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Just finished the first chapter, and I'm really enjoying the writing style so far. It's so charming, and some of the comparisons and characterizations have gotten a genuine laugh out of me. And I just adore the way Lindsay discusses the scenery. It really helps get across the landscape they're in, and keeps reminding me of Australian watercolor landscapes here and there.
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Sep 8, 2019 01:55
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chernobyl kinsman posted:whole book is queer as hell tbh. i think its deliberately ambiguous as to whether sara's feelings towards miranda are on the model of intense homosocial frienships that used to be more of a thing in the victorian era or whether she actually gay Oh good, I wasn't the only one who picked up on that. Every time Sara and Miranda's feelings for each other get brought up it feels super gay, especially compared to the other relationships involving Miranda we see? Albert and Michael's relationship too seems very cozy, though also more just friends? But it's certainly strange seeing compared to how male friendships are depicted now.
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Sep 10, 2019 15:14
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I've just finished the book this afternoon and wow. I agree, I loved the nature imagery a lot. I also loved the wider cast of characters, and seeing the way the events played out among them all. It very much helped it feel like it could be a true story, since there's so many different moving parts in the aftermath. I'm not really interested in the 'what really happened'--I like the book as is and the mystery. And did Mrs. Appleyard really do that to poor Sara? Though I could also see Sara killing herself, but either way. The way Appleyard kept mistreating Sara the more frustrated she got by the college coming undone, then Sara's disappearance, and then when that letter arrived from Sara's guardian I was double upset and worried about what was going to happen. Absolutely awful. chernobyl kinsman posted:yeah some of this is that our idea of friendship, especially male friendship, has become really impoverished in comparison to previous centuries. just like how in some countries it's still common to see wholly straight dudes holding hands in public, really intense homosocial relations like albert and michael's used to be a lot more common. it was the kind of idea friendship described by plato (literally what platonic friendship means) and it has a very long history; its loss is a phenomenon of the 20th century. unfortunately that makes it really easy to read gayness back into earlier depictions of friendship, because we no longer have a referent for the kind of relationship being portrayed. that being said, i think sara's gay, though i dnt think albert and michael are. Yeah, Albert and Mike didn't strike me as gay (I live in South Korea, and while it's not as common, dudes walking arm in arm on a Friday night bar crawl is not uncommon, and same sex skinships are much more acceptable here); it very much was weird to see in an English language context though.
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Sep 22, 2019 08:32
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Tree Goat posted:I also enjoyed how Appleyard's devotion to lying to maintain propriety extended even to trivial things, like the repeated insistence that there just might be a little brandy left from when the Bishop of Bendigo came to lunch. The way Lindsay described the very straight-laced characters was all very good, and I definitely laughed out loud at some of her descriptions. Right from the start she makes it clear Mrs. Appleyard is all appearance and not really much actual substance--"...the stately stranger looked precisely what the parents expected of an English Head-mistress.And as looking the part is well known to be more than half the battle in any form of business enterprise from Punch and Judy to floating a loan on the Stock Exchange, the College, from the very first day, was a success;" The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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Sep 23, 2019 05:33
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I read Maltese Falcon ages ago in university, and it's alright enough. I haven't read Lovecraft Country, but a quick skim of the summary it sounds great. So does Her Body and Other Parties, so I lean a little more towards either of the latter.
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Oct 1, 2019 12:03
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