Matthew Royal > Recent Status Updates

Great intro to the Park Service -- it's a very personal, partisan look at its formation, leaders, and philosophies. Compelling stuff I haven't heard before. Eager to hear about the fire, and the stage has been set for understanding the fire both as a natural disaster and political opportunity.

113

The big reveal just happened, but there are still 154 pages left. What are you up to, Mr. Clarke?

The conquests of England, every single one of them bloody, are part of what Americans have in mind when they speak of England's glory. In the United States, violence and heroism have been made synonymous except when it comes to blacks, and the only way to defeat Malcolm's point is to concede it and then ask oneself why this is so.

The beginning of this book was so promising, but this middle section is long and intolerable. The third act has much to do to redeem itself, though already I'm not interested in the two sequel stories.

"But it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime."

This novel is taking some interesting turns, but I'm not sure that it will ever congeal into a cohesive plot. All the elements are there in the pot, but the author is stirring them around randomly.

OK, it's starting to get interesting. The initial, in-depth character sketches make even minor mysteries seem like the next step could be anything. The pages are starting to fly by!

So far, I'm not enjoying this book nearly as much as I thought I would. it's still introducing characters, and I dislike them.