Here we go folks! We have a few more days but I wanted to have this up and ready! The first week (starting Nov 1st) will take us up to page #127.

Gotcha starred!

We are starred and raring to go.
Come on NOVEMBER FIRST!~!
belva

glitter-graphics.com

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, okt 27, 2009, 1:37pm.

Nice stars!!

Got the book - will have the time to start reading this weekend.

oh - and got the thread starred!

Looking forward to this!

WHOO HOO!~!~!~!

glitter-graphics.com

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, okt 28, 2009, 12:15am.

I'm picking up my copy on Saturday morning, can't wait to get going!

Just for clarity, p127 is the end of which chapter? Just in case anybody has a different edition. I know it's somewhere on the other thread but it might be helpful to clarify it at the start of this one anyway... Looking forward to Sunday!

Hi Ellie- There are no chapters, it seems to be broken into sections. The 2nd week will begin with the "Hanna" part, around page 130. Hope that's clear enough! 3 days?

That's great, thanks - I'll get my book out when I get home and mark it off so I don't get overexcited and read too far!

Three sections; three weeks. I like the breakdown Mark. This should go smooth as butter.
belva

hello there... got you guys starred ... don't be surprised if I drop in once in a while. I read this last year so I'm not ready to read it again, but I'd like to listen in on the chatter. ;-)

And don't forget to chime in yourself now and again Caroline!~!

I seem to be coming down with the flu (the plain, old fashioned kind) so I've had lots of time for reading today and made a decent dent into People of the Book. The first impression is a good one so far. I didn't like Hanna initially but I've warmed up to her now and there are already some passages that I really like, especially this:

"As many times as I've worked on rare, beautiful things, that first touch is always a strange and powerful sensation. It's a combination between brushing a live wire and stroking the back of a newborn baby's head." (pg. 13)

Ozren's comments to Hanna (on pg. 37) about her being the superstitious one were striking, and particularly resonated with me because what he says is at the heart of the novel I just finished a few days ago, Right of Thirst.

So far so good! Can't wait to hear all of your thoughts as we get rolling!

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, nov 1, 2009, 4:34pm.

I've gotten up to about page 114 and so far I am enjoying this book. There's a lot of substance wrapped up in a very entertaining read. At first I didn't care for Hannah either, but I've come to feel she represents the modern woman, with her career drive, sexual freedom and personal issues that reflect todays' mentality.

I am new at group reads and I don't want to give away any parts of the book, so I will return later with my comments on Lola's story. Looking forward to hearing what others are thinking.

I've read just over 30 pages and it's been very good. Brooks is such a good writer, she draws you in smoothly and skillfully.
Space- I hope you will be ok and avoid the flu. I liked your comments and I liked the passage you chose. It's beauty also caught my eye!
DQ- I appreciate you holding back on divulging to much info, until other readers get caught up. One thing I have learned on the group reads, everyone reads at such different paces!

My family gathered for my birthday today and as always it was wonderful to spend time with them. We had a few laughs and now they all have pictures on their phones of me blowing out what looks like a wall of fire. One of my daughters always refuses to eat the cake (actually brownies with marshmallow topping this time)after people blow out their candles. She claims she could see me spitting on it! How else could I have gotten that blaze out? It was really throwing off some heat, I tell you. Now I am off to bed to start my first encounter with Geraldine Brooks. Good night and good reading to all! MB

I've made a start on it this morning and plan to use quiet shop-time to read it over the next couple of days. After Wednesday morning I can relax with it at home, but we're having a kind of preliminary valuation of the house on Wednesday and my little flat looks like a book-and-magazine bomb just exploded all over it... MUCH tidying to do these next two evenings!

Still, so far so good, and now the kids have gone back to school shop-time might even be more productive than home-time!

>18 Thanks Mark, the worst of it seems to have passed though I'm still a little tired. Oh well, a good excuse to keep reading :)

I finished this first week's section today and I'm itching to keep going. Very good choice of book!

I won't say too much either, yet, but I did want to say that after reading Lola's story, I am very impressed with the writing. "The Insect Wing" section could have been a whole other novel in itself but Brooks manages to convey the entire story, with all of its action and emotion, into just fifty or so pages and it doesn't feel rushed or like anything's missing.

I don't know if I'll be able to resist reading more until next week...but I'm trying!

Space- I'm trying to keep to about 30 pages a day. It's not easy to stop reading, her words seem to really engage you. I'm into the 1st Lola story and am very impressed.

I began People of the Book last night and am loving it thus far. I like the writing of Geraldine Brooks so very much. There is a smoothness about her writing that I find quite comforting no matter the material. I hope everyone is enjoying the read.
belva

Great choice for the group read. This is wonderful writing. The use of Hanna and the clues that lead to the short stories, that are so evocative of time and place, flows so well that I don't want to stop reading!

Not going to do it this early, but I'm looking forward to the last couple of days of this week's section to bounce a few reactions around on The Story So Far... I think I'm going to be following you, Mark - about 30 pages a day, keep it evenly spaced.

Very good idea, Mark, I think I will follow your lead for the rest of the book. I had intially planned to read a part and then alternate it with another novel that I've started that is also split into three parts. But once I got started...you know :)

I have a question about haggadah's. Why is the fact that the one in this book is illustrated so important? Is it just the fact that it is illustrated or is it that nobody knows if they started out being illustrated? Is it the quality of the illustrations that makes this one special?

This confused me a bit at first too, but If I understand the explanation in the book correctly, the significance of the illustrations is that at the time the book was created, those images violated one of the tenets of the Jewish faith. The exact quote from Exodus is on pg. 8 in my version of the book.

I thought that it was just that simple reason as well at first, but on page 18 of my book Hanna is thinking about the pictures themselves. She says that it is unlikely that a Jew would have been in a position to learn the painting techniques that were used in the pictures and notes that the style was more like the work of Christian illuminators than it was anything being done in the Jewish art world at that time. This leads me to think that it is the quality of the illustrations that makes this haggadah unique.

Hey everyone- I finished the 1st Lola section and yes, I've kept to the 30 pages a day goal. It is very hard to stop reading but then again you have extra time to savor her wonderful writing!
I went ahead and posted the 2nd week thread, in case someone is zooming into the next part: http://www.librarything.com/topic/76370

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, nov 3, 2009, 7:55pm.

Also, on page 20 of my book,Hannah sees the illustration of the "ebony-skinned woman" which is another mystery. I notice too, that, Hannah makes the connection between her work on the haggadah with her mother's work as a neurosurgeon. Obviously, though, her mother does not think highly of Hannah's chosen profession.

>29 It could be the techniques too. One of the things that still confused me, even with that commandment quoted from Exodus was that I wasn't sure if the issue was in the images themselves, i.e. it was forbidden to draw anything at all, or if it was the nature of the images. My impression has always been that it was forbidden to draw a likeness of God, which I don't think is what the haggadah illustrations were of, but that could just be my Catholic upbrigging muddling things up.

>31 Hanna's mother is a piece of work, isn't she? Each part of this book so far has been an interesting exporation of women's roles, I think. We have Hanna and her mother, who are both strong, independent women in their own right. Then there's Lola, who also fits that description but who still depends on men in some ways, by necessity. And in the Vienna portion of the story, you get the opposite perspective. That doctor is quite the mysogynist!

I find the conflict between Hanna and her mother a little contrived. Maybe it's me but I can't understand why a mother wouldn't be proud of a daughter that appears to be among the world's foremost respected rare book experts. She is a well educated, strong and independant woman who (I assume) makes a good living, what's not to be proud of? I get the feeling that the conflict is there just to flesh out Hanna's story. Maybe I will change my mind later in the book.

I liked Lola. Her determination to escape and live is remarkable. She also has deep feelings of betrayal when the partisans are kicked out of the "Bosnian army." In Lola's story the foreshadowing of the ethnic cleansing to come in the Bosnian future is present.

When Brooks published her first book Year of Wonders I was able to hear her read from that book. She gave a short speech about how she came to write it and then told about herself. She is Australian and was a journalist correspondent. She covered the wars in Lebanon and in Bosnia for the Wall Street Journal so she is well versed in the history of the region as well as all of the nuances of the various factions in those nasty wars. This shows in the writing in the first section of this book. Her descriptions of Sarajevo that close in after the cease fire is interesting and gives a vivid picture of the torment of the citizens as well as the infrastructure of the city. This physical evidence of the civil war does seem somewhat at odds with the picture she gives us of a librarian from one religion who has saved a book from another religion from the ravages of a third religion. It seems to me that she is presenting Sarajevo as a place where previous to World War II three religious groups - Christian, Muslim, and Jew - lived together in peace. If the people of Sarajevo are so gung ho to save a Jewish book why are they killing each other over religion? Is it because the haggadah represents a people (the Jews) who are gone and out of the picture and so are only historical and don't have to be a living part of the present culture and the settlement? What part does the World War II history of the region play in the civil war of the 1990's?

Today is my first day back from my vacation to Nova Scotia. I brought People of the Book with me, just in case I had any spare time. I finished the book I was reading on November 2nd then had a peek at People of the Book. Started really reading it on the plane on the way home. Found this thread with DeltaQueen50's help. I am a bit behind, only on page 53, but I must say that I am enjoying it.

I am finding the descriptions very detailed. I am really getting a good sense of the area, the book, and the characters.

There was a part on page 26 that I had to share with my husband in the plane. I just couldn't keep it to myself.

It was...The wide venues of Austro-Hungarian Sarajevo had gradually given way to the narrow, cobbled footpaths of the Ottoman town, where you could stretch out your arms and almost touch buildings on opposite sides of the way. The buildings were small scale, as if built for halflings, and pressed together so tightly that they reminded me of tipsy friends, holding each other upright on the way home from the pub.

#35 Glad you found the thread. You can disregard my second message to you now.

I remember when the Olympics were held at Sarajevo, back in the 1980's I believe. I thought it was the prettiest town, and I placed it high on my list of places I want to see someday. Haven't got there yet, but I am enjoying reading about it!

>#27:
Some Jewish people believe that to have pictures or art forms of any kind in a book, or on the walls of the home is akin to idolatry, which is a sin. Also Christians who are very legalistic do not believe in pictures of Jesus or other religious works of art. So that is why she was so surprised to find this particular book illustrated.

I began the 1st section Sunday evening and finished it Monday morning. Man, was it hard to put down for a week. This book is way better than I expected it to be and I was expecting it to be good.
I don't think you all could have voted for a better book for this group read. Thank you all so much for picking this one. And all of the wonderful comments and observations I am reading are astounding to me. It seems all of us are getting so much out of this book. Isn't that an amazing thing?
I can't wait for Sunday to arrive so I can get on to the next section.
hugs to all,
belva

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, nov 4, 2009, 11:37pm.

>34 Very interesting background information. I've never fully understood what happened there in the '90s, beyond it being an ethnic conflict. These things are always infinitely more complicated than they seem, as you point out.

I did a little Googling and found this, which talks only about the civil war in the '90s and doesn't make references to WWII:

http://www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1900s/...

The beginning of that article would also make it seem that people of different faiths had no problem living together, except for a small minority. But how peacefully they actually co-existed and how small that minority really was, I don't know. Nothing about Jews is mentioned (I assumed that "Orthodox" referred to Christians here), so it is a good question to ask - given the circusmtances, why did the Bosnians find the haggadah so important to protect?

I'm hoping that as we continue further into the book, we might get more insight into its significance and why so many people have gone to such lengths to save it.

ETA: I've been doing some more reading up on the war this afternoon, and had a chat with my mom about it (my family moved to Canada from Romania in 1989, just before the fall of Communism, so my parents were familiar with the various conflicts in the area). It's been a really interesting history lesson and also an eye-opener. "Infinitely more complicated" doesn't even begin to cover it! The link I provided in this post now seems like an oversimplification and I'm even more interested in the history of the haggadah and how it has managed to survive. Belva and Mark, thanks for this fantastic book!

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, nov 5, 2009, 4:02pm.

I finally finished the first section of the book. :)

#16 I hope that you are feeling better now!

#19 Happy Birthday!! Brownies with marshmallow topping sounds like a fabulous birthday cake!!

Well, I have to say that, along with everyone else, I am loving this book! I think that all of the characters are so wonderfully drawn. The writing is beautiful. So far, I have liked Lola's story the best.
--BJ

Last night while laying in bed I was wondering how many are on this group read.

I wanted so much to catch up last night on my reading but got home late and was exhausted. Maybe tonight.

I don't recall that Jews were ever a factor in the Bosnian war in the 1990's. I suspect it is because they were already gone and so did not figure in the conflict or its settlement. This is so sad because obviously for the Haggadah to be in Sarajevo there had to be a substantial population of Jews at some point.

It seems to me that the Haggadah is a monument to a lost people. A representative of something gone. Therefore it is save to revere it and hold it in esteem. I wonder if there were still Jews in Sarajevo if it would have been held in as great esteem? I also wonder if perhaps its revered position is seen as a testament to the will to survive and therefore some kind of talisman to the Muslim Sarajevians?

I realize in writing this it sounds somewhat cynical because there is also the possibility that the librarians of the archives were people of integrity, honesty, and truly wanted to preserve the document for artistic and altruistic reasons.

Hi All!
>40-You won't be sorry you picked up the book! I couldn't stop reading it today and I had so much to do but I wanted to catch up. Make time-it really takes you into another place entirely-always my favorite way to relax.

>34-Thanks for that info on Brooks. I was wondering how she seemed so well-informed. I felt immersed in the settings whether it was with Hanna or Lola. Brooks has a knack of moving the story along without the reader being aware, I don't know if that makes sense but I had the feeling of being carried along very effortlessly with her prose. That is the wish of most authors, I guess, to slip into the reader's mind and bring them along for the ride. It will take discipline to put the book down even for a day or two.

>It's uncanny how no matter how many times I read it, I still feel that sense of doom when the Germans begin their facetious campaign of sending the men to "work camps" and the unsuspecting citizens comply, only to find themselves separated and slaughtered. Brooks also includes those people that helped Lola on her way. I like to think that I would have been one of those people. It is frightening to think of being put in the position where helping a person could mean your own death.

I too loved the Lola story. I thought she came across very real, not an imaginary heroine, but a real girl caught up in an impossible situation. Also I was struck by how a quick decision she had to make meant the difference between life and death for her. If she had stayed with her mother and sister in the synagogue, she most likely wouldn't have survived.

Boy, what a great bunch of readers! Keep those thoughts coming!! I'll probably knock out the 1st part tomorrow! I think we may have a winner folks!

Having read Year of Wonders already, it strikes me that Brooks has done a wonderful job of portraying the helplessness of a desperate situation yet again in Lola's story. In Year of Wonders the horrors of the plague became almost commonplace, just one more death amongst many, one more child, one more family member. The people almost became numb to it, and Brooks successfully made the reader feel that numbness too. In Lola's story I got the same feeling - one atrocity after another, death all around, people in hopeless situations falling into a kind of daze, just putting one foot in front of another in an attempt to live out another day.

In terms of Hanna... well, I like her thoughts on respecting old books. On page 17 she tells Ozren, "To restore a book to the way it was when it was made is to lack respect for its history. I think you have to accept a book as you receive it from past generations, and to a certain extent damage and wear reflect that history." Working in a second-hand bookshop, I like that sentiment, of a book having history and a life of its own as it is passed on between friends or down the generations. What I didn't understand about Hanna was the way she seduced Ozren - in a public place, very sexually, in a new country with an entirely different culture and sense of propriety, and someone she had known for all of ten minutes. It just came out of nowhere and jarred a bit!

>41 You might be right about the book being symbolic, though I'd like to believe that there is also an altruistic motive.

>45 I didn't think too much of it at first, I got the impression that they were acting on a mutual attraction and Ozren kind of made the first move by wiping her cheek. But you're right, Hanna did take that to an inappropriate level considering the situation and the public place. Maybe it was intended to convey that Hanna is bold and isn't afraid to go after what she wants?

Going back to Lola's story, I think the most powerful part for me was the synagogue. When she first went in, I had the same sense of dread that I felt when I watched the ending of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. That movie may never stop haunting me...as I read the story, I kept thinking "No! Don't go in there, you won't make it out again! You don't know what's happening!" And then her mother's encouraging to her to leave, that was heartwrenching.

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, nov 6, 2009, 2:10pm.

#45

I thought the same thing about that situation, but then decided I might be too hard on the characters. I excused the actions because I figured it was the result of the atmosphere and situation in the city itself. When you live on the edge that long you may be more likely to do things on the spur-of-the-moment. For me that explains Ozren but not Hanna. She hasn't been traumatized by the war.

Exactly! Reaching out to touch Hanna's face across the table was sweet. Responding by SUCKING HIS FINGERS was just so very inappropriate! She may be a feisty girl who knows what she wants, but there's still a time and a place, y'know?!

I love it that everyone seems to be reading on schedule. Here's week 2:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/76370
Happy reading and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

I agree about Hanna's actions with Ozren. I felt it really came out of nowhere and I have yet to see her displaying any behavior that is similar in nature to that, so far at least. And Brooks could have brought them together a bit more gently even with the time constraints of Hanna leaving so soon. Admittedly, Brooks does use the sexual tension between many of the characters as a device to move the story along, even to the extent of having a doctor who is involved in treating patients with sexually-transmitted diseases. Does anybody think this portends some future event that plays off the same motivations? Or is it just Brooks relating to readers how she sees the interaction between much of the world, as a flirtation one way or the other, with death, with chance, with adventure?

>51 Interesting question! We've already seen flirtation with death and adventure, and flirtation with chance plays a large role in the Venice/Wine Stains portion of week 2's reading...I think you've given me a new way of looking at each of these stories that I hadn't considered before.

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, nov 7, 2009, 2:42pm.

Hi All,

I have finished the first week's reading and I must say I love the easy flow and rhythm Brooks uses to convey her stories. So far, the characters are great unique individuals. Unfortunately, I had to abandon the book for a number of days after finishing An Insect's Wing so I am a little confused by the reference in the second Hanna section to a Kohen family. Does this tie back in with the characters from the Lola (An Insect's Wing) section?

Having recently read The Cellist of Sarajevo I felt that the first Hanna section had some fantastic parallels in providing insight into the '90s.

#38 spacepotatoes - I must admit, the more I read about the civil war, the more I want to learn and try to develop an understanding of the history, the politics and the religious factors involved.

As a sidebar, I am curious to see how the relationship between Hanna and her mother plays out as I continue through the book. My impression of Hanna's mother is that she is a strong woman that has approached everything in her life with a driven purpose and end goal. She choose to have a daughter without the 'necessity' of a husband and climbed to prominence in her chosen field. To discover that her daughter has not grown up to be a "mini me" as it were - not following perfecting in mother's footsteps - may be a little disconcerting for someone that is used to getting what she sets out to achieve.

Hanna has her flaws which I appreciate. Am I saying that I agree with her behaviors and approach to certain situations - no - but I appreciate the portrayal of what I see as a complex character that has more to her lying beneath the surface. Whether further insight into Hana's character is gleaned as I progress through the book is still to be determined.

I just finished the last part of this week's reading over breakfast this morning, and it strikes me that survival is such a huge theme in this book. As a whole it is the story of the survival of this incredible book, but behind it Lola and Mittl are also doing what they must to survive, for better or worse, noble or otherwise. It also balances the fate of the book in the hands of people with different beliefs. While in Lola's story the book survives as a whole, Herr Mittl vandalises the book in the name of his own health.

Very interesting... now, onto this week's thread and this week's reading!

As usual, I'm picking up the rear. I've been so silent till now because my recent ARC is amazing, want to start another Austen and I began reading a Stephen King by accident, now I need to see it through.

POTB was my first Geraldine Brooks and she had me pulled in to the storyline immediately. Its timelessness and beauty are all the more brought to life by Brooks wonderful writing style.

I admire the respect and love Hanna displays toward the relic she holds in her hands. Conserving a book is somewhat like being a detective and each clue in the book is a mystery waiting to be solved. Yet, we the readers learn of how items in the book got there, Hanna does not and I think that, for me, would be an unfullfilling career.
I don't get why Hanna had to sleep w/Ozren right out of the gate.
See you all in week 2.

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, nov 8, 2009, 7:55pm.

Lynda- Beautifully said! You are holding up the rear perfectly! Just starting part 2, myself!

Looking forward to your reading your thoughts Mark.

Hey Guys-

I'm a little behind but trying to catch-up. I'm reading this book on the Kindle, so I don't have page numbers. Would anyone be kind enough to tell me the last section of the part of the book covered in this thread? Is it "Feathers and a Rose?" I saw Mark's comment that the beginning of Part 2 was a section called "Hanna," but I can't tell which one.

Thanks for the help (and for picking such a great read)!

Bridget

Bridget- Yes, the last section is called "Feathers and a Rose" and the 2nd section begins with Hanna in Vienna Spring 1996.

I'm late joining in but have just finished Part 1 - great choice for a group read!! I didn't think I'd have time but found it in the "Librarian's Choice" section of the library and had to bring it home. I'm having trouble putting it down!

I think the plot is wonderful, but I'm trying to suspend disbelief over Hanna.

Early in the book, somewhere near the bit when she sucks Ozren's fingers (eeeeugh), Brooks has Hanna say something about being about 30. There's **no way** that she could have a Harvard PhD in book conservation and history, plus have written umpteen journal articles and be this well respected, and be flitting around the world at that age. Most people don't start grad school till they're 22, then a PhD like that takes 6-7 years. It's really annoying me. I'm also finding it hard to swallow that she would take the little boy's medical records out of the hospital.

But - I'm going to bed to read now, and I'm going to struggle to stop at the end of Part 2! The Lola story is very moving. The story about the partisans in WW2 reminded me of A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell.

#60 cmt

Thanks for the connection to A Thread of Grace I have that book and perhaps I should read it while the connection between stories is still strong.

I think we Americans often overlook what was happening in many countries in Europe during World War II in favor of our own role. That is why it is good to read books like People of the Book, Thread of Grace, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, A Town Like Alice, and even Miracle at St. Anna. These all serve to remind us that World War II was lots of little viscous wars going on at the same time. There were unknown heroes all over the globe.

#33 DeltaQueen - I read the book last for a book club and the general thoughts were that non of us liked the story line with the mother. It felt very contrived throughtout. You can have 'mother' issues without making the mother that horrible.

We also loved loved loved the historical stories about the Haggadah, the real time story, not as much. Overall a good book, and good for discussion.

Just an FYI in case people haven't checked out the thread for this week yet, the first couple of posts are actually about the Vienna/Feather and Rose story from Week One's portion so you won't be spoiled by reading those.

I didn't find the relationship between Hanna and her mother contrived at first, I just really disliked the mother. But after having read Week Two's portion of the book, I've changed my tune - it IS very contrived and some aspects of their story are just plain ridiculous.

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, nov 9, 2009, 1:30pm.

I finished Part I last night (better late than never), and I enjoyed reading through the comments on this thread today, particularly the background information on Brooks and the circumstances in Bosnia.

For what it's worth on the whole Hanna debate, my 2-cents are as follows (and I recognize that I may be reaching a bit too far): I think Brooks pushes the willing suspense of disbelief with Hanna on purpose. I think she is trying to highlight how dire the circumstances are for Lola and the characters in the 1940s relative to Hanna. In fact, I think she is trying to emphasis (and perhaps purposely overemphasize) how trivial modern issues seem relative to the previous generations. In many ways it is a sign of progress that we are now able to focus on our happiness as opposed to our survival (if you didn’t have food or shelter, you wouldn’t have the luxury of complaining about your poor relationship with your mother). In many ways, modern people have a tendency to whine, as they feel they are entitled to happiness.

I love your line of thought there, Bridget!! So many good points.
--BJ

ditto here --BJ and Bridget.
And as far as the "finger sucking" incident goes, I read a book once where the gentleman lover sucked the big toe of his lover. I had to investigate that as I was so very grossed out and according to the "sex experts", the big toe is one of the more erogenous zones of the body. Betcha didn't know that one!~!
I, unlike most of you, totally get the mother/daughter relationship. The mother is a control freak and the daughter is strong enough to be in control of her own life and the living of it. On the outside of this particular relationship, the mother is most likely very well liked and thought of. But within the relationship; well, there is actually no relationship. Hmmmmm, sounds like my relationship with my mother.
belva

I'll chime in here! First of all, I didn't have a problem with the Hanna and her cold-ass mother segments, even though the other storylines are far more interesting but I do concur with Bridget's observations on why Brooks choose to write it this way.
>Belva- Easy there with the big toes, my good friend!

Ummm I don't know what happened but I am reading the second part now and didn't know it. I thought I was way way behind.

I have been reading all your posts here. I really can't think of anything to say. You all said it already. That doesn't seem fair but I am not complaining. You said things that I wish I had said. You made me think of things I would have never thought of. You guys are great.

My first group read has been most enjoyable.

I don't know, I'm not sure that ridiculing the silliness of modern life is enough to explain Hannah's seduction of Orzen. Some of her other peculiarities, sure, but that seduction seems out of character, even though Brooks keeps telling us that it IS within her character. I can understand if she's afraid of commitment, but the blatant seduction in new culture seems to be going a bit far.

#68 callmejacx, I agree - this thread has made me think much harder about the book than I would if I were just reading it on my own!

I am sure that I have seen references to the fact that fear of death increases the urge for sex. Hannah is scared; she is in a recent war zone; also she is not looking for a relationship - just the comfort of being physically (not emotionally) close to someone.

I think the issue with Hanna and her mother seems to be that the majority of readers are not buying Brooks presentation within the context of the book. There can definitely be these kinds of relationships. I think Brooks neglects points that may have made the situation more believable, so perhaps it is just poor writing, or maybe her editor could have helped some. It just seems to be on the sidelines so much in relation to the rest of the story. Anybody else see that?

>64 That's an interesting theory. It's possible, but it seems like a bit of a roundabout way to get that message across.

>66 So nice to see you back here, Belva! I did buy the relationship in the Week One readings and certainly, such dynamics can exist. I went through a phase like that with my dad. But Week Two's readings really undid all of that for me and for the reason that mmignano gives in msg. #72 right above me. I'll post more about this in Week Two's thread later today.

As for the whole toe sucking thing...I didn't know toes were such a big erogenous zone. More power to the people who enjoy that but let's just say I'm not one of them :)

>71 Good point! I think that probably played a role in the attraction and why it was so immediate. Hanna could still have saved the finger sucking for a more private moment, though.

I don't think that Hanna is the one effected by the war zone. I think it is Ozren. He is the one that might feel the urge to procreate more than Hanna and therefore more likely to engage in a "light" relationship. However, I think that Hanna must be old enough to realize that she has to jump at the chance for a relationship when she can. If she is as successful as the book makes her out to be her chances of ever marrying and having children are very slim. And statistics is with the author on that one.

I have to say that Hanna as a person doesn't interest me that much. She seems childish and spoiled. Her mother is a different story. There is something going on there that we don't know about yet.

Do you think that Hanna and Oz got together in hopes of forming a lasting relationship? I didn't get that feeling from either of them. In fact, I think they both depended on the fact that either of them could pull free at any time. While Hanna may ultimately want a long-term relationship, I don't think she was looking for one at the moment finger-sucking commenced. I still maintain that Brooks was careless in throwing it in there, and did not spend the time to connect the activity to what was transpiring between them in regard to the book. Funny though, we have spent quite a bit of time discussing a relatively minor moment, but I think it points to Hanna's personality or moral integrity so it is important in the scheme of things.

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, nov 11, 2009, 4:35pm.

But then too, I think in nearly everyone's life, comes a moment when they lock eyes with someone and if the moment is right, they are going at it!~! It may not have a thing to do with morals or personality. It may just be "that moment in time". It could have just been a moment similar to that, that just seems awkward placed in the book at that particular juncture.
belva

Meddelandet ändrat av dess författare, nov 12, 2009, 7:03pm.

#76 - I agree. Not everything can be explained as part of a deeper set of motives or drives. Sometimes people just do things on the spur of the moment. What I think is interesting is that Hanna doesn't have any moment of angst or regret about it afterward. If it were me, I'd surely be agonizing. That fact alone gives me the sense that she is not looking for a long-term relationship. I didn't see anything in the storyline that suggests that she is rushing to find a commitment/have children, etc. If she were, her behavior with Ozren would seem to be even more at odds.

I got the sense that Hanna looks at everything irreverently, except the books she conserves. Her comments seem rather flip at times and I can't say that I like her very much at this point in the book.

My thoughts exactly Lynda... her way of looking at and reacting to people and situations runs too close to careless for me to like her very much so far.

Yeah, but if that were me, I would most likely have wanted to just forget it. I would have got out of it what I wanted and been ready to move on. Throughout the years, people's sexual actions and reactions to their sexual exploits have changed over and over and over again and will continue to do so and long as there is time and universe. I am not attempting to justify her behavior. I am just saying........................
belva