tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post530029516967552809..comments2024-01-02T15:37:04.858-05:00Comments on Caravana de recuerdos: Petals of BloodRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-57539646516169717022010-06-16T01:18:29.463-04:002010-06-16T01:18:29.463-04:00*E.L. Fay: I sort of respect "Crazy Email Guy...*E.L. Fay: I sort of respect "Crazy Email Guy" (as you put it) for taking the time to share his convictions with me even though I thought his response to my sarcasm was way excessive. Although he referred to multiple other people having been hurt by my <em>Tender Morsels</em> post, none of them cared enough enough to speak up for themselves. So much for "dialogue," eh?<br /><br />*Bellezza: Thanks for the very kind words--however, I have to warn you that "unflinching honesty" sometimes comes at a price when dealing with those cult-like Margo Lanagan fans! All kidding aside, I get a sense of what I imagine is "the real you" from your blog; so a more freely expressive you might be interesting as well, but I never get the sensation that you're pulling your punches or anything like that. That said, best of luck writing in whichever way makes you happiest!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-79129032413974275552010-06-11T21:46:43.820-04:002010-06-11T21:46:43.820-04:00One of the things I respect and admire about you t...One of the things I respect and admire about you the most, Richard, is how unflinchingly honest you are. Oh, how I wish I could say what I really feel sometimes, instead of all these thoughts about people having their feelings hurt encumbering me. I suppose if one has a venue in which to freely express himself/herself it would be one's blog! You inspire me.Bellezza https://www.blogger.com/profile/18073864187188953633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-51889539565003352022010-06-11T09:50:05.901-04:002010-06-11T09:50:05.901-04:00Did you get other complaints besides Crazy Email G...Did you get other complaints besides Crazy Email Guy?Eileenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11058705381647529328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-86448912991001172782010-06-11T00:44:49.324-04:002010-06-11T00:44:49.324-04:00*Jill: "Crybabby" would be an improvemen...*Jill: "Crybabby" would be an improvement, agreed! And Ilmorog does sound Irish now that you mention it. I was impressed by how Thiongo's tale evolved over the course of the novel, so I'm glad that one line caught your attention enough to flatter me so. :)<br /><br />*E.L. Fay: I only know Serge by name, so I went over to your blog and skimmed the <em>Unforgiving Years</em> review you have up. Sounds pretty great--thanks for the tip! By the way, I get that not all adult YA fans are crybabies (or crybabbies even). However, I think it's hilarious that these rabid children's book-reading adults are so sensitive about their juvenilia reading choices that they can't take an occasional joke about it. Maybe the Babar or Paddington Bear series would be more age-appropriate for such weird emotional fragility?<br /><br />*Frances: To my way of thinking, your friend was right on the money! Ironically, Thiong'o was so successful in telling his story warts and all that I'm not sure I could stand a steady diet of such fare. Look forward to reading something else by him once I get some breathing room, though. P.S. "Relentless" is a better moniker than Oprah, thanks, and I love that "blogging nemeses" thing. Makes me feel like a superhero whose special power is...uh, abrasiveness?!?<br /><br />*Emily: The police procedural angle seems more a pretext here than anything else in all truthfulness, but I agree the detective fiction form has proven to be wonderfully and almost infinitely malleable (I think it was Ricardo Piglia, one of my favorite Argentinean novelists and literary critics, who opined that the detective genre was one of the 20th century's greatest contributions to fiction, but whoever it was who said it was right). <em>Petals of Blood</em> <em>is</em> pretty heavy going psychologically, though, so you'd be right to want to read it when the time is right and all that. Not a very pretty picture it paints!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-49564464528125042252010-06-10T23:05:50.791-04:002010-06-10T23:05:50.791-04:00I wonder just what it is about detective fiction t...I wonder just what it is about detective fiction that makes it so amenable to political/satirical/jokey/existential permutations? I can't think of another genre that's been pushed and re-formed so many different ways, so successfully. <br /><br />This sounds fascinating - though I've maybe reached the limits of my capacity for Marxist jeremiads right at the moment, reading both Zinn & Solzhenitsyn simultaneously. Still, one for the eventual reads pile, for sure.Emilyhttp://www.eveningallafternoon.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-55283160721295369432010-06-10T17:17:48.080-04:002010-06-10T17:17:48.080-04:00Have not read it but know of it and the author'...Have not read it but know of it and the author's history. A friend that really enjoyed it told me that the real impact of the novel is realized in small but devastating moments. A fairly straightforward story line but then one heavy blow after another sneaks in until you realize that what would be simple detective fiction in one setting is turned into a mass of political and social revelations here. Like the examination of feminism you offer here. Just another book I want to get to.<br /><br />And Richard, you are simply relentless when it comes to your blogging nemeses! And yet your refusal to be swallowed by the gentle practices of some always makes me laugh.Franceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12597485569740436880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-66331710133449293412010-06-10T16:10:13.278-04:002010-06-10T16:10:13.278-04:00Well, I'm not sure all adult YA fans are cryba...Well, I'm not sure <i>all</i> adult YA fans are crybabies but there sure are a lot of them. Rather odd.<br /><br />Anyway, have you heard of a mid-century Russian author named Victor Serge? This post about Ngugi wa Thiong'o and the intense relationship between his experiences and his works reminded me of Serge and his novel <i>Unforgiving Years</i>. His biography is almost crazier than Thiong'o's. <i>Petals of Blood</i> sounds like a similarly intense political read. I'll have to pick it up some time.Eileenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11058705381647529328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-3267146945236072232010-06-10T15:35:44.039-04:002010-06-10T15:35:44.039-04:00This sounds just wonderful. I love the place name...This sounds just wonderful. I love the place name Ilmorog - sounds almost Irish, doesn't it? But this sentence sold me: "Thiongo's text takes the stories of the four main suspects and flowers into a thorny, sprawling narrative that's part history, part prison memoir, and part marxist jeremiad in tone."<br /><br />(It wasn't the first sentence that sold me, although it did give me my gales of laughter dose for the day! But actually you could improve it a bit by changing the epithet to cryBABBY adult YA fans!)rhapsodyinbookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07041412748239010264noreply@blogger.com