I thought the whole drama about that smexy shit was that he KNEW Becks liked him and that it would take a toll on her emotionally if he did her and then fall asleep with another woman's name on his lips but he did it anyway. Not specifically because he has this gross non-incest thing going on and he's fucking crazy. Which is why I'm just like, "ok are we going to go there because if we are we could be a little less subtle about it." Though at this point if he's saying George's name after sex that would be a rather blaring red light.
The thing is he keeps TALKING about her as his sister. Not "she was like a sister to me" but "she was my sister." And when you make the mental leap from "she's my sister" to "she's my lover" there's a weird "ick" factor in my brain, related or not. Because I mean, biological siblings are just people too and crazy recessive gene pool poisoning aside if it's consensual well....::shrugs:: I'm not supporting incest but in my brain it's more a matter of gross emotional contortionism to get yourself to that point and not the biological factor. Because all that's wrong biologically speaking is the likelihood of you birthing a fucked up baby. And if you choose not to reproduce that totally fixes that problem.
I'm pretty sure they said they were born 3 years after the uprising or some time after that (after the Mason's kid had already died) and the uprising was 2014. So it's 2041 now and give or take a year or two they should be in their mid twenties. In Feed Georgia specifically states they're in their twenties. So while some of them might be emotionally and socially stunted like a teenager, physically they're adults. If I guess you could call twenty-somethings adults. As one, I can't be sure.
Yeah you're right that it makes sense for these people's relationships to be amplified to the T. Every person they trust enough to love just becomes the end all be all of everything. I guess my issue is that the subtlety of it is way down. Like how Maggie when from A to hyperspace about Dave. That would make sense to me if maybe I'd known about that a little earlier instead of being just plunged into sobbing people and was expected to care.
And Becks can totally have sex with Shaun. I get the appeal and it works for her personality. Fuck his problems. Let's do it. It's how she reacted that was off. As an Irwin I feel like crazy sister fucking lunatic boss would be a challenge and not, "I was wearing those frilly shirts for you."
Did he know that Becks was into him? Because I thought he was using the "I had no idea" excuse afterwards. Or maybe that was just a playing-dumb thing.
True, he does talk about her as his sister a lot. Which is kind of gross. But I guess I just assumed it was the only word he'd really been given to describe their relationship, and even if it didn't really fit (and created awkward implications for their sexual relationship) it was the closest he had. Because "partner" doesn't really work, neither does "lover" or "girlfriend" or whatnot. I mean, I guess he could have just called her "my Georgia" and that would have summed it all up, but the "sister" word seems like an easy way for Shaun to avoid having to investigate his own feelings. But maybe I'm just being REALLY sanguine because I think that the world would be a better place if Shaun and Georgia were together in pretty much any way possible so that Shaun's crazy is contained and not unleashed on innocent bystanders. :)
Yeah, all right, well done with your math. I think I just assumed they were younger because the interpersonal stuff feels a little YA sometimes. You know, except for the emotional!incest. And I don't know if I would call them adults, since sometimes they behave in really adult ways and then sometimes I'm like, "wait, really? You sound, like, fifteen."
I agree that we should have gotten more of Maggie and Dave than we did to make the emotional impact of that more realistic. But I think it says something about Shaun that he's unable to really give us access to other people's pain because he's so wrapped up in his own. I was willing to believe that Maggie was genuinely distressed over Dave's death, but since Shaun was our narrator it came off feeling very hollow and shallow because Shaun has a hard time grasping the idea that anybody has feelings and problems and tragedies the way HE has feelings and problems and tragedies. Because people are suffering around him and he's still like BUT MY SISTER'S DEAD. WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ALL THAT OTHER STUFF WHEN MY SISTER IS DEAD AND SHE TALKS TO ME IN MY HEAD?
It's also possible that I was more willing to let this all slide because something else happens later in the book that made me SO ANGRY I seriously couldn't think about anything else for a while. But we can discuss that when you get to it.
Well no Shaun had no idea. And I believe him. He wouldn't be playing dumb in his narrative too if he really knew. That'd be just a whole other level of crazy beyond just "voices in my head" and "uncontrollably angry and angsty." But everyone else figured he did because they were giving him too much credit in the "social skills" department.
Uh yeah if Shaun and Georgia were together we would be getting this through her instead of him. Which would be AWESOME. Because since the first few pages of Feed I kind of knew Shaun was just not emotionally mature enough for all of this. Like seriously, Shaun misses her but I miss her too. Just about every other time he starts talking to her or about her or how much he misses her I go, "man I miss Georgia."
Haha I just read the part where he discusses the year they were born so I can now reference my factual conclusion. In APA format. Or Chicago. Whatevs.
Yeah alot of what's going on interpersonally that I'm kind of weirded out by I've just been writing off as "Shaun is an unreliable narrator." That's fine because most of the time I don't think Grant is using it as some kind of excuse to not develop proper depth in her characters or their personal threads. I think it's funny that the people Shaun gets along with most are the ones who are equally crippled by Georgia's death (i.e. Mahir).
Uh what's this angry thing you're talking about? The part where basically someone (CDC?) is making new strains in the lab for the sole purpose of keeping the world zombified and killing potential cures to cover their tracks? Because once that part dawned on my my mouth fell open and I didn't quite know what to do with myself for a little while. It was just kind of awful.
Also, you said on your blog that something in Feed bothered you. Something about how the protagonists were missing something they kept mentioning was essential in the beginning of the book...?
Holy crap do I miss Georgia too. So much. Shaun was much more likable when you saw him through Georgia's eyes. Unfiltered, he's exhausting and upsetting. And, as you say, a totally unreliable narrator.
Mahir. My mad, mad love for Mahir. Just thinking about him makes me smile. Because he was so cool.
You haven't gotten to the part I'm angry about. I guarantee it. It happens at the very end, and you will know when you come to it. I mean, yeah the CDC stuff made me mad from a sympathetic-in-the-world-how-monstrous-can-you-get POV. But this other thing was my Big Freaking Beef with the book.
And the thing in Feed that bothered me was Buffy. Because they spend SO MUCH TIME talking about how invaluable she is at the beginning, and then after she dies it's pretty much Business As Usual. And yeah, I get it, she left a lot of her tech behind that they can use. But still. It feels a little bit like, "leave the computer on the dresser, Buffy." They don't seem to be drowning the fiery waters of luddite hell.
Would it be embarrassing to say that I don't remember? I'm just referring to him in the past tense because he's in MY past tense. It's been a couple of months since I read the books and my memory for things I don't have to write a paper on is actually pretty shoddy.
Though I guess at this point each newsflesh book seems determined to kill everyone who ISN'T Shaun and/or George (incorporeal or not). Becks does too probably. I just got to where Kelly bites the bullet.
The thing is he keeps TALKING about her as his sister. Not "she was like a sister to me" but "she was my sister." And when you make the mental leap from "she's my sister" to "she's my lover" there's a weird "ick" factor in my brain, related or not. Because I mean, biological siblings are just people too and crazy recessive gene pool poisoning aside if it's consensual well....::shrugs:: I'm not supporting incest but in my brain it's more a matter of gross emotional contortionism to get yourself to that point and not the biological factor. Because all that's wrong biologically speaking is the likelihood of you birthing a fucked up baby. And if you choose not to reproduce that totally fixes that problem.
I'm pretty sure they said they were born 3 years after the uprising or some time after that (after the Mason's kid had already died) and the uprising was 2014. So it's 2041 now and give or take a year or two they should be in their mid twenties. In Feed Georgia specifically states they're in their twenties. So while some of them might be emotionally and socially stunted like a teenager, physically they're adults. If I guess you could call twenty-somethings adults. As one, I can't be sure.
Yeah you're right that it makes sense for these people's relationships to be amplified to the T. Every person they trust enough to love just becomes the end all be all of everything. I guess my issue is that the subtlety of it is way down. Like how Maggie when from A to hyperspace about Dave. That would make sense to me if maybe I'd known about that a little earlier instead of being just plunged into sobbing people and was expected to care.
And Becks can totally have sex with Shaun. I get the appeal and it works for her personality. Fuck his problems. Let's do it. It's how she reacted that was off. As an Irwin I feel like crazy sister fucking lunatic boss would be a challenge and not, "I was wearing those frilly shirts for you."
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True, he does talk about her as his sister a lot. Which is kind of gross. But I guess I just assumed it was the only word he'd really been given to describe their relationship, and even if it didn't really fit (and created awkward implications for their sexual relationship) it was the closest he had. Because "partner" doesn't really work, neither does "lover" or "girlfriend" or whatnot. I mean, I guess he could have just called her "my Georgia" and that would have summed it all up, but the "sister" word seems like an easy way for Shaun to avoid having to investigate his own feelings. But maybe I'm just being REALLY sanguine because I think that the world would be a better place if Shaun and Georgia were together in pretty much any way possible so that Shaun's crazy is contained and not unleashed on innocent bystanders. :)
Yeah, all right, well done with your math. I think I just assumed they were younger because the interpersonal stuff feels a little YA sometimes. You know, except for the emotional!incest. And I don't know if I would call them adults, since sometimes they behave in really adult ways and then sometimes I'm like, "wait, really? You sound, like, fifteen."
I agree that we should have gotten more of Maggie and Dave than we did to make the emotional impact of that more realistic. But I think it says something about Shaun that he's unable to really give us access to other people's pain because he's so wrapped up in his own. I was willing to believe that Maggie was genuinely distressed over Dave's death, but since Shaun was our narrator it came off feeling very hollow and shallow because Shaun has a hard time grasping the idea that anybody has feelings and problems and tragedies the way HE has feelings and problems and tragedies. Because people are suffering around him and he's still like BUT MY SISTER'S DEAD. WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ALL THAT OTHER STUFF WHEN MY SISTER IS DEAD AND SHE TALKS TO ME IN MY HEAD?
It's also possible that I was more willing to let this all slide because something else happens later in the book that made me SO ANGRY I seriously couldn't think about anything else for a while. But we can discuss that when you get to it.
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Uh yeah if Shaun and Georgia were together we would be getting this through her instead of him. Which would be AWESOME. Because since the first few pages of Feed I kind of knew Shaun was just not emotionally mature enough for all of this. Like seriously, Shaun misses her but I miss her too. Just about every other time he starts talking to her or about her or how much he misses her I go, "man I miss Georgia."
Haha I just read the part where he discusses the year they were born so I can now reference my factual conclusion. In APA format. Or Chicago. Whatevs.
Yeah alot of what's going on interpersonally that I'm kind of weirded out by I've just been writing off as "Shaun is an unreliable narrator." That's fine because most of the time I don't think Grant is using it as some kind of excuse to not develop proper depth in her characters or their personal threads. I think it's funny that the people Shaun gets along with most are the ones who are equally crippled by Georgia's death (i.e. Mahir).
Uh what's this angry thing you're talking about? The part where basically someone (CDC?) is making new strains in the lab for the sole purpose of keeping the world zombified and killing potential cures to cover their tracks? Because once that part dawned on my my mouth fell open and I didn't quite know what to do with myself for a little while. It was just kind of awful.
Also, you said on your blog that something in Feed bothered you. Something about how the protagonists were missing something they kept mentioning was essential in the beginning of the book...?
Reply
Mahir. My mad, mad love for Mahir. Just thinking about him makes me smile. Because he was so cool.
You haven't gotten to the part I'm angry about. I guarantee it. It happens at the very end, and you will know when you come to it. I mean, yeah the CDC stuff made me mad from a sympathetic-in-the-world-how-monstrous-can-you-get POV. But this other thing was my Big Freaking Beef with the book.
And the thing in Feed that bothered me was Buffy. Because they spend SO MUCH TIME talking about how invaluable she is at the beginning, and then after she dies it's pretty much Business As Usual. And yeah, I get it, she left a lot of her tech behind that they can use. But still. It feels a little bit like, "leave the computer on the dresser, Buffy." They don't seem to be drowning the fiery waters of luddite hell.
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