I love - may I call them this - “mini-craft lessons”- Yiyun gives us while commenting on this book. Yes we can suspend our beliefs in reading a book, but there must be logic we can follow
Following along on the map, I see that the Mayor and Father Quixote are on the Camino de Santiago. Perhaps the Monsignor was spirited away by pilgrims? And of course the Americans are clueless jerks. <sigh>
The interaction with the couple was strange: The man and woman, bizarrely insensitive, making light of a man being carried away. Sancho’s dream - the congregation laughing when MQ wept. Then at the end, the woman saying “It’s sort of exciting…but it’s terribly, terribly sad, of course. I feel like I was in church.”
I loved Father Quixote's outburst, his insistence on separating himself from his fictional ancestor and on his free will. It buoyed and delighted me. Father Quixote has generally seemed so beleaguered and oppressed, and here he claims some (even if very partial) command of his destiny.
p112: "In any case he had no wish to be an instrument of human justice."
I've often had this very desire, and I suspect, many of us are the same. And yet, I have such a strong need to see justice carried out. Sigh.
pp.119: "'I prefer the silence of peace to the silence which comes after success—that silence is like the permanent silence of death. And not a good death either.'"
Yes! This! I fully understand this. The disappointed of having achieved what (you thought) you wanted.
My favorite section so far. “I tell you, I exist!” The tragic and comedic beats are so deftly done from one to the next and back again, I forget that I myself am not wine drunk in the streets of Spain with them. And that cliff hanger…! It will have to wait til tomorrow.
The mood of this novel has darkened considerably. Father Quixote can't go home, which hit me hard and him too. He's clearly in distress, perhaps over that as much as anything, and then he disappears. Sancho's dream is incredibly sad. The scene with the couple made me impatient. Strange that we could understand their dialogue, but Sancho could not. A strange twist in perspective.
"I prefer the silence of peace to the silence which comes after success--that silence is like the permanent silence of death. And not a good death either." Hmm. So dark. I don't disagree, but all the same. And the story of the virgin who allows herself to be raped in order to avoid killing/condemning someone while he is committing a sin? That was dark too and absurd, but I'm not sure about beautiful.
I love - may I call them this - “mini-craft lessons”- Yiyun gives us while commenting on this book. Yes we can suspend our beliefs in reading a book, but there must be logic we can follow
Following along on the map, I see that the Mayor and Father Quixote are on the Camino de Santiago. Perhaps the Monsignor was spirited away by pilgrims? And of course the Americans are clueless jerks. <sigh>
The interaction with the couple was strange: The man and woman, bizarrely insensitive, making light of a man being carried away. Sancho’s dream - the congregation laughing when MQ wept. Then at the end, the woman saying “It’s sort of exciting…but it’s terribly, terribly sad, of course. I feel like I was in church.”
It was the perfect ending to the chapter!
I loved Father Quixote's outburst, his insistence on separating himself from his fictional ancestor and on his free will. It buoyed and delighted me. Father Quixote has generally seemed so beleaguered and oppressed, and here he claims some (even if very partial) command of his destiny.
But only when drunk…
p112: "In any case he had no wish to be an instrument of human justice."
I've often had this very desire, and I suspect, many of us are the same. And yet, I have such a strong need to see justice carried out. Sigh.
pp.119: "'I prefer the silence of peace to the silence which comes after success—that silence is like the permanent silence of death. And not a good death either.'"
Yes! This! I fully understand this. The disappointed of having achieved what (you thought) you wanted.
So disorienting to not have Father Quixote in a scene! I feel like the novel has become some higher level magic trick.
First part of todays read the Mons is drunk. The second part he is gone!!🤷♀️
My favorite section so far. “I tell you, I exist!” The tragic and comedic beats are so deftly done from one to the next and back again, I forget that I myself am not wine drunk in the streets of Spain with them. And that cliff hanger…! It will have to wait til tomorrow.
The mood of this novel has darkened considerably. Father Quixote can't go home, which hit me hard and him too. He's clearly in distress, perhaps over that as much as anything, and then he disappears. Sancho's dream is incredibly sad. The scene with the couple made me impatient. Strange that we could understand their dialogue, but Sancho could not. A strange twist in perspective.
"I prefer the silence of peace to the silence which comes after success--that silence is like the permanent silence of death. And not a good death either." Hmm. So dark. I don't disagree, but all the same. And the story of the virgin who allows herself to be raped in order to avoid killing/condemning someone while he is committing a sin? That was dark too and absurd, but I'm not sure about beautiful.
And for a primer on philosophy, I turn to Monty Python...
https://youtu.be/l9SqQNgDrgg?si=kIockd8At7nTtNHa