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House of the Scorpion and Feed
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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 07:45:47 -0500
Put me in the I-hope-Scorpion-wins-the-Newbery camp. It is a wonderfully imagined world, brilliantly plotted. And while as a reader I would have preferred to have the book end with Matt leaving Opium while the rest of the story was divided and explored more deeply in sequels (as I agree that Opium and its inhabitants are far more developed than the other places and people), as a writer I am sympathetic to Farmer feeling that this is the way she wanted to tell this particular story. Having recently dipped back into The Lord of the Rings (to remind myself of the missing bits in The Two Towers movie) and having repeatedly returned to His Dark Materials, I'm in awe of those who can spend so long developing a world and epic plot as did Tolkien and Pullman through three large books. Opium is a dark place; perhaps Farmer did not want to live in and near it for the many years it would have taken to write a trilogy.
My first reaction to Feed was that it read just like A Clockwork Orange. Certainly that first line is wonderful, but the the moon section felt so Burgess to me and thus quite derivative. I kept waiting for some of that ultra-violence with Beethoven's Fifth booming along with Alex/Malcolm McDowell (my teen heartthrob, anyone ever seen "If..."?) leering into Kubrick's camera (as the book and movie are irresistibly linked in my memory) and was mightily relieved when it became clear that it wasn't that sort of book. Thus, the language did not seem as original to me as it may have to others. However, once they returned home the book became far more unique and interesting for me and I enjoyed the author's imagining of an advertising-driven-dystopic future. However, I agree again with fairrosa
(and those who know us know that we tend to have similar reactions to books!) that I had been expecting something more profound ultimately. Feed was message-lite for me. Farmer in Scorpion, Tolkien in LOTR, and Pullman in HDM are promoting equally strong messages; however, I think the depth of their worlds and characters make readers like me care about them much more and consider their messages without feeling preached to as was the case for me with Feed.
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Sat 18 Jan 2003 06:45:47 AM CST
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 07:45:47 -0500
Put me in the I-hope-Scorpion-wins-the-Newbery camp. It is a wonderfully imagined world, brilliantly plotted. And while as a reader I would have preferred to have the book end with Matt leaving Opium while the rest of the story was divided and explored more deeply in sequels (as I agree that Opium and its inhabitants are far more developed than the other places and people), as a writer I am sympathetic to Farmer feeling that this is the way she wanted to tell this particular story. Having recently dipped back into The Lord of the Rings (to remind myself of the missing bits in The Two Towers movie) and having repeatedly returned to His Dark Materials, I'm in awe of those who can spend so long developing a world and epic plot as did Tolkien and Pullman through three large books. Opium is a dark place; perhaps Farmer did not want to live in and near it for the many years it would have taken to write a trilogy.
My first reaction to Feed was that it read just like A Clockwork Orange. Certainly that first line is wonderful, but the the moon section felt so Burgess to me and thus quite derivative. I kept waiting for some of that ultra-violence with Beethoven's Fifth booming along with Alex/Malcolm McDowell (my teen heartthrob, anyone ever seen "If..."?) leering into Kubrick's camera (as the book and movie are irresistibly linked in my memory) and was mightily relieved when it became clear that it wasn't that sort of book. Thus, the language did not seem as original to me as it may have to others. However, once they returned home the book became far more unique and interesting for me and I enjoyed the author's imagining of an advertising-driven-dystopic future. However, I agree again with fairrosa
(and those who know us know that we tend to have similar reactions to books!) that I had been expecting something more profound ultimately. Feed was message-lite for me. Farmer in Scorpion, Tolkien in LOTR, and Pullman in HDM are promoting equally strong messages; however, I think the depth of their worlds and characters make readers like me care about them much more and consider their messages without feeling preached to as was the case for me with Feed.
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Sat 18 Jan 2003 06:45:47 AM CST
