tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post2917443401020448359..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: Some unsuspected secret life that included fun - Jean Thompson's The Year We Left HomeAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-5621721760048935142011-11-29T12:09:38.221-06:002011-11-29T12:09:38.221-06:00The song at the center of the discussion is "...The song at the center of the discussion is "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass, which would certainly occupy a place of honor on my own list.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-74480426341093980942011-11-29T11:15:20.171-06:002011-11-29T11:15:20.171-06:00I suggest Wuthering Expectations initiate its own ...I suggest Wuthering Expectations initiate its own list of "hideous AM radio hits"!Shelleyhttp://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-17329660781490315102011-11-28T20:00:54.125-06:002011-11-28T20:00:54.125-06:00I'm leafing through the book again. There'...I'm leafing through the book again. There's a chapter with a kid bringing home his college girlfriend (on the hippie side) for the first time. Everyone is desperately uncomfortable. It's all well described and maneuvered, but it is fair to wonder if there is anything more to the chapter or writing than getting the little things right. Then Thompson lays a punchline on me that should make me howl and hoot, just a little.<br /><br />So that's a good one. The Vietman vet is up next. He ends up telling a story about 'Nam, and again I am thinking, this is fine but I have read plenty like it, but again Thompson jerks the rug out from under me right at the chapter's end again, and though I was expecting it now, on to her tricks, I still fell.<br /><br />There is a "nice" quality to the novel, but Thompson makes her characters earn it.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-76200307796508240482011-11-28T19:19:42.206-06:002011-11-28T19:19:42.206-06:00the appealing humane openness and optimism of Thom...<em>the appealing humane openness and optimism of Thompson's novel</em><br /><br />This is so often the thing with the contemporary American novelists doing the <em>Way We Live Now, 2011</em> thing, I think—or at least with the good ones, or at least with the ones I like. It's nice. I've read a couple along these lines lately and they make me feel like living in the world is not quite impossible.nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17532641082944082516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-25453291540125476612011-11-28T19:08:36.339-06:002011-11-28T19:08:36.339-06:00Once I get out of the murky muck of the 19th centu...Once I get out of the murky muck of the 19th century, and past the ruinous remains of the early 20th, I will be sure to read more books like this one.<br /><br />I did not emphasize, and should have, the appealing humane openness and optimism of Thompson's novel.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-62802846439079596932011-11-28T17:41:55.716-06:002011-11-28T17:41:55.716-06:00Let's say instead, maybe, that I want to find ...Let's say instead, maybe, that I want to find someone who will make me want to read more than one of their books, who will make me seek out another one of their novels.<br /><br />"I'm not looking for love. Just good sentences."<br /><br />Same thing in my world.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-67238001492591218532011-11-28T17:26:04.430-06:002011-11-28T17:26:04.430-06:00Buy the entire catalogue? No, I won't do that...Buy the entire catalogue? No, I won't do that. If the urge strikes, I'll read a collection of Thompson's short stories - I'll bet they're similarly good.<br /><br />Now, if someone else would buy - or borrow from the library, that would be fine - all of Thompson's books and report back, that would be a good project. Only six books, I think.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm not looking for love. Just good sentences.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-15678432844012907932011-11-28T17:07:55.211-06:002011-11-28T17:07:55.211-06:00I've been looking for contemporary American no...I've been looking for contemporary American novelists who will make me run out to buy their entire catalogue. So far I haven't fallen in love with anyone. The irony of course is that I'm currently writing a contemporary American novel.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.com