Jump to content

DIShGo

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    599

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    17

 Content Type 

Everything posted by DIShGo

  1. DIShGo
    It makes sense to me now. The paragraph prior to the one about the beets explains it for us. Speaking of Delphine, Munro writes, "She spoke vehemently--she did not discuss but stated, and her judgments were severe and capricious. She spoke about herself--her tastes, her physical working--as about a monumental mystery, something unique and final." The added detail--that she would need an emergency operation so that she could breathe--is tacked onto the end of the sentence to illustrate this idea. She didn't say she might need an operation, she said she would need one. Delphine spoke dramatically about herself and her body. To say she might have to go to the hospital wasn't sufficient. She needed to add that she would need and emergency operation in order to breathe for drama and effect. The punctuation was used to emphasize Delphine's manner of speaking.
  2. DIShGo
    I generally agree with you, with Cormac McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses being the exception. The lack of punctuation in that book drove me insane. He didn't use quotation marks and used very few commas, and instead of making it flow better, i constantly had to go back to see who was speaking.
  3. DIShGo
    Yes, I see what you're saying. It seems like it should be a separate sentence to me. Just wait until you read the detailed description of vomiting on page 222... I am just trying to pique your interest so you keep reading!
  4. DIShGo
    I loved the original, but I am not sure I can remember it well enough to adequately compare the two. I will have to watch the Director's Cut and see if it all comes back to me. Comparison between the theatrical version DVD and the Director's Cut DVD <--- *SPOILER ALERT* And I'm a grouper!
  5. DIShGo
    Kind of like this? Happy / It's A Wonderful Life Mash-Up
  6. DIShGo
    So I decided to read Trespasses again before commenting on it further. I still don't like the story, but I love the way Munro writes. Again we see Biblical references. Not only is the story called "Trespasses," but the characters recite the Lord's Prayer at the end of the story. Munro once again incorporates dream-like sequences into the story. First, Lauren has a dream about a rabid gray weasel or a skinny fox that is not afraid of humans, and is watching her house. Later, she is awakened from a deep sleep by Harry before they all go out to scatter the baby's ashes. This story is different from the others in that it is written from Lauren's perspective, and she is younger than the other main characters in the book. I think Munro does an excellent job of capturing the discomfort Lauren feels being pulled in different directions by dysfunctional adults. There were plot twists in this story which made it interesting to read. But my overall feeling at the end was one of disappointment. Having said that, my book is filled with stars and underlined passages I find beautiful and noteworthy. For example, I like the way she describes Lauren's aversion to stockinged feet. Or, when Lauren is trying to figure out if Eileen is her mother, she says, "If there was one big thing she had not known about, why could there not be another? This notion was unsettling, but it had distant charm." I love that!
  7. DIShGo
    Finally, the two lovers are on stage together! Its about time! It's interesting that you compare this scene to Munro. Cressida's self-conscious ramblings are similar to the thoughts that run through the minds of Munro's characters. But, though I loved you well, I woo'd you not; And yet, good faith, I wish'd myself a man, Or that we women had men's privilege Of speaking first. Sweet, bid me hold my tongue, For in this rapture I shall surely speak 1780 The thing I shall repent. See, see, your silence, Cunning in dumbness, from my weakness draws My very soul of counsel! stop my mouth. Cressida wants Troilus to know she has been thinking about him, but then she chastises herself for revealing too much. Munro's characters frequently were at odds with how they felt and how they felt society expected them to behave. From everything I have read, the current meaning of the word pander did originate with Pandarus, so that definitely is something worth noting.
  8. DIShGo
    Yes, exactly. Well, except for the tree stump thing. I don't know about that... I think Jonathan Franzen, in his review, sums up Munro's appeal well. He also explains why it is so hard to review her work. He says, "Reading Munro puts me in that state of quiet reflection in which I think about my own life: about the decisions I've made, the things I've done and haven't done, the kind of person and I am, the prospect of death." She definitely has that effect on me. He also says, "As long as you're reading Munro, you're failing to multitask by absorbing civic lessons or historical data. Her subject is people. People people people. If you read fiction about some enriching subject like Renaissance art or an important chapter in our nation's history, you can be assured of feeling productive. But if the story is set in the modern world, and if the characters' concerns are familiar to you, and if you become so involved with a book that you can't put it down at bedtime, there exists a risk that you're merely being entertained."
  9. DIShGo
    I am going to reread Trespasses before I attempt to discuss it here. However, looking briefly at the notations in my book, there are some beautiful passages that I think are worth noting. I think Munro eloquently describes the tension in the household before Eileen and Harry fight, and the way it makes Lauren feel. "But when Harry got out the gin and poured half a tumbler for himself and added nothing but ice--and soon he wouldn't even be adding ice--the course was set. Everything might still be cheerful but the cheerfulness was hard as knives." And, "There had never been one time when this feeling was in the room, the change in the air, the shocking brightness that made all shapes, all the furniture and utensils, sharper, yet denser--never one time that the worst did not follow." There is such beauty and truth in these sentences. I also love this sentence, which is simply about the weather: "...the middling warmth of the autumn day was turning out to be a fraud." Or this description of a person who had absolutely nothing to do with the overall story: "He wore a shirt and tie, a cardigan, and trousers that looked as if they had grown together--all soft, rumpled, fuzzy, like an outer skin that was flaky and graying as his real skin must be underneath." The beauty of Munro is in the details. Even though I didn't like this story much, there are gems hidden in it.
  10. DIShGo
    Munro definitely writes from a woman's perspective. While I could relate, I tired of reading about the same sort of character over and over in these stories. Julia, Grace or Carla, on a certain level, are all the same woman. I think Runaway is autobiographical in that sense. I think Munro is the older woman, looking back on the bright, somewhat socially awkward girl who is trying to make her way and not quite fitting in with societal expectations. Interpreter of Maladies, the book I mentioned earlier by Jhumpa Lahiri, also has common themes throughout the stories. Many revolve around the lives of immigrants from India. Yet each story stands alone, and the characters are diverse. I think in many ways, Munro falls short in this regard in this book. Perhaps you will like Trespasses. I am curious to see what you think. It has more plot twists and turns than Passion. I didn't care for it, and I liked Powers even less. Runaway, Passion and Tricks are the stories I will remember when I think about this book.
  11. DIShGo
    I agree with you. That review from The New Yorker is dreadful. It seems to me that reviewers have a hard time with Munro's stories because the brilliance of her work lies more in her beautifully crafted phrases than in her plots. Grace and Maury weren't engaged, although he planned to "make it official" at Christmas. This is probably why Grace acted the way she did, realizing that day was approaching and that to marry Maury would kill her spirit. It wasn't what happened in this story that captivated me; it was Munro's effortless writing style. For example, I liked her description of Mavis: "Handsome, but with little pouches of boredom or disapproval hiding the corners of her mouth." And later, "Mavis smoked and continued to smile her determined sweetly hurt unhappy smile." I knew exactly what type of woman Mavis was from these two simple sentences. I love the simplicity with which she describes Grace's decision to go with Neil. After Neil said to Grace, "You didn't want to go home yet, did you?" Munro writes, "No," said Grace, as if she's seen the word written in front of her, on the wall. As if she was having her eyes tested." Then, "Describing this passage, this change in her life later on, Grace might say--she did say--that is was as if a gate clanged shut behind her. But at the time there was no clang--acquiescence simply rippled through her, the rights of those left behind were smoothly cancelled." This story, like so many in Runaway, involves an older woman looking back on the decisions she made when she was younger. I like the way she reminds us that our memories of events change over time. "Her memory of this day remained clear and detailed, though there was a variation in the parts of it she dwelt on. And even in some of those details she must have been wrong." Don't we all do that? Don't we think we remember something just as it was, but in reality, we remember certain parts very well and others not at all? The buy-off at the end did seem a bit odd, but Maury's family loved Grace, and his mother specifically asked her to look after Neil that day, so I think there was some guilt involved on the mother's part. I think the important part about the $1,000 was that she took it. Grace's true passion was finding a way out of a life of caning chairs. It is interesting, however, that the story does not give us any hint as to what kind of life Grace ended up living. Even though she is an older woman reminiscing, this is left entirely to our imaginations.
  12. DIShGo
    I have read Atwood but not LeGuin. If you are a fan of fantasy (I am not), check out author Sharon Shinn. We were editors together at an art magazine years ago. She has won several awards and has made a name for herself in the fantasy fiction world.
  13. DIShGo
    Louis Zamperini, who passed away today at 97. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at my son's high school a couple of years ago. What an amazing and inspirational man.
  14. DIShGo
    You're welcome. Catch 22, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Hours. Don recently introduced me to the writing of David Foster Wallace. There are several stories from Brief Interviews with Hideous Men that I will never forget. Who are your two favorite authors?
  15. DIShGo
    Have you read Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri? It a similar collection of stories, beautifully written with themes of loss and regret, yet to me, her characters are more fleshed out than Munro's characters. It was her debut work, and she won the Pulitzer Prize for it in 2000. It is one of my four favorite books. I was curious to see if there was a connection between the two, and indeed, Lahiri says Munro is one of her heroes. I found an article in which a young writer lamented that Lahiri's critically acclaimed novels that followed Interpreter of Maladies lacked something found in her first book. Rohin Guha wrote about Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, "It was as wonderful as an Alice Munro book: A collection of well-constructed sentences, embedded with a modicum of anguish, and the vague sense that important things were happening, but without any real urgency." You are right, there is a sameness to all of the stories. Regret, loss, searching for a sense of home and the dealing with the expectations placed on women of a certain era--are themes Munro repeats throughout these stories.
  16. DIShGo
    I agree. This is something she does extremely well. To me, a perfect example are these lines about Carla in Runaway: "It was as if she had a murderous needle somewhere in her lung, and by breathing carefully, she could avoid feeling it. But every once in a while she had to take a deep breath, and it was still there." I think this captures precisely the feelings of someone trying to survive day to day in a bad marriage. I also need to clarify my comment about Tricks. It is my favorite story because I connected with it on an emotional level. However, I think Passion and Runaway are better written.
  17. DIShGo
    I agree with you on that one. I didn't relate to the characters in Trespasses, and it was one of my least favorite stories in the book. The seventh story, Tricks, however, is my hands-down favorite. I can't wait to see what the two of you think of that one.
  18. DIShGo
    I am curious: have you read the rest of the book? I would love to know what you think about the women in the remaining stories. While I didn't care for Juliet, I really liked many of the other characters in the book. I think Munro is a master at portraying the thoughts and feelings of women.
  19. DIShGo
    I don't see any meat in this scene. It seemed to me like nothing more than a bit of "comic" relief about the pandering of Pandarus. I think if you saw a live performance of this scene, the music would enhance it. Aside from that, unless someone out there sees something that we both missed (which is entirely possible) I say, let's move on!
  20. DIShGo
    I didn't think of it that way, but it makes sense. Particularly since she knew Penelope was safe and probably happy, so she didn't need to worry about her anymore. Still, there was something about Juliet's personality that made me feel that the act, while selfless, was also motivated by her fear of rejection. Juliet was overly concerned about what other people thought of her, and I think she was terrified to confront her daughter and hear the reason why she left. Juliet knew in her heart why Penelope rejected her, but I don't think she could face hearing it from her.
  21. DIShGo
    This movie made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me hungry. It is a warm-hearted, feel good film. If you like your films gritty and dark, you might want to skip this one. Jon Favreau gave an excellent performance, as did Dustin Hoffman and Robert Downey, Jr. There is even a small cameo by Amy Sedaris as an overly tan LA publicist. My only complaint is the ending. It felt a little too Hollywood, tie-everything-up-in-a-neat-bow, for me.
  22. DIShGo
    To my dad, who turns 88 today. The man who once drove us back to the bank to return $4 the teller gave him in error. The person who always left a tip at Wendy's for the kid who bussed the table, and who never yelled at me or lost his patience, even when I gave him plenty of reasons to do so. The loving husband who took exceptional care of my mom when she was sick and dying, never complaining and always grateful for another day with her. He is a gentle man in every sense of the word. I am lucky he is still here and I get to spend more time with him.
  23. DIShGo
    I have been thinking about going to see this film. Based on these reviews, I definitely will now.
  24. DIShGo
    I bought a Blue Star six-burner range when we remodeled our kitchen seven years ago. It has two 22 BTU power burners, which I love. I also like the cast iron burners and the fact that there are very few electronic components. At the time, there was a promotion where I could have it painted, and I had the choice of 99 RAL colors. To this day, it is my favorite thing about my kitchen.
  25. DIShGo
    I am NOT bashing Kool and the Gang, just Celebration. You obviously never had to do a pom pon routine to that song over and over again because it was the only song your high school band could play well. I would love to have seen them and the Jacksons.
×
×
  • Create New...