I’m just about 1/3 through the book, and the one thing that has hit me is amazement that this book is as popular as it is (my UPS guy was telling me how he loved it!) with language so dense with allusion. Between the DR stuff and the nerd stuff, it’s kind of difficult even for me, a nerd who’s been to the DR to catch up. So I thought I’d put up this post to ask what sorts of things you maybe didn’t understand, to see if someone else can come back and explain – I figure between us we have the knowledge to parse it all out.
Despite this concern, I’ve been loving it – I find the narrative voice really fun to read. Can’t wait for a full discussion!
Just one more thing, because I just have to say this one more time, I can’t believe they used Minas Tirith (a city in LOTR) as an ADJECTIVE. Favorite thing ever?
william
Kate
Kay Pharr
megancastellan
i’m on page 150, and i’m actually liking this book. i sound surprised because i didn’t think i would like it. i have a lot of thoughts about the language also, and i’m glad that kate is bringing this topic into discussion early on.
first off, i must confess that i know almost zero spanish, and because i’m lazy, i’m just breezing through the spanish and getting just the gist of the words. through context clues? yes. i find that it doesn’t hinder my reading of the book.
second, i don’t know anything about sci-fi/fantasy. so i’m unfamiliar with those genres (i did watch all 3 LOTR movies, so i’m getting most of those allusions—although, failed to get the minis tirith reference). i think i know when he’s making those references, but again, because i’m lazy, i’m just reading through without googling the allusions.
third. i really like the footnotes. at first they scared me because they’re so loooooong, but they’re clear, humorous, and quite informative. so i’m glad there are footnotes here because i know zero about DR (do i sound like the most ignorant person ever?).
fourth. my favorite reference is on page 24: Sucks to be left out of adolescence, sort of like getting locked in the closet on Venus when the sun appears for the first time in a hundred years. i like the reference because i got it! (“All Summer in a Day,” Ray Bradbury—love that story)
fifth. my favorite sentence is on page 55: A knot just beneath her skin, tight and secretive as a plot. gorgeous!
sixth. i think the trickiest thing about this novel is the voice. so far, parts 1 and 3 are narrated by the omniscient narrator while part 2 is told through the character Lola. part 2 is pretty clear to me, but parts 1 and 3 are challenging. i don’t know exactly who is speaking. i think it’s the author (because there are several meta- moments), but i don’t know why it’s the author. i hope i have a good sense of why the voices shift the way they do.
my thoughts about the language.
~william
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