| I just reread it so it's all pretty fresh. I'd be curious to get your take on these questions (particularly 6 and 7). I'm reasonably sure Mr. Justice was Golden Macklin, Daniel's mentor at the school, although at the beginning of the book Macklin's vacation getaway is described as being "like" the West Virginia hills, while the mountain retreat where the final battle takes place is definitely located in West Virginia.
I think it's one of her best books; I may even like it more than the next two. It's tighter, and the doom-laden mood is unrelenting. I'm thinking about doing a scene-by-scene breakdown on the book, like Jane Donawerth did with The Spinner.
It's almost operatic in form, but with many key scenes--like the battle in the hills between the two "armies"--left entirely to the reader's imagination. I'm going at it with the premise that it all makes sense, but that DP has deliberately left gaps and created puzzles for the reader to solve. That, like Theodore Sturgeon and other old school writers, she has tremendous faith in the reader to think it through. I just haven't (completely) done that yet.
I actually like the ending: like the original cut of The Exorcist (before William Peter Blatty tampered with it for the 25th anniversary rerelease), it ends right at the climax; there's no denouement to ease the reader's transition back into the world. This fits the overall mysterious, elliptical tone of the book. But I'd also love to see where she took these characters in the sequel.
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I think it's one of her best books; I may even like it more than the next two. It's tighter, and the doom-laden mood is unrelenting.
I'm thinking about doing a scene-by-scene breakdown on the book, like Jane Donawerth did with The Spinner. It's almost operatic in form, but with many key scenes--like the battle in the hills between the two "armies"--left entirely to the reader's imagination. I'm going at it with the premise that it all makes sense, but that DP has deliberately left gaps and created puzzles for the reader to solve. That, like Theodore Sturgeon and other old school writers, she has tremendous faith in the reader to think it through. I just haven't (completely) done that yet.
I actually like the ending: like the original cut of The Exorcist (before William Peter Blatty tampered with it for the 25th anniversary rerelease), it ends right at the climax; there's no denouement to ease the reader's transition back into the world. This fits the overall mysterious, elliptical tone of the book. But I'd also love to see where she took these characters in the sequel.
- tom moody 3-29-2002 9:12 pm