Saturday, October 19, 2019

What I'd really really like

Do you know what I'd really like?

....to have something like a book group meeting with my blog readers so I could hear your various views on EVEN WHEN THEY KNOW YOU - on the plot, the characters, the use of the journal excerpts, the characters, the themes, whatever.

What made me think of this was talking to an old friend on Saturday who I hadn't seen since she read the book. She said she thought Jane was unkind to Joe, and we discussed that. I said "Well, she is an imperfect character. I always planned she'd be imperfect." She is judgmental and impatient and impulsive: there's three character flaws straight off.

Since then I've been thinking about other imperfect fictional characters. No-one is perfect, of course, but I've been thinking about those with striking imperfections, such as Olive Kitteridge. If you've never read the book, I recommend it. (The author Elizabeth Strout has a new book out at the end of the month called Olive, Again. I can't wait to read it.)

And have you ever watched Gilmore Girls? I have a love-hate relationship with this TV series because of the central character, Lorelei. She is physically very attractive, but she never stops talking and thinks she's awfully witty and clever, and she gets on my nerves, to put it mildly. But there is one scene in which she really annoys me. She is clearing out her fridge, which because she doesn't cook, involves pulling out box after box of fast food, such as half-eaten pizzas from a week before. She has the waste bin next to the fridge and she crams in the whole box, food and all, into the general waste bin. I want to shake her! I suppose they might not have been into recycling in small town America when the series was made.  But why has she never learned to cook? We are supposed to believe she is bright. How has she managed to raise a child single handed without knowing how to cook? How could she afford for them to live on nothing but fast food? I digress. I'm an old fart.

This week I have been tired after a 10 day visit from my beloved American family, plus various other happenings, but I've managed to get out on my bike on the Trail three times. The autumn colours are taking hold and it's beautiful.






p.s. Last night I dreamed that Marmee, one of my long time blog readers, rang me up. I don't know what we talked about. Are you OK, Marmee?


2 comments:

Sally said...

I think flawed characters are fine, after all no one's perfect. But, for me, it's important that characters are likeable or at least we understand why they are as they are. The four main characters in a book I struggled to finish recently were all a 'pain in the neck'- I just couldn't care about them.
The Trail's looking beautiful btw!๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‚๐Ÿงก

Unknown said...

I swear, these pics make me really consider moving to Great Longstone....LRH