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Post by Songbird on Jul 23, 2013 22:12:53 GMT -5
True. What does everyone think of Ed's friends?
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Post by Linda Rhaldeen on Jul 26, 2013 1:28:00 GMT -5
To answer Hermes' question about the bonfire, yes, it's been my experience that the popular kids have them (I was never invited to them in high school but I knew they happened). In popular culture I remembered in the movie John Tucker Must Die they go to a bonfire on the beach, and I remember an episode of Buffy where they have a bonfire (also on the beach) after a swim meet.
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Post by Sixteen on Jul 26, 2013 8:58:44 GMT -5
I still haven't managed to get the book yet but I came across this site earlier today in an unrelated search. The Why We Broke Up ProjectPeople post their own break-up stories and Handler occassionally replies.
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Post by Kit's tits kick ticks on Jul 26, 2013 17:28:31 GMT -5
Haha. I just thought if I want to post something there or not, and then I realised I have no break-up story.
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Post by bandit on Jul 26, 2013 17:33:58 GMT -5
Mister M can fix that
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Post by Kit's tits kick ticks on Jul 26, 2013 18:02:32 GMT -5
I think it's not that important, so I hope he won't.
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Post by Linda Rhaldeen on Jul 26, 2013 23:20:06 GMT -5
Something that occurred to me as I was reading this is that the entire book is supposedly written while Min is in the truck with Al. Forget NaNoWriMo - Min can write a novel in one sitting!
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Post by Songbird on Jul 27, 2013 8:30:59 GMT -5
Is it ok if we move along and discuss the rest of the book? At this point I think that everyones finished. Also I saw that tumblr and I think we should participate. Unfortunately I don't have an account
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Post by Hermes on Jul 27, 2013 16:29:51 GMT -5
Sorry about this - I know I was meant to be co-leading this, but I haven't been feeling very well this week and have fallen behind. I haven't reached the end of the book yet, so wouldn't mind if we waited a bit. I'll post some comments tomorrow.
Ed's friends - I don't have a very clear impression of them, honestly. They don't come over as very attractive people, but perhaps I am biased. The book is being read, obviously, by people who read books, which means we are more likely to be on the side of MIn and her friends, even though they clearly have faults.
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Post by Hermes on Jul 28, 2013 10:07:33 GMT -5
So. The scene where Ed and Min steal the sugar bowl a dispenser of sugar. I couldn't remember the word for it earlier, but she does use it at one point: dispenser. But in any case it's a container for sugar. This, apart from the form of the whole book, is the biggest ASOUE parallel. Whether it really illuminates what is happening in ASOUE, who can say?
I love the moment when Min introduces her virginity, just out of nowhere - but then, there is no good way to lead up to that. (Actually the last paragraph of the scene in the park could have been a discreet description of sex, but as it turns out it isn't.)
It's a bit weird the way Joan says Min has to leave because they have a family thing that night, when it seems to be still morning when they meet (before Ed usually gets up). Which perhaps shows, as we will later discover, that 'a family thing' is not exactly what it seems.
What do people think of Leopardi's? I find it rather pointless myself (this is also a point that Sora made in his review) - it is, as Linda mentioned, amazing enough that Min is writing the whole book in one evening: given that, why should she not be writing it in the time it takes Al to drive to Ed's house? It would be better to keep it more fully surreal. The description of Leopardi's as a place is nice, though.
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Post by Songbird on Jul 28, 2013 11:38:02 GMT -5
Sorry about this - I know I was meant to be co-leading this, but I haven't been feeling very well this week and have fallen behind. I haven't reached the end of the book yet, so wouldn't mind if we waited a bit. I'll post some comments tomorrow. Ed's friends - I don't have a very clear impression of them, honestly. They don't come over as very attractive people, but perhaps I am biased. The book is being read, obviously, by people who read books, which means we are more likely to be on the side of MIn and her friends, even though they clearly have faults. I feel like I relate more to Min and her friends for the simple reason that my friends and I pretty much are like that. We obsess over old and new films and do stuff because it's fun and not to be trendy. I thought the sugar dispenser thing was pretty interesting. I didn't really see anything else that related back to ASOUE, except for the fact that we don't really know where the story takes place as far as country, state, etc. And in a similar way time is also not 100%.
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Post by Hermes on Jul 28, 2013 13:59:29 GMT -5
I thought the sugar dispenser thing was pretty interesting. I didn't really see anything else that related back to ASOUE, except for the fact that we don't really know where the story takes place as far as country, state, etc. And in a similar way time is also not 100%. The general form of the book and the theft of sugar are the two big things, but there are quite a few little allusions - some of which might be accidental, but there's one near the end that can't be, which made me look out for others. One comes up in this episode - 'ha!' (Olaf's laugh from TPP). Yes, you're definitely right about time and place - though it's clearly happening somewhere nearer the real world than ASOUE did - and time is especially puzzling. Have you noticed the really big puzzle that's coming up? Well then: Min's talk with Al. I have no opinion about this. OK, I do have an opinion. Al is being very passive-aggressive. Yes, 'quick' is an adjective, but that doesn't stop it being an opinion. On the other hand, what are you supposed to say in that situation? I have no opinion. On the other hand, Min is clearly wrong to say you can't blame Ed for stealing the coin. 'Just a couple weeks, right?' Actually only one week if I've counted correctly, which shows that Mr Handler is indeed a bit confused about time. 'the things we were planning for the star we followed' - there, I knew she used that phrase somewhere. *Mumbles about meaning of the word 'anniversary'*. And then Al does have an opinion. We are never told exactly what this opinion was, though clearly it wasn't favourable. I do like the description of events of which she can't remember the order, which are indeed clearly in the wrong order. 'Emptying the drawer into the box': so that's how the box originates. Before that she had been keeping Ed things in a drawer, it seems. 'She's out all day today. With Andrea. But if it's my girlfriend.... ' Did people see that? Blink and you'll miss it.
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Post by Kit's tits kick ticks on Jul 28, 2013 17:42:08 GMT -5
Oh. I haven't finished the book too. Also not really taken any notes. Sorry.
I didn't understand the last thing in your post, Hermes, so I guess I did not see that...
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Post by Songbird on Jul 29, 2013 8:13:25 GMT -5
Same...what page is that on Hermes?
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Post by Hermes on Jul 29, 2013 9:11:27 GMT -5
Sorry - p. 197. Ed speaking about Joan. I think the emphasis on 'my girlfriend' means that Andrea is Joan's girlfriend.
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