’m curious about how much longer the author can keep using these vague pronouns, delay telling us, and continue with these allusions. I partly wish it would be the last sentence in the book just to see if she can do it.

Author uses triad archetypes of Patho, Ethos, and Logos, and has a chapter where Kostas lectures it back to us through his daughter like it’s a coincidence.

Rebel without a Cause, “Judy is convinced that her father ignores her because she is no longer a little girl,“

What is this chapter and why have this random socratic dialogue ?

Ah, the author put the blame on the voiceless dead. Classic.

As second generation myself, I must say I disagree and the author needs to stop these absolute statements. — “Meanwhile, the second generation chose to suppress the past, both what they knew and did not know of it.”

Ugh. I don’t know what the contemporary equivalent is, but having a picture of Elizabeth Taylor is low-hanging stereotype. Was it this, an episode of Will and Grace? — “Once, a wallet had been delivered to the lab. Inside, next to some coins and a key to an unknown lock, were photos of Elizabeth Taylor.”

Hm. So Defne gives up her Acheology work and, I assume, years of study and work to follow Jerk Kostas. Will the author use this as a reason for her depression and (already mentioned) tragedy?

Fantasy. Also, are they fully undressed in this open grassy field? — “To be naked like that in the open…” also, who wants to have sex after visiting their son’s grave? Kostas and Defne seem to have a kink.

Speaking of human attention spans, the mention of DDT reminds me of the lyrics to the Ramones song and it led me down to find out that DDT is a carcinogenic and causes breast cancer, problems in-utero, and also affects semen quality.

Don’t worry, Tree. Men will blame women for enough ills. — “Well, it would have been more accurate if it said, ‘she has slain … ’, as it is the female of the species that causes the carnage, but I guess it’s not the first time women have been written out of history.”