MJ's Challenge ~ The Voyage Out

[RoyalChick]

I can't do killing puppies. Sorrow. I won't read it because of that. And Heathcliffe & Kathy drive me nuts.

Oh I love it. The ultimate bodice-ripper with all those brooding emotions out in the middle of nowhere. I love it at multiple levels. The racist premise is fascinating and it is a rollicking good yarn to boot. Killing the dog is an essential symbolic act in the plot to make sure we keep thinking of Heathcliffe in the right way and don't get too sympathetic.
Ooops - sorry - back to TVO - sorry if I am slowing folk down - bad week at work - but Friday afternoon will be my opportunity to binge read!

 

[drstratton]

I'm a rather passive reader and take things at face value. I'm glad to be getting your points of view to help me think beyond the printed word.

This is how I am too. Reading this with all of you has definitely made me look deeper than I would have on my own.

Perhaps we should do "Wuthering Heights" next. I vowed never to read it again because Heathcliffe and Kathy drove me to distraction.

I've never read this either!

 

[MaryJanet]

Oh I love it. The ultimate bodice-ripper with all those brooding emotions out in the middle of nowhere. I love it at multiple levels. The racist premise is fascinating and it is a rollicking good yarn to boot. Killing the dog is an essential symbolic act in the plot to make sure we keep thinking of Heathcliffe in the right way and don't get too sympathetic.
Ooops - sorry - back to TVO - sorry if I am slowing folk down - bad week at work - but Friday afternoon will be my opportunity to binge read!

I read Wuthering Heights as a teenager and a couple of times since. I like that the oppression of women makes Cathy awful and that the rigid class hierarchy inflicts so much damage in the characters lives, long after Cathy has died. I also like Hindley's funny wife who's both horrid yet somehow evoking of sympathy, eeew her tight hair and snippy ways, but she can't help it.

Actually a thought I had last night was that in TVO, Helen is obliged by social norms to be untrue to herself. She believes one thing "ambrose must rest" and is obliged to act differently "make a workspace for ambrose" and thus social norms coerce her into a dishonest life. She is compelled by oppression to become a liar.

Same with Cathy in Wuthering Heights. She loves Heathcliff but social norms (and frankly, more than a little venality) coerce her to marry someone else.

I'm not sure Jane Austen ever revealed the pains inflicted by social hierarachy quite as effectively. A little in Persuasion. Maybe in Emma.

 

[MaryJanet]

Or maybe Helen simply wants her husband occupied so that she can have a little peace abd quiet?

 

[drstratton]

Hello ladies! I'm just getting ready to start reading Chapter 3. We will be traveling tomorrow and not be home until Sunday. Hopefully I will have some time to check in over the next couple of days!

 

[Ribh]

Yes I read 3 tonight because I was on babysitting duties. First time Ive really seen Woolfes humour.

 

[Ribh]

Actually a thought I had last night was that in TVO, Helen is obliged by social norms to be untrue to herself. She believes one thing "ambrose must rest" and is obliged to act differently "make a workspace for ambrose" and thus social norms coerce her into a dishonest life. She is compelled by oppression to become a liar.

Oh. I read that completely differently. I read that convention says she must seem the concerned wife but the reality is he will work & doesnt really need a rest @ all.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

I can't do killing puppies. Sorrow. I won't read it because of that. And Heathcliffe & Kathy drive me nuts.

Glad I'm not the only one! I must have blocked out the bit about killing puppies .

Yes, best to avoid it then.

 

[Ribh]

Glad I'm not the only one! I must have blocked out the bit about killing puppies .

Yes, best to avoid it then.

I have a long list of books I will never finish/read again because I dont do animal cruelty - not even the pretend sort.

 

[Ribh]

Oh I love it. The ultimate bodice-ripper with all those brooding emotions out in the middle of nowhere. I love it at multiple levels. The racist premise is fascinating and it is a rollicking good yarn to boot. Killing the dog is an essential symbolic act in the plot to make sure we keep thinking of Heathcliffe in the right way and don't get too sympathetic.
Ooops - sorry - back to TVO - sorry if I am slowing folk down - bad week at work - but Friday afternoon will be my opportunity to binge read!

I've never done bodice rippers...And the only western I've ever read is Shane.

As for TVO...Now the story is starting to settle into it's rhythm I'm really enjoying it. I rather like Mrs Dalloway so far & her comments are hilarious.

I am also thinking the lack of comment on the purpose of the trip or expectations around it are very deliberate so as to make it seem we've dropped into these lives mid~stream as it were, where not everything is explained or understood & some things never will be.