Do You Think We Didn't Get Enough Information About McDowell's Prison Escape?

Use this forum to discuss the October Book of the Month "McDowell" by William H. Coles.
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Re: Do You Think We Didn't Get Enough Information About McDowell's Prison Escape?

Post by Jimi Adewole »

Joe Hadithi wrote: 23 Nov 2018, 07:28 I think the author also didn't know...
:lol: This comment got me through an unhappy moment. The author simply didn't know either.
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Post by Moddesser Elahi »

I am sorry that I am not able to remember the exact instance in detail. But I have a very clear picture of the overall story in my mind. I loved this read and I was not affected personally, I guess, by the point that you are making. The flow of the story was maintained. As per my understanding, the second part of the story was focused on the tough times of Hiram's life and his repentance due to the discompassionate behavior that he showed in the first part.
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Post by Moddesser Elahi »

Jimi Adewole wrote: 26 Nov 2018, 05:42
Life In Books wrote: 22 Nov 2018, 03:41 I felt McDowell's prison escape has been portrayed appropriately. It never seemed to affect the depth of the story which mainly focuses on two different phases of McDowell's life. The first one is before imprisonment and the second is after the escape.
You do have a fair pint here, but would you say that the prison experience was too integral a turning point in McDowell's character to be left to our imagination?
I am sorry that I am not able to remember the exact instance in detail. But I have a very clear picture of the overall story in my mind. I loved this read and I was not affected personally, I guess, by the point that you are making. The flow of the story was maintained. As per my understanding, the second part of the story was focused on the tough times of Hiram's life and his repentance due to the discompassionate behavior that he showed in the first part.
PANACEA - Please do not overvalue your body and mind! Just be life! :dance:
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Post by bdu15062 »

There definitely was not enough detail put into the prison escape. We know why he couldn't stay, but as the main turning point in the book, I expected there to be a chapter dedicated to the escape.
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Post by Arup343 »

Yes, maybe the author was too lazy to write through it. It really became unrealistic in that part! Really sad about it.
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Post by Ekta Kumari »

You are right. There were no details regarding this. The author should have reflected on this part; it was an important part of the story. Great question.
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Post by JordanKSmith »

Yeah, it kind of felt like Mcdowell visited a Monopoly jail. An account of the escape would have been great!

I am wondering if the author isn't comfortable writing action scenes since he did the same thing at several places in the story. I am convinced that he is talented enough to write them if he gave it a shot.
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Post by Shalu1707 »

The author didn't wanted the focus on his breakout and money management but only on the change on his mind. But surely if those details were provided even in breif it would have given the story a nice continuity. While reading the second part I wondered more than once that how he managed to have this much cash with him on the run to buy a house and live off for years without the authorities knowing, it was disturbing at time to have lft out on such details by the author.
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Post by Theresa Moffitt »

Dael Reader wrote: 11 Nov 2018, 17:40 I was disappointed that there were no details about this. I also thought it was very unrealistic that he would have been able to escape so quickly. I felt like the author was a bit lazy about this.
I agree - I think the author should have included more details about how he was able to escape the prison so quickly. It seems like it was too easy for him
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Post by ShailaSheshadri »

Certainly yes. The novel lacks detailed information about McDowell's escape from the prison. I guess the author must have thought this is a minor issue and he doesn't want to focus on it. Any reader will stop at that point for a while when McDowell escapes from the prison. If the author has given some more details on the escape, it would have been better.
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Post by Moray_001 »

I also realized that there were no details. Since the escape happened about a year plus into his jail term, he might have had enough time to formulate a plan.
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Post by Highly Favoured One »

Coles seems to be an accomplished author, so I cannot let this one slide. He/She needs to have put in more meat on how it happened to make this part of the story believable. Its true escaping prison and remaining under the radar while out is quite some feat to achieve. So that's a lapse in the narrative, in my view.
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Post by annette7491 »

I really didn't care for the book at all. The lack of details about the prison escape was one thing but in general I didn't care if I finished it or not.
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Post by Jessacardinal »

Honestly, I didn’t think about the lack of details regarding the prison escape at the time because the rest of the book jumps around so much that this instance didn’t seem peculiar to me compared to the rest of the text. Now that it has been mentioned, I agree a detailed account of the occurrence could help add much-needed context to the story.
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Post by Zora C Penter »

I felt that there was no true transformation for the character because of the time gap. We get maybe two to three paragraphs that span sentence, prison, and escape? The change happens off page, and I feel like we have two different characters that only share a name. Although, Hiram is still pretty selfish with a coloring of sexism throughout the novel...even as his "changed" self.
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