Booklog 4: Water's not cold, baby

[soupytwist]

(Happy outdoor fucking day, everybody!)

I didn't read as much as I wanted to in April - it turns out that I read less when I haven't been on holiday for several weeks! who knew! - but here it is.

Comments

[newsbot3]

oh, the comma in that sentance is where i thought it was.

[lilka]

The more I reread Aubrey/Maturin, the more convinced I am that Diana falls madly in love with Stephen pretty much the first time they talk, and it makes her angry - angry at herself because she had a plan and this was definitely not it, but also angry at him because he doesn't appear to reciprocate. We know as readers how strongly he feels about her, and she's definitely aware of his attraction, but I don't think there's anything in his behaviour that says for sure it's love rather than lust. IIRC he doesn't even propose to her until there are practical reasons that they should marry; I think there's a good chance his 'but indeed, Diana, I love you dearly' in The Surgeon's Mate is the first time he's ever said it. (And then when she hears about his 'affair' it confirms her suspicion that he never really loved her after all). Not that any of this makes how she acts OK! But I think her first few books would read very differently from her perspective than they do from Stephen's.

[soupytwist]

I don't know whether I think she falls in love straight away, but I do definitely think she immediately knows her relationship with him is not at all like her relationship with anyone else, and especially not any other man, and that she probably doesn't know at all what to do about that. (Being pissed off is an excellent guess though, heh.) And I think part of it is that she wants to put him in the boxes she understands, and he keeps not being that person. And that results in behaviour which is really really unpleasant to poor Stephen! But like you say, he may be different but he also doesn't talk to her about the important stuff, and in many ways his entire life is about letting other people put him in boxes and not disabusing them of the notion that those are his natural habitat. (plus, dude does not have the kind of ego that says he is entitled or in any way worthy of having the love he feels simply as a matter of course, and he doesn't have Jack's natural blithe feeling that that deserving doesn't matter and stuff will work out

[soupytwist]

Also your icon makes me happy. :)