the Red Seth Flew
I've been eating poorly and sleeping poorly and overworking instead of exercising, so of course I'm inspired to write something (:
I read Swamplandia! for my first book club meeting in the first week of Jan. I read it on my new Kindle! Anyway I was rather disappointed that most of the conversation was about what the next book should be and about the Hunger Games, and that most of the conversation about the book really consisted of recounting the plot to those who had not finished it. I had really wanted to discuss the philosophical implications of the story. What happens when your whole world is torn apart? What does loss really mean to one's being, and how is it that pain really thrives on and multiplies pain? The end seemed a bit deus ex machina, but it's not to the degree that we can't really and truly tell if the family survived. What are the mechanisms and boundaries of love? Does the past itself have a life, or is history just a ghost? What makes magic, and do we have to eventually lose all magic in the face of life? I wanted to talk about these questions and more. Instead we made blanket statements about it being 'depressing' and half-jokes about how it only shows the importance of public school education. I have continued to dwell upon these unresolved questions since then.
I don't much care whether I read the next book, although I'm very interested in the story.
I read Swamplandia! for my first book club meeting in the first week of Jan. I read it on my new Kindle! Anyway I was rather disappointed that most of the conversation was about what the next book should be and about the Hunger Games, and that most of the conversation about the book really consisted of recounting the plot to those who had not finished it. I had really wanted to discuss the philosophical implications of the story. What happens when your whole world is torn apart? What does loss really mean to one's being, and how is it that pain really thrives on and multiplies pain? The end seemed a bit deus ex machina, but it's not to the degree that we can't really and truly tell if the family survived. What are the mechanisms and boundaries of love? Does the past itself have a life, or is history just a ghost? What makes magic, and do we have to eventually lose all magic in the face of life? I wanted to talk about these questions and more. Instead we made blanket statements about it being 'depressing' and half-jokes about how it only shows the importance of public school education. I have continued to dwell upon these unresolved questions since then.
I don't much care whether I read the next book, although I'm very interested in the story.