Relationships

One thing I did see that the novellas had in common was a tight focus on specific relationships: old man/boy, teacher/pupil, inmate/inmate, childhood friends, child-self/adult-self, doctor/patient. Which relationship did you find most compelling and/or most well-drawn?

Apt Pupil

I liked this story because it was so moody and creepy and tense. I also found it curious in that I was at no point rooting for anyone in it! I didn't even like Todd's parents; they seemed so ignorant about their son, in that self-absorbed way some parents have. So, as you were reading, what were you hoping would happen? Were you satisfied with the ending?

Seasons

Do you think the seasonal organization of the four novellas into a single volume made sense? I can't think of why this was done, exactly, except for marketing purposes maybe? I didn't see the stories as related in any way, except "The Body" and "Shawshank" had a tiny overlap with the Maine setting and with the minor aside in "The Body" to the Shawshank crime.

Four novellas

OK, the obvious question first: Which was your favorite, if you had a favorite, and why?

Next pick

Thought this might be a good autumn read. It's a collection of four novellas, so it's kind of cheating, like four picks instead of one, but it's not scandalously long. I cold have picked a single Stephen King book that was much longer! I could not find an image of this book that had the title in a larger font than the author's name! This is the best I could do. I hate that. I think Stephen King is a truly fine (and very fun) writer. But come on. Not even Jane Austen gets that kind of billing, and I have never seen a copy of "Moby Dick" where the words "Herman Melville" hover in huge type over the book title! Modern folks are so irritating.

Father figures

I found it interesting how Trujillo was a kind of father figure, how his images were required everywhere and how people were indoctrinated to think of him as the almighty. Not surprising in a brutal dictatorship, I guess, but I found it very poignant how even people who thoroughly despised him, like Patria, still seemed to have a kind of warped faith that he could do good in the end, like there was some kernel of humanity in him that if you said the right prayer or whatever that he could be appealed to like a beneficent deity. It was so sad. He was like an angry father/abusive husband ruling the household with an iron fist and everyone hated him, but he was the only power in the household, the one who, if properly appeased, might change the course of events. Such a terrible, twisted psychology. The Mirabal sisters' example proved to the people that they too had some power, that the almighty's absolute hold on it was illusory, a mirage that could be shattered with a bit of solidarity among the oppressed. What did you think about this? Did you think Trujillo was sufficiently fleshed out to make the people's hatred and fear of him believable? Did you want more background? And, not sure if this is specifically related, but what did you think of the girls' real father as a father figure? Did their relationship to him have any bearing on their relationship to Trujillo as father figure?

Sacrifice

Trujillo was assassinated six months after the Mirabals were killed, followed by a civil war and the election of one of Trujillo's cronies as president.

In the epilogue, Dede says to herself after seeing Lio, "Was it for this, the sacrifice of the butterflies?" Do you think the Mirabal sisters died in vain? Was it worth it?

Dede

I feel like making a post specifically about Dede because her story was so different from the others. I was struck by this line from Jaimito: "This is your martyrdom, Dede, to be alive without them."

What did you think about Dede? Did you think she should have joined the revolution with her sisters? Do you think her survival was a kind of martyrdom?

Sisters

Patria, Dede, Minerva and Maria Theresa

Which of the sisters was your favorite? Which did you sympathize with or relate to the most?

Real-life heroines

Interesting video produced by AARP for the 50th anniversary of the Mirabal sisters' deaths. There's a creepy reenactment at the beginning, but the rest features interviews with Dede and Minou (who's now a congresswoman!) and Maria Theresa's husband, Leandro. And shows the house where they grew up. Worth a watch.

Buffalo heads

Do you think Gaiman was, in the end, trying to boost Shadow's perception that behind it all, behind the spiritual scene, that there was either a Native American motif or even just an idea that land was the ultimate god? Nature? I think of all the gods Shadow asked about bringing Laura back, and how they indicated there was this central figure/concept/experience he'd need to find the answer to that question.

Laura

Sympathies for Laura?

Did your version get into why she was behind the robbery that led to Shadow's imprisonment?

I thought her line about coming into a room and not knowing whether Shadow was there seemed to hurt him more than her betrayal before her death.

Wednesday

Sorry I dropped off here for a few days. How did you process Wednesday as a character? I found him loathesome, then excused him for being a god with petty origins, then processed how he treated people based on what he knew about them (the girl who had killed a pet). Oh, and he's Shadow's father and started the whole battle. A deep character.

Rock-solid belief

I thought this was the crux of the story. Page 536 in my inferior edition:

People believe, thought Shadow. It's what people do. They believe. And then they will not take responsibility for their beliefs; they conjure things, and do not trust the conjurations. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe: and it is that belief, that rock-solid belief, that makes things happen.

Grand Central!

Mr. Ibis: "This country has been Grand Central for 10,000 years or more." It's much more diverse than I think America is portrayed in popular culture. 

I like how Gaiman overall used those historical "Coming to America" interludes to give the same perspective of a less whitewashed American history. 

Christianity

Gaiman didn't delve into Christianity almost at all — I think Shadow quoted from the Beatitudes, and that was it. Did you perceive this as an oversight or a chickening-out of one of America's largest godly influences, old and new? Or does Jesus go beyond a thoughtform?

Favorite gods

I enjoyed the history and personification of America's "old gods" as Shadow was tutored in or introduced to each. Were you inclined to any in particular? Anyone you'd like to meet?

Old gods, new gods

One of my expectations of "American Gods" — actually, the chief reason I chose it — was that the author would elaborate on his perception of the what the "new" gods were in American culture. I picked up technology and media, and television — how about Lucille and her tits? Was the balance between old gods and new gods sufficiently explored, though? I thought we had a lot of history and character development for one but not the other.

First impressions

Well, this was a dense read ... not a difficult one, just longer than I eyeballed. I hope it wasn't too unwieldy to wade through. My paperback version was a mere 588 pages, and I believe at least kc had the author's preferred text, which adds 12,000 words. An author on another blog post reports there isn't much change, plotwise, so I think discussion can be consistent, although I'm interested if you detect any differences.

In any case, I hope this wasn't too much "pop" and not enough "lit," as we usually go. What did you think, and would you read anything else by Neil Gaiman?

Next pick

"In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

For Augustish

My introduction to Neil Gaiman came by way of a short story I dug up for my class — "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" — in which hilarity and otherworldly horror ensue.

Anyway, the magnificence of my pick — underappreciated by a few self-proclaimed literary giants in my class — sent me digging for more Gaiman, and I forgot this was on my must-read list until another former classmate mentioned she had picked up "American Gods" and that it was amazing.

Here is a summary courtesy of Wikipedia: "The central premise of the novel is that gods and mythological creatures exist because people believe in them (a form of thoughtform). Immigrants to the United States brought with them dwarves, elves, leprechauns, and other spirits and gods. However, the power of these mythological beings has diminished as people's beliefs wane. New gods have arisen, reflecting America's obsessions with media, celebrity, technology, and drugs, among others."

 I don't do much sci-fi or fantasy, but this won a Hugo and a Nebula Award. And I love the premise. Hope it's good. You can read "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" here, if you like.

The real beginning

Hope kc doesn't mind if I post a question — I've been trying to keep this component fresh in my mind — I love the calamitous way so many storylines combine into this final, and very simple, decision by Mr. M to throw two ballots into the trash. I've been trying to piece together what the beginning was, really. Although it's a story largely told in order, with some ominous reflections from Mr. M and Tracy at the start, a lot of the catalysts are off-camera. It's not a "whose fault" question, per se, but to go back and pick out a beginning, the characters spend little time engrossed in those developments. And I thought what an interesting thing for the author to do, to play around with the timeline, the reflections and the characters we don't hear from (Jack!) who are so essential to the events that unfold.

Teacher

So, all of us having lived through high school — and Ms. Little having taught it! — can you think of a situation where if you were the teacher you'd be sorely tempted to rig an outcome?

Children

I've read "Little Children" by this same author, and a theme in that book was how the adults mostly behaved in ways that were rationally indistinct from how the little kids behaved, even though the adults had this veneer of maturity and rationality covering their behaviors. I'm wondering if something similar is going on here with the way the author seems to give the adults and the kids similar voices, as if to underline that they are all really the same, differing only in age.

Cheating

I started to write a post about the pervasive infidelity in the book (Mr. M., Mr. Dexter, Paul and Tammy's dad —— and Tracy's dad?). Why is everyone being unfaithful? But then it occurred to me that there's a broader theme of "cheating" in the book, especially with all the election shenanigans —— cheating for thrills, cheating out of desperation, cheating to win, cheating to spite, being unfaithful to others, being unfaithful to oneself, one's values. I don't know. Is the whole "election" concept maybe some metaphor for how we make choices, how we "elect" to live our lives and then try to rationalize those largely irrational decisions?

Narrative voices

What did you think of the narrative voices? Were the styles distinct enough to ring true as individuals? Do you think the high school students' voices were done well? I'll go ahead and say that I found the voices almost too similar, but also that it didn't bother me because the story was so engaging.

Characters

Was there any character in the book to whom you were not sympathetic?

The candidates

Whom would you have voted for, in high school and now?

Kim's pick

"A black comedy about a high school history teacher who attempts to sabotage a manipulative, overly-ambitious girl's campaign to become school president."

New pick!

"The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes