Greg’s Comments (group member since Jul 02, 2014)

Greg’s comments from the All About Books group.

Erica wrote: "Honestly it's been a long time since I read Jane Eyre, but I knew this was the back story of the crazy lady in the attic and that was enough for me. But to be honest on the book itself, I can't und..."

Erica, I loved aspects of it and still rate it highly, but I can definitely see where you are coming from.

First, it's true that the technique she's using often makes the text confusing. This is particularly true when she intersperses thoughts in parenthesis. In some sections, it is unclear who is speaking or thinking, since there are several switches interspersed.

Second, on a plot level, not too much happens in part 2. There is the letter and the meeting with the warped Daniel, but for the most part, it's all internal. And much of the meaning is carried in suggestive imagery or by unraveling the wrongness in Rochester's thoughts. Part one functions the most traditionally out of the three parts, but part two is the longest part of this very short novel.

I do think there's a great deal of depth in the way Rochester's cultural identity and his personal disposition create the tragedy with Antionette. They misunderstand each other in fundamental ways. And that clash of perspectives and dispositions is beautifully demonstrated. The imagery of the island is also often quite beautiful.

And I can see why it is still studied in universities as a classic - there is plenty to analyze and pull from the text. But some of her techniques are unconventional, even a little peculiar.

I finished, and I'll answer the questions when I'm back at the computer on Monday. Some things are just as I remember from my first reading a couple decades ago. But other aspects I had forgotten. I'm glad to have re-read it!

I finished A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. It wasn't quite as fun as A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking or as atmospheric as What Moves the Dead, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it! ★★★★ (4.0)

I also finished German author Daniel Kehlmann's tale Tyll, with legendary trickster Tyll Ulenspiegel and the thirty-year war. I thought it was absolutely brilliant! ★★★★★ (5.0)

Now, I'm almost done with the very dark Southern novel The Weight of This World by David Joy as well as American poet Muriel Rukeyser's first book Theory of Flight. I can see glimpses of Rukeyser's future gifts here, but I much prefer her later poetry such as The Speed of Darkness.

I'm also two thirds of the way through my re-read of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, which I like just as much the second time around.

Next, I plan to start The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje.

Jade wrote: "I nominate The Trial"

I will second this

Maurice by E.M. Forster

Erica wrote: "Right, it's been month since I've joined in with one of the Group Reads. I hadn't picked this up before because it's been so long since I read Jane Eyre. But I've put this book on the reserve at th..."

Glad to have you join us Erica!

Thanks for the nomination spoko. I hadn't heard of it, but it looks good!

spoko wrote: "I nominate The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (304 p., pub. 2014)."

I will second this

I nominate Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson

Here is my tentative plan:

Finish Up From Last Month:
in progress 64% Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (re-read)
✔ Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann ★★★★★ (5.0)

Definitely:
in progress 88% The Weight of This World by David Joy

Probably:
Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac
The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher

Possibly:
Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak
Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

Unplanned:
in progress 73% Theory of Flight by Muriel Rukeyser
in progress 21% Half Bad by Sally Green

What are your reading plans this month? I'm glad to be reading again and have already penciled in some choices for myself.

Is anyone else still reading this? It's just as good for me the second time around! I'm close to halfway done.

I'm now into part two and really loving it. I can see why this novel made such an impression on me when I first read it nearly 30 years ago!

It's immediately unsettling, the narrator of part two and his polite disdain. His perspective is written perfectly to give us (view spoiler)[forebodings of what is to come (hide spoiler)].

Nidhi wrote: "I recently read this book and liked it very much. The book has flaws and narration seems to broken in many places but it does fill the gap it promises to. i.e The story of and through the perspecti..."

I'm enjoying it too Nidhi, very much so!

I'm almost done with part one now. It's funny - I didn't remember exactly what happened in the book, but as I read, so many things are coming back to me.

It's such a horrifying and poignant moment with the (view spoiler)[burning parrot (hide spoiler)], and it speaks so well to the differences in values between Mr. Mason and Annette. She wants to go (view spoiler)[back for something living, something in the house that is helpless to escape on its own because of its clipped wings (hide spoiler)], and he thinks it's much more "sensible" to go back for a (view spoiler)[ "jewelry case" (hide spoiler)]. That one moment captures the difference between them so well I think. And my heart goes out to Annette as she (view spoiler)[struggles to free herself from the men's grasp to go help the parrot. Also, my heart goes out to the parrot itself . . . such a horrifying and poignant death being burned alive (hide spoiler)]!

I don't think that it's a coincidence that Mr. Mason is the one who (view spoiler)[caused the bird's wings be clipped in the first place. Mr. Mason is civilized, but there's something disturbingly controlling in the way he wields that civilizing influence. He doesn't understand the people around him, and he doesn't listen. He doesn't know when he is doing harm (hide spoiler)].

One of the most fascinating images so far in the book is the moment where (view spoiler)[Tia throws the stone, and the narrator looks at her (hide spoiler)]:

"We stared at each other, blood on my face, tears on hers. It was as if I saw myself. Like in a looking-glass."

There is so much that connects (view spoiler)[these two girls. Both are pawns in a much larger cultural game. Both do each other harm as a part of that game, and as they harm each other, they harm themselves too.

On a philosophical level, I like this image as well. It's true that when we harm people in the way that Tia does, we break something in ourselves at the same time. Just as the slavers broke something within their culture and something within themselves as they engaged in their commerce of human bodies, whether they accepted that breaking or not. Tears or blood, the connection is there (hide spoiler)].

I saw a very old movie recently, Places in the Heart with Sally Field, and there's (view spoiler)[a moment of communion at the end. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it; so I won't say more. Perhaps the movie has some things that are a bit dated, but the human impulses at the heart of it (especially the ending) is true. And that moment of communion in Places of the Heart is like the flipside of the mirroring between Tia and the narrator in Wide Sargasso Sea. There's a connection for good or for ill when we affect each other, whether we intend it to be there or not (hide spoiler)].

I'm about halfway through part 1 and enjoying it. So many subtleties with the different races and factions in Jamaica; so much is going on below the surface.

I finished both all three of the books I mentioned earlier, and all were 4-5 stars. Quite a nice way to return to reading!

I highly reccommend all three of them, especially Fahrenheit 451 and If Beale Street Could Talk!

Now, I'm finishing up the entertaining lighter fantasy novel A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher.

Also, I'll start today Tyll by German author Daniel Kehlmann as well as begin my re-read of Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

It's impressive how quickly you finish books Christine!

I'm in

Damini wrote: "Finished this yesterday, and absolutely loved it. Rhys' prose is so immersive and rich. What a convulated web of scheming and rumours and lies did these characters have to exist in!"

So glad you loved it Damini!

That immersive richness is what I remember from my last read of it, long ago. My library hold just arrived today, and I should be starting my re-read soon.

I couldn't find an audiobook; reading only outside of my commute, this book will take me longer. But I'm looking forward to it!