Lights out in Wonderland – DBC Pierre

30^th Dec 2010

The discussion on 'Lights Out in Wonderland' was somewhat brief. There wasn't a vast degree of dissent from the previously-submitted comments from Richard, Ras, Will and Mark Th - though perhaps not quite as vitriolic and certainly those present didn't concur with Mark Th's view of a zero score with thus no redeeming features at all. Neil did actually quite like the book and Chris thought it interesting in parts. Essentially what they saw in it was a greater degree of what Ras & Richard noted (and Rob concurred with) that contained within a deluge of pretentious bollocks were actually some really quite interesting observations on life, politics, economics and the world in general. Neil even went to the extent of suggesting that he could spot a plot and a storyline that went through the book - but totally failed to persuade the rest of us of that fact. The consensus (such as there was) was that whilst there was a simple plot (person pissed of with life decides to kill himself after last binge with mate - gets into a mess so tries to save mate first, discovers capitalist excess, finds it distasteful and redeems himself) the author's inability to turn it into a cogent novel destroyed any potential for this to be a good book. There was a brief discussion about the difference between books that were about real life and those that were clearly 'fantasy' - and how part of the problem with Lights Out was that it was clearly the latter but that Pierre had failed to write it in a way that made the non-realism seem acceptable. Put another way, in a book like Kafka, the fact that Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame appeared in the story was not a matter that made the reader think it was ludicrous and impossible - because it flowed and was an acceptable part of the unrealistic happenings in the book that added up to a cogent whole. In Lights Out, the whole (for example) dinner at the end just left people musing on the ludicrous impossibility of it all - ergo the author failed in his task of writing a 'fantasy' book that worked. It was, essentially and to use Richard's words 'self-indulgent, narcissistic, verbose crap'.

Steve, who chose it, but couldn't be there to defend it, was a bit surprised at the extremity of the responses. He added: I found Wonderland tough to get into, not least because of the outrageous price charged for a paperback - publishers seem to think that if they stick an extra bit of cardboard on the cover they can add 60% to the cover price. Gabriel didn't endear himself to me (nor was he supposed to), and all that cobblers about nimbuses (nimbii?) wasn't helping.

I did find though that as I persevered, it became more rewarding. I thought the Japanese interlude was interesting and quite amusingly written, though I really didn't care if Smuts was clapped in jail and never seen again. It really came to life in Berlin though - I thought his descriptions of these huge monolithic remnants of Hitler's surge for domination were very powerful, and reading the episode set in the former Gestapo HQ co-incided with seeing a programme on TV about other massive military installations that are still dotted around Berlin. Cue one lost hour on Google Maps... As already pointed out in the notes of the meeting (so sorry I couldn't be there!), there was some possibly quite heavy-handed allegorical stuff going on with capitalist bankers and remnants of totalitarian regimes thrown into stark contrast. But it was vivid, different, quite funny, and becasue of all that, more interesting than some. I wouldn't call it a good book by the standards of, say, Engleby (where the trick of developing a story around an unsympathetic main character was more deftly handled, I think), but I found myself enjoying the journey.

3.17

Glasshopper – Isobel Ashdown

25th November 2010

We had a lengthy and lively discussion about this book, so at least it sparked some discussion. Richard went last to add weight to his lifelong experience in the field of alcoholism and its impact on drinkers and their families. He felt that Ashdown captured the truth of the child's experience in an alcoholic house remarkably well - the click,clack of the gin cupboard, and the resignation on having his pocket money stolen for drink might be examples. It is fair to say everyone enjoyed the book with the possible exception of Mark Th.

We all agreed it was easy to read, and that we became immersed in excellent characterizations. It is an evocative read, capturing life in the 60s/70s/80s really well, with a great sense of place - IOW, Portsmouth and France. Some of us liked the drawing of the old shop-keeper and Jakes growing relationship with him. She also caught Billy's sad, bitter old mother well. In general this is a story under the skin of very ordinary lives, with the usual array of personal triumphs and tragedies.

There was debate over whether Mary died as a result of an accident or suicide, ultimately unresolved. The split chapters between young Mary and Jake split the group a bit - some thought it worked well, others thought it detracted. But it did not serve to confuse anyone - so maybe we could all live with it? - and the convergence of stories was quite liked. Most thought Jake was better drawn than Mary. We rather regretted that the author admits to attending a creative writing course: a bit like hard porn, it detracts from the 'mysterious magic'. Or maybe us Brits just like things to appear effortless and amateur?!

The biggest black mark from the discussion was the ending. It was felt that the suicide/accident was not really required and the response of Billy to it seemed more of like a fantasy than reality. The introduction of the idea that Mary was actually a manic depressive seemed out of place. Ashdown appeared to be swayed by her writing course to go for a dramatic finish.

We talked over what triggered Mary's alcoholism and why she continued drinking, and the coping mechanisms those around her developed.

The most damning indictments came from Mark Th who ultimately found the book 'really boring' and possibly Rob who saw it as 'an OK read'.

6.68

The Siege of Krishnapur – JG Farrell

27^th October 2010

Seven of us at the Fox and Badger (missing Will and Richard) for a discussion about the Siege of Krishnapur. After a good half hour of collective drowning of sorrows with regards to the impact of the economic position/government cuts etc on our work and lives, we had a rough consensus about Krishnapur. Put simply, Steve and Neil both thought it was really good, Ras and Chris thought it was good as did both Marks (though neither had quite finished it) whilst I thought it was reasonably good. One of the impacts of this (along with Mark Th's early departure to rescue stranded offspring) was there was perhaps less discussion about the book than on some other occasions. Overall:

General view that the writing style was easy and clear and he managed to write in the style of the period whilst also not making the book feel dated

Also a general view that the book was struggling at around a third of the way through i.e. the amount of description up to the start of the siege was a bit too long but once the siege description started it became more engrossing

Interesting how the author, for almost everyone, managed to create a strong image of the heat and climate, but somehow failed to enable people to generate a clear picture in their minds of the physical environment and other elements of the setting within which the story was developing. Some of this was perhaps because he didn't give important information - for example, no-one had any idea about how many people there were in the compound either at the start or as time went by.

A discussion about the pace of change in society and how things like social and behavioural norms (e.g. place of women and the British belief that they ruled the world) have changed in the comparatively short period of time since the book was set. This led into a conversation about how the pace of change in the last forty years or so has been quite astounding and whether it continues to crank up at that rate. Differing views on whether there are 'spurts' of societal change because of key innovations (industrial revolution circa 1800, the car early C20th, television in 50s/60s linked to pop music culture and then computers/internet in the last fifteen years - and thus a question about whether we might slow down for a while until the next major development (though in hindsight it's interesting to note that the gaps between the inventions that really influenced change appear to have been becoming shorter).

So, the scores were quite high (with three scores still to come), which was interesting because whilst people liked it, with the possible exception of Steve it wasn't getting the rave review comments that other high scoring books got. Its high position is really because of consensus, with no-one giving it a low score to pull the average down. Rob's current displacement activity is to re-produce the scoring table taking out the highest and lowest scores for every book (a method generally viewed as being more statistically reliable). This resulted in some significant shifts and the current top three of Queens Gambit, Engleby and Krishnapur (in that order), being replaced by Engleby, Equal Music and Kite Runner with Engleby and Equal Music quite some way ahead of anything else. Other big movers (spirit of Fluff lives on) are Fascination, Line of Beauty and Closed Circle in an upwards direction, whilst the big droppers were Case Histories, Jesus Christ and Shadow of the Wind. Krishnapur dropped to ninth. Halidon stayed firmly rooted to the bottom but with Never Never dropping below 10 Bonks (10 Days in the Hills to you) to next to last. However, we'll continue to use the full scores for the rankings.

7.51

City of Thieves – David Benioff

30^th September 2010

There was an unusual level of consensus on this book with the following comments of note:

Ras enjoyed it and ripped through it, though it was not a literary classic. Some doubts about the commercial rewards for such a novel that covers atrocities and cannibalism.

It was a good blend of a light story with the darker side of the war.

An enjoyable read from which much was learnt on that phase of WWII. However, it read like a film script with all the scenes laid out in order.

It was an enjoyable read, but it had a disappointing ending.

Lots of film scenes ready to be acted out, but good mixture of horror and comedy. It needed more emotional impact from the characters.

There was much interest in what Richard might have to say.However, can't find notes that enlighten in this respect.

Rob’s comments (by text) – “Quite liked it, learnt new bits about the war – but not a great book.”

6.88

Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel

26^th August 2010

Can't find any group notes – this from Steve:

A long read for several reasons:

- It's a long book

- The sun shone on my holiday in Ireland, leaving me far less time in an armchair waiting for the rain to stop than usual

- Style: her curious present tense and 'third person from a first person standpoint' meant I had to read every word, sometimes twice, to get the sense. This made me cross early on but once I got used to the fact that 'he' almost always referred to Cromwell, it became easier. I'm not quite sure it was an entirely successful approach though.

- Difficult to remember who was who - too many Marys and Thomases, but she was dealing with real people so one can't really hold that against her. The cast list and family tree were useful, but even then it wasn't always clear who was being referred to.

But a great read because:

- I learned more about Henry VIII, the Tudors, the dissolution of the monasteries, the context of the Reformation, etc etc, along with several individuals who were familiar in name but not always in deed (More, Cranmer, Wolsey...) than any history book ever taught me (I failed O-level history, mind)

- Her approach allowed her to paint fascinatingly personal pictures of individuals, and I didn;t really care whether she was using literary licence

- I'm sure it was her intention to draw parallels with the modern world ('These days the news could be across Europe within a month...') and I think she did that successfully and interestingly

- I felt close to the times, the people and the events - the narrative rolled along as historical event followed historical event

- The research was awesome (though as she admits herself, not necessarily new - more like a different perspective on what we apparently already know) - I have to admire the achievement

So I was sorry to finish it and will be up for reading the sequel when it emerges. Proof that a good book doesn't have to be an easy read - an 8 from me.

From Neil:

If anything it underlined the elements that frustrated me about the book and I thought More' demise could have been completed in half the number of pages, highlights for me being pages 528-530 in the paperback edition. I also found Cromwell's depiction as a compassionate man in private became more and more incredible against the public figure who drew up legislation that saw so many subsequently put to death and in the absence of hard evidence to defend this belief it became somewhat ridiculous in my mind. Rather like the suggestion that Goebbels was secretly the sponsor of an orphanage for deprived kiddies and loved furry white pussycats. Similarly I couldn't help feeling there were other historical inaccuracies which suggested that many more important flaws might lie beneath the surface. She talks about dictionaries, but surely they didn't come about for many years after this time? The suggestion that Cromwell does Italian chess puzzles from a book sounded rather unlikely and on investigation it seems that the book she refers to was written as a treatise on chess but never published.

6.15

Nocturnes – Kazuo Ishiguro

29th July 2010

A small, but perfectly formed group of only four of us (Steve, Neil, Richard and Rob) met at the Fox and Badger to discuss Nocturnes. 'Twas a consensus that the book was a let down - though Steve was more positive about it than others and none of those present took Ras's extreme stance in his notes that "Writers of books this pointless should be fined for the waste of resources and damage to the environment arising from its publication".

Much of the discussion was about the fact that none of the stories actually went anywhere. Several of them (particularly it was felt the first and last) began to engage in an interesting story, with characterisation that was good good in places (Steve), or OK (others present) but then the story seemed to then fizzle out with no satisfactory ending. This begged the question about what makes a good short story - where there was essentially a difference of opinion between Steve and the rest of us. The majority view was that the real skill in writing a short story is the ability to still have a beginning, a middle and an end, with a point to what has been written and the whole thing feeling like it had been a conventional novel but told in an impressively concise number of pages. This 'wholeness' though was not essential to Steve, who felt that the way some of the stories were written with the drifting off at the end brought an 'ephemeral' quality and was fine. This led into ananolgy with music - fade outs at the end of tracks are OK and a useful and sometimes positive device (quoth Steve) - yes (replied Richard and Rob) - but if the whole album consists of every song ending in a fade-out (as Nocturnes did) then it becomes tiresome and you begin to conclude that the composer (or author) didn't know how to bring anything to a clear end.

The other three areas of discussion about the book that come to mind were:

The actual or alleged connections between the five stories. Neil and Rob had completely missed the fact that the Lindy who appeared all bandaged up eating salmonella infested chicken (see below) was the same Lindy on the balcony in story one. There was even a suggestion from Richard and Steve that there might be links somehow, somewhere, between all the stories, but when challenged to verify this by the unperceptive Neil and me that claim fell short of hard evidence (some tenuous suggestion of the cousin of the strumming mountain walker being the third cousin twice removed of the put upon friend who smashes up his friends apartments - but we wouldn't buy into that).

The quality of the writing - where there was a broadly similar difference between us taking place. Steve felt it was generally good writing, whilst Rob in particular thought it 'clunky', using sentences that didn't flow well. This led into an (unresolved) discussion about the definition of good writing styles

Believability of the storyline. We had this discussion the previous month over 'Shadow of the Wind' where there was broad agreement that if the story didn't set out to be 'realism' then it was fine for elements of the storyline to stretch the boundaries of credulity (or is it credibility???). However, several times in Nocturnes - which by common consent did seek to set itself as realism - things happened that were not credible. In particular for Richard and me when a hotel left chicken out overnight for a buffet and then Security didn't think that two people with bandages around their faces might be the 'thieves' they were looking for.

Beyond that we drifted into discussions about a rnage of things varying from the extent to which we do or do not know about the secret lives of people we think we know well (was Richard trying to tell us something?), to the challenges being faced by all of us in our work arising from the current economic climate and government cuts (bar recently retired psychology professors with secret lives). But let's not go down that depressing road again. We just managed to afford the bar bill between us.

5.53

Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

24th June 2010

Mixed views on the Shadow of The Wind the other night. A smaller gathering than usual (Neil, Mark Th and Will absent), and Chris, Ras and Steve yet to finish. Much of the discussion was about the style of the writing, with disagreement about whether it worked or not. In particular, there was a view that it was an 'adolescent' book in its style (particularly from Richard), which accounted for strong recommendations to read it having come from people in their late teens/early twenties. This view was not shared by some others (notably myself, arguing there was a difference between a book being significantly set in the context and perspective of about someone at that stage in life (e.g. falling in love at the drop of a hat and wanting to shag any willing female) and it thus being an adolescent book. A consensus was not reached on this...

Beyond this, the limited number of people who had finished the book meant that there was limited in depth discussion - even about the translation. Essentially there were two views - one already articulated by Neil in his email, which could perhaps be summarised as 'it promised more than it ultimately delivered', and the other from Mark T and myself (and subsequently from Mark TH., that it told a good, almost engrossing story with interesting characters. There was also some discussion about the Gothic nature of the book and again some difference of opinion about whether or not the fact that some elements of what happened stretched the boundaries of credulity (it was not annoying vs surely that is part of the point of a gothic novel). On such points, Neil's complaint about brain scans being too early for the technology was roundly disabused by our resident eminent medical technician from the RUH. Also, why was it always raining in Barcelona?

6.01

David Nicholls – One Day

27^th May 2010

No group notes apparent, so these from Richard stand in (edited to remove spoilers):

I started by being mostly irritated – there were a few errors (eg p 118 – Dex drives from St John’s Wood and he listened to virtually an entire CD (ie about 80 minutes) before he gets to the M40 – a journey than even in rush hour traffic can only take about 30 minutes) or (eg p 121 and p 130 - on page 121 his sister is 34, on p 130 his mother is 49 – which means that she had her first daughter when she was 15, getting pregnant probably at 14!) or (p 182 – the ‘bilious green’ typeface of a word-processor was the old Amstrad’s and they were around in 1983-4, but certainly NOT by 1995 – no-one used that sort of word-processor by then); and lots was unbelievable – for example (pp 79-80) the claim by Emma that she had never had a holiday – caravanning with parents until age 16, and then 6 days in the Cairngorms with Tilly – so what about all the other school and (more importantly) long university holidays – she actually did NOTHING in all of them other than one 6-day camping trip?).

And the characters seemed SO stereotyped, and also so irritating – he so ‘Mr Perfect’ with everyone fawning over him; she SO embarrassed and gauche and un-self-confident.

But lots changed for me, and when [that thing] happened I was really quite upset and (although I had seen [something of the kind] coming for ages – again the writing was really stereotyped) when it happened I actually went into a slight ‘shock’ reaction – I felt it quite intensely. So, without realising it almost, the characters (and especially Emma) had become extremely deep and solid and real for me. I also found the descriptions of Dexter’s drinking very good and very real.

Lots of the language was good, again an important element for me – and there were good flashes of humour too – I enjoyed the bit when they were on the Greek island and they decided to tell each other a secret, and Dex thinks “but perhaps it would be better to go for something that didn’t reveal him as shallow or seedy, duplicitous or conceited” (p 92); and I enjoyed the bits where he missed every cultural reference that Emma makes in their conversations! I also enjoyed the structure – it was a good way to tell the story of 20 years without getting tedious.

So - if this had not been a club book, I might have not persevered – and I am very pleased indeed that I did persevere, as I found it a moving and rather lovely story.

7.62

The Third Policeman – Flann O'Brien

29th April 2010

Group notes, but heavily biased towards Rob's view!

Almost unanimity last week (including comments from absent friends), but sadly in the negative direction as The Third Policeman failed to be arresting for this particular group of readers. Mark T. went so far as to say he hated what was the worst book yet chosen. As a result, there was remarkably little discussion about the book to report here. I was the exception to this damning view and, whilst not thinking it was a great or even hugely enjoyable piece of literature, nonetheless felt it had several positive factors in its favour. As I was largely alone in this (though with some lukewarm support from Steve) my apologies for this note being heavily biased to my comments as, otherwise there would be little to report other than people saying how they disliked it both in terms of writing style, plot (or lack of) and how it failed to engage the reader. So in order to reflect that there was some debate I'll just record that in my opinion:

The writing style was highly clever in the way it used words in unusual (and often cumbersome) ways that said things in a structure that completely fitted in with the 'unreal' nature of the book itself

The way his brain worked and generated bizarre yet fascinating ideas was both engaging and thought provoking e.g. there being only two directions on the globe not four (difficult to argue with) and the transfer of life properties through friction on (for example) the bike saddle

The humour and style was way ahead of its time and you could see clear elements of what later appeared in the Goons and Python.

But I recognise when I'm onto a loser and the discussion I had anticipated about what was really going on at various points in time in the book never got going. After brief forays into why when and how he died (in the house with the black box or was he dead at the outset?), what we thought about the footnotes (best bit for Neil, tedious for most others), why/how some people rated this so highly (Hay Festival literati) and the nature of the Irish police and society, there was at least some acknowledgement from most that it was good to have read it as an 'experience' and so we drifted into a second discussion about Orwell's Coming Up For Air as Will had finished it over the last month. Opinions on that remain as before. Will also added in a couple of other comments and scores on recently completed books including him concurring with the prevailingly positive views on Sacred Games.

4.29

The Elephant Keeper – Christopher Nicholson

Apparently we read two books in April 2010, not sure why now...

It was an interesting discussion - as it flagged up a range of issues to do with writing style, social history etc etc. Also, with it significantly being set in and around the west country a couple of people (Mark T I think for one) found that of added interest. The comments were, on the whole, quite positive other than from Steve and myself and so it was a bit of a surprise when it came to the scoring that they were on the whole quite low to average (apart from Richard and to a lesser extent Mark).

As I recall at this distant moment, the following were key points in the discussion:

The first part of the book was generally agreed to be the best. It told a good story and contained a lot of interesting social commentary e.g. the relationship between master and servant, the reactions to an elephant appearing int he country for (probably) the first time), the description of city and rural life etc

However, there was also a general view that it tailed off in the latter part - in particular when he went to London when several people began to feel that the novel just stopped working

A majority view (though not consensus) that the relationships between the keeper (see I can;t been remember his name - shows what an impact it had on me) and the elephant became unbelievable at the book went on

Differing views on t he writing style. Consensus that he managed to get the flavour of the period but whether it was well written varied from definitely (Richard) to weak (me).

6.01

Coming Up for Air – George Orwell

25th March 2010

One of our longest and most wide-ranging discussions ever arising from the book in question. Seven of us present and four definite votes of approval for 'Coming Up for Air'. I was a bit more ambivalent, Ras was unimpressed finding it somewhat tedious whilst Mark T has yet to finish it. The overwhelming prevailing view was that Orwell's ability to turn a phrase and, in particular make an observation about life and the world is almost unrivalled. It was difficult to stop people (particular Richard) from reading out their favourite quotes, which seems a good indicator of whether a book has made an impact on its readers or not. The root cause of the slight divergence of opinion was mainly around the slow pace of the novel and/or the debatable question of whether it was a novel or not i.e. given that so little actually happened, could it actually be described as a story as opposed to Orwell wanting to expound on his opinions about the world and using the setting of a person's journey into their past as a mechanism for doing so.

Putting these points to one side, there was little doubt that Orwell struck a chord with many of us in terms of the observations he made about the world and life experiences (too many for me to either recall in full or select the best ones) - hence the wide ranging discussions that took us into questions about whether the world is a better place to live nowadays than it was thirty/forty years ago, global warming and misogyny.

There were a few other minor debates about the book - such as whether George Bowling was a believable character or an old Etonians version of what a lower middle class insurance salesman would have lived like but beyond that the clear view was that Orwell's writing style had both created a pleasurable experience (for most) and generated much discussion and conversation (for all).

6.96

The Road – Cormac McCarthy

25th February 2010

Divided opinions about 'The Road'. Most people really liked it, whilst a couple had mixed feelings and Rob hated it. There was one point upon which there was complete agreement, that it was an extremely depressing book to read, though Mark T. emphasised that he found it enjoyable to be so depressed by it (we should all be worried for him).

I can't recall a great deal of the discussion to report on - it felt a strangely subdued meeting (caused by the book content or as one person noted 'most of us looked and sounded really tired'. We should stop working so hard) and people drifted off home much earlier than usual. The other possible explanation of course being that we were missing the garrulous Neil and Richard.

General appreciation of the writing style with most people thinking his use of descriptive language was highly enjoyable - the exception being me (and to an extent Richard in his email) who felt he was using adjectives and adverbs out of context and without any possible meaning

General feeling that he built the tension up really well and that it was a gripping, easily read novel - exception was me (spotting a theme yet?) who felt no tension at all

Ras (and possibly others) felt it pulled on feelings as a father. I thought he was such a pathetic figure I couldn't relate to him or his relationship with his son

General view that the book left too much unexplained (such as why the destruction had happened, how the pair of them had got to that stage without the son appearing to have any 'nous' etc) and that this detracted from the integrity of the book - Mark disagreed with that one (yay, not me) feeling that the emotions, relationships and moral tale were what mattered rather than the context

Some discussion about how mankind does have the potential to behave in that kind of a way (i.e. mostly evil and looking out for themselves) when it feels threatened

A general view that this was not as good as the previous McCarthy we read (All the Pretty Horses), perhaps because he had not focused in on a theme that he really knew and felt at home with.

6.19

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson

28th January 2010

Helped by Neil describing it as the best book he had read since the book club started and Ras giving it nearly twice his average mark, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has rocketed in with an astounding 8.14. (later revised down after all scores came in).

General approval then, in particular for the way in which Steig spun a tale. Clear agreement that he really hooked us in to the story and it was a book that we (almost all) looked forward to getting back to and resented having to put down. The possible exception was Steve, whose main gripes were that the quality of writing was not great - something that several others shared to varying degrees, and that the hype around the Larsson story had elevated a rather tedious whodunnit to far higher status than it really deserved. This led to a re-run of the discussion about how we rate books - yes it wasn't great literature in the sense of literary writing style, but how much does this matter if it was enjoyable in other ways... and then of course there is the issue of it being a not very good translation (Steve) - something that has been acknowledged by Larsson's wife...

Other issues that cropped up and/or were commented upon:

Linked to the quality of writing, some opinions (not agreed by all) that whilst telling a good story it didn't really paint a picture of the place and the action (lacking aesthetic value was my comment). Those who had been to Scandinavia disagreed.

On a similar theme, there were a number of incidents or important pieces of information that were unbelievable. Did this matter? Was this supposed to be a highly realistic book (in which case it probably did) or more a flight of fancy (in which case it probably didn't).

Differing views on the end - an almost equal divide between those who thought he tied up all ends nicely and didn;t rush the ending and those who thought he dragged it out unnecessarily

We generally liked the characters - in particular the two main ones (plus the old man) - which helped draw us into the story

Some frustration at important questions not being answered (e.g. what was the importance of Salander's mother in this), but we were told by Neil who has read the second in the series that this is because they form part of the subsequent novels

On the positive side of the writing style, he very cleverly interlinked the different story lines within chapters in a way that worked by keeping the momentum going without confusing the reader

Clever people noted that he gave away the answer to whether Harriet was dead or not right at the start.

Beyond the specifics of the book, we then moved into a discussion about whether this was a literary phenomenon or a publishing phenomenon - general view is that it was the latter - and of course the film is just waiting to be produced (twice). The story behind the book of the lawsuits and argument between Steig's common law wife and his blood family about the resultant money and the apparent failure of Swedish law to recognise the rights of non-married partners was of some surprise to us given the image of Sweden as a socially enlightened country.

7.63