Pommier Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 I've now read it. How's everyone else doing? How many of us are there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAiffricaine Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 [quote user="Dog"][quote user="Gardener"]The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini[/quote]When I realised Khaled knew very little about kite flying my enjoyment of his story ended. His previous book was much better.[/quote] Do you mean '1000 splendid suns' ?Women's daily strife under the taliban regim is well told. Anyone read 'The Museum of Innocence' by Oran Pamuk (Turkish Nobel Prize winner for literature) A man's description on the mourning of true love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 [quote user="Pommier"]I've now read it. How's everyone else doing? How many of us are there?[/quote] Started it last night, I find the language makes reading it 'bumpy' I don't find it flows and on first impression it seems to lack a sense of place, but maybe that will improve..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I know what you mean about the lumpy, awkward style of writing; it feels uncomfortable, but I think that's deliberate.I came close to stopping reading the book at the end of the first chapter, but I'm glad that I persisted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I should be through it by tomorrow nite so shall we begin to look at a date to chatter about it, including RH's bumpy, lumpy bits!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted July 29, 2011 Author Share Posted July 29, 2011 I'm on page 63.....if it wasn't for wanting to contribute to the discussion I may have given up. The last book I read was about a female Sheriff in Arizona, its not a landscape I'm familiar with but the writer descibed the surroundings without labouring the point very well - with this there are some places which I think have very sparse description, maybe that is all part of the style and atmosphere of deprivation... in contrast the people seem to be much better painted.......Hated the bit about the puppy !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 I'm nearly at the end... is it me or do the bits dealing with the different characters Micka and Laurie use different typefaces ? I've looked and looked and still I'm not sure..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Yes, they are in different typefaces - although it's a bit too subtle a difference for me! I had to check sometimes to see whose account I was reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 I resorted to comparing individual letters - good thought poorly executed in my view.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 Finished it - so what did the others reading it think ? Were there echoes of Thompson and Venables in Micka and Laurie ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Just me perhaps, but I was shocked by my own reaction to the puppy in that I felt more sympathy for it than I did for the obviously abused and neglected Micka. As the story progressed, I became more sorry for the boys, but that first reaction still holds to some extent. I don't know if I'm saying this right, but the shock was greater with the story of the puppy; the boys fortunes unfolded more gradually.I'm sure that the book was written with some reference to Thompson and Venables as well as other child killers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Well, Micka's killing of the others (who are basically evil, either from neglect and bad parenting or from birth) and the saving of the girl seems a moral and righteous act essentially, but in the context can never be seen as such, and he thus turns 'bad' at the end and cuts off from his sister. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 Was Lee really there ? What interested me was the contrasts and similarities between Micka and Laurie, Micka obviously identified as coming from a problem back ground yet Laurie who I thought was potentially more dangerous seemed over looked because he was so much more middle class..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Lee was surely killed in a fight at the pub wasn't he?It seemed to me that Laurie was the more intelligent and manipulative, and was more disturbed than neglected and abused Micka. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Yes, Laurie was all of those things, but there was nothing there like love and feelings. His Dad spoke like a dictionary and his Mum was out with the faeries, and on their separation he fell between and was lost, allowing his evil side to flourish.Well, was Lee there or not? I assumed he had in fact been there and that he was killed too, but perhaps, it was the evil he represented which was purged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pommier Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 I might have misunderstood (quite likely!) but I thought that Lee had gone on to the pub where he'd been killed.Micka was the more appealing character, but Laurie was the more disturbed - and understandaby so; in a decent home Micka would have flourished, but Laurie gave me the creeps! I felt that his parents treated him as if he was older, which didn't help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Yes, Lee seemed to have gone to the pub and not been in the woods but Micka himself was not sure which I interpreted as that he had been there and was maybe also knifed there, in fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAiffricaine Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 [8-)]I am reading your thread in the hope that the book(s) you are discussing will make me rush out to get it and read it. This particular one seems such a sad and disturbing tale of neglect ... ummm .... I think I'll take a rain cheque on it.Don't mind me [:)] Do carry on discussing and I'll see what your next book is ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted August 6, 2011 Share Posted August 6, 2011 I too disliked the book and did not feel that the writer handled the task well, because I felt that the emotions and thoughts being attributed to the boys were too adult and lacked raw authenticity which one might have expected in kids so young. The whole nature v nurture debate too seems sterile as we have been there before and for so long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted August 6, 2011 Author Share Posted August 6, 2011 I thought it was a challenging read - outside the norm - the end events were rather fudged in my opinion - some characters were fairly well drawn, others, the gypsies for example, a bit too stereotypical...... I'll start a thread about the next book.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now