Colleen McCullough

[Maud Fitch]

G'day to Gannon, Fran, Primrose and DATo. Well, talk about joining in half way through the party! Sorry I've been absent. Work and study have taken their toll on me. By the time I've finished days and days looking at a computer screen (being good not to get absorbed - read 'sidetracked' - by forums and the like) all I want to do is get outside and go for long walks. Then I fall asleep reading in bed; so my book progress has been very slow.

Anyhoo, you all have been making great headway. Your comparisons and reviews are most enlightening. Sadly, I have not read “Chemistry Of Tears” nor “The Sense of an Ending” yet. Both are on-hold at the library but if the truth be told, I've put off collecting them because I won't get anything else done!

To be off-topic, but because this is Gannon's honorary Aussie thread, I would just like to say that on 29 April 1770,
Captain James Cook discovered Botany Bay, which is now in the environs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
He followed Dutch maps of Great South Land but I often wonder what language I would be reading if some other explorer had colonised our country.

Hope your weekend is groovin' along nicely.

[Gannon]

G'day to Gannon, Fran, Primrose and DATo. Well, talk about joining in half way through the party! Sorry I've been absent. Work and study have taken their toll on me. By the time I've finished days and days looking at a computer screen (being good not to get absorbed - read 'sidetracked' - by forums and the like) all I want to do is get outside and go for long walks. Then I fall asleep reading in bed; so my book progress has been very slow.

Anyhoo, you all have been making great headway. Your comparisons and reviews are most enlightening. Sadly, I have not read “Chemistry Of Tears” nor “The Sense of an Ending” yet. Both are on-hold at the library but if the truth be told, I've put off collecting them because I won't get anything else done!

To be off-topic, but because this is Gannon's honorary Aussie thread, I would just like to say that on 29 April 1770,
Captain James Cook discovered Botany Bay, which is now in the environs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
He followed Dutch maps of Great South Land but I often wonder what language I would be reading if some other explorer had colonised our country.

Hope your weekend is groovin' along nicely.

Howdy Howdy Maud, I always get a smile on my face when you eventually leave us a post( which are getting few and far between). Maud you simply have to read "The sense of an Ending". It is so short you can read it in one sitting and your opinion is really the only opinion I am interested in. As I have said it is such an ambiguous book full of hidden meanings and a very enigmatic ending. Come on Maud get to that library and get them to hurry up.

It's strange I often consider what our country and language etc, would have been, if we had been colonised by another of the world powers of the day,(we could be conversing in French at this moment or Spanish )

"The Fourth Bear" should definitely turn up this week, unless there are problems. I can't wait to get stuck into it.
It's so good to hear from you, I hope you are well and maybe if you could just try to post just a teeny weeny bit more. No pressure but it's always good to hear from you. Hope you are having a great weekend.

[Fran]

@DATo
Wow have you added to my thinking on this little book. Any thoughts on the strange wave Sarah gives as Tony's was leaving after his weekend visit? I saw someone actually making a similar signal yesterday & I interpreted it as a 'say nothing to anyone, forget it' kind of signal it was only afterwards it brought the similar action in the book to mind. What do you think? Had something happened between Sarah & Tony & was she telling him not to mention it to Veronica?

[DATo]

@DATo
Wow have you added to my thinking on this little book. Any thoughts on the strange wave Sarah gives as Tony's was leaving after his weekend visit? I saw someone actually making a similar signal yesterday & I interpreted it as a 'say nothing to anyone, forget it' kind of signal it was only afterwards it brought the similar action in the book to mind. What do you think? Had something happened between Sarah & Tony & was she telling him not to mention it to Veronica?

Yes Fran, I've thought a lot about that little wave myself. At the time she makes the wave she is leaning against the porch so in my mind I imagine a woman leaning against a porch as I am leaving with her family present. I "see" the action in my mind. It seems to suggest 'intimacy' and also seems to be secretive, as though she doesn't want anyone else to see it. Another word that jumps to mind is "forlorn" as I believe Sarah knows she will never see him again.

I think the meaning of the wave is not to be found in this scene but rather in the kitchen scene when she and Tony are alone. A VERY important action I believe is suggested by the half-throwing of the frying pan in the sink and the steam rising from it. Barnes mentions this in the first lines of the book as one of the memories Tony is recalling as the book opens. Also the disposal of the egg in the dust bin and her attitude at that time. A good author NEVER includes things like this without a reason. Barnes is telling us something. I think Sarah is out to seduce Tony but her seduction does not "take" (the broken egg). She shows her frustration by throwing it away. The steam rising from the frying pan could represent her sexual desire for Tony which, once again, is frustrated as she almost throws the frying pan into the sink when she makes this determination. It is mentioned in the book that Adrian LIVED his life, Tony is more reserved and would not take up the clues or act to pursue Sarah's invitations. The character, Tony, that we know would simply stare at her which he does. Adrian WOULD have reacted and it is implied that he did act when the opportunity presented itself.

Other Questions:

1) Why did Adrian Jr. become upset when Tony told him that he knew "Mary"?

2) Did Veronica always know about the letter Tony sent Adrian (Tony intended for them both to see it), or did she first learn of it when the will was to be executed as the letter was affixed to the will? The vehemence of her anger seems to be freshly spawned. The death of Sarah was six months previous to the events at the conclusion to the book but forty years after the events of their youthful association.

3) And with regard to ANOTHER wave: *LOL*
What is the meaning of the Severn Bore - the wave on the Thames ? Why does Barnes include it? It is decidedly intended as an English associated metaphor (the Thames) I have a theory - [SIC from memory, please excuse if not quoted perfectly]...

"There comes a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune, omitted, and all the voyages of our lives are bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. Let us best take the current when it serves or lose our ventures."
- Shakespeare (Julius Ceasar)

Remember, Tony was not one to "take the current when it served". At the time of the Severn Bore he is with Veronica. At this point in the novel their lives together could have gone either way.

[primrose777]

Hi everyone,
Found a computer terminal and making the most of it. Will not have another lap top until at least July That seems sooooo far away.

At risk of going off topic within the off topic subject, which insights sound amazing but I have no idea what you are talking about.

@ Gannon, I have finally finished Oscar and Lucinda. I have to admit that I struggled with it, and it took me a lot longer to read than an average book would. I am not familiar with Peter Carey but boy he crams a lot into a sentence, Is this a good thing or not? He lost me on more than one occassion. I am not sure but I had the impression that he was trying hard to impress. ( could be my Aussie slant on things though, we can be unimpressed with sheer brilliance).
As I said before I found the characters very raw and exposed but was heartened to see that through their non- conformity and eccentricites that they were comfortable in their shell. Their loneliness really affected me, and Oscars upbringing really disturbed me. No wonder he had issues.
I thought it dealt with the addiction of gambling really well, the inner torment, the compulsion, the elation and despair. ( No I am not a gambler I am guessing how they would feel.) Oscar's rationalization was just classic of both his addiction and religious upbringing but really twisted.Oscar, was really twisted.
Lucinda I felt for, she was way ahead of her time ( as was her Mother). Today we would applaud her risk taking and daring, There were so much more than corsetts restraining her and I was pushing the boundries with her.
I never saw the ending coming, though I did think the whole glass church thing was a bit out there even for a novel, anyway.... I found the book becoming darker as it progressed. I was outraged at the ending, for both Lucinda and Oscar and felt it was a bit of a let down. I traveled all that way with them and then,,, nothing. Miriam Chadwick I wanted to punch, Hard. I hate injustice but really by this time I was over Oscar, no brain in his head at all!!!
I did cheer Lucinda though, as she suspected she was much more sucessful without the money than with.
I also gained a fresh perspective on how the Aboriginals may have felt watching these white upstarts enroach on their traditional lands. I think we can forget how brutal it all was and how mercy was just not shown. History can gloss over that sometimes.
I do not know ifI loved it or hated it, I think possibly I hated it or maybe disliked it. It was so dark and sad and hopeless and twisted. I had these images in my head for a while after I finished it, Maybe I am just a girl who likes happy endings
.

[Gannon]

@Primrose

Howdy there primrose. Whether you loved it or hated it you have certainly brought up many poignant points and a great review. Does this mean that you are going to start "The First Man in Rome" now?

@Fran & Dato

I am so glad that my rereading of this book and asking Fran her opinion has led to such and incredible discussion.

[primrose777]

@Gannon, yes First man in rome is next but I am chiiling with a small lightweight Agatha Christie first that I picked up at book fair. Need to not think after O& L. Thanks for your encouragement on my " Review" I am not used to writing about books yet, I though I was just venting. Did you like the ending?

[Gannon]

@Primrose

I must admit that I loved the ending. I think you can be proud for sticking it out and finishing it, when you did not really like. I always finish a book once I have started it because you just never know, where the story is going to go and if it may improve. Kudos for finishing it Primrose.

[primrose777]

Why thankyou Gannon.

[Gannon]

You are very welcome.

[primrose777]

Hi Gannon,
As a footnote to O&L . I went to my bookclub last weekend, and O&L was book of the month (my pick). Every one bar one person hated it. The girl who liked it and I were the only ones who finished it. She thanked me for the recommendation. We all had a laugh about it but I am banned from picking anoyher book for a while. How rude

[Gannon]

Hi Gannon,
As a footnote to O&L . I went to my bookclub last weekend, and O&L was book of the month (my pick). Every one bar one person hated it. The girl who liked it and I were the only ones who finished it. She thanked me for the recommendation. We all had a laugh about it but I am banned from picking anoyher book for a while. How rude

Howdy Primrose. At least one person thanked you.

[Maud Fitch]

Hullo, it's me, Maud, begging forgiveness. I swear I've not switched allegiance or anything naughty like that.
Work has been very busy and I'm a cooler-weather-kinda-gal so I've been away from the keyboard.
Also, for some strange reason, I haven't been getting alerts so I'll just have to physically check more often!
Sorry to report that Julian Barnes took a back seat. I'm still on the Tom Brown Schooldays-ish section.
I know, I know, it's only a slim volume.....but I've been good and not read the above posts.

I sympathise with Primrose because it often happens at my Book Club. I'm the worst offender because I like 'original' works, not formulaic mass-produced bestsellers. No accounting for taste, is there.

Hope you all have been reading up a storm!

[Fran]

@Maud
Was wondering why you were so quiet .... leaving primrose & Gannon to carry the intellectual responsibility for the Southern Hemisphere, not that they aren't doing a splendid job but we still miss your input.

[Gannon]

@Maud
Was wondering why you were so quiet .... leaving primrose & Gannon to carry the intellectual responsibility for the Southern Hemisphere, not that they aren't doing a splendid job but we still miss your input.

Oh jee thanks Fran, what a lovely thing to say.

@Maud

Maud no more excuses, you get yourself to a keyboard and you start posting. As Fran says, we miss your input, but more importantly we miss you.