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Charm and Strange
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From: Elsa Marston <elsa.marston_at_gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 12:52:16 -0400
I was gripped by Stephanie Kuehn's novel, *Charm and Strange*, had to find out where it was going, how it would turn out, and what it might *mean. * I felt that the author was writing with remarkable authority and competence in an extremely difficult area of psychology AND a most challenging literary style. I think the book certainly deserves the praise it has received.
At the end I had a lot of unresolved questions in my mind. That's not necessarily an undesirable thing, especially for a book like this. But I would like to know what Stephanie has to say about this question.
Throughout the book we get hints that something bad happened when Win was 10 years old, and that his brother and sister are no longer part of his life now that he's about 16. We've also gotten the impression that the kids' parents are not very loving or effective; they seem cold and distracted--but not much else.(At any rate, I didn't get much more of an impression than that.) Then near the very end we learn what happened, and it comes as a shock.
I wonder why Stephanie did not more explicitly prepare the reader for the decision that the kids make. ( I'm trying not to reveal too much.) It seemed to me to be such an enormous decision that I found it hard to believe, without more background and build-up. Why did Stephanie choose to reveal the facts of the incident--and possibly some hints about what led up to it--only vaguely, almost only by innuendo? I felt it must have been a deliberate decision.
Thank you, Stephanie, for any comments you care to make on this. And congratulations!
Elsa www.elsamarston.com
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Received on Wed 23 Jul 2014 11:52:40 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 12:52:16 -0400
I was gripped by Stephanie Kuehn's novel, *Charm and Strange*, had to find out where it was going, how it would turn out, and what it might *mean. * I felt that the author was writing with remarkable authority and competence in an extremely difficult area of psychology AND a most challenging literary style. I think the book certainly deserves the praise it has received.
At the end I had a lot of unresolved questions in my mind. That's not necessarily an undesirable thing, especially for a book like this. But I would like to know what Stephanie has to say about this question.
Throughout the book we get hints that something bad happened when Win was 10 years old, and that his brother and sister are no longer part of his life now that he's about 16. We've also gotten the impression that the kids' parents are not very loving or effective; they seem cold and distracted--but not much else.(At any rate, I didn't get much more of an impression than that.) Then near the very end we learn what happened, and it comes as a shock.
I wonder why Stephanie did not more explicitly prepare the reader for the decision that the kids make. ( I'm trying not to reveal too much.) It seemed to me to be such an enormous decision that I found it hard to believe, without more background and build-up. Why did Stephanie choose to reveal the facts of the incident--and possibly some hints about what led up to it--only vaguely, almost only by innuendo? I felt it must have been a deliberate decision.
Thank you, Stephanie, for any comments you care to make on this. And congratulations!
Elsa www.elsamarston.com
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Received on Wed 23 Jul 2014 11:52:40 AM CDT
