Sue > Recent Status Updates

I looked up the word idiomatic in a different dictionary. Thrilling to me, the variety. Thrilling both to know and to not know, to be gifted possibilities…
Like there was such a thing as a family of words, one that stretched across different languages all touching on each other…acting on each other, influencing each other, agreeing with each other…disturbing each other, doing all of these things at once.

Quite a variation between stories in terms of their ability to hold my interest.

“Was a horse more lost to the world, because of no words, or was the horse more found—or even founded—in the world because of no words?
Were we in our worded world the ones who were truly deluded about where and what we believed about all the things we had words for.”

I have read An Engineer’s Story, The Four-Fifteen Express, The Story of Salome, A Service of Danger, and Was it an Illusion with the Dickensians group. And plan to read the title story with the group later this summer while reading the remaining stories on my own.
I’m generally impressed by Edwards’ writing, her world building, characters and plots. Also her evident knowledge of the world.

Besides effigies and pictures and clothes, other creatures which inhabit this hinterland between life and non-life are people made up from inanimate bits and pieces-wooden legs, wigs, artificial hands and so forth.

The effigy, the picture, the thing with human lineaments which watches, paralysed and dumb-this supplies a major imaginative level in Dickens’ novels which interacts with the human beings just as importantly as the human beings react to each other.

From ch 4, Corpses and Effigies: “Dickens’ dead figures who subject the living to their alarmed and alarming gaze are made of wood..stone..metal..painted canvas as well as wax. The mingled terror and hilarity they cause harks back to Dickens’ toddler days. His nursery contained a monstrous collection of effigies, who pretended to be dead with alarming ill-success” Details of Dickens emotional scars follow.

Exciting and different stories

I’m going to return the book to the library. It’s old, yes, but I could read it if someone (or more) hadn’t written notes and underlined so much that it’s very distracting. Back to my want to read list.

I’ve decided not to continue reading this book. I didn’t realize when I requested it how closely connected it is to the earlier books and that knowledge of the characters would be very helpful. Rather than read without that and likely deprive myself of meaningful background, I’m going to stop now.

I’ve decided not to finish this book. Part of me wants to know how it ends but I’m very tired of the primary character, the way she is presented as somewhere between doting and deranged mother and wife with a young child who obviously has his own problems. Is there a haunting in their old house? Is this child hearing ghostly whispers? Is Elodie a loving person overwhelmed by life or deranged. Don’t care anymore

In the depression, moving into the labor movement beginning to confront Ford and his paid enforcers. Also following the gradual development and devolution of Fords great plan to make his own rubber in Brazil, Fordlandia. Epic presentation of so many affected by Ford and his plans.

Another Dickensians group read. Love these. Interesting book.

Wow! So much to see here. No one is left unscathed so far.

I’m going to DNF this book. I have finished the first three stories and simply can’t become engaged with them. The characters don’t have enough movement or internal momentum in their lives to carry me along. They think, but, so far, don’t really act in their own lives. Sorry. I’d hoped for more. I know many really like this collection but it’s not for me.

I am getting nowhere with this book. I keep putting off returning to it. I am going to DNF it. Sadly. I thought I would like this but I find it overwrought and difficult to keep my attention on these people who don’t seem more than caricatures. Maybe it would improve if I continued. Maybe I’m just not in the mood for this book now. Oh well. I tried.