Alana’s Comments (group member since Apr 27, 2013)

Alana’s comments from the Reading the Chunksters group.

I liked the Liam Neeson one, although it's highly abridged.

Roman Clodia wrote: "This was a tense book, and the action is written brilliantly, I thought.

Yes, I was going to comment on the amount of coincidence that Hugo relies on here. I have to say, though, that whereas I ge..."

That's a good view, that because of an underlying theme of Fate, that we ignore the way these characters keep getting thrown together?

But that does happen "in real life" as well... how many times do we say "what a small world!" when something happens that makes us realize an odd connection with someone that we wouldn't have expected?

Dianne wrote: "Books 5-6: Dear friends! Phew it has been a bit of a roller coaster for me lately and I hope you are still around and ready to jump back onboard for the rest of this fabulous book. A huge thank you..."

I wonder if the rejection of the wealth is more the impulse of youth, to completely reject what is viewed as a negative, but that in time perhaps, he can embrace the gifts that he has and be able to use them for others, even if he's not entirely comfortable with them? As in not to love money, but be able to use it for what it is?

Roman Clodia wrote: "It's almost like the two men are psychically linked, or two facets of the same person. "

Actually, I believe Hugo based the characters as two halves of the personality of one real person, though I don't recall who.

I think the money is such a beautiful scene. Here is young Cosette, in whose entire memory, her whole life has been about how much money she costs the Thernadiers, and how much money she can bring into the household...and for the first time in her life, someone walks in who doesn't so much as blink when an outrageous sum is tossed out for her price. Not only does JV think she's absolutely that valuable, but he allows her to know it (if I recall correctly, she observes the exchange between them, from a distance?) What kind of message does that send to this child who has never had any value in her entire life! No wonder she loves him as a father!

It has biblical imagery, too: that of the sacrifice of something of value (not only the money he pays, but also the giving up of the life he could lead, making the purpose of his life the protection and joy of hers) for someone who could never, ever hope to pay it back. Yes, maybe out of guilt, but I think ultimately out of real love.

I think the internal struggle of the "for the greater good" (which in this case is also for his own good) vs. "for the good of one" is such a key to this story. His whole life from the time of the theft has been about punishment for one small thing and he knows the value of the lifting or crushing of one man's life.... and despite the wretchedness of that one man's life vs. the whole town he's enriched, he knows he cannot be who he wants to be if he allows another man to suffer in his place. It would be contrary to everything he's changed about his entire character.

Mary and Joseph were turned away because there was an empire-wide census causing everyone to return to their hometowns and literally every inn was packed with no room. The inn keeper where they ended up staying is seen as a generous figure because he at least offers the stable of the animals so she can rest and have her baby, and he seems genuinely saddened that it's all the space he has to offer, but that's more than the other innkeepers did. So in the respect of offering what little he has, the Bishop is like the innkeeper. And I suppose JV is going "home?"

I don't have it fresh in my mind, but I recall finding the bishop believable, only because I've known a couple of people like him, as far as the "goodness." They are extremely rare, but such sweet souls do exist in the world, God bless them. But they are TOO rare, unfortunately.

I would love to see the play (I saw it once as a high school production, which just isn't the same, although they did a good job of it) but the recent film was wonderful! The music still gets stuck in my head sometimes :)

I re-read this a couple of years ago and loved it again, so I'm curious what everyone thinks of it!

I listening to the audio and very much enjoyed it. The ending is somewhat what I might have imagined it to play out. (view spoiler)[Mrs. Sucksby turns out to have a little bit of a heart after all, Gentleman gets what he deserves, and Maud sacrifices her very happiness for Sue...but it all turns out all right in the end. The only question would be how do they live out their lives in that day and age. It's a little too neatly wrapped up in a bow, but it's dramatic and pulls at the heart-strings. (hide spoiler)]

So by the time they showed up at the house, before it was revealed where they were, I pretty much suspected that Mrs. Suxby was in on all of this, maybe even the mastermind, because it just didn't line up otherwise. It didn't make sense for Richard to double-cross Sue unless there was something else entirely going on, because he made out with more money with that plan.

Poor Maud, she really is so naive about people. Her uncle really has her in a terrible fix, since she knows no one, none who can help her. I still don't feel as sorry for her as for Sue, since she had money and knew they were double crossing Sue, and she didn't seem to have as many qualms about the whole thing as Sue did, but she's certainly getting a rude shock now.

I have been most impressed with the two perspectives, though. How many times have we read a novel where two characters gives their perspectives, and the conversations are nearly word-for-word, but with different nuances? Here, however, both characters give account of the same scenarios, but save for a few sentences here and there, they remember the events slightly differently, or remember different phrases or actions more keenly, depending on what they felt at the time. That is much more true to life. The voices are done differently enough that I feel them as different characters (I have lost count of the number of books where I can't keep track of which character is which because their "voice" is all exactly the same), even though I'm listening to the audio and I believe the same voice actor is reading both parts. It takes real talent to write different "voices" for characters within the same setting, especially when it's different perspectives on the exact same scene, and I think Waters has captured that remarkably well.

I am forging onward to see how this all wraps up!

lol!

Oh, indeed! Women who enjoyed sex were considered deranged and could get locked up for it! Bizarre stuff, in that era.

Lol, it was a little odd when some of the scenes played out while I was listening at work! I know no one can hear my headphones, but I can't help but turn it down so low I can barely hear it myself, for fear that my boss will overhear something so risque while at my desk!

Well, I kind of imagine the author is giving us a more "real" picture of life in Dickens' world... the language and the people weren't always so neat and tidy. I'm sure Dickens might have written them that way, if censorship wasn't involved, though. I'm sure plenty of things went on that our Victorian authors would never have tried to write about, so maybe Waters is just giving us the "real" side of things.

Or maybe she just wants to write Victorian erotica.

Lol, the latter is probably more likely, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

But yes, I'm sure it picks up. I'm enjoying it, the last section was just kind of slow. If I wasn't listening to it, I probably would have skimmed some of the pages.

This definitely took a turn more into erotica than I had expected. Somehow, I find Maud's "voice" more irritating that Sue's, I'm not connecting with her as much. I think partly because the plot just doesn't make sense to me; doing it the way he planned with Sue, Richard got nearly the entire fortune, minus the $3k or so he'd promised to Sue. But with Maud, he only gets half. Why go that route? Why does that work out better? Or is it just a clever way of getting them BOTH out of the picture so he can have it all and no witnesses, by the end? I think the latter is more likely. We haven't seen all of his scheming yet, I feel.

Boy, her uncle is something else. What a twisted, bizarre creature! It's a wonder Maud hasn't been physically sold to one of his friends for their pleasure before now... although I suppose he has sold her by making her read all of this aloud to them?

I'm curious where the story is going, but I have to admit, this section moved a lot slower and was much less engaging to me. Hopefully it picks up a bit.

Again, this very much strikes me as being like The Woman in White, with the setup for the asylum and the switching places... although the plot's not quite the same.

I don't quite understand what both Gentleman and Maud have to gain by all this, though. Gentleman, obviously, for money (and to keep Sue from giving the game up and from having to pay her) but Maud? Just to get out from her uncle's thumb? And what does Gentleman think is going to happen once all Sue's people get wind of what happened? If the saying is true, about honor among thieves, he is worse than a dead man... they will utterly DESTROY him.

I have a feeling there's more to Maud then meets the eye. I get the impression that Gentleman is playing both of them for his own ends, and that somehow in the end, they are going to end up working together to bring him down. But maybe that's too cliche and easy of an ending.

I'm certainly enjoying it!

I'm glad I started this a little late, actually, because I'm already through the first week's portion after starting it this morning, and I'll probably have it finished in a few days, so I'll be right in the thick of all the discussion for each section. Quite a ride so far!

I just finished a re-read of Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White and there are SO many similarities, I wonder if this is supposed to be a sort of re-telling of the story, but from side of the "bad guy" instead of the "good guy?" It's got its own twist, to be sure, but the rich young niece, the fastidious and quirky uncle, the drawing master coming to fix the drawings with the master of the house, and wooing the young heiress.... too similar to be coincidence, I think. It will be interesting to see how it continues.

I also get a bit of a feel of Jane Eyre, in the stiflingly dark, cold house, the odd servants, etc. The gothic Victorian feel is fitting for this colder wintry season, I'm quite enjoying it. :)

I still honestly don't know how I feel about the book. I know I enjoyed reading it, right up through the end. There were so many neat odds and ends that he created, and he weaves such poetry in his words. But I kind of felt unfulfilled by the ending, because I didn't really understand it. But I also can't help but wondering if that's the point?