The Island

If not for the adventure and fun of it, I would have stopped a few days ago.  I am having a hard time reading through words that are spelled like slang.  There was a notice at the beginning of the book though.  Although reading it was an entirely different experience.  I have a taste of this with "Little Women" by Loisa May Alcott.  But that one was only for a few pages.  There are things like how more is spelled mo', once is wunst, poor is po', going is gwyne, took is tuck, them is um, nothing is nuffin', first is fust (also posted here).

Like this (also posted here):

Chickens know when it's gwyne to rain, en so do de birds, chile.

Here, I think I'd have to bear with it since Jim was the one who's speaking that way and he's Huck's company thru his adventures.  I wonder if he'd be dropped from the scene soon?  But I think dropping him would be a little boring for Huck... and the story, too.

Anyway, right now, Huck decided to go to the island where he accidentally found Jim and they became companions.  I think due to his youth, he still doesn't realize the consequences of his decisions.  He was so influenced by his friend Tom Sawyer who he left in town.  Most of the time, in his decisions, he still thinks what would Tom Sawyer do on situations he encountered.

Jim is a good company for Huck.  Jim reminds Huck.  Jim is a little superstitious, but I think that's good in situations like where they are now.

Huck Finn

I landed, and slopped through the timber and up the ridge and into the cavern.  There, Jim laid, sound asleep on the ground.  I roused him out and says:
" Get up and hump yourself, Jim! There ain't a minute to lose.  They're after us!"

In a Hurry

So that's what happened with Rose Madder.

I wanted to finish the book soon.  Not because I wanted to know the ending but, sorry to say, just so that I can get over and done with it and start a new book.  You might ask, "Is it that worse?"  And I shall tell you, "Yes, so far the worse of those I read by Stephen King."

The plot was good.  There were actually instances that I am so engaged to reading that I am confusing to reality.  The concept of a wife like Rose is truly something that is worth writing for.  The idea of redemption was unique.  I actually thought that it should be how everything should be, after being left with no choices.  How real can it get?  That is the question.  But still, I think there is something that was overdone here.  Like the detailed thoughts of Norman.  I think SK overdid it here.

The irony of it all is that is one thing I actually admire with Stephen King; the way he writes about the characters' imagination.  I'm just not sure why it seems that it doesn't apply here in this particular story.  I am close to thinking that I maybe longing for another kind of adventure or writer that I now view it in a different color.  I started exploring different writers and genres, I am even into classical novels.  I just don't know if this is one of the main reason why I think this way.  It's almost to say that I didn't enjoy the book because I was yearning so much to know the ending just so that I can start a new one.  I might have missed some adventures worth ruminating on because of this.  But I don't have any regrets.  The end wasn't what I expected, although I am giving it the thought that in this kind of situation - if I am in this situation -  this might be the one I can actually wish for.

THE END

ROSE MADDER

STEPHEN KING

I Repay

That's what she said.

And that's all what Rosie can remember, at least for now.  She was in a dream she can barely remember.  But a lot of things spring up telling her it may not be a dream at all.

Dreaming?

Too tired from two days of going out, I still managed to read a few pages of the book.  Rosie's on her conquest.  A different kind of quest.  I said on my previous post that this will take her out of the past and might change her future, I have yet to know.  But the thing is, she's either in a dream or she's dreaming of something real.  Again, I have yet to find out.  But it was hard.  Too hard.  This is a world far different from where she is now.  But wait, way too different from the world she lived in for fourteen years.

I think she will...   No, I pray[as if this is real] that she may get out of this not only alive, but be able to change everything in her life that she's been wanting to change.  Rosie's been through a lot and if I were in her shoes, it won't matter to me if this is a dream or living a dream.  I want to get this over and done with if it means that I will be able to live on my own, free and easy.  That I may be able to get a new haircut, read a novel (no matter what kind) and have a beautiful painting on the wall... that makes her hear crickets and see clovers.

I wouldn't really mind.... Hell, No!

Quests

This is the third time that I have read something on SK's books that deal with temples.    As far as I can remember, that is.  Last year, I read about three books by Stephen King and two of them had scenes on temples.

'Salem's Lot.

Duma Key.

Now, Rose Madder.  It's not that there is a pattern.  It's just that I am just awed by how SK uses this place as a start of the quests of the characters.  Sometimes, it even poses as a transformation place for these persons because it's as if they realize something as they pass through the temples of their stories.
You might think that there will be a similarity to these stories.  But no, there aren't.  Three very different stories.  One icon to deliver the message.

===============

I am now on the part where Rose is somewhere within something she doesn't know.  Like her, I am still trying to figure out whether it was just a dream, a reality or a part of the painting.  All of them seemed real, and if it were, then this has something to do with her quest to forget her past and change her future.

Inside

I stopped reading the book for a few days now.  I have been busy with a lot of things and the only time that I get to read it is during late afternoons when there is enough sunlight from the window near where I sit and do reading.  But having stopped reading doesn't mean that my mind was off the book.  I am actually thinking about it a lot oftentimes.  Like it sometimes just pops out of my mind.

Rose was able to get away.  Far.  About three hundred miles.  I kept on asking is it far enough?  How far is far enough?  Daniels is maybe three hundred miles away, but it only takes one snap and the memory will start everything again.  I sometimes feel afraid for Rose.  And even if I still have a lot to know what are those that she's been into during those fourteen years, I cannot help but imagine more things other than already told.

This happens.  To how many I don't know.  But sometimes it gives me the creeps just thinking about Rose; what more if I will know more, like give me a figure to give me an idea how much women are went through, are going through, and will go through what Rose has been through.

Is there anything we women can do to prevent this from happening?  How do we know that some guys are really prone to doing this?

Frankly, this is nothing new for Stephen King.  I have read "Dolores Claiborne" and I think it was really very creative.  As I read through the first few pages, I was thinking that this is another "Dolores."  I almost put it down thinking that I've read this kind of stuff already.  But then again, we know Stephen King... we don't know what is he still capable of thinking.  That's why I have always like reading his works.

But.

Having read a few classical stories like Dickens, Hugo, Fitzgerald, Eliot, I think I am missing the genre.  The fact that what I read before this was about the German/Hitler times, I think I'll grab another classical after King.

Rose

That's a point of pride with us.  And you'll eventually pay for your room and board, although we like to think the prices here are very reasonable.  She smiled that brief, preening smile again.  "You should be aware that the accommodations are a long way from fancy.  Most of the second floor has been turned into a dormitory.

How many women are like Rose?

This is the question that came up in my mind as I started reading the book, as I started reading about Rose.

She couldn't get out.  The worse part is she didn't want to get out.  Out of the house that she knew very well, out of the life that she's been living for the past fourteen years.  Her reason is simple.  But is this the same reason they all have?

All the women like her?

Fear Is a Strange Thing

She would rather be the one who was persecuted than the one who did the persecuting.  Both had a terrible price to pay, but she would rather endure the humiliation and fear than grow numb to what it was to be human.

Fear is a strange thing.  It strips off masks… In some people it brings out the lowest instincts, while others become more compassionate.  Both have to do with survival.  But the choice is ours.

Your friend whom you will trust with your life suddenly becomes a stranger.  You start doubting whether just a simple thing you say will be used against you.

Trudi lives through these times.  Actually, at some points, I even forget all about Trudi.  Consumed by what is happening around her, I often forget about Trudi's condition.  I often forget about Trudi's problems, her hopes, her fears, her dreams.  But then again, how can you hope?  How can you dream?  When all you have to worry about is the fear.  The fear for your life, the fear for your friends, and the fear of the war and what it was doing to all of them, to their town, to their country.

But even so….

She felt dizzy longing for peace, a longing as powerful as the passion with which she used to will her body would grow as consuming as the passion that had fueled her revenge on the boys who'd humiliated her.  And what she wanted more than anything that moment was for all the differences between people to matter no more - differences in size and race and belief - differences that had become justification for destruction.

Goodness? Goodness!

I was surfing the tv last night during prime time and not a thing caught my interest... until the animated Disney version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

I think I mentioned when I was reading this book about two months ago that I am kind of intrigued as to how this kind of story will be made into a movie by Disney Pictures.  And I was glad that I saw it yesterday.  So, I tuned in and started to watch.  The part that I came upon was when Quasimodo and Esmeralda were talking and later on, Quasimodo took Esmeralda to a 'trip' around Notre Dame.  More later,  one of the men [didn't know who] was almost begging Quasimodo to let him down.

Quasimodo and Esmeralda talking and taking a trip around Paris?  How can they talk in the first place?  How can Quasimodo understand Esmeralda?

As I read through the last parts of the story in the book, the thought of this being a Disney movie always come upon me.   How can you make an ending to such a story?  And how can you turn it into an animated movie having such a plot, such an ending?

I didn't finish the movie.  All because I know that it would be totally different from the original story.  All I know is that they tried to circle the story around the goodness of Quasimodo; whitewashing everything to make it look good on the eyes of child; on the eyes of those who haven't read the story.  But if they wanted something to bank on the goodness of Quasimodo, I think they could come up with someone else in the likeness of Quasimodo with their army of artistic imaginative people.

Goodness!

No One

At this point in her life, Trudi is starting to realize the good things of her being different.

One thing is that she can decide to be something that was not allowed to girls her age.  She is starting to feel that, after all, being not the same as everyone else will put her in situations that she's not required to because she's different.

But still, there is something that she wanted to do so badly.  Something inside her that desires more than the conveniences of being different.

At some points in reading the story, I could almost feel for Trudi.  And there are some points that it feels like I have had enough of everything that has been happening to her.  Every pain, every sacrifice, every lost friend, lost love.  But the will to go on reading is stronger.  I want her to realize that there is more to life than being different, that there is more to life than being normal, and, that there is more to life than being how everybody is supposed to be.

I look forward to the time to see Trudi triumphed against all that she dreaded; against all the pain she felt.  I look forward to seeing Trudi see what else is there for her and not what she's been looking for all the time.  I'd love to see her see the other side of her that is waiting to be acknowledged, recognized and reinvented.

I want Trudi to know what Pia meant when she said:

"No one but you can change that."

As if I can change her fate.

As if I can turn her life around as I turn the pages.

Violated

Her secret place was hers only.  There, she can do what she wanted, she can be what she wanted to be, learn things she ought to know, think calmly.  There, she is the normal person that she is, that she always thinks she is.  But this is just a secret to herself.  A secret that only happens in her own secret world.

On that day that her secret place was violated, she should have listened to that mist of cloud that she saw as a bad sign.  But we people always choose to learn the hard way.  She went on until the four boys decided to go for a game they call water fart.

Trudi thought that hiding behind the big rock would give her the chance to know their secrets that these four boys might be keeping in her secret place.  But she was wrong.  Instead, they found her and then it was her turn.  Small as she is, she does not have the strength of even one of them.  Overpowered, obviously, she couldn't do anything.

They took her away from her secret world.  Inside the barn of one of these boys, they began to touch her, violate her.  Touch her in a way that was even worse than what normally happens to normal people - normal women.  You wouldn't believe it, but how Trudi wished they did touch her the way they would touch a normal girl.  That way she would have been just like any other normal victims.  The way normal women get violated.

All of them did except Georg.  Yes, her friend Georg was one of them.  Although he did not touch her, he didn't do anything to stop them from violating Trudi.  Because if he did so, that would not be normal.  He would not be normal; thus, he would not fit in.

After all these, she went back to her secret place - her secret world.  The place that was witness to what was bound to happen.  There, she threw four stones.  One for each boy who did this to her.  She vowed to take revenge, and I think she couldn't care less how long it took.

Between The Lines:

In real life, she knew it was not that easy to tell whether the villains were, and even if you could identify them, they were not total villains.  No one was entirely all of one thing.  Cowards could be courageous in some matters, and love was not always declared and might not be pure love, but mixed in with hate and fear and powerful wish for revenge - like what she felt for Georg Weiler, who went to great efforts not to glance in her direction, even if both of them stood in front of their houses.

On Being a Freak

If you lost something you'd once had - a limb, say, or an eye  - people didn't treat you like a freak; they remembered you the way you had been.  But if you were born without arms or sight, you were a freak.  If your body didn't look like the bodies of others, you were a freak. And if you lived in a freak's body long enough, though you didn't feel like a freak inside - what could you do than to make sure your body wouldn't turn all of you into a freak?

Just Like Them

She stopped wherever other kids played hopscotch or ball, wishing they'd understand that, inside she was just like them.

On Friendship

The first sin he become proficient in was lying.  It became a necessity.  But he would never tell a lie to Trudi.  Not even after he'd grow up and marry Helga Stumm and lie to her.  He'd never tell a lie to his first friend, the only one who accepted his difference so much easier than his own, though he would come to betray her in other ways.

On Having

Georg was lucky when it comes to rolling the tiny balls into the hale he'd scooped into the damp soil between the two sets of steps, but he was just as generous in letting Trudi borrow marbles from him if she lost hers.  To keep playing was far more important to him than winning.

We All Pay

We all pay.

Gertrud told Leo.

But Leo did not understand.  He probably never will.  And it was Trudi who eventually knew why.  Hegi's style of revealing the story behind Emil and Gertrud is very unique.  The kind of thing that required the character a good imagination and the kind that requires the reader a better one.  It took me to reading, repeating it a few times in order for me to get the whole thing; to get what she's trying to say.  But, still, it feels like there is still something missing; something I am still missing.

The secret.

We all have secrets to tell.  We all hold secrets told by others.  Trudi held a secret at a very young age.  I wonder if she's too young to hold on to this one.  Because sometimes it feels like a secret becomes a burden, even to an adult.... too much to bear.  Sometimes, it felt like this becomes an even more burden to a child.  A guilt formed for knowing the story because they become part of the story, part of the sin.  A pain for being a child and not being able to do something about it, or rather, not being allowed to do something about it.

Only you were there.  Unless you told.

Her mother says.

And now it breeds more fear.

Sometimes it's better not to know.

Different

The agony of being different.

Trudi is different and she's in agony.

Aren't we all different from one another?

But she's indeed different.

But, I say, how different can we be to be considered different and be in agony?

The Good, The Bad and The Gypsy

The occasions made me a little busy though I should have been busier if not for the operation.  So, this means less time to read and more time with a lot of other things.  But I get to finish the book just a while ago.  I am kind of affected by the way things went on the last book.

This is in fact one of the most tragic books I have read by far.  This means that from the books I have read this year alone, and all those books I have read since I can remember.  I thought this was something fairy-tale-ish, since the thought that comes to me whenever I hear the title is those drawings made by Walt Disney.  Right now, I am still wondering what is the movie all about, considering what I have just read.

I am kinda sad because Quasimodo's life was never happy.  As it said in the book:

He mused on the wretched lot that providence had meted out to him - how woman, and the joys of love, were destined to pass under his eye without his ever being more than a witness to the happiness of others.

Everyone in that town sees him as a monster.  But with his actions, he never was to me.  Claude Frollo, on the other hand, was the good in the story.  Or, was he really?

Now, who really is the good?  Who is the bad?

The twist is that they both fell in love.  I was really quite surprised by the way each of them handled their emotions.  Not to mention the actions they took just to be closed to the one they love.

The mystery of the pink shoe was revealed but I must say that I had the idea of what this was all about at some point in the story.

The good, the bad and the gypsy all died.  Something that makes me wonder how the Walt Disney people presented this in the story, if they ever did at all.

As with Victor Hugo's style, I find it that, sometimes, due to the profoundness of the though of one of his characters, I feel that it was almost totally detached from the story.  That it looks far too perfect to be a part of the story and that it can be distinguished as the thought of the writer himself, and not the ordinary common character.

Some quotes:

I would rather be the head of the fly than the tail of a lion.

For, though one believes in nothing, there are moments in life when one accepts the religion of the temple nearest at hand.

It's often our best friends who make us fall.

There are two sides to every human act.  One man gets praised for what another gets blamed for.

Memory is the tormentor of jealousy.

The Cake And The Little Pink Shoes

I am now halfway through the story, but I tell you, this is the first time that I really got engaged with the story.  To tell you the truth, earlier today I almost went through my unread books, thinking of stopping reading The Hunchback and switch to a new one.  But I held on, because I really know want to know what the whole story is all about.

The temptation to stop started when Victor started talking about the streets of Paris and the architecture.  As I have written on my previous post, I think he overdid talking about the architecture of the country and how architecture was killed by printing.  You might find this a little disconnected as I had but if you want to know why printing killed architecture, I suggest you read the book.

Perseverance got me through.  But I must admit that even if he talked a lot about Paris and its architecture, there were a lot of things that I didn't grasp.  I was looking forward for the story.  I AM looking forward to the story.

The Story of the Cake is a chapter somewhere in the middle of the story.  I was actually confused as to its connection with Quasimodo or Esmeralda or Gringo.  But I think my determination to finish the story held on.  The chapter was a little bit off-beat somehow, but I believe there would be a connection and it would be explained later on.  The cake touched me less than the pair of little pink shoes.  Paquette was in recluse, with the pink little shoes, and was offered the cake.  She refused the cake, asking for black bread; refused the cloak, asked for a sack; refused the hippocras, asking for water instead.

Now, I have another thing to think about...  Because little Agnes has been introduced, I wonder if her story will be finished, or will it just be left that way?  Not to think that I am thinking if this is really about Quasimodo and Esmeralda, or is it really about Esmeralda and Gringoire, or is it really about Gringoire and Quasimodo?  Yes, I haven't read nor watch anything about The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.  Earlier today, I was also actually tempted to just watch the movie.  But I held on... to finishing the book.

The next chapter would be "A Tear for a Drop of Water."  Would this be the reason why Paquette refused the hipocrass?  Will this give at least a lead as to what happened to Agnes?

I only have to go on to find out.