Well, Arturism is definitely taking the "freak by design" thing a step further. But I think we're supposed to realize it is a step too far. Al and Lil use all sorts of different methods to try to create a number of unique children, all with their own special "gifts." But Arturism creates hundreds/thousands of…

I read the "100 miles" as metaphor.

Yeah, I had never heard of it, either, and I am a fairly big lit person. Though I have some major gaps in American lit because most of the stuff I've read has been foreign (was a comparative lit major, not an English major), so it's not that unusual for something to sneak past me.

Except I thought Chick was actually underutilized. I kept thinking of things he might do, but he never did any of them. He really just existed as Arty's tool, not as his own person.

The Lick/Arty connection is certainly interesting, but I'm not sure that Oly's murder of Lick is a rejection of Arty/Arturism. While Lick admits being inspired by Arturism, her surgeries don't include the element of volition that existed under Arturism. I'm not just referencing Lick's "botched" surgeries, but also…

I kinda had the "these people should be locked up" reaction (though not to extent I would have had it been a true story or whatnot) - I think it just came too early in the novel for me to accept it as even part of the carnival's odd sense of normality. But I think it was kinda necessary at the beginning (rather than…

Admittedly, the doctor was pretty screwed up to begin with, since the novel details her having performed surgeries on herself in the past. As for the reporter (Norval?), I think he stuck around to get the story, not the religion. He just had to be willing to give up a toe periodically as the cost of getting the…

I can't imagine a movie version of this would be any good.

At the same time, the Bag Man, who was normal until his failed suicide, is the most irrationally aggressive character in the novel. So I'm not sure that the "norms are better" thing was really intentional (or subconscious).

I don't remember them off the top of my head, but I do recall several little hints that suggested to me that the Notes for Now were roughly set around the time the book was published (though perhaps a little earlier, like the early 80s), which would put the main part of the novel in the 60s or so. But, like I said, I…

Can' say I agree - for me, at least, the AV Club comment boards become unusable after they reach much further down than the first page (partly because I don't have all day to read comments). By splitting it up into shorter articles, it allows people to actually be able to say something worthwhile without having it…

Agree with Zack - with some novels, things come together suddenly at the end in a way that feels natural. Here, the destruction of the carnival was so sudden (if inevitable) that it didn't really seem to fit into what was around it. Though I'm probably more comfortable with the Miss Lick stuff at the end than others…

I think you are right about the norm girls, dougery, but I'm not sure that means I was wrong about Arty really wanting to be norm. He could sleep with all the norms he wanted, but in the end, none of them would really love him, except for the Arturan "freaks." It's like the bit about the boy Iphy fell in love with -…

@Buck-toothed Girl - What do you think that says about Arty? It suggests that he didn't really believe a bit in Arturism and that he really did want to be normal, while Oly seemed to buy into the "freaks are better than norms" line hook, line and sinker.

Okay, which cover is the original? I bought a used copy off of abebooks that claims to be a first edition (not that you can trust that…) and it has the orange cover.

I'm also inclined to think Dunn purposely used a title that most people would misunderstand. Plus, the use of a cover that doesn't give anything of the story away.

Agree about keeping it separate posts - depending on when they go up, it can be pretty difficult to catch up with the discussion later, so it's nice to be able to jump in at a later point.

Yeah, I'm not saying I disliked Chick - I just wish we had more of a look at what he was thinking and how he changed. The book was just too much about Arty when there were all of these other interesting characters around. Granted, that's because Oly was completely obsessed with him and was narrating his story to…

At one point, one of the initiates complained that Chick wasn't being careful enough and that he felt pain when Chick wasn't around. I expected this to lead somewhere - to Chick being overburdened and saying "screw this" and walking, and suddenly everyone would feel all the pain he had held back from them. (This…

Hell, it almost makes sense in the context of the story for Arty to have killed Al to gain control of the carnival. I can't imagine that that would make the reader like Arty less, since the kid's already killed his sister and tried to kill his brother…