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After FINALY finishing both books and reading your comments... thanks to those of you unlike me who blogged during the summer and asked the questions I'm sure we all had while reading, especially during Song of Solomon.

I would like to say that I really enjoyed the story structure they both had. The divided plot line confused me at first where the authors would mention something that was not yet explained (finger sucking SOS/Smokey the Bear MBW), but both had a way of giving the reader the background later on where you would get that whole "ohh" moment. I hadn't really read any books with that type of structure so predominant throughout the story. Good exposure.

I loved the character names in Song of Solomon and the whole overall theme of Milkman trying to fly and learning to find his place. I'm interested in finding out what you all thought of the symbols of the character names, and what the people represented as well as their motives. Why did Guitar change so much in the end, or was he just the same as before? Milkman's sisters Lena and First Corinthians still child like in their forties, Hagar's deadly affection for Milkman, Macon and Ruth's relationship/early courtship, and Pilate's navel. Morrison's character development lost me a little bit when she skipped through Milkman's life at times and there were other parts that left me confused (the whole killing of the man in the cave, the bag of bones, gold mystery). We'll talk in class.

Both authors were such descriptors!

John Nichols described some aspects well (the coyote, the dusty Milagro town) but it took me a while to understand his characters names/nicknames that were often too similar. I loved poor Herbie and the arm of Onofre. where did that come from? Nichols definitely had some OConnor-type characters. The whole Beanfield War got monotonous for me at times and I have lots of questions for you guys, but overall the story had some elements that interested me: Old vs. New, Race issues (as did Morrison of course), and the different characters' interpretations of life and value. What did the Beanfield actually represent?
Okay but the whole "Ai, Chihuahua" thing bugged me after the first couple of times, "que no?"

See you guys tomorrow
sorry sheehy for my lame procrastination on the blog

I sadly haven't read that far, but the current year in that book so far as I know is 1972.
Two more days before school starts and I'm still struggling to get through that book. >.> I get mixed up on which character is which, but it's interesting how the author sets up the background for each character (even though there are a lot of them with the same first name or last name or something). I think I like the one about Amarante Córdova the most right now...

Where has everyone been anyway?

The Milagro Beanfield War

Well hello to everyone. I hope everybody is having a good summer. Well I just wanted to know if anybody that is reading the book knows during what time period this book is taking place. I am really enjoying the book. I especailly like the way the writer sets up the scene and introduces all the the characters with a description. For example, the part where he descibes the relationship beteen Flossie and Shorty ( I think that was an example of what Viet had posted earlier about it having very descriptive sences). Well thats it for now. Bye.....

Oh well . . .

I should have read all the comments made since I left for vacation. I assumed they were mostly Harry Potter. Sonya already make Mr. Kundera's point. Sorry.

HP?

I haven't read Harry Potter, so I can't really comment there. I'll ask my wife who read it immediately.

I am enjoying Milagro Beanfield War. I hadn't read it before, nor have I seen the movie version. Like Song of Solomon, the book is obviously political and a bit preachy but not simplistic. A novelist I admire, Milan Kundera, says that literary novels are the place where every significant character has the right to be understood no matter what anyone, even the author, thinks of their behavior. Both of these books pass this test.

I'm not tearing through the book, but the writer knows some stuff, the characters are increasingly interesting, and the situation and events aren't completely obvious.

I doubt that contemporary high school students will read this without threats or rewards or some mix of both. Is anybody trying this one?

HP 7...

I hope this is okay to talk about.. harry potter is indeed a book, and a great story, so I'm going to continue on with this post.. The ending was so lame! I hated the whole long conversation, but I suppose it was nescessary. I just wish it happened differently. The whole memory was weird and made me see many plot holes and majorly drew my attention to how crafty JK really is. The epilogue was crap. Only it had to be that way I guess this way nothing is left unsaid or dealt and can't be changed if someone or even JK wanted to continue and fudge up the whole theory of 7 books to represent the lucky wizard number and for the years you attend hogwarts... Next post I should talk about Milagro Beanfield War, it's an okay book. Is anyone else reading it?

Harry Potter

I agree it was pretty cheezy and anticlimactic in the epilogue, but she ended it the way she had to. i would have been dissappointed otherwise, although i wish we heard more about the other characters.