Algernon’s Comments (group member since Apr 21, 2012)

Algernon’s comments from the Robert McCammon group.

I would love to participate, but I'm not sure I'm up for one book each month. Why not start on a smaller scale and try to read the Matthew Corbett books every other month?

thanks for hunting this down, Hunter.
Stinger is one of his books that I have yet to read.

welcome Ken and A.R. : fresh blood for 2014. We'll have a horror-fest this year, I hope.

I've checked on wikipedia some articles on conjoined twins, and I must say there are weirder things out there than the Flint / Clint pair. Still, the central question I had remains unanswered: the vestigial twin is not sentient in any of the cases I've checked. But Gone South is fiction, and this Clint thing is basically the only supernatural element of the story, so it wasn't such a hard work to suspend disbelief..

The preacher scene reminded me too much of the scene from Les miserables by Victor Hugo, so I didn't pay too much attention to it: well written, but not that original. I think Larry is right about the drug dealers - they are over the top and introduce to many potential plot holes, but the gunfight at the swamp corral is one of the best set scenes in the whole book, so I guess it makes it easier for me to ignore the flaws. The drug dealers wwere necessary to the plot, once the author decided to give Clint and Pelvis the same chance of redemption he gave Dan and the girl.

I think the book works very well as a movie script for an action thriller, I'm not sure if it has already been optioned or filmed.

Of the two bounty hunters, I believe murtaugh is the more believable personality. He is hard, cynical and plays dirty because he is a survivor, and the world has little mercy for weakness. His change is less dramatic than Cecil's, he simply puts two and two together, and is honest enough to himself to admit he may have been wrong about Dan. He sees an opportunity to try a new lifestyle and goes for it with his eyes open in the end.
Cecil started up as extremely annoying, and I didn't warm up to him in the end, despite the ammendments the author made for his condition (shock over the dog situation, success as a performer). The love/hate dialogue with Flint was hilarious most of the time, in the best tradition of buddy cop movies from the 80's.

(view spoiler)[ This is the reason I raised the question : McCammon achieves this spirituality without preaching and without favoring one belief system over another. He simply states the need to believe in something and dedicate your life to a better world, something everybody can relate to, even atheists like me. I also subscribe to the theory that a Southern book that wants to be authentic must show how important religion is in this part of the country.
I'll come back hopefully with more comments about Flint and Cecil, as they do a wonderful support job for the story of Dan, but I would like to propose we renounce the spoiler tags, as it makes conversation really difficult, and book discussions are generally known to contain spoilers anyway. (hide spoiler)]

Charlene wrote: "That sounds nice, Algernon. Is it insect laden there?"

usually there are lots of mosquitoes and gnats, and temperatures well over 30 degrees Celsius, but in September it is much better.

Question for those who finished the book: is Gone South the most openly religious book of McCammon, or is the ending simply the best logical conclusion of the way the story developed? I had similar vibes from Swan Song, and in both cases I thought the faith angle was handled really well, focusing on people and not on dogma.

Finished the book last Friday. Loved it, but I will let it simmer a few more days before trying to write a review.

As a coincidence, I went this weekend to the Danube Delta, which is as close as we come in Europe to the Louisiana bayou. I loved cruising the river channels in a small boat and trying to spot all the birds.

good catch, Pam. I don't watch the new TV series, but from what I understand of it, the two terms are similar. In McCammon case, there's the added bonus that Dan is actually heading South, geography-wise.

The bounty hunters are a laugh a minute comedy duo, at least in the beginning. Later on both of them are given depth and become more sympathetic.
(view spoiler)[ I was wondering how much of a stretch is the concept of the captive twin (flint's third arm). I know there are recorded medical cases, but I was under the impression the under-developed one (Clint) is inert, not conscious. The feeding scene in particular is the one that strained my suspension of disbelief. (hide spoiler)]

Yes, I started the book a couple of days ago, and the first thing to draw my attention is the intro, where he explains his disillusionment with the publishing industry that tried to force him to write comercially popular horror and ignored his best book (Boy's Life). A parallel with actors who get typecast after a succesful role is appropriate to what he went through, and I can't help but cheer for the rise of the electronic book format and self-publishing that offer writers an alternative to the iron rule of the traditional publishing houses. I know of a writer who neither can get his third book in a trilogy published, nor get released to go to a different house (Paul Kearney).

good, I have the book but I have afew others projects under way. , I hope to clear the deck for it later this month

thank you Charlene for stirring things up around here. It has been a sleepy hollow lately. I was planning to read some McCammon in Ocotber as a Halloween theme, together with Guy Endore's Werewolf of Paris and Martin Millar's Curse of the Wolf Girl. I'm waiting now to see what is chosen for September

Started it today. First read, I kept putting it off after seeing the disappointing Will smith flick.

no, it's actually my third one. I got my first quite late (I was 21 and only had roller skates before) but I learned to ride in an hour and the very next day I went to the forest outside town. So much freedom...

since this is the spoiler thread, what did you think of the characters Cory meets on the freight train when he runs out of town. Are they referencing other books or movie heroes? because they seemed familiar but I couldn't place them.

I've come a bit late to the party (only finished the book in June) , but I want to thank you for a successful first pick in the group read. Boy's Life easily replaced Wolf's Hour as my favorite McCammon book (so far) mostly because it speaks so beautifully to the child inside me. I'm almost 50 and still take great pleasure in riding my bike around town.

hello all. recent fan here, only discovered McCammon in the last year, read The Wolf's Hour and Swan Song only, so I ahve a lot to look forward to.