James River Writers discussion

Post here when you've finished reading The Year of the Gadfly. Within this thread, spoilers are allowed. We have a separate thread for people who haven't finished reading the book yet and wish to avoid any spoilers.

Author Jennifer Miller will be taking part in a Twitter/Skype chat with James River Writers next month.

As I kept reading this, I got more and more wrapped up in it. I'll admit I had a hard time settling into it at first, with both the elitist prep-school setting and the voices of the major characters a little off-putting and dissonant. I really liked the intercalation of Lily's POV from the past, though, the back-and-forth of time progression. I think, of all the characters, I found her the most intriguing. I would have liked to know how it went when she and Iris confronted each other at the end!

Joanna, I'm with you on both counts. It took me a bit to get into this one as well before it moved past its Dead Poets Society homage moments and took on a life of its own. But by the final section, I couldn't put it down. So much was being juggled, and seeing it from the multiple points of view added to its intrigue.

I wanted more Lily at the end myself, and more of a breakdown for Hazel. She got off too easily, right?

And did anyone else get a kick out of the line about freelancing?

"By the time I actually entered college, I'd be a working freelancer. (Not that I planned to build a career out of that soul-draining slog.)" (page 351)

Ha. Writers reading this had to laugh.

Yep. Agree about both Hazel and the freelancing! Lol.