That Old Cape Magic / Richard Russo ~ November / Pre-discussion

[Babi]

That Old Cape Magic          by Richard  Russo

From Bookmarks magazine:
Following Bridge of Sighs—a national best seller hailed by The Boston Globe as “an astounding achievement” and “a masterpiece”—Richard Russo gives us the story of a marriage, and of all the other ties that bind, from parents and in-laws to children and the promises of youth.
 The storytelling is flawless throughout, moments of great comedy and even hilarity alternating with others of rueful understanding and heart-stopping sadness, and its ending is at once surprising, uplifting and unlike anything this Pulitzer Prize winner has ever written.


From The Washington Post
Every year, Jack Griffin's parents would drive from the Midwest, where they were both unhappy-to-miserable college professors, to spend two weeks in a rented cottage somewhere on the beautiful island of Cape Cod, Mass., and as they crossed the Sagamore Bridge they would, as if on cue, begin to sing "That Old Cape Magic," their altered version of "That Old Black Magic."

Questions for Chapters 1 - 3

1. What were your first thoughts as you began reading this book?
Is it different in some way from what you might have expected - less sunny, despite the glorious ambiance - more serious?

2. After reading the first three chapters (52 pages), what is your impression of Griffin, the narrator?
He does acknowledge his "petulance" in the very first paragraph of Chapter One  but seems reluctant to apologize to Joy, his wife.  

3. Do you think the appearance of Griffin's mother in the first chapter, "A Finer Place", is essential  by way  of an explanation (if one were neded)  for Griffin's behavior?

4. Were you amused or appalled reading Griffin's revelations of his parents' professional and personal lives?

Discussion Leader: Traude  

Oh, my!  I am impressed by this scholarly Latin dissertation. My knowledge of the language pretty much ends at 'Semper Fidelis',
'tempus fugit',  and 'pro tem'.  

[jane]

Traude...

I have a procedural question for you about the discussion that starts tomorrow.  

Do you want/expect the participants to give their opinion to all 4 questions in a single post...or do you prefer we take them one at a time...let the participants have a day or so to answer #1, then everyone moves on to #2 for a day or so, etc. or can any participant answer any of the 4 on any given day, or

 I guess I need to know what your style is so I don't do the wrong thing here.

jane

[ginny]

Can't wait for the  beginning of the discussion, those are just super questions and a great question, too, Jane.

Babi. I don't think there's anything scholarly going on here. hahaha

However, in my proposed translation  the pronoun  "meus" referred to inimicus or adversarius, both masculine.

Ok I see where you're coming from, now.You were using  the substantive form of inimicus  as a noun, instead of using the adjective form with tempus.  Gotcha.    Inimicus is listed under the adjective form  as a noun substantive, with two forms and genders.  Singular uses of substantive forms of nouns are not particularly common,  I thought,  in Latin or English, (something like "the good [people understood] die young" as an example) and it seemed in particular here,  with the use of the verb to be, which ordinarily expects a predicate noun or adjective to complete it, that it might (obviously) be misunderstood,  so I  proposed  an alternate  way to express the idea.    
 

Also,  with respect,  isn't mihi ("mir" in German),  the dative (singular) of the pronomina personalia?:

Absolutely.  Good for you.

And now, on to the Cape!

[serenesheila]

Well, I just finished the first 3 chapters.  It is an easy read.  I look forward to our discussion, begining tomorrow.

Sheila

[BooksAdmin]

The new "That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo ~ November Book Club Online"
will open tomorrow and Traude will be there to welcome you.

[salan]

Traude-thank you for putting the page number down.  I had to return the book to the library and when I made notes, I put page numbers down and not chapters.  The disadvantage of not having your own book is that you can't go back and look up information.  Next time, I will know to put chapters down.
Sally