The trunk (again)
Maybe Watson was lying about its purpose, but I didn't take it that way. His books were his life so it makes sense that he'd want them protected. But, he knew that the best way to transport them was bundled up with string. Anne, though, had suggested that he get a trunk to move them. I think he…

So wait
Watson was crazy when he thought animals could reason? I'm pretty sure modern behavioral science agrees that many mammals and birds at least, as well as some members of other phyla do reason. Where's the crazy?

This is already on netflix instant for those interested.

"these people are making stupid and pointless and human mistakes and Bainbridge is saying that's inescapable"

This club has a normal wheelhouse? To me, the selections have been all over the place. How would you describe the wheelhouse?

Oh, I'm with you on that point, definitely.

Very well stated. While reading, I thought of this book as a condemnation of the limited roles women were allowed in this world, so I never thought we were supposed to dislike Anne. For me, the book was saying, this is what happens to women in this situation; what else could we possible expect?

I dunno, Watson just wasn't talented as a writer or scholar. He was very successful for most of his career as the headmaster, wasn't he? Enrollment was up and his students won awards and I think his pupils appreciated his methods. Then times changed and the style of education that Watson was trained in fell from…

Ha! I wonder what the connotations of Glory Hole were when Bainbridge wrote this and in the Victorian era. I'm not gonna sort through that Google mess, though. Surely a writer can't put those two words together without noticing the obvious possible interpretation, though. So her glory hole was right next to his…

The Sex
I wondered a bit about this as I was reading, but do we know that their relationship was sexless?

Anne and Watson's marriage I believe utterly and have no problem accepting the situations that led to their coupling. However, I never believed in Martin and his dark haired beauty's relationship or their motivations for entering into it. She was a young beauty (though not really interested in men) and Martin was…

Damn
That's some fine essaying on the economic influence on this marriage by Donna and El-P. I hadn't considered it as carefully as you two have and I really enjoyed reading your analysis.

Yep, I even sympathized with the murderous side of Watson in this book. I felt bad for Anne's need to lash out and provoke and I felt bad that he lost control. It happens to almost all of us. Has anyone in a relationship not been provoked to the point of physical violence (at the very least throwing things,…

I liked both characters and sympathized with both of them a lot. They were both stuck in various ways because of things that weren't their fault: predetermined gender role, family's financial ruin, age, social expectations, lack of family or good examples of relationships, introverted personality, etc. I think most…

B+? That's way too high for a book that breaks Chekov's Law: someone should have been killed by that oyster shell.

I like that take on Fred. I had a lot of sympathy for the main characters so I didn't see it that way until you mentioned it. I probably (definitely) value kindness and conflict-avoidance over candor, anyway, much less Fred's style of effrontery.

Doesn't this kid get more worked up than anybody in Benny's Video? Yes, he's been numbed by the video clips, but he fights his buddy over the girl (even the worst sex possible is worth more than online porn, apparently) and he gets pissed at his buddy for accidentally killing the girls. So that's at least some…

I see what you're saying. I wonder if the Victorian setting/repression/polite society as well as Watson living nearly completely in his own head have something to do with the clinical tone you mention. Could a story in this setting with these characters be told in any other way?

Wrapped up in Books
We've read a number of books about books (or at least about stories)—Wrestler's, Little Big, Cloud Atlas, etc—but JS Watson is easily the most wrapped up in books character we've seen so far. His explanation of the ordered-but-never-delivered chest was heartbreaking for me. What a defining moment.

Yeah, that vacation guy—Fred's dad, I think (and what a dick, that Fred, huh?). Polite society—another barrier keeping people from some kind of truth. Victorian repression is yet another in this book, right?