Marvelous posts. Thank you all. I am late getting to them; I have been preparing for my California daughter's visit next Sunday. Let me move right along.
Obviously we are not yet done with Chapter 7. Even a deceptively "easy" book without much of a plot can be demanding, especially when the presumed present - and the logical progression of the narrative - is repeatedly interrupted by lengthy flashbacks focusing on the past of different characters and interspersed with reflections on the changes in slociety.
No doubt the narrator is extremely self-involved; so, of course, is the mother. We can take it for granted that the memories ofmother and son are subjective regarding the two weeks with the Brownings.
But is it really conceivable that this haughty woman, who made it clear from the outset that they were University professors not ordinary teachers, would have bothered to exchange Christmas cards with them?
Her rudenessmakes me gag. Does she ever call her son by name? I don't think so. She tracks him down on the road with "Where are you?" without even a "hi". Later we learn that she had hectored Joy before she got ahold of Jack.
Her language is not as polished or accurate as one would ] expect from a professor of English:
On pg. 117 she says, in re scattering the ashes,
"I'd feel better if the Cape was between us ..."
The grammatically correct verb form, I believe, is 'if the Cape WERE, between us; the subjunctive mood. The narrator also is not consistent with "a couple ... weeks" Sometimes there IS the necessary "of", but not in all instances. How could this happen to a professional writer? I wonder.
PatH, "stock figure" is a very apt term for the stroke victim. Cou ld there be other stock figures? What about Harold, the consummate heel ?
Was it Pedln or Babi or both who commented on the "Half-Way There" and the energetic pumping of arms. (I knew who Bon Jovi is but am not familiar with any of his songs.)
What do the words mean to Griffin? Half-way where?
He thinks of being "half" because, I believe, he has never fully given up his life in LA, or totally let go.
Mentally he's already on his way, and he relishes it.
Ginny, I don't know in what interview Russo said where he saw the sign. Bellamarie, you lfurnished several links, could you put your finger on it?
The narrator had spotted it at the bar of the Old Cape Lounge the evening before Kelsey's wedding. He took in the patrons at the bar, the man and woman - the woman asking him about the meaning of the sign, and a well-dressed young Asian man who looked vaguely familiar - Sunny. They all looked at the sign and smiled.
Unexpectedly they found themselves together at table 17; the woman's face lit up immediately. When Sunny suggested they introduce themselves to break the ice, she announced ["We are Marguerite and]Harold". She owned a flower shop in the San Fernando Valley, lived around the corner from the Apples, and Kelsey called her "Aunt Rita". Invited to the wedding, she had contacted ex-husband ,harold, who lived in Boston ("Quincy", he corrected), and she came up a few days early. They had been quite romantic.
She turned to Harold when she said this, clearly hoping he wouldn't correct her.
"Yeah, well, " said he, "sex was never the problem."
"I bet I know what was," Joy murmured, loud enough for Griffin, on her left, to hear and possibly Sunny, on he right, too, though he gave no sign of it.
Do you understand what that might have been ? I don't have a clue. Is it worth worrying about?[/b]
"Right around the corner" was the clue. It didn't take long to find out that Marguerite had bought the Griffins' house. They had not met because the Griffins moved before the closing.
Joy's turn is next. She recounts their present lives and heir jobs, but Griffin is getting annoyed. Hmmmmm
Is he jealous of his own wife and her position ? Afraid that the table mates will think she outranks him? But doesn't HE have tenure and she does not? He chides himself for his thoughts; they are more befitting his mother. Ah,clearly an inherited trait.
Is it possible this relentless drive for position is a sign of insecurity in both the son and the mother?
It's an intriguing question.
But are there too many coincidences ? Is what there is of a plot getting muddled? Over the top?
Was it strictly necessary to make the two Liverpudlian teachers Lesbian? "Their accents nearly impenetrable; their spirits extraordinarily high..."
"Animal House", Griffin whispered to Joy, who, no surprise, didn't get the reference. Though she enjoyed movies, even their most iconic moments left no lasting impression on her, and she'd always considered his own abiity to quote such scenes verbatim as rather perverse."
pg. 112
What a singularly callous, unkind remark.
As Joy pulled Griffin toward the dance floor, I believe that Griffin, in his own anxious way, was concerned about the stroke victim after Laura rushed over and took Sunny by the arm. When Griffin next looked over, table 17 was empty. The Apples had taken Kelsey's old teacher to their side of the tent.
More to come
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