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Post by Kid A on Aug 3, 2012 7:37:46 GMT -5
Emma you've been missed!!.... but DG was an excelent host! Thanks DG!! It was great to know GoBananas, InTheory and Kid A (at last someone, beside dear Lava, as "dirty mouth" as I am!!! LOL... I love it!) Thank you all for the chat, Girls!!... When is gonna be the next one and what are we gonna do...? Book or movie? FUCK YES!
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Post by devogirl on Aug 3, 2012 9:10:17 GMT -5
Ximena, thanks for sharing all that! I can see what you are saying. But I think we all focus on different things when we read. In a book like this, I'm most focused on the portrayal of blindness and if it's realistic or not. The author totally nailed it, so I found the book as a whole very satisfying. I liked the flashbacks to him as a kid, and in the blind school. I also liked the way other people reacted to him, and how the author used the kids' descriptions of things to add visual detail to the narration. All of the characters seemed very real to me. I pictured Patrick as looking like Sam Merlotte from True Blood for some reason, haha.
Regarding the ending (SPOILERS, duh), I was surprised at how sudden Isa's death was, and how the characters didn't quite realize it for a few minutes, but I thought it was realistic. I also liked that it was so ambiguous--what did she say? Was it on purpose or an accident? I can see how you saw it as weak writing, like maybe the author didn't know either, but to me it was more like Kevin just had to accept that he would never be as close to her as he wanted. I was worried Kevin was going to get framed for killing Patrick and Isa, because he was holding the gun, but I'm glad that didn't happen because it would have been tedious. The author did leave a lot of things hanging, between Natalie and Kevin, and Kevin and Ray. He already established that Kevin couldn't get custody, so maybe they wouldn't all three form a new family? And especially if Isa was really dead or not. I thought more people would complain about the open ending, but for me, it was satisfying. Kevin learned to be more assertive and have more self-confidence, so that was enough.
As for resolving a love triangle by killing off a character, Mr DG said if DH Lawrence could end Sons and Lovers that way, it's not necessarily a sign of poor writing, haha. Not trying to change your mind, I just thought it was funny.
Anyway, I'd love to hear other opinions too! We don't have to agree, but it's interesting to discuss.
Oh BTW Patrick is Isa's husband. Robert is her brother.
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Post by Ximena on Aug 3, 2012 10:15:56 GMT -5
Well, part of my problem with Isa getting killed off wasn't so much the pure love-triangle aspect but more of the fact that her relationship with Kevin - esp as his caregiver - to me was essential to his transformation as a character, and it felt like killing her off robbed Kevin of the opportunity to ACTIVELY make a change in his life... if that makes sense.
The open ending only bothered me because it didn't feel like we'd GOTTEN to the ending yet. I didn't feel like Kevin had reached his catharsis.
I did really enjoy it dev-wise; I thought the blindness was portrayed very well and I loved the perspective. I loved the scenes where he just runs.
As I mentioned in my review, I really think this could have been a WOW book, but in the end it was just too flawed.
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Post by Ximena on Aug 3, 2012 10:16:19 GMT -5
On a related note, have we picked the next book or movie yet?
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Post by Emma on Aug 3, 2012 10:32:46 GMT -5
I wasn't a fan of the open ending. I never like it when books or movies end like that. I guess I'm just too concrete of a person to enjoy it when the author leaves things up to me - I want to be told what happens because I don't trust my imagination or assumptions! Of course I wanted things to end a certain way; I wanted Natalie and him to be reunited and adopt Ray. I wanted to have more scenes between Kevin and Natalie to read. I would have loved their reunion since I enjoyed the earlier parts with them together.
DG I sort of agree with you about dev books and my focus. I read them for the disability portrayal and don't analyze the story much. In fact I rarely analyze any story I read in the way you did Ximena. I had a tough time getting into that stuff in highschool English class and certainly don't do it on my own now. What matters to me with dev books is mostly if the writing is realistic disability-wise and that the character is shown in a way that allows me to believe he or she could be a real person.
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Post by Ximena on Aug 3, 2012 11:36:28 GMT -5
lol. Well, as a writer I tend to analyze books a lot more than most people do anyway. Which is why my bookclubs have a love/hate relationship for me. I'm a bit more critical than most people.
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 4, 2012 16:23:19 GMT -5
Ah! Lovely meeting you all! Really! I had so much fun I had some suggestions for the next book... I don't know any movies. Nancy Werlin's - Are You Alone On Purpose? Description taken from her website (+)"What's it About? Though fourteen-year-old Alison Shandling is a brain, her twin brother, Adam, is autistic. All of her life, Alison's parents have focused on Adam and what he needs, while Alison has always felt she had to be perfect. When the rabbi's son, Harry Roth, begins taunting Alison about her brother, she does her best to stand up for herself. But when Harry is injured in a diving accident, Alison senses that he's hiding something that he wants to share with someone. And she begins to think that— strangely—she's just the someone he can share it with . . ." This book is what really alerted me about my devy preference. It's a YA novel that's on the short side. Love interest has SCI. Here's the link to the kindle edition. It was first published awhile ago but I think it went into reprint a few years ago. Love it. I also know some Original fanfiction with a nice bit of devyness but I'll leave that for another time. Stay awesome, and don't forget to smile~ hehe
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Post by old_dumb_grid on Aug 4, 2012 16:55:12 GMT -5
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Post by hanabanana on Aug 4, 2012 22:36:36 GMT -5
yes! sorry.
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