How unbelievably frustrating. I'm in this wierd in-between space where I'm getting enough comments that I know the problem's not the email address, but not getting all of them and therefore have no idea WTF is going on.
Interesting comment on the end of The Road. Frankly, I felt that the presence of the other man and the way you knew he was a good guy because he didn't steal the blanket was all that made the novel bearable, emotionally. The tiny flashes of the boy's human compassion would not, of their own, have been enough to sustain it. But the presence at the end of some civilized human beings, including a woman who was not about to barbecue her child, at least gave you something to come away with. It was a hard novel to read.
Frankly, I felt that the presence of the other man and the way you knew he was a good guy because he didn't steal the blanket was all that made the novel bearable, emotionally.
The resolution came so quickly, and the contrast between the new man's behavior and every single other person they'd encountered so far was strong enough (the blanket was a telling and powerful detail--finding someone else who still retained the ability to think about someone besides himself was at that point nothing short of miraculous) that it just didn't meld with the rest of the story; I'd internalized that darker landscape so thoroughly. The whole story was so wrenching and upsetting that I also can't imagine coming out of it without some kind of happier (or at least less bleak) resolution, but the end just didn't quite connect with everything I'd seen up to then; it felt a little tacked-on, not integrated with any of the previous history.
Yeah, that pretty much summed up my feelings as well. If I had been watching it on the TV rather than the computer, I may have thrown things.
Humans are indominatable and also monstrous?
The doctor has spent a years fighting for humanity because we are this magnificent, wondrous race with so much potential and then when the end comes we're willing to wipe out not just our history, but everyone else's to survive as shriveled heads in metal spheres. At least the Master had insanity as an excuse, we were just selfish.
I think the thing I found most annoying about that was that there was a hint of a good idea in there, had it been explored properly. But as it was, we were asked to make giant thematic leaps based on nothing.
Yes, yes, yes. I am reading and nodding along with your DW review and agreeing with pretty much everything. No, exactly everything. *g* And I do hope the next companion does not pine after the Doctor because, enough!
I also read The Road last month for my book club. Here's what we came up with regarding the end, FWIW.
The man who finds the boy at the end of the book implies that he and his family have been watching the boy and his father, and wondered how they two of them had made it so far keeping to the road. We interpreted that to mean that there were more "good guys" out there, and the boy and the man had not run into them because those others had purposefully kept off the road, considering it too dangerous. "If you stay you need to keep out of the road. I don't know how you made it this far."
They've been watching, and assume the father has died when they see the boy alone. He also mentions that he debated with his wife about the decision to come for him. "There was some discussion about whether to even come
( ... )
And I do hope the next companion does not pine after the Doctor because, enough!
It's gotten really old really fast.
Very disturbing novel, but one of my favorite reads so far this year. The prose is spare but it reads like poetry. And I did appreciate that glimmer of hope at the end.
I think that, like cofax7 said, it wouldn't have been emotionally bearable without it. It's a book that is going to stay with me for a very long time. (You might want to check out Blood Meridian if this sort of thing interests you; it's a very particular picture of the American West and the inexorable forces of violence and greed that underly a lot of our comfortable mythology about settlement
( ... )
The idea of people hiding out and watching the road for danger coming didn't seem that far out there for me, given the circumstances of the book.
I guess, but I rather got the impression that the other man and his family were also traveling south? The man and the boy's journey was sporadic enough, and filled with enough detours off the road, that I have a hard time picturing them being easily watched from a distance. And the man was so careful about things like that that I kind of hate to think that someone was watching them without him being aware of it; that level of protection was the only thing he had to give the boy, and it was something he was really good at. Then again, at the end, the man was very ill and they were more or less staying in the same spot for a few days. (And while I thought the lack of names was really effective in the novel, it makes it really hard to talk about the part where there were two men!)
I loved DW! Yes, there was much eyerolling at *that* scene (although interestingly Darcy - Mr Picky himself - thought it OK and nicely set up).
Don't have time for a long comment, but meta is eating my head and I'll post something long and rambly at some point. Because there was a LOT going on underneath, even if the execution was at times somewhat lacking. :)
I was pretty much embarrassed for everybody involved. And I do think there were some interesting themes--possibly way too many of them--but it's like the writing hit a bunch of forks in the road and took the wrong direction every. Single. Time. The result was a chaotic mess, and coming off a string of very tight episodes, it was all the more surprising.
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The resolution came so quickly, and the contrast between the new man's behavior and every single other person they'd encountered so far was strong enough (the blanket was a telling and powerful detail--finding someone else who still retained the ability to think about someone besides himself was at that point nothing short of miraculous) that it just didn't meld with the rest of the story; I'd internalized that darker landscape so thoroughly. The whole story was so wrenching and upsetting that I also can't imagine coming out of it without some kind of happier (or at least less bleak) resolution, but the end just didn't quite connect with everything I'd seen up to then; it felt a little tacked-on, not integrated with any of the previous history.
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Yeah, that pretty much summed up my feelings as well. If I had been watching it on the TV rather than the computer, I may have thrown things.
Humans are indominatable and also monstrous?
The doctor has spent a years fighting for humanity because we are this magnificent, wondrous race with so much potential and then when the end comes we're willing to wipe out not just our history, but everyone else's to survive as shriveled heads in metal spheres. At least the Master had insanity as an excuse, we were just selfish.
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I also read The Road last month for my book club. Here's what we came up with regarding the end, FWIW.
The man who finds the boy at the end of the book implies that he and his family have been watching the boy and his father, and wondered how they two of them had made it so far keeping to the road. We interpreted that to mean that there were more "good guys" out there, and the boy and the man had not run into them because those others had purposefully kept off the road, considering it too dangerous. "If you stay you need to keep out of the road. I don't know how you made it this far."
They've been watching, and assume the father has died when they see the boy alone. He also mentions that he debated with his wife about the decision to come for him. "There was some discussion about whether to even come ( ... )
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It's gotten really old really fast.
Very disturbing novel, but one of my favorite reads so far this year. The prose is spare but it reads like poetry. And I did appreciate that glimmer of hope at the end.
I think that, like cofax7 said, it wouldn't have been emotionally bearable without it. It's a book that is going to stay with me for a very long time. (You might want to check out Blood Meridian if this sort of thing interests you; it's a very particular picture of the American West and the inexorable forces of violence and greed that underly a lot of our comfortable mythology about settlement ( ... )
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The idea of people hiding out and watching the road for danger coming didn't seem that far out there for me, given the circumstances of the book.
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I guess, but I rather got the impression that the other man and his family were also traveling south? The man and the boy's journey was sporadic enough, and filled with enough detours off the road, that I have a hard time picturing them being easily watched from a distance. And the man was so careful about things like that that I kind of hate to think that someone was watching them without him being aware of it; that level of protection was the only thing he had to give the boy, and it was something he was really good at. Then again, at the end, the man was very ill and they were more or less staying in the same spot for a few days. (And while I thought the lack of names was really effective in the novel, it makes it really hard to talk about the part where there were two men!)
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Don't have time for a long comment, but meta is eating my head and I'll post something long and rambly at some point. Because there was a LOT going on underneath, even if the execution was at times somewhat lacking. :)
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