ClumsyMonkey.net

I About a Boy!

Book, movie or both?

Both were good, but I think I liked the book better.

Me too, it's definitely one of my favourite books.

Just picked up Cat's Cradle from the library.. I was going to get The Bell Jar but some girl was looking for it too (and I didn't know) and got to it first. Grr.

Oh well, Cat's Cradle looks interesting.

the romantic by barbara gowdy

really really good book

Hope wrote:anyone read White Oleander? i liked it

great book .. i loved the movie as well

Heh, Barbara Gowdy wrote a novel from the point of view of a herd of elephants.

I forget, is The Romantic the one with necrophilia?

i heard of that one
her writing style is definitely interesting ...

joe_canadian wrote:Heh, Barbara Gowdy wrote a novel from the point of view of a herd of elephants.

I forget, is The Romantic the one with necrophilia?

nope ..

Louise Kirk, falls hopelessly in love with her childhood playmate Abel Richter, after--and maybe because of--her mother's sudden decampment from the family when Louise is just nine. On the outskirts of Toronto in the early '60s, Louise and Abel roam a hidden ravine together, examining plants and animals and eventually each other with an odd mixture of lust and idealism. Abel, an adopted boy living with German immigrant parents, suffers the same outsider status Louise feels, and he should be the perfect companion for her, except for his singular notion that one's destiny in life can best be achieved in "complete isolation," which locks her out and drives her mad. He loves her, but in much the same way as he loves the stars and Bach and a wounded baby bat. When she finds herself pregnant, Louise behaves very badly and perhaps sets Abel on the self-destructive path that will end in his early death.

The deliberate flatness of Gowdy's style plays against the subject matter of thwarted passion, usually to good effect, although on occasion it becomes too flat to sustain the reader's interest. But then she will drop in striking metaphors that pull you back. Near the end of his life, when Louise is finally managing to get her feelings of unrequited love under control, she says, "I imagine holding my hand a few inches above a boulder. It's twilight, summer, growing cool. The boulder gives off the heat of the day. My love for Abel is like the heat between the boulder and the falling night. That feeling, or that place."

i couldn't put it down .... so good.

She definitely doesn't shy away from the sensitive or taboo.

The White Bone was fantastic, if you're thinking of reading more by her.

I picked up Vernon God Little. Haven't begun it yet, but I might put in some reading tonight.

Joey wrote:

Hope wrote:anyone read White Oleander? i liked it

great book .. i loved the movie as well

i actually read that book, emily loaned it to me it has so much sex in it, explicit sex at that

I want to read Vernon God Little.

You MUST.

deniedjunkie wrote:

"And we also have the less popular, Nobody Poops But You".

"Well, see, we're Catholic, so..."

"Oh, then you want You're A Naughty Child And That's Concentrated Evil Coming Out The Back Of YOu"

"There we go."

First thing I thought of.

Did anyone else notice that it looks like the pony's about to take a dump on the kid?

No, but that would be awesome.

Joey wrote:

Hope wrote:anyone read White Oleander? i liked it

great book .. i loved the movie as well

i've read it, and i love it. one of my favourite books.