Re: FOG Book Club

by Lara Thu May 19, 2011 7:09 pm

Ooh excellent, my library has this book! I'll go pick it up tomorrow or so. =D

by **Kalon Ordona II** Thu May 19, 2011 9:13 pm

I'll see if my library has it. ^^

by **Kathryn Lacey** Fri May 20, 2011 1:11 am

I have a minor issue... Okay, so on May 26th through the 30th, I'm going to Portland, Oregon with my love, so I won't be able to expressly discuss the first portion of the book with you guys. However, I could read it all in a couple of days, write up my response to it, and I could PM that to Ryona with the subject line that indicates that it isn't to be read by her until she's ready, and she could post that in a quote box in this thread? That way, no one else feels the desire to spoil things for themselves if I posted a spoiler box, but people would still get my opinion. Then, when I return, I could continue the discussion, you know?

If this doesn't work, I'm completely open to other suggestions.

EDIT
Ryona, could you also give us the ISBN of the book? They tend to be on or near the bar code on the back of the book. I would appreciate it!

by **Gadreille** Fri May 20, 2011 1:34 am

ISBN 978-0-307-47631-9

Kathryn, I'm fine with that. However you want to do it to keep up is fine with me.

by **Kathryn Lacey** Fri May 20, 2011 12:13 pm

Sweet! Thanks, Ryona!

Hm... It doesn't appear that the libraries that have the book have that copy of it. I was hoping to at least get the same copy as yours because I figured it would be helpful, but oh well. I'm not overly worried about it. =3

by The Ghost Writer Fri May 20, 2011 12:27 pm

Good call on the ISBN, Kathryn! I normally never asked customers about that because they would give me this cock-eyed stare. Lol! I miss working at B&N...

by **Kathryn Lacey** Fri May 20, 2011 12:52 pm

Well, ever since I started using GoodReads, I've been more aware of ISBN's and their importance. =3

by **Kalon Ordona II** Sat May 21, 2011 3:43 am

My library had it! I picked it up on my shift yesterday!
Flipping through it, it seems exactly like the movie! xD But I guess I'm getting ahead of myself. :p

by **Gadreille** Sat May 21, 2011 12:42 pm

Haha, I did the same thing, Kalon.

Kathryn, my copy was purchased at a Target, I wonder if that is why your library didn't have that ISBN number. Is the ISBN different with different versions? I don't even know.

by **Kathryn Lacey** Sat May 21, 2011 1:20 pm

Hm... Kalon, the movie looked really interesting. I really wanted to see it, but I never got the chance. If the book is almost an exact replica, then I'm glad to be reading the book first.

Ryona, yes. The ISBN is different for different versions. The one I borrowed from the library yesterday has 0-307-26543-9 as the ISBN. There were only two copies of the same version, so I really didn't have a chance to get the one you have.

by **Gadreille** Sat May 21, 2011 1:28 pm

Ah, alright. Cool, I learn something new everyday. Do you need me to help you figure out where the stopping points are in your book? It's split approximately in 1/4th increments, but I'm not sure what the page number will be in your version.

by **Kathryn Lacey** Sat May 21, 2011 2:05 pm

My version has 241 pages. How many pages does yours have? The last three sentences on page 72 are

Spoiler:

Is that the same stopping point as yours?

by **Gadreille** Sat May 21, 2011 2:09 pm

Mine has 287 pages. Here is the last line to be read for the first week:

Spoiler:

My guess is it should be around page 60 in your book (since that is 1/4th of the way through 241 pages).

by **Kathryn Lacey** Sat May 21, 2011 2:18 pm

I found it. It's on page 62 of my version. Thanks, Ryona!

by **Mojave Wanderer** Sat May 21, 2011 3:48 pm

I feEl as if I am joining very late. . . I feel as if this is pointless but if you haven't seen my intro yet I'm joining.

by **Gadreille** Sun May 22, 2011 12:57 am

I'll add you to the list Wink

by The Ghost Writer Mon May 23, 2011 9:36 am

Ryona Noel wrote:Haha, I did the same thing, Kalon.

Kathryn, my copy was purchased at a Target, I wonder if that is why your library didn't have that ISBN number. Is the ISBN different with different versions? I don't even know.

Little FYI for all for future reference. The ISBNs that dedicated book stores and libraries use are the ones starting (usually) with 978. For stores like Walmart, Target, etc. they mostly use the one starting in 0 or whatever random number. ISBNs do vary with different versions, as you're looking for a particular type of the book (trade, paper, hard cover, etc. - but even types may vary according to how many publishing companies have entered into contract with the author and original publisher). It's like looking for apples, but you have to determine what color apple you want. Green apple? Red apple? Those yellow apples that barely anyone remembers exist because you haven't seen one since elementary school (lol!)? Just as an apple comes in different colors, so can a book. It's the same book, but different types. Thus, different ISBNs are needed for identification of each version.

When looking for a book online, always use the 978 ISBN first (if you have it), then resort to using the other one. Each book should have a 978 and 0 ISBN; if not, it's probably an older book you're looking for. At this point, it would be more helpful to browse through an archive, but such sites usually charge membership fees.

by **Kathryn Lacey** Mon May 23, 2011 1:03 pm

That's good to know. ^^_^^

On GoodReads, if you know the name and author of the book, they have a list of other versions through which you can search for free to find the one with the ISBN that matches yours.

On topic, I've read twenty-six pages of The Road, and I've been saving my questions and observations in a Word file to be organized once I read all sixty-two pages of the first fourth of it. Hopefully, they will be useful questions and observations and not just dead/boring weight.

by **Gadreille** Mon May 23, 2011 1:27 pm

That's a good idea, Kathryn! I think I shall do the same. With any luck, I will begin reading today. Smile

by The Ghost Writer Mon May 23, 2011 2:23 pm

by **Gadreille** Mon May 23, 2011 3:27 pm

I've got some notes as well...I'm just wondering, when we open discussion, are we just all going to toss our notes up and respond accordingly? Or should one person post, we all respond, next person post, etc? My notes are plenty but sort of all over the place.

by **Kathryn Lacey** Mon May 23, 2011 3:49 pm

I think maybe we should make sure to organize our notes before we just toss them up, you know? If others have posted before us, we should respond accordingly, but I don't think we should have to wait for everyone to respond to one person before posting our own stuff.

Maybe it could go like this:

Person 1 posts their thoughts and questions.
Person 2 responds to those and proceeds to post own thoughts and questions.
Person 3 responds to both people and posts their own thoughts and questions.
Etc. and so forth...

by **Gadreille** Mon May 23, 2011 3:52 pm

that is probably the best way to go about it. I almost can't wait until saturday to see how this pans out Very Happy

by **Kathryn Lacey** Mon May 23, 2011 3:56 pm

I'm sad that I'm going to miss the very first big day of all of this, but I'm really looking forward to returning and seeing what everyone else has to say. I mean, I will be coming back on Monday, and I don't see why discussions about what's been previously read can't be done through the week until the second section's turn. Then we can merge the first and second section topics together.

by **Gadreille** Mon May 23, 2011 4:00 pm

Truly that is not a problem as long as we remind ourselves not to discuss things ahead of time. It may be hard to remember that really exciting Part 13 actually happened after the stopping point of the week, if you understand what I mean. Still, as long as we are diligent there is no reason to cut off discussion on sunday.

by **Kalon Ordona II** Tue May 24, 2011 4:13 am

I remember the yellow apples! Man, I really want one, now. xD

Mine has 287 pages, so I go to page 72, right?

by **Gadreille** Tue May 24, 2011 2:13 pm

by **Kathryn Lacey** Fri May 27, 2011 1:40 pm

Guess what! I have internet access! The only thing that potentially worries me is that FoG will log me off as it has in the past. If that happens, I won't be logging back into it. Even though the hotel's internet should be secure, I don't want to risk it, especially not so soon after having my email accounts hacked.

Anyway, hopefully, I'll be able to have the book club discussion with everyone. There's a possibility of my being too busy to get online, though. We'll just see how it works. =3

by **Gadreille** Fri May 27, 2011 5:26 pm

Do you want me to post your blurb for you, or will you do it?

by **Gadreille** Sat May 28, 2011 10:54 am

I'm going to post Kathryn's thoughts, and then my own:

Kathryn Lacey wrote:What can I make of this novel so far? I dislike the fact that the author ignores the idea of complete sentences and punctuation a great deal of the time. It actually bothers me a lot because it disrupts the flow of my reading. However, I understand that it may be that it’s supposed add a bit of a more… forlorn feel, as if grammar is no longer important due to the life the father and son must lead.

Ashes are mentioned frequently. What happened to make the world this way? Were there a million forest fires? Did a volcano erupt? The father and son have been living in this post-apocalyptic world for some time. He mentioned that he hadn’t kept a calendar in years, and the boy was supposedly born during the beginning of this apocalypse.

The boy is probably somewhere between seven and ten years of age due to his ability to understand but his still immature reasoning skills. He’s small enough to carry on the man’s shoulders, so the lack of food could have stunted his growth, or he’s younger than I suspect.

What are blood cults? Has desperation for an apocalypse caused malicious cults to spring into existence? He seemed worried about them which is why I assume they’re violent. By “consumed each other,” did he mean eat or simply kill? The wife referred to people who would rape and cannibalize her son and herself. Are the truck people a part of the blood cult? They obviously ate the man that was shot by the father, and I think they would have eaten the father and son if the father hadn’t been so wary.

Dreams… I can imagine why dreams of wonderful, happy things could be detrimental for one in peril, one who is trying so hard to survive in a barren world. It could make things even harder emotionally than they already are. It would be like offering some semblance of peace only to have it all stolen when one awakens to realize it was all just a dream.

Did his wife commit suicide? That seems to be the case. It’s obvious she simply gave up the fight to live in such a desolate world. I honestly don’t know that I blame her. How old was the boy when she did this? He was old enough to talk and to understand that his mother wouldn’t be returning, but that could still be very young when the world would have forced the kid to grow up quickly.

Ryona Noel wrote:
Response: Kathryn, I agree that the lack of punctuation is frustrating. I have trouble figuring out who is saying what, especially when it is a scene with more than just the man and the boy. I hadn't thought to approach the work in the way you suggested. Yes, it seems as if people in this world aren't even worth giving quotations to. Notice, so far, no one even has a name.

I wonder if we will ever know what happened to end the world. As he describes it, it was like viewing the world through a lens of glaucoma. I thought that was an interesting comparison that adequately described this ash ridden, dead world.

My book has a picture of the movie on the front, so I can see the movie interpretation of how old the boy is, and I didn't think much about it. However, I think you are right. Seven to ten years, and you know his growth must be stunted, both physically and mentally.

I think you answered your own question on the blood cult. I do believe that those people were a part of it. But rather than being some larged, organized force that uses cannibalism, I think that anyone who chooses cannibalism becomes "Blood cult" in this man's eyes. The world seems too sparse for any true organized crime. I also wondered about the bodies in the trailer, on the road. Was it mass suicide, or someones meal stock?

I think the man was worried about being so happy in the dream, that he decides to stay in it and never wake up. Like some creepy version of heaven, or something. I loved the line you are describing though. "The right dreams for a man in peril are of peril and all else were the call of death" (may not be quoted accurately). Also, there was that dream in the beginning of the monster over the lake. Did that have any meaning to everyone? It felt strangely random to me. The boy's scary penguin dream creeped me out too. Have you ever had a dream like that, one that terrified you but once you tried to explain it it just sounded silly?

She did indeed commit suicide. Remember the mention of obsidian? An obisian blade is the cleanest cut one could possibly make. How they had one, I am uncertain. But I know that she walked out into the darkness and cut herself somewhere. I wonder how they didn't stumble over her body, as they left. She must have walked far. This part really angered me. I cannot forgive the mother for giving up. A mother should not rest until she has done everything for her child, or die trying. The line she said, something about her heart breaking the day he was born...I wonder if it was a post partum depression that could not be helped.

Additional Notes: Like Silvone and I were mentioning in the "What Scares You" thread, I felt a deep connection with the father on the first page, as he reaches over to feel if his son is still alive. A mixed feeling of terror and relief starts this novel off. Again, on the parenting note, I love this line: "If he is not the word of God God never spoke". A parents religion. Something like my own. Another line I thought was beautiful, was when they set out on the ash ridden road, "each the others world entire".

So we know that The Road is dangerous. Like Kathryn said, he is constantly wary. But it is so barren, in the beginning you wonder if there is anything to fear but death by starvation! You get this feeling of openness, unsure if some large creeping monster or army of murderers will round the bend. He really doesn't tell you what to expect. Another line: "If they got wet, they would probably die". Can you imagine, having to fear something so simple as well as the other things? Fear for food, fear for shelter, fear for safety...it's so much for one man to fight. A sick man at that. I also love the description of night that he gives: "A blackness to hurt your ears with listening". Has anyone else felt that pain? Trying to listen for something you are afraid of, in the dark, your ears ringing with desperation? I could feel it as he was hiding there.

Dying is a strange subject in this story. Half of the time it is a fear, the other half, a relief. The wife wanted to die. The son wants to die to be with his mom. But the man fears it. In a dying world, does the act of dying become more intense, or less? The father, questioning his own sanity: "Can you do it when the time comes? Can you?" It is a question I can never answer, and perhaps a flaw in my thinking when I say a mother should never give up. I don't think I could ever kill Theoden, but then again, I've never watched him starve, or had the threat of raping cannibals at my heels. "if only my heart were stone". Yes, if only. I can only imagine the harsh range of emotions flowing through the man. Is it better to feel hurt, or just not feel? I also notice that the first sign of life is a dying man in the road; but then I wondered, who isn't dying?

This world they are in is so familiar but so strange. The man's memories seem like ghosts to the child. Do you notice how he fears when his father interacts with anything from the past? Like in his childhood home? Or when he picked up a phone and dialed his old number? The man's memories are ghosts, and the child fears them greatly. It is a dynamic I would not have thought of. At least he got to enjoy the Coca Cola. I thought it was really sweet that the boy was determined for everything to be fifty fifty. He has an undying love for his father, something to keep them going in this dark world. I also thought the boy asked an intriguing questions: "What happened to the states?" How does one answer that?

I'll finish up with a quote I loved: "You forget what you want to remember, and remember what you want to forget". How true.

OH, also, I didn't understand the paragraph on the bottom of page 15. "An old cronicle. to seek out the upright...(chunk I don't feel like typing)...of which you say it knows nothing and yet you know it must."

by Sponsored content