I started it!
Have people started yet? First impressions?/second first impressions?
Gonna get back into reading my copy tonight.
Iām up to about chapter 11 and Score is as self-absorbed this time through as he was the last time! Though @_tonibell notes are helping me appreciate some of the more subtle things that are going on in the book.
Did I mention this book makes me really glad I never had any brothers? Well, it does.
a quote I particularly like āPeople who wear Smiths shirts donāt use emoticons.ā pg 59
Iām now up to chapter 45. Does anyone else find it hard to keep track of the characters, especially since they all have dual names?! I wish the peripheral characters (e.g. Al, Cruz, Volta, MK, Ash) were a little more fleshed out too (no pun intended , thereās enough bared flesh in this book to last a lifetime). I think that would help me keep up.
Couple of quotes I like:
"ā¦I sleep for what seems to be about ten minutes before Holly scolds āShouldnāt you be in class young man?āā¦
āIām not missing anything. And the bed wanted to practiceāā¦āCome on, help it learn its partā (pg 192).
āIāve got a new-wave, soccer-hooligan, rock-nā-roll runner type thing happening hereā (pg 209). Still trying to get my head round this!
@STORMS do you get PK and LFLA delivered at the same time? Or has PK been delivered already?
Because the chapters are so short, I feel like itās so easy to just breeze through the book. This structure also helps with organizing whatās going on and when/with whom (since some of these characters are harder to follow than others). I feel like it wouldāve been a lot harder to read had the chapters been a more traditional length. Though I can def see where youāre coming from with losing track of characters/their dual identities. I think itās an easier read the second (or in my case, third) time around!
Soooā¦Iāve finished the book but am still a tad confused. I think I read it too fast towards the end and missed out on some subtle things (P.s. this is the 2nd time Iāve read it - read it when it first came out 5 years ago but have next to no recollection of it - think my brain just chose to forget the depravity!).
Hmmm, will have to have another flick back throughā¦
I really do feel like you could write an entire paper about Mike/Scoreās lighter in this book. When he uses it, what it signifies about his emotional stateā¦
What are you still confused about?
Spoilers for those that havenāt yet read the book:
Iāve read parts again and there were extra clues pointing to Hollyās true nature that I missed at first - the shark references which I didnāt get at first, her eyes that constantly seemed to change colour and the wine bottles that always seemed to be near her. There were clues all along that Holly wasnāt what Mike thought she was and that she was more āexperiencedā than he thought too but Mike was oblivious to these - The whole ālove is blindā thing I guess, although it was clear that it was more infatuation with her rather than love, and more so, infatuaton with his idea of her, rather than than the reality of her.
However I still have some questions about Holly. Why did she never get involved in the scenes properly and get with Mike before the end? Was it because it was novel for her to be treated in a less-sexualised manner than she was used to? Because she genuinely liked Mike and wanted to take it slow with him?
I also donāt get the repition of that phrase she says/:
āSo I amā¦just donāt donāt get any on meā - canāt figure this out.
Stella and Mike - I do think Mike/Score does have some genuine feelings for Stella throughout the book but at the same time, he shows a lack of care i.e., using her for āfame/potential fameā even if she does the same to him; and being ok with/willingly ignoring her āactivitiesā with others (which again is mutual). He does in a way see whatās been infront of him all along but equally his rose-tinted view of Holly has now transferred to Stella.
Finally, if Stella and Holly were as close as they seemed, Holly surely would have shared her feelings for Mike with Stella. Did Stella manufacture the situation of āruiningā her friend and ruining the chances of Mike and Holly for her own benefit?
Iām just going to point out that @_tonibell just got mentioned on the podcast that went up today (not by name, but Davey is aware of your existence!) The podcast is called 2 hours with Matt Pinfield.
What? Really? Obviously not my name but he mentioned me?
He mentioned there was someone teaching his book, putting it on their syllabus next to Lolita, and he was VERY flattered
I just listened. Yep, thatās me. He had retweeted my photo of the books ages ago. That was adorable and so sweet. Thanks for telling me. I wouldnāt have checked it out otherwise. I normally donāt have the attention span for podcasts.
I wouldnāt let you miss it!
Towards the end (like 10 minutes from the end) they do talk book recommendations, in case you didnāt get that far and would be interested in that
I was able to listen to 1/2 of it before I had to go back to work, but Iāll finish it later. Thank you again!
something that occurred to me about Hollyā¦and this may not play out as I finish my re-read of the book, but is it possible that sheās actually in love with Stella/Sarah? And getting close to Mike is just a means of getting close to her? I mean, Mike thinks sheās looking at him, but itās possible sheās looking at Stellaā¦I donāt know, just a thought I had.
I think itās implied that she and Stella had a thing but whether it was serious on her part or just fooling around, Iām not sure. Then again, Stella has a thing with everyone!
Has anyone figured out what the play/musical isnāt that Score is in? The only one I can figure out is Pippin, which is a musical. Itās referred to as both in the bookā¦