Paul > Recent Status Updates

The Tombs of Atuan Chapter 4: Dreams & Tales

Chapter 3: Expectations

This is definitely going to end the same way Eyes Wide Shut did.

There are a lot of fascinating creative decisions on display here.

Bit of a slow start, but it's picking up.

If nothing else, I adore Alex. She’s well on her way to becoming one of my favorite protagonists possibly ever.

Oh, the casual racism.

The supernatural hodgepodge is all well and good, if routine, but I love the dichotomy that Leigh draws between Alex and the rest of the student body, and how she addresses the privilege of the latter. It makes my heart hurt, too; it's too real and applicable.

I hope this "Who actually wrote Shakespeare's plays?" subplot is kept as a recurring joke through the sequels (or has some kind of big, narratively important payoff three books in), because it's hilarious.

Hades is, like, cartoonishly evil. Count Olaf levels of evil. It's emblematic of one of the weirdest parts of this book, which is how it uses humor. It's hard to tell if we're supposed to take the story at all seriously, or if it's meant to be treated like a parody or something.

Ah, yes, my least favorite subplot of the book, and one that I was thankful that they mostly cut out of the second movie. I really don't like secondary characters coming in and interrupting the main storyline, which is exactly what Henry, Tom, and Audra do. Henry's involvement is appropriate, I suppose, but the latter two are just annoying.

I probably should have taken the title more seriously and read Jane Eyre before this; I get the feeling that I'm going to miss out on a lot of the premise's charm.

Over 500 pages in, and we're not even halfway there. The fact that they managed to adapt this so well in only two movies is a minor miracle.

Man, the pacing of this book is weird.

Plot is moving a tad too briskly for my tastes, I think. This whole series of events (being abducted, being saved, bonding, encountering an old friend, losing said friend, fighting the Big Bad) happened very fast.

Every time Richie does his Pickaninny Voice, a part of me just withers away at the pure, unbridled racism of it all.

The neglect that Bill suffers from his parents after George's death has always stuck with me, despite the fact that I've otherwise forgotten 90% of the specifics in this book, and it's (blessedly) not as though I find the circumstances personally relatable. Something about the unfairness — and the sad, real-world applicability — of it just hit a nerve long ago that I've never been able to shake.

Picked this up years ago and never bothered with it, despite the very pretty artwork. Seems like as good a time as any to give it a go.

Woo, buddy. I'm now realizing just how long it's been since I last read this, because it has aged, shall we say, poorly. I've always remembered it having a lot of issues (it's probably the most King-y book that King has ever written, and that's both a good and bad thing), but, yikes, does the homophobia/sexism/racism go hard, even in these preliminary chapters. (Beverly and Adrian's sections are just... wow.)

Huh.

Aaaand he's back. Haven't been in the best place emotionally as of late, and so reading has been very far down on my list of priorities.

Hopefully, I can ease into the swing of things again.

Starting a read-along of the series with some friends. Maybe, just maybe, if we drag our feet long enough, we'll finish around the time Martin finally deigns to grace us with book six.

Probably not, though.