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NeilNjae
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There's also the revelation of Lisa's tasks before attending the Institute (prostitution). Is this to give the impression that nothing is off-limits to the Institute? I agree that this sort of thing would be followed by an investigation and possibl…
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Does this confusion disappear if you think of "word" as "Holy Word of God, an aspect of Creation" rather than "constituent of a human language"? Also, this is the beginning of the trilogy. Perhaps later books will go i…
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(Quote) Not having read Swallows and Amazons, this could be perception, where the children think the parents are more absent than they are. The parents delineate a space within which the children can be independent, but they're still monitored. But…
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(Quote) I think it's the "inherent nature" of Sasha that @BarnerCobblewood is commenting on: Sasha has a distinct essence that marks her as being separate from others. She's different not because of anything she's done, but because of how …
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I think there's something about the difference between the Words that are the true essence of the students, and the words spoken to base, material humans. The former are hugely significant, the latter are trivial. And this distinction is something t…
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Agreed, there was a lot of compliance with unpleasant tasks, and acceptance of the explanation of "you'll understand why later." Even when the first-years saw the damaged second-years, there was no rebellion or argument.
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The notion that it's about Gnosticism is one that holds a lot of water. The students and staff aren't "human", they're fragments of God. Farit is the demiurge, the essence of the material world and all the base things it contains. As the s…
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(Quote) Thank you for this! This is a much clearer articulation of something I was stumbling towards. Yes, many of these "coming of age" stories are of the Chosen One, innately more powerful than their peers, coming into their true form. I…
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And some questions are up. Have fun!
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I'm planning to post some questions about Vita Nostra over the weekend. Does that suit everyone?
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Well, what a surprise, this version of the Archipelago is different from what we've seen in all the other stories. The words that came to mind during these events were "scam," "gullable tourist," and "taken for a ride."…
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(Quote) On the other hand, Sandro's not really been looking for unofficial sources of information on military, and there's been no real reason for him to be contacted by the deserters' network. (Quote) But he's shown no real attempts to leave Glaun…
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I think we're supposed to understand that the bureaucratic stonewalling of Sandro about Jacj is deliberate, giving the first impression of a humane government while revealing nothing. I'm not sure if we're supposed to infer that Sandro's commission…
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(Quote) The support group drifts apart, he's not excited by the reception of his music, he does a few perfunctory formal events but forms no connections with people afterwards. Mytrie is a case in point: someone fondly remembered, but very distant a…
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Apologies for being late here: life has been hectic recently. So now we know some of the tragedy to befall Sandro, bit it seems to be one he got over quickly. There's no mention of his wife after his return, and no mention of any human contact af…
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(Quote) It turns out that it's part one of a trilogy, which I didn't know when I recommended it. But the Harry Potter comparison is definitely one to talk about when we get to that.
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I vote to stick with the original schedule, and my apologies for causing confusion.
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(Quote) The alternative to ditch the idea of "party" and have multiple protagonists connected to the same situation, each telling their own story. You do scenes with each in turn. The outcomes of each scene affect the central situation, an…
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(Quote) That quote was lifted via wikipedia, so no help there!
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(Quote) Mitchell said of his book: (Quote) Whether that comes through to us readers is another matter. I pretty much agree with @Apocryphal that the theme is too diffuse for the task of tying the stories together.
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(Quote) I agree with this. I found the first half of the book overall hard going, but the second half much better. How much of the first half of the book could have been cut? Perhaps not so much for this story, but I think quite a lot for Cavendish.
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(Quote) Is it very different from the way the alien (to European eyes) world of the Chatham Islands is portrayed in Ewing's account, or even the setting interwar Belgium, now outside living memory? In other words, do we notice the "hints at out…
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(Quote) And indeed, why would anyone make a film of Cavendish's experience, outside of the context of filming The Cloud Atlas novel?
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I was going to say the same: it could well be that Lenden was imagining more that just the encounter in the tower. And I'm glad you're back, @WildCard !
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(Quote) A good point, but how does it mesh with the polemic at the end of Ewing's journal? That's all about struggling for a world that transcends tooth & claw, where the riches of the Earth and its Oceans are shared equitably. How does Frobishe…
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(Quote) I assumed it was something to do with bypassing the long emigration/immigration processes that Sandro and co had to do through. But knowing Priest, it's probably something else as well. As for missing that they're the same people, it was a …
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On the other hand, I'm finding it a real page turner and a quick read! So, sorry I brought this up...
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This is where I decided that a big part of the book was Mitchell just showing off that he could write well in a range of styles. Whether that was because he wanted to show off, or because he just enjoyed the challenge, I don't know. But I think that…
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I'm with @Apocryphal in that I liked the story, but unsure how close it was to the book's theme. The characters were interesting and somewhat sympathetic, even if they weren't nice people. Frobisher's improving his composing skills while selling Ayr…
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The book notes acknowledge a grant that allowed Mitchell to travel to Polynesia and Hawaii. I think that sense of place comes through in the writing (but I can't see any support for the claim of common goitre in Polynesia). The first half was a dece…