Bellman & Black discussion

I just finished this novel & I have never read a book like this one. It kept you intrigued right to the very end, I could not put it down, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY! Has any one else read it that can put some light on the meaning of the ending??? What was the opportunity? He says he has always been there "right behind you" He says there was no deal & that the "opportunity is "thought & memory"???
Was he the rook he killed? Maybe he was "death" come to get him & so he says "you don't have a lot of time left" & he is giving him the opportunity again to think & remember (*also remember his watch stopped when he was in the cemetery in the end ie. "his time was out"
Help, anyone?
Also all the little blurbs about rooks???

I too was very compelled throughout the book....It read like smooth velvet! I do believe that "DEATH" was stalking Bellman with a warning to live his life not to be so obsessed with work and payback. While I was also very confused and baffled by much of the symbolism...it did not diminish my enjoyment. Setterfield is a master of prose, her "Thirteenth Tale" was easier to wrap my brain around but also mystical and similar "brain candy".

You couldn't put it down because the language flows in such a way that has been lost in most of today's authors. The ending is one that will fascinate college English professors for decades, I feel the book is destined to be a classic. Thought and Memory are the rooks of Odin, the Norse God. All rooks are connected to them. Bellman's life was punishment for killing the rook. I believe that Mr. Black was a rook and he was the narrator - I love being part of an Entertainment of Humans.

Stasha wrote: "You couldn't put it down because the language flows in such a way that has been lost in most of today's authors. The ending is one that will fascinate college English professors for decades, I fee..."

Hi
What do you mean that thought & memory are the rooks of Odin & that all rooks are connected to thought & memory?
Nancy

In Norse mythology, Odin has two rooks, it's also mentioned in one of the excerpts. The connection to all the rooks is mentioned in one of the rook portions of Bellman & Black.

Bellman let his life be ruled by regret and ambition. He was prompted repeatedly to stop and reconnect with the friends who were important in his life--amd he didn't. That was the missed opportunity that Black--the human personification of Odin's rooks, Thought and Memory--tried to offer him. The chance to remember, and think about, what was truly important in his life.

So, you think that Black was in fact a rook in "human form"??? He was trying to inform Bellman as Odin's rooks informed him. He was trying to tell him to connect with the people that are important in your life before it is too late- ie. "his clock stops", as Bellman's did in the end.
Then, in the end, Lizzie sees a big rook fly out of the raised glass ceiling, I assume after Bellman died. I assume that that was in fact Black turned back into a rook.
Another thing that maybe one of you could explain was the different "collective nouns" for rooks???
Nancy

After reading the final "rook" section, it hit me that those were Black's personal narrations in between Bellman's story, they appear as educational bits on the birds produced by humans when in the finality they are shown to be educational bits on rooks from the rooks to the humans.

I guess it was just me. . . I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as 13th tale, thought it was not well written and too cumbersome in some places. Very disappointed after waiting for her to write another book.

Oh and I thought this was the best book I've read in years. But I love symbolism and layered meanings. Some of my favorite authors are Bradbury and Faulkner. I love books where things are open to interpretation instead of those where the reader is led by the nose to what the author wants them to see.
I got 13th tale because I loved this one, now I'm worried that I'll be sorely disappointed.

couldn't resist....bwahahaha

Hi
You won't be disappointed in the 13th Tale. I read it before Bellman & Black & I loved it. It is one of those novels that surprise you-I will say no more so I don't give anything away. Let me know what you thought after you read it.
Nancy

Anyone out there that can explain the collective nouns for rooks? What did she mean?

Did you read the final collective noun? I saw them as a juxtaposition to the final collective noun.

"Entertainment of Humans" you mean? I don't see what you mean?
Nancy

and that line is a spoiler! It changed the entire tone of the book for me. It drew everything together and indicated that the rooks were more integral as storytellers than I originally thought

Nancy wrote: "Hi
You won't be disappointed in the 13th Tale. I read it before Bellman & Black & I loved it. It is one of those novels that surprise you-I will say no more so I don't give anything away. Let me kn..."

The 13th Tale I would vote as the best book I had read in a while - for sure best one in 2013!

Stasha wrote: "

couldn't resist....bwahahaha"

Too funny!!!!

Anyone have any thoughts about Dora, & how she "strangely" survived, and then at one point, I recall, she compares herself to a baby blackbird?

The author is clearly a great writer. Wonderfully written story, but I am personally something of a stickler for a plot that make 360 degrees of sense. It's a hard task for an author to really make the plot bulletproof, and I just felt like Setterfield couldn't be bothered to do that difficult donkey-work. If she had, we wouldn't all be asking the same questions. It's much easier to just hang plot resolution on obscure references, allusion, and half-explained mysterious lines of dialogue. I doubt Setterfield herself really knows what happened in the end. My guess is the moral of the story is -"Don't fuck with rooks." but that's just a guess. As for who Black was - go figure. Still, kept me in there pitching to the end. I thought the Kirkus review was on the money.