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On Lader and Gen's childhood
Oct. 11th, 2020 03:42 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
hazelwillow.livejournal.comSpoilers spoilers spoilers! Beware!
I have been trawling through various books to figure this out...
hazelwillow.livejournal.com
All we really want for Christmas!
Dec. 19th, 2016 06:40 pman-english-girl.livejournal.comQuestion: does this make the wait better, or worse? !!!
Megan, can you hurry them up a little before all we reprobates expire of old age and much longing?!
Megan, can you hurry them up a little before all we reprobates expire of old age and much longing?!
Deep Thoughts
Oct. 29th, 2016 11:25 amfrosted-feather.livejournal.comI've been thinking about tragedies and happy endings as it relates to main characters. I like happy endings, but I'm willing to go through the tragedy in the middle of a story with a character.
There was a discussion here about the difference between middle grade and YA, about how a middle grade character watches a friend go through the dark night of the soul, while in YA it's the main character going through this. But something that has bothered me about a lot of modern stories is the high body count of side characters for shock value, where the really, really awful stuff happens to other people, and our characters are the slightly luckier ones.
( Read more... )
There was a discussion here about the difference between middle grade and YA, about how a middle grade character watches a friend go through the dark night of the soul, while in YA it's the main character going through this. But something that has bothered me about a lot of modern stories is the high body count of side characters for shock value, where the really, really awful stuff happens to other people, and our characters are the slightly luckier ones.
( Read more... )
madclairvoyant.livejournal.comSo I was just curious; we know Gen was tortured as a prisoner of Attolia, but does anyone have any suggestions as to what methods they actually use? Because it seems like most of the ways that were favoured throughout history tended to permanently terminate the existence of the one being tortured? So what could have been done to him but not kill him or leave any debilitating injuries (that we know of at least)?
madclairvoyant.livejournal.comOkay, I admit that I shamelessly stole this idea from the post below (feel free to throw rotten eggs at me), but I had this totally (not) cool epiphany that I was bursting to share.
It would help the discussion too, so here it is...
What is torture?
Is it an end (a punishment) of a means, or a means (a method) to the end?
Which is is portrayed as (or both) in the books?
What are your personal views?
It would help the discussion too, so here it is...
What is torture?
Is it an end (a punishment) of a means, or a means (a method) to the end?
Which is is portrayed as (or both) in the books?
What are your personal views?
Stockholm Syndrome
Mar. 18th, 2013 05:09 pmmadclairvoyant.livejournal.comI am really sorry that I have been posting continuously, but I am an obssessive fan. I was just thinking about this syndrome. People often say that Gen possibly suffers from this because he falls in love with his captor/torturer; he sympathises with her and paints her in a positive light of Helen, or in the very least, defends her when Helen is angry at her actions. This is similar to the behaviour of the victims in the kidnapping the incident that gives this syndrome its name. Because of the perceived 'kindness' or any convoluted justification, the victims refused to testify against their kidnappers after they were rescued. In this case, because of what Gen has observed of Irene, and the conclusions he has come to regarding her, he does not blame her, and still loves her. But if this statement stands, which many think it does and find the relationship disturbing, then does Irene not suffer from the same issue? (Of course, neither seem quite sane to me, but that is beside the point.) Gen kidnaps her in a very literal way, intent on dragging her back to Eddis, though she does not seem to seriously begrudge him for it. And she seems to realise she loves him only after the incident. Arguably, she loved him even before the spectacular mess begin, but the again, so did Gen. Do any of you agree?
lylassandra.livejournal.comSo my husband was going through our cookie cutters, and ran across a few that disturbed him. Namely, a bunch of right hands of varying sizes, which my mom had had made off a tracing of my hand when I was little. (It was thing in the 80s, ok?)
My immediate thought: "We should make sugar cookies and just frost the wrist with red! And make one for Megan!"
Yes, I may be a little sick... also I think about this series too much. =)
My immediate thought: "We should make sugar cookies and just frost the wrist with red! And make one for Megan!"
Yes, I may be a little sick... also I think about this series too much. =)
pysch-colours.livejournal.com do i hallucinate, or am i the only one who's weird enough (and obsessed with literary symbolism enough) to see parallels between koa relius and qoa gen?
( TL;DR: POOR GEN & RELIUS )
( TL;DR: POOR GEN & RELIUS )
another question from QoA
Apr. 23rd, 2011 11:34 ammissmoonbeam.livejournal.comi have to say again, you guys are truly awesome. really enjoyed reading all the answers in the last post.
before i move on to KoA, i have one more question from QoA. sorry, SPOILERS below (someone please tell me how to do that link thing, please).
it says in the book that:
"Politically the loss of Eugenides's service was severe. ....But Attolia hadn't had merely a political loss in mind. If she'd wanted Eddis to be without the Thief's services, she could have executed him. She meant to hurt Eddis at every level, and she had succeeded."
and later eddis tells eugenides:
" ...she wanted something that would hurt you and me more."
i can understand why having his hand cut off would be worse for eugenides than dying (he obviously wouldnt feel anything after he was dead), but why would it hurt eddis more and "at every level"? i mean, if i were to have a choice between having a loved one die or just lose his or her hand, i would pick having them alive. so what do you guys think?
before i move on to KoA, i have one more question from QoA. sorry, SPOILERS below (someone please tell me how to do that link thing, please).
it says in the book that:
"Politically the loss of Eugenides's service was severe. ....But Attolia hadn't had merely a political loss in mind. If she'd wanted Eddis to be without the Thief's services, she could have executed him. She meant to hurt Eddis at every level, and she had succeeded."
and later eddis tells eugenides:
" ...she wanted something that would hurt you and me more."
i can understand why having his hand cut off would be worse for eugenides than dying (he obviously wouldnt feel anything after he was dead), but why would it hurt eddis more and "at every level"? i mean, if i were to have a choice between having a loved one die or just lose his or her hand, i would pick having them alive. so what do you guys think?
(no subject)
Apr. 21st, 2011 08:11 ammissmoonbeam.livejournal.comhi everyone. i've been lurking for a while and am finally posting. actually, have been meaning to post earlier but was too caught up reading old posts and fanfics (great job there, by the way, i loved so many). i was so lonely being the only person i know who LOVES the series and then i found this site where loads of people pick apart every line looking for a hidden meaning. you guys are great! i've had most of my questions answered, but i still have a few left. so i'm going to start with QoA, and post the questions for the other books in separate posts.
and in case anyone wants to know, i'm 26 and a full-time mommy of two beautiful little girls aged 2 and 4. the only downside to that is it doesn't leave me a lot of time for reading.
ok, questions (sorry, these contain spoilers, but i dont know how to do that hide behind link thingy):
1. when attolia visits gen in the prison after his hand is cut off, she sees "only fever and pain and an emotion she couldn't put a name to". i'm probably the slowest person on here, but please tell me what that emotion is? is it love and she can't put a name to it because it's so foreign to her?
2. later, when eddis and gen have picked up the magus, why is gen cross?
3. why does attolia throw a tantrum when she hears there might be something going on between gen and eddis?
looking forward to great discussions! sorry if these have already been discussed before, but i haven't found them and i've read most stuff with the tags QoA, KoA, and aCoK.
and in case anyone wants to know, i'm 26 and a full-time mommy of two beautiful little girls aged 2 and 4. the only downside to that is it doesn't leave me a lot of time for reading.
ok, questions (sorry, these contain spoilers, but i dont know how to do that hide behind link thingy):
1. when attolia visits gen in the prison after his hand is cut off, she sees "only fever and pain and an emotion she couldn't put a name to". i'm probably the slowest person on here, but please tell me what that emotion is? is it love and she can't put a name to it because it's so foreign to her?
2. later, when eddis and gen have picked up the magus, why is gen cross?
3. why does attolia throw a tantrum when she hears there might be something going on between gen and eddis?
looking forward to great discussions! sorry if these have already been discussed before, but i haven't found them and i've read most stuff with the tags QoA, KoA, and aCoK.
Sudden Realization
Aug. 15th, 2010 04:00 pmdrashizu.livejournal.comOkay, so maybe I'm just dense and this has occurred to everyone else before, but I've always been confused about the scene in The King of Attolia where Relius is arrested. And while I understood after much rereading and explaining by this community that he was arrested because it was his fault the Medes found out about the spies, because he had been indiscreet with his former mistress when he should have known better . . . I never understood why he tried to take poison afterward. If he knew he was innocent, just stupid, why would he try to kill himself? It's not like he actually betrayed Attolia, right? He could just explain to her what happened, not lie about it, and still be loyal to her. Right?
So the sudden realization came about 10 minutes ago when, as I was rereading that scene in KoA, I figured out the reason for the suicide attempt. Attolia was going to torture him hideously whether or not he betrayed her on purpose. And not because she doesn't want to trust him, but because she can't trust him, because she can't trust anyone. No matter how convincing he is that the betrayal was accidental and no matter how much she wants to believe him, she has to go forward under the assumption that he's lying through his teeth to save his own skin. And Relius knows that because he taught it to her himself. So that's why he tries to take poison---because anything is better than the infamous Attolian torture tactics, and because he knows possibly better than anyone else in the world how absolutely useless it would be to try to explain. He might not be guilty, but he's in for a world of pain either way. It's not that he's ashamed of having betrayed her or trying to escape a justly-deserved punishment. Death's just a better alternative.
Is this as much of a revelation to anyone as it is to me? Did I explain it intelligibly? Do you disagree? I hope this sparks a discussion, even a spin-off one about Attolian torture techniques or Relius's relationship to Irene, because we need some more book talk around here right now :)
So the sudden realization came about 10 minutes ago when, as I was rereading that scene in KoA, I figured out the reason for the suicide attempt. Attolia was going to torture him hideously whether or not he betrayed her on purpose. And not because she doesn't want to trust him, but because she can't trust him, because she can't trust anyone. No matter how convincing he is that the betrayal was accidental and no matter how much she wants to believe him, she has to go forward under the assumption that he's lying through his teeth to save his own skin. And Relius knows that because he taught it to her himself. So that's why he tries to take poison---because anything is better than the infamous Attolian torture tactics, and because he knows possibly better than anyone else in the world how absolutely useless it would be to try to explain. He might not be guilty, but he's in for a world of pain either way. It's not that he's ashamed of having betrayed her or trying to escape a justly-deserved punishment. Death's just a better alternative.
Is this as much of a revelation to anyone as it is to me? Did I explain it intelligibly? Do you disagree? I hope this sparks a discussion, even a spin-off one about Attolian torture techniques or Relius's relationship to Irene, because we need some more book talk around here right now :)
drashizu.livejournal.comI was reading a Wikipedia article about starvation being used historically as a form of punishment (trust me, it took some serious link-hopping to get there in the first place) and I saw this: In ancient Greco-Roman societies, starvation was sometimes used to dispose of guilty upper class citizens, especially erring female members of patrician families. For instance, in the year 31, Livilla, the niece and daughter-in-law of Tiberius, was discreetly starved to death by her mother for her adulterous relationship with Sejanus and for her complicity in the murder of her own husband, Drusus the Younger.
Well. You can guess what I clicked on in that sentence.
( The Cut-and-Paste Wonders of Public Property )
Oh, and in checking, it looks like someone has already posted about this. The character of Sejanus in "I, Claudius" was played by Patrick Stewart.
Also, didn't Attolia leave that traitor Malaveras to starve in a cage in the courtyard for a week before executing him? I seem to remember Eugenides mentioning something like it in QoA.
Well. You can guess what I clicked on in that sentence.
( The Cut-and-Paste Wonders of Public Property )
Oh, and in checking, it looks like someone has already posted about this. The character of Sejanus in "I, Claudius" was played by Patrick Stewart.
Also, didn't Attolia leave that traitor Malaveras to starve in a cage in the courtyard for a week before executing him? I seem to remember Eugenides mentioning something like it in QoA.
Defending Attolia and Eugenides
Feb. 11th, 2010 08:50 pmlizzyazula.livejournal.comAfter I finished reading all three books, I dished them out to all of my close friends and they responded with mostly positive results, except one. My loser of a friend has a problem with the romance between Attolia and Eugenides, and not even the awesomeness of KoA won her over. Her problem is their age difference and the fact that she cut off his hand. Unfortunately, her reaction made me so angry that instead of responding with my usual snarky and witty comeback, all I did was turn red, sputter, hang up the phone and then I proceeded to chuck my phone across my room. Since I cannot come up with anything on my own, I have called out to you guys, the highly esteemed members of Sounis, to help me convince my friend that Attolia and Eugenides' relationship is the best one around. My plan is to scribble your ideas onto note cards, and then the next time I find myself in a position of blushing and sputtering, I can magically pull out the cards and recover myself with snazzy arguments provided by you! I know that one of you posted an essay on how their relationship isn't masochistic, and I plan to go digging for it. It is a very serious situation, as her problems with Attolia and Eugenides damage her enjoyment of the books. I would be much obliged if you would all help me! And my friend, for that matter.
I need a hand...
Jan. 25th, 2010 12:01 amrosaleeluann.livejournal.comI don't know about you guys, but I can be rather excessively entertained by extremely stupid jokes--when I'm in the right mood. You know those jokes where you have to go "A haha, hahaha, ha ha, NO I WASN'T REALLY LAUGHING (ok, so maybe I was)." You weren't not-laughing because it wasn't appropriate, or because it wasn't clever. It was just... bad.
Over the last... three years? Yes, three years that I've been reading and participating in Sounis, there is one thing that we've made rather alot of this class of jokes about. Yes, I'm taking about Gen's one-handedness. Just when I thought I'd seen them all, somebody else would come up with one and I would be gleefully not-laughing, again.
I thought it would be rather fun to collect them--get all the horrible one-handed jokes together in one thread. And of course, this would be a great opportunity to think up some new ones as well.
Some that I remember/can think of:
"So Irene, will you give me your HAND in marriage? Since you took mine and all..."
Single-handedly, Gen saved everyone from the horrible, slimyNahushrfishes Medes.
Costis might become Gen's right-hand man!
Gen prefers his hook because it can come in hand-y for some things.
I believe Eugenides had a hand in various underhanded deeds.
"On the other hand... oh wait, I only have one."
Over the last... three years? Yes, three years that I've been reading and participating in Sounis, there is one thing that we've made rather alot of this class of jokes about. Yes, I'm taking about Gen's one-handedness. Just when I thought I'd seen them all, somebody else would come up with one and I would be gleefully not-laughing, again.
I thought it would be rather fun to collect them--get all the horrible one-handed jokes together in one thread. And of course, this would be a great opportunity to think up some new ones as well.
Some that I remember/can think of:
"So Irene, will you give me your HAND in marriage? Since you took mine and all..."
Single-handedly, Gen saved everyone from the horrible, slimy
Costis might become Gen's right-hand man!
Gen prefers his hook because it can come in hand-y for some things.
I believe Eugenides had a hand in various underhanded deeds.
"On the other hand... oh wait, I only have one."
Look under "Granched"
May. 9th, 2009 01:39 amvert-fey.livejournal.comJust wanted to greet the community before I started posting. I am a long time Thief fan *cough obessive cult leader cough and was so glad to find this site when trying to figure out what granched really meant (thus establish me as a truly nuts fangirl)
I wanted to give my great thanks to the people who posted the stories online. I own the hard cover of KoA rather than the soft-cover so ...no fun happiness. I'd looked obessively for the stories but hadn't been able to find them so....Be blessed in your endeavors!
Lastly, I emailed Megan about exactly how old Gen was exactly and she wouldn't tell me ;) However.... I think I've figured it out doing some very careful caculating, but I want to see if anyone knows officially.
I wanted to give my great thanks to the people who posted the stories online. I own the hard cover of KoA rather than the soft-cover so ...no fun happiness. I'd looked obessively for the stories but hadn't been able to find them so....Be blessed in your endeavors!
Lastly, I emailed Megan about exactly how old Gen was exactly and she wouldn't tell me ;) However.... I think I've figured it out doing some very careful caculating, but I want to see if anyone knows officially.
Thoughts I've Been Chewing On
Mar. 27th, 2009 01:11 pminkasrain.livejournal.comSomething has been niggling at me since I first finished The King of Attolia, and as I'm not sure that I've been able to answer myself after my recent reread, I figured I would cast this question out to everyone. So:
Is Gen and Attolia's relationship an entirely healthy one?
As a disclaimer, I do not mean to undermine the strength or purity of their love; it is entirely obvious that Gen and Attolia are excellently suited for each other and happy together. What concerns me is the quantity of fear that has existed, and still seems to exist between them. A few demonstrative quotes:
She lifted her hand and laid it on the side of his face. It was all she needed to do. Though his expression didn't change, she could feel the tremor that went through him at her touch. He was afraid of her. Some part of him would always be afraid of her. That fear was her weapon, and she would encourage it if she wanted to maintain her authority as queen. (QoA p.373)
This quote is not as indicative as it might be, obviously, as Attolia hasn't allowed herself to fully commit to Gen and the relationship yet. The Attolia of KoA would not manipulate Gen this way, and as we know, she actually wants for him to increase his exercise of power. However, I think Gen's reaction to her touch is telling-- his fear of her is real, and he does not seem to be something he can entirely ignore or suppress, and it seems to continue.
"Just a nightmare," he said, his voice still rough.
The queen's voice was cool. "How embarrassing," she said, looking at his maimed arm.
The king looked up then, and followed her gaze. If it was embarrassing to wake like a child screaming from a nightmare, how much more embarrassing to be the reason your husband woke screaming. (KoA p. 208)
This seems rather ominous to me, and it's followed by another nightmare which we learn the exact subject of:
...the king said shakily, "Tell me you won't cut out my lying tongue, tell me you won't blind me, you won't drive red-hot wires into my ears." (KoA p. 218)
Tellingly, Gen and Attolia have a very touching moment after this; again, we clearly aren't meant to doubt their love, but the fact remains that Gen's nightmares directly concern his wife. Nor does Gen seem to expect to be relieved of this burden.
"Dite, I don't need quinalums to give me nightmares; they come on their own. The gods send them to keep me humble." (KoA p. 235) I feel I should say that, as a reader, I am glad that MWT has embedded this confusing element into Gen and Attolia's marriage, as it is highly realistic and makes for even deeper and more complex characters and situations than we already enjoyed. (And, though this is a subject for another post, I must say how impressed I am at how Megan handles the vast and continuous waves created when Attolia cut Gen's hand off.) However, analyzing this subject as objectively as I can leaves me to wonder how healthy a relationship can be if an individual suffers from such an intense level of (possibly) subconscious fear of their spouse that it causes consistent nightmares.
What do you all think?
Is Gen and Attolia's relationship an entirely healthy one?
As a disclaimer, I do not mean to undermine the strength or purity of their love; it is entirely obvious that Gen and Attolia are excellently suited for each other and happy together. What concerns me is the quantity of fear that has existed, and still seems to exist between them. A few demonstrative quotes:
She lifted her hand and laid it on the side of his face. It was all she needed to do. Though his expression didn't change, she could feel the tremor that went through him at her touch. He was afraid of her. Some part of him would always be afraid of her. That fear was her weapon, and she would encourage it if she wanted to maintain her authority as queen. (QoA p.373)
"Just a nightmare," he said, his voice still rough.
The queen's voice was cool. "How embarrassing," she said, looking at his maimed arm.
The king looked up then, and followed her gaze. If it was embarrassing to wake like a child screaming from a nightmare, how much more embarrassing to be the reason your husband woke screaming. (KoA p. 208)
This seems rather ominous to me, and it's followed by another nightmare which we learn the exact subject of:
...the king said shakily, "Tell me you won't cut out my lying tongue, tell me you won't blind me, you won't drive red-hot wires into my ears." (KoA p. 218)
Tellingly, Gen and Attolia have a very touching moment after this; again, we clearly aren't meant to doubt their love, but the fact remains that Gen's nightmares directly concern his wife. Nor does Gen seem to expect to be relieved of this burden.
"Dite, I don't need quinalums to give me nightmares; they come on their own. The gods send them to keep me humble." (KoA p. 235)
What do you all think?
Trouble with Wimpy Friends!
Apr. 18th, 2008 06:49 pmpuppeteergirl.livejournal.comUgh.
I have a friend who read The Thief (once I assume) and then began to read QoA, but did what I would NEVER do...she quit reading after the hand scene!!! Okay, actually she quit during the whining, but still! Now, I found out about this quite a while after she tossed QoA aside. I've told her that she needed to read on, that it gets WAY better, but I somehow have a suspicion that she never gave the book a second glance.
Any suggestions about how to get her to read on?
Has anyone else a similar problem???
I have a friend who read The Thief (once I assume) and then began to read QoA, but did what I would NEVER do...she quit reading after the hand scene!!! Okay, actually she quit during the whining, but still! Now, I found out about this quite a while after she tossed QoA aside. I've told her that she needed to read on, that it gets WAY better, but I somehow have a suspicion that she never gave the book a second glance.
Any suggestions about how to get her to read on?
Has anyone else a similar problem???
More KoA ponderings
Dec. 3rd, 2007 08:40 pmaged-crone.livejournal.comI figured my last entry on this topic was far enough back to warrant a new one.
1)Why does Dite go to Gen's room when he's hurt? Okay, they're getting along better, but I didn't get the idea that they were good friends; doesn't sitting by his sickbed seem a bit much?
2)How did Gen know Relius was lying, in the scene with the spies who had been injured and sent back by the Mede? Was it just insight into the way Relius was speaking, or did he have other information that conflicted with what Relius was saying?
3)Near the end of the book, when Costis is hauled out of bed to get the king down from the battlements: doesn't it seem a bit unfair that the guards/attendants would be hanged if Gen fell? I can see their being punished for not saving him from an outside attack, but if he's stupid enough to get drunk and fall off a wall, how is it their fault?
4)Where did all those scars of Gen's come from? Not the side, or the one at his shoulder, or the fetters or the dog bites, but the thigh and all the others. (Not the bruises, either; those I understand).
5)How is it that neither Relius nor Teleus had figured out that the queen loved Eugenides? (Or, come to that, that they weren't told?) And that Relius only seems to figure out that Gen became king only because he wanted to marry Attolia after he's arrested, tortured, etc.? I know Attolia's not terribly revealing, but those two were closer to her than anybody else.
1)Why does Dite go to Gen's room when he's hurt? Okay, they're getting along better, but I didn't get the idea that they were good friends; doesn't sitting by his sickbed seem a bit much?
2)How did Gen know Relius was lying, in the scene with the spies who had been injured and sent back by the Mede? Was it just insight into the way Relius was speaking, or did he have other information that conflicted with what Relius was saying?
3)Near the end of the book, when Costis is hauled out of bed to get the king down from the battlements: doesn't it seem a bit unfair that the guards/attendants would be hanged if Gen fell? I can see their being punished for not saving him from an outside attack, but if he's stupid enough to get drunk and fall off a wall, how is it their fault?
4)Where did all those scars of Gen's come from? Not the side, or the one at his shoulder, or the fetters or the dog bites, but the thigh and all the others. (Not the bruises, either; those I understand).
5)How is it that neither Relius nor Teleus had figured out that the queen loved Eugenides? (Or, come to that, that they weren't told?) And that Relius only seems to figure out that Gen became king only because he wanted to marry Attolia after he's arrested, tortured, etc.? I know Attolia's not terribly revealing, but those two were closer to her than anybody else.
philia-fan.livejournal.comI've read a lot of books lately in which the main character is tortured, is threatened with torture, or undergoes some sort of horrific physical pain. It's made me realize that, handled less than perfectly, this can leave you with a rather unclean feeling after reading a book -- as if you have, in fact, been participating in the torture by reading so breathlessly about the details.
It made me really appreciate the way MWT handles Gen's losing his hand. We feel his pain (largely psychological) without getting drawn into any details that could remotely be considered titillating. It's even suggested in KoA that Gen was tortured after the loss of the hand, and we can feel the horror of that without knowing any details at all. More interestingly, we can feel that Gen himself finds that part of his experience relatively unimportant.
I respect that authorial choice very much.
It made me really appreciate the way MWT handles Gen's losing his hand. We feel his pain (largely psychological) without getting drawn into any details that could remotely be considered titillating. It's even suggested in KoA that Gen was tortured after the loss of the hand, and we can feel the horror of that without knowing any details at all. More interestingly, we can feel that Gen himself finds that part of his experience relatively unimportant.
I respect that authorial choice very much.
Revelations from an Idiot
Jul. 15th, 2007 12:49 pmjade-sabre-301.livejournal.comSo I'm reading this book called Mélusine, which is very good and which I would place in the YA category for its focus (the scope of the world is broad, but the focus is very character-specific), but is definitely not for people under 16 due to language and other non-niceties that show up in fiction. Anyway, recently one of the characters was, shall we say, crippled. Getting this from his POV was painful. I did not want him to be crippled. He did not want to be crippled. This whole crippled business sucks. He's having a heck of a difficulty getting back to doing what he normally does. And I appreciate it from a character and literary standpoint, but it really, really sucks, because he didn't do nothing wrong (what a lie that was), and he's a decent guy, and--
Then I said to myself, "Oh."
And it occurred to me that this must be what gets to people about The Queen of Attolia.
Okay, now I have to explain myself. As some of you may know, I first met Eugenides through randomly picking The Queen of Attolia off the shelf in my school library because I needed to write a book review for the school newspaper. I liked it well enough the first time through, and a few months later I found The Thief and read it and liked it too. Then I went back to QoA and it was like the lightbulb in my head went on, was made out of steel, and bashed me upside the head and it was LOVE.
But for me, Gen getting his hand cut off always had happened, and was going to happen, and had to happen. When I first found the books, Gen getting his hand cut off was the starting point of the plot. It was a story about a thief who got his hand cut off and had to deal, and a queen with severe emotional starvation, and the politics between their countries. Even when I went back and reread TT and reread QoA a second time, I was never--I mean, it sucked that Gen lost his hand, but that was what happened. It wasn't like this was a character I had read a great deal about and come to love when he was whole and healthy, and then I had to deal with the hand as much as he did.
So, um, I guess my question/discussion thought is--what about everyone else? Was your view of the hand-cut-off thing skewed by the order in which you read the books? Is it based on which book is your favorite? Does your perspective of it affect how you view the characters (especially Attolia)? Did anyone else feel like me, or am I just an unsympathetic freak?
Then I said to myself, "Oh."
And it occurred to me that this must be what gets to people about The Queen of Attolia.
Okay, now I have to explain myself. As some of you may know, I first met Eugenides through randomly picking The Queen of Attolia off the shelf in my school library because I needed to write a book review for the school newspaper. I liked it well enough the first time through, and a few months later I found The Thief and read it and liked it too. Then I went back to QoA and it was like the lightbulb in my head went on, was made out of steel, and bashed me upside the head and it was LOVE.
But for me, Gen getting his hand cut off always had happened, and was going to happen, and had to happen. When I first found the books, Gen getting his hand cut off was the starting point of the plot. It was a story about a thief who got his hand cut off and had to deal, and a queen with severe emotional starvation, and the politics between their countries. Even when I went back and reread TT and reread QoA a second time, I was never--I mean, it sucked that Gen lost his hand, but that was what happened. It wasn't like this was a character I had read a great deal about and come to love when he was whole and healthy, and then I had to deal with the hand as much as he did.
So, um, I guess my question/discussion thought is--what about everyone else? Was your view of the hand-cut-off thing skewed by the order in which you read the books? Is it based on which book is your favorite? Does your perspective of it affect how you view the characters (especially Attolia)? Did anyone else feel like me, or am I just an unsympathetic freak?
