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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 10 of 10. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by susan C on June 15, 2002, at 19:06:11
Ok, I got the book and I am holding it, well, not really, but it is on the kitchen table. I checked it out again, cause I couldn't remember enough of the story, what happened where and when, to carry on a conversation. As I was coming home, I was thinking about several things: One, that I do have cognative problems, my memory is really shot, and it takes a lot of work to articulate what I want to say. Two, I realized I read this book as if what happened were true. There was such a blending of time frame, the fifties, the sixties, the seventies....decades I have lived through, and history I vaguely remember, blended with fictional characters, but in such a realistic setting, I felt I was there...I had to stop and say THIS IS FICTION! So my question to all of you is: can literature (fiction) be so accurate it portrays REAL LIFE? Does this story qualify? And if not, at what points or point, did it break down. Or at what point was particularly tangible?
a mouse scratching her head and re reading
Posted by mair on June 15, 2002, at 22:15:16
In reply to Owen Meany, Literature and real life, posted by susan C on June 15, 2002, at 19:06:11
Susan
I loved this book both times I read it - maybe this time even more than the first. I think John Irving does a wonderful job of taking a rather remarkable story and weaving it into the fabric of historical events. However alot of what amazes me about this book is just the novelty of the plot. Bits and pieces of the characters seem familiar to me, maybe more so because I've spent much of my life in northern New England and know many places that could be Gravesend. Maybe that's the deal - Irving can create a really unusual plot where alot of very unusual things happen, and pull it off because he does it in the context of actual events, in a place that seems familiar to many and with people who have enough of us or someone we know in them to seem more believable than they actually are.
I've never really thought about this - I dislike science fiction and other sorts of true fantasy books, but i'm not wild about stuff that seems too realistic either, and thus somehow derivative. I don't have to identify with characters at all - I just need to find them interesting. I think the books I tend to prefer are probably more descriptive and longer on character development than they are on plot. Somehow this one just fit the bill for me. I guess this is a way of saying that no, I didn't find it to be particularly realistic, although I can identify some with the times.
Mair, puzzled as usual
PS: Did you find Owen Meany at all like the character Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird? I loved the way that Owen seemed so precocious and so adept at getting what he wanted. He sounds sometimes like an old maiden aunt or something, even when he's quite young.
Posted by Ritch on June 15, 2002, at 22:39:11
In reply to Owen Meany, Literature and real life, posted by susan C on June 15, 2002, at 19:06:11
> Ok, I got the book and I am holding it, well, not really, but it is on the kitchen table. I checked it out again, cause I couldn't remember enough of the story, what happened where and when, to carry on a conversation. As I was coming home, I was thinking about several things: One, that I do have cognative problems, my memory is really shot, and it takes a lot of work to articulate what I want to say. Two, I realized I read this book as if what happened were true. There was such a blending of time frame, the fifties, the sixties, the seventies....decades I have lived through, and history I vaguely remember, blended with fictional characters, but in such a realistic setting, I felt I was there...I had to stop and say THIS IS FICTION! So my question to all of you is: can literature (fiction) be so accurate it portrays REAL LIFE? Does this story qualify? And if not, at what points or point, did it break down. Or at what point was particularly tangible?
>
> a mouse scratching her head and re reading
I have to mention something an English professor in college told a class I was in at the time.. It was the mid 80's and everyone was pushing for "real world" education. The prof. in question said something like: "So, you think sitting in front of a CRT tube all day analyzing accounting data is more *real world* than discussing recent American poetry and fiction?". After spending a lot of time in college being trained for a "real world" job, I must say that I would have been as well prepared for the world studying "unwordly" subjects.Mitch
Posted by Ritch on June 15, 2002, at 22:49:33
In reply to Re: Owen Meany, Literature and real life, posted by mair on June 15, 2002, at 22:15:16
> Susan
>
> I loved this book both times I read it - maybe this time even more than the first. I think John Irving does a wonderful job of taking a rather remarkable story and weaving it into the fabric of historical events. However alot of what amazes me about this book is just the novelty of the plot. Bits and pieces of the characters seem familiar to me, maybe more so because I've spent much of my life in northern New England and know many places that could be Gravesend. Maybe that's the deal - Irving can create a really unusual plot where alot of very unusual things happen, and pull it off because he does it in the context of actual events, in a place that seems familiar to many and with people who have enough of us or someone we know in them to seem more believable than they actually are.
>
> I've never really thought about this - I dislike science fiction and other sorts of true fantasy books, but i'm not wild about stuff that seems too realistic either, and thus somehow derivative. I don't have to identify with characters at all - I just need to find them interesting. I think the books I tend to prefer are probably more descriptive and longer on character development than they are on plot. Somehow this one just fit the bill for me. I guess this is a way of saying that no, I didn't find it to be particularly realistic, although I can identify some with the times.
>
> Mair, puzzled as usual
>
> PS: Did you find Owen Meany at all like the character Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird? I loved the way that Owen seemed so precocious and so adept at getting what he wanted. He sounds sometimes like an old maiden aunt or something, even when he's quite young.
Wow, you have definitely freaked me out by your statement regarding "To Kill a Mockingbird"! I was going to post a question to BeardedLady about this. She said she liked Slingblade in one of her posts. Well,...that story is a little geographically quite close to well.. home. Anyhow I was going to ask a question about the relationship of Mockingbird and Slingblade. I didn't get it until I saw the end of Mockingbird and the little girl is coming home in the woods with the "HAM" costume. She is walking there with her brother and is attacked. Anyhow, the "slow" guy in the movie (Dill?), prevents them from being hurt. That is when all the lights came on with regard to Slingblade and Mockingbird. If that is correct (about Dill-the character), then the Owen connections work bigtime. Ok, now you got me looking though my tape collection for Mockingbird...
:)Mitch
Posted by susan C on June 15, 2002, at 23:11:13
In reply to Re: Owen Meany, Literature and real life » mair, posted by Ritch on June 15, 2002, at 22:49:33
Posted by mair on June 16, 2002, at 7:54:06
In reply to Re: Owen Meany, Literature and real life » mair, posted by Ritch on June 15, 2002, at 22:49:33
Mitch
You have Dill confused with Boo Radley. Boo is the local recluse who rescues the kids. Dill is the very precocious undersized boy from Mississippi who comes to Macomb every summer to stay with his aunt. It's something about the way Dill talks and the way Owen talks - they both talk more like adults, and sometimes sound to me like gossipy women. Dill exagerates everything. I don't think Owen does that, but alot of what he says would sound so off the wall to most people.
Mair
Posted by Ritch on June 16, 2002, at 11:57:06
In reply to Re: Owen Meany, Literature and real life » Ritch, posted by mair on June 16, 2002, at 7:54:06
> Mitch
>
> You have Dill confused with Boo Radley. Boo is the local recluse who rescues the kids. Dill is the very precocious undersized boy from Mississippi who comes to Macomb every summer to stay with his aunt. It's something about the way Dill talks and the way Owen talks - they both talk more like adults, and sometimes sound to me like gossipy women. Dill exagerates everything. I don't think Owen does that, but alot of what he says would sound so off the wall to most people.
>
> Mair
Thanks for that. So, I was really thinking about Boo. Unfortunately I can't find my tape of Mockingbird. I think I will go and rent it anyhow-so I can check out Dill's dialogue in the movie a little closer. Boo looks a lot like Karl (in Slingblade), though!Mitch
Posted by jane d on June 19, 2002, at 20:14:36
In reply to Re: Owen Meany, Literature and real life » mair, posted by Ritch on June 16, 2002, at 11:57:06
I didn't plan to read this book but as the weeks went by and people started posting progress reports I broke down and got it from the library. I'm now glad I did. I enjoyed it but I knew even before I finished that much of it was going right over my head. I didn't have anything of my own to contribute to the conversation but I want to let everyone who did know how much I enjoyed and learned from their posts.
Jane
Posted by susan C on June 21, 2002, at 20:37:32
In reply to Re: Owen Meany, Literature and real life, posted by mair on June 15, 2002, at 22:15:16
I watched (well, kind of, my attention span is about the same for movies and books and I skip a lot) Mockingbird and Sling Blade. Mair, your descriptions of genre of books and what appeals to you and what doesnt, is a good description for me too. So many of the descriptions, or sets in the movies are familiar...Perhaps that is why I enjoy some more than other, I identify with them. For example, one Halloween I made a complicated tree out of chicken wire, paper and paste. It even had an owl on the branch. I had to walk to school, a good 10 blocks, and of course, I was wearing it....so I identify Strongly, with scout and her ham...
The character in Sling Blade, the justification, the moral decisions represented in each movie would be an interesting discussion all in of themselves.
Mouse with three different remotes
Posted by Ritch on June 22, 2002, at 0:09:44
In reply to movies and books, posted by susan C on June 21, 2002, at 20:37:32
> I watched (well, kind of, my attention span is about the same for movies and books and I skip a lot) Mockingbird and Sling Blade. Mair, your descriptions of genre of books and what appeals to you and what doesnt, is a good description for me too. So many of the descriptions, or sets in the movies are familiar...Perhaps that is why I enjoy some more than other, I identify with them. For example, one Halloween I made a complicated tree out of chicken wire, paper and paste. It even had an owl on the branch. I had to walk to school, a good 10 blocks, and of course, I was wearing it....so I identify Strongly, with scout and her ham...
>
> The character in Sling Blade, the justification, the moral decisions represented in each movie would be an interesting discussion all in of themselves.
>
> Mouse with three different remotes
Susan,What I noticed about Sling Blade is that Karl seems to act from FREE WILL based on principles he has read in the Bible (he is torn between "Thou shall not kill" and Jesus' statement about not allowing children to be harmed-or woe unto him that allows it to happen-a sin of OMISSION. Owen seems to be a FREE THINKER observing FATE unfolding in front of him, which he has no control over.
Mitch
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