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Previous books
- A Confederacy of Dunces (8)
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- American Gods (10)
- An Alphabet for Gourmets (35)
- Charming Billy (12)
- Cleopatra: A Life (1)
- Different Seasons (5)
- Down the Rabbit Hole (2)
- Election (8)
- Going After Cacciato (7)
- Hateship Friendship Courtship Loveship Marriage (31)
- Haunted (10)
- Hotel du Lac (12)
- I Capture the Castle (17)
- In a Sunburned Country (4)
- In the Garden of Beasts (5)
- In the Time of the Butterflies (6)
- Les Liaisons Dangereuses (18)
- Let the Great World Spin (5)
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- Middlesex (17)
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- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (5)
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- The Chatham School Affair (7)
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (9)
- The Eighth Day (9)
- The Forever War (8)
- The Imperfectionists (8)
- The Known World (14)
- The Master (5)
- The Name of the Rose (10)
- The Namesake (8)
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North (3)
- The Phantom Tollbooth (6)
- The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio (8)
- The Pursuit of Love (7)
- The Road (14)
- The Secret Scripture (10)
- The Sense of an Ending (1)
- The Swerve (1)
- The Uncommon Reader (8)
- The Worst Hard Time (7)
- The Year of Magical Thinking (7)
- Treasure Island (5)
- Under the Net (8)
- Watchmen (8)
- We Were Liars (5)
- White Noise (14)
- White Teeth (9)
- You Are Not a Stranger Here (17)
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- Favorite passages?
- Humbug
- Too kid-oriented?
- And the people you'll see
- The great places you'll go
- Christy's selection: "The Phantom Tollbooth"
- unhappy ending?
- Child's play
- Comedy?
- More Brit kid lit
- Narrator's ally too contrived?
- Novel type
- Narrator's descriptions
- The father and the mother
- "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time"
17 comments:
something else.
I think it clearly has elements of all three. It turns into a bit of a case study when it gets bogged down with his descriptions of things.
It feels a little like a murder mystery early on because of the red herrings and clues (and was I wrong to be shocked when I found out who killed Wellington?).
And I think it is a failed coming-of-age story (like the Hemingway story that ends "Nick felt quite sure that he would never die"), because Christopher went through what could have been an important learning experience, but he didn't learn anything accurate. Similar to the Hemingway story, the book ends with, "I can do anything," which is clearly not even hyperbolically true.
Of course, you could argue that he will be capable of more in the future because of his experiences, but I doubt it. He gained false hopes, a weak mother (who won't be able to care for him), and knowledge about his father. And he lost the best caretaker he'll probably ever have. It doesn't seem like he'll ever be able to live on his own, and if his mother rejects him again and he rejects his father, he'll end up in an assisted living center. At least, that's what it seems like to me.
Twenty-first century Dashiell Hammett.
Was Hammett autistic, George? He was married to that lesbian Lilian Hellman. Maybe he was confused. Maybe he thought that the fact that they both liked women was cool, because it's cool to have things in common with your spouse. I could see Christopher deducing that.
No, I don't think so. If I remember correctly, he was a real-life detective before he began writing.
Lillian Hellman was a lesbian?
I've never heard of either of them.
Hammett wrote detective novels: The Maltese Falcon was one of his. He was famous for the Sam Spade novels, but my favorite was The Thin Man series, or at least the film versions were my favorite.
Hellman did Toys in the Attic, and probably a lot more. I just know that because I watched the movie version when I was studying George Roy Hill.
Correction: hellman and Hammett were never married, apparently. They just shacked up and drank together and had affairs for 30 years or so.
Hellman did Little Foxes and The Children's Hour, too, the latter about two women whose lives were ruined by accusations of gayness.
I love Maltese Falcon, the movie.
Did you guys know that Emily Bronte was a lesbian?
(Just kidding. Thought if I floated some more sexual rumors that Erin would get into the conversation)
Hehe. Sorry, I'm hesitant to comment too much because I'm not finished with the book yet.
Shit. I need to START the book.
I guess kc, Ben and I have had an advantage in that we've had days off since Sunday.
What's the deadline again for finishing this one? And aren't we going in alphabetical order? So Christy will have to pick the next one, right?
Don't get ahead of us, kc!
Don't worry, Christy, it's a fast read. But yes, get started! Erin just finished it, by the way. You shouldn't have believed us when we said we would take two weeks to read it!
I read it last night in one sitting. It was terrific, Ben. It'll be hard to follow up on your debut introduction.
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