I'm a chapter past "Mr Wegg looks after himself", and damn if now that I look back at that chapter title I don't giggle at how doubly appropriate it is. And on it's own is quite the short tale of the absurd.

So far I find the Boffins a bit naive but lovely, as is Lizzie (on that note, I want a whole volume of episodes starring Miss Abbey, the taproom owner), Bella somewhat shallow and YOUNG, but also (from a cynic point of view) right, and the whole things around the Veneerings as Dickens at his best (name and all).

That was a trip and a half.

For being such and unwieldy mammoth, the tension never lets up. Everything goes to shit fats and through infinite pages. Something to have in mind before taking a stab at it. Gave me quite the bit of anxiety (which is part of what I liked but, you know).

The set up had my mind working. I was raised in a small town, so I could more or less envision most of the human-failure troubles to come (though here they were running on a rocked fueled schedule), but some of the environmental issues I had not considered till I read about the stream. Then I knew that even in fairytale land everyone was fucked. And King does not write "friendship is magic" worlds. He likes to put the devil at the wheel.

There are many bit thoughts running through my head theme wise, like cooperation vs dictatorships, the cruelty of children, the old terrible memories of shame and guilt, that remark about how skewed the numbers between genders were (because who do you think gets scalded first, when the water starts heating? Duh), their positions (librarians, doctors, press, liberal priests, smart kids), guilt for bad deeds vs guilt for having enjoyed them. Also, the surprising bits that made me laugh (mostly bleak Gilligan's cuts that proved I have a very dark sense of humour) and the bits that made me suck my snot (most of Sammy Bushey, Ollie and Ames).

I don't know that it is a book for everybody, even King's fans, and many of the paths trailed are a rehash of The Stand in a way, but I actually liked this one's pace a lot better (grueling is not always my choice, but it's a good one when I go for thrillers or scares, so plus).

On the whole, there were no big surprises, but I quite like it. And I'm exhausted.

Somewhere a dog was barking.

 

Ahhhhh Gggggoooddd. This is killing meeee!

I'm finishing this puppy today, because there is no way I'm stretching the anxiety.

“Lissa Jamieson, the librarian with the crystals? Ernie Calvert? Are you sure about those two?”
“Who better to recruit than a librarian when you’re dealing with a fledgling dictatorship?

True story. My mom has some interesting stories from her library science professors down here. Even more interesting, the liberal priest is part of this conversation, which also rings. We only lack a teacher.

He had no idea how many there were in all, but if forced to guess, he would have said between four and six hundred.

Shit. That's enough boom and fire there for those visions.

So, got over the middle mark of the book and over three days narrative. The issues I'd expect to crop from go have reared their heads, but as always the devil drives, so everything is going as badly as it can, and as Barbie's arc words say.

"This is not as bad as it gets"

I actually took a long breather after the arrest last night to go watch Ocean's 8 (I had so much fun and I'm obsessed now) because the tension is a killer.