Book Discussion

True, but you have to look at the fact of that Ethan obviously never truly liked her. He only married her because of what Zeena did when she played "doctor."

I'm going to get the Little Friend, Victoria...soon I promise!
 
True...True, but it was the idea Edith Wharton was going for. Did you read the afterword?
I just remember one of the quotes she said....
"Life is saddest thing, next to death." Talk about sadness, depression, and a love for illicit love!
 
wow that's depressing... i don't feel that way tho--- i guess Edith Wharton had a pretty damn depressing life cuz that book sure was! nope i didn't read the afterword cuz the book is all weird and old and smelly STUPID LIBRARy!
 
btvaughn said:
I'm going to get the Little Friend, Victoria...soon I promise!
YAH! thanks, now i'll have someone to talk to, im one chapter four(and its soo good i can't put it down, the characterization is just amazing!)

and ethan frome is a rather depressing book, and yeah i wonder what edith wharton's life was like if she said that in the afterword, i mean wow!it must have been worse than ethan's or about the same outcome!terrible...
 
Now, if I could drive...I'd be able to go out and get it, but since I can't legally....I have my own problem!

But really, I thought the afterword did a wonderful job making sense of everything that happened in the story. I finally felt like I understood who should have been pitied. I saw it the most in Ethan, like the man who wrote the afterword. Zeena just angered me too much, and Mattie was carefree and then cynical....and Ethan just had so much going on with him...that he comes first.
 
i think ethan caused all his troubles... stupid guy :lol:
these are my points:
-he married zeena
-he married zeena
-he married zeena :P
ok and also:
-he and mattie were going to commit suicide!
 
nance said:
:faints again: another book to the list--- The Little Friend :D
YAH! im warning you though, thick book with even larger words but with that comes amazing writing style and outstanding characterization and great interwoven plots and mystery! ^_^

and nance, LOL!yes those were ethan's problems you got them all on the dot!HA!
 
Yes I see the problems, but remember.....Mattie was the one who came up with the idea of suicide. Yes, Ethan did agree to it, but who didn't hit the Elm tree right on? Would Ethan have come up with the idea of suicide without Mattie suggesting it? And yes, he did marry Zeena, but I suppose there was the possibility that he actually did love her. So you cannot put all the blaim on Ethan...at least in my opinion.
I'm not just looking towards Zeena, but Mattie to blame as well.
 
Actually, Edith Wharton had a very difficult life. She grew up in the high society of NY in the early 1900s and always hated the hypocricy of it. There's more to it, but I can't really remember. Anna Quindlen wrote a great introduction at the beginning of my copy of The House of Mirth (which really emphasizes Wharton's frustrations at high society).

I reread the first 2 pages of the Poisonwood Bible this morning... that description of the forest just made me shiver. It totally hooked me the first time I read it. I wrote a 2 page paper on it once.

I also broke down and bought The Devil Wears Prada last night. It's hilarious!! Just the right kind of fluff I need to be reading at the same time as Prozac Nation.
 
omg THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA!!! i hafta read that!!! okee i'm going to library website and i'm placing a request! and poisonwood bible!
 
I do like the sound of Poisonwood Bible.

As for Edith Wharton, I do remember reading about her living in the upper class society and disliking it. All of the books she wrote rebelled against the supposed role of women in society at the time. That is definitely something courageous to think about!
 
oo Posionwood Bible, you all must read that! amazing book! its my favorite and leah thats what hooked me too, i loved the "doomed pale blossoms" and just the description of it, the parting of the spider webs like "conducting a symphony" "as if these headlamps from another world could light the way"(and yes sadly this is all by memory!hehehe!) i read this book twice in a row, as soon as i was finished with it, i went to read object lessons then couldnt get into it then turned back around and read Poisonwood again!LOL!!read it twice in two weeks!i love that book!

i loved the symbolism and the characterization in it was just outstanding. but rachel got on my nerves towards the middle to the end, at first she was comical but then she just got annoying and her self-centerness(is that a word?!) came out even more! i wanted to punch her but in the beginning of the book i loved her parts "charmed im sure!"LOL!
i loved adah and leah the most! Ho! evols dog! forward to backward different is book a. i learned so much from adah i think, i have even caught myself reading books and other sentences like that and looking for palindromes, and i loved the symbolism of her limp" permanent singsong of left.....behind....left.....behind."

okay i'll stop here before i give too much away sorry guys! i should have said any of this but im just going to say this GO READ IT!
leah if you loved poisonwood Bible you will love The Little Friend, same characterization and the writing style is similar as well, i havent finished it so i cant compare the two wholly but i love it so far. and this month for our reading in english we get to pick a book and i wanted to do my project on Poisonwood bc its my fav book but she already knew that i had read it twice so she said no!!GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!LOL!
when you guys have finished PB, tell us so we can start the discussion of that!hehehe
has anyone read any other of Barbara Kingsolver's books: i have read The Bean Trees and want to read pigs in heaven!

and leah, dont worry about devil wears prada, one always needs the right amount of fluff! i read everything, fantasy, coming of age, epic, classic, fluff, dramas, and everything is good in some way! devil wears prada is just fun!! same as shopaholic, you cant go wrong with those books!
~another book that brings forth good discussion is A False Sense of Well-Being, i forget the author but i read it in the fall, and just thought about it after reading it because she goes through a mid-life crisis and it does make you think about things(and it has her saying a prayer for a stuffed duck which is hilarous!)
okay well i'll stop raving and ranting about books!hehehehe!:whistle:
i broke it up for ya nance!HAHA! ^_^
 
Wow...Vic you really went all out with that message. That's a lot of books for me to add to my list! Man...I'm going to be busy this summer.

Actually, in class right now, we're reading the play Our Town. Have any of you ever read it?
 
LOL!!yes i wrote a tad too much but i just love those books!!
and no i havent read our town bc i heard it was dreadfully boring..what do you think? should i read it? one play that i love is A Doll's House by Ibsen and the Bad Seed!(strange play but i love the discussion that comes from it!)
 
The Bad Seed? YES!!!!! I had no idea anyone else had ever heard of it. Our school did the play last year.....I haven't read it, but I loved watching it. The charters' names have left me for the moment, but the little girl, Rhoda.....she was something else. Wonderful for discussion!

I'm in the middle of reading Our Town and I don't find it the least bit boring. I'm slightly confused as to what is exactly happening, because the stage manager is the lead character and he can basically jump in and out of time. I promise it makes sense if you read it.

And on a side note, I went to get The Little Friend.....B&N definitely did not have it!!!!!! I was so angry, and then I was going to get PB, but I had no idea who wrote it.
 
btvaughn said:
The Bad Seed? YES!!!!! I had no idea anyone else had ever heard of it. Our school did the play last year.....I haven't read it, but I loved watching it. The charters' names have left me for the moment, but the little girl, Rhoda.....she was something else. Wonderful for discussion!

I'm in the middle of reading Our Town and I don't find it the least bit boring. I'm slightly confused as to what is exactly happening, because the stage manager is the lead character and he can basically jump in and out of time. I promise it makes sense if you read it.

And on a side note, I went to get The Little Friend.....B&N definitely did not have it!!!!!! I was so angry, and then I was going to get PB, but I had no idea who wrote it.
okay i got the little friend at borders and it is written by Donna Tartt!! i would lend it to you, but being that i dont see you everyday(or ever!lol) i cant, sorry! ^_^ hope you can get it! and stupid B&N, they are supposed to have everything!! :angry:

and yah! another theatregoer/reader! i loved the bad seed, shall i begin discussion? i shall!hehehe! i really wonder if Rhoda knew what she was doing? did she know that it was bad or not, becuase her mother didnt disclipline her at all. and that also raises another question, if she doesnt know and that she just has this angry streak, is it genetic, becuase remember those werent her real parents i think, wasnt her mom a convict?! so it leads you to think, that some ppl are born without a conscience and can that ever be changed? but i loved the symbolism of the red shoes. i would love to play rhoda(lol, i know how odd but its a great role plus im tiny and look ten!!hehehe so i can basically play any role with the help of makeup!)
i love how at the end her mother dies who was innocent and tried her very best to provide for her daughter but there was Rhoda alive!oo great play!
another great play of discussion is a doll's house(my other favorite play!) and if you want to read just a hilarous play and try to think of it in your mind, is Black Comedy i forget the playwright, but its hilarous! :lol:

:eek:fftopic: nance i like your new av, thanks for keeping it relatively close to your old one so as not to confuse us! ^_^ becuase i get confused when ppl change their av!! :blink: im glad you changed yours back btvaughn, i was confused for a while there! :thinking: :blush: LOL!!!
 
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