The January Big Read

[rathbone]

Time to start posting for this month.

Remember, the Marya Marking Matrix is not mandatory!!

Plot: I thought the basic plot was fine, but kept getting the feeling that he wanted to write a bigger book. The further he got into the plot the more it seemed he was getting rushed. The last couple of 'lessons' could have been expanded and my, didn't those birthdays fly by at the end?

Setting: A large part of my pluky youth in the sixties was spent working evenings and weekends at Fun City, so I have first hand experience of that setting, which he captured quire well. Heaven, I have yet to know.

Characters: While the premise of the book is based on the five people Eddie meets, the uniformity of the 'voice' meant that there was little differentiation between them. I could have done with better focus on each of the characters. Sometimes the attempts to dig deeper (ie the explanation for Eddie's Dad's behaviour) came too late and didn't really get very far below the surface.

Theme: I've come across this idea before, but quite like the concept of the ability / responsibility of closure after death. Not sure that I look forward to an eternity of waiting around to be one of someone else's five though.

Language: The language was simple and straightforward, which suited Eddie and carried the story along. However, the lack of differentiation in the voice meant that all of the characters sounded the same, which tended to flatten the narrative.

Narrative Style: Ultimately I think that Albom became hampered rather than helped by the form he chose. The birthday interventions began to irritate me because it was not clear what the significance of each birthday was, particularly during the rush towards the end, and that tended to distract me from the 'people' and 'lesson' sections.

Having said all of that, I'd like to thank Foxy for suggesting this one. It's not the type of book I would normally pick up and I really enjoyed it.

[bellybabe]

[foxy]

[Maria]

Sorry bit late with this but just finished it today......

I enjoyed this book.
To start with the death of the main character is a great narrative hook that certainly pulled me in from the start as I followed the countdown to Eddie's departure from this mortal coil. I was also urged to read on throughout the novel as I wanted to know the answer to Eddie's question, "Did the little girl survive?"
The setting of the fairground was most interesting as it acted as a barometer of the changing times, contrasting with the lack of change in Eddie's own life. However, the use of colour to convey the mood of different periods of Eddie's life didn't really work I felt.
The plot device of Eddie's birthdays was an effective way to convey his ageing process which also mirrored the changes he felt in his body, with each new 'conversation'. The different typography used for the birthday sections also helped to separate them from the rest of the narrative and define them as markers of specific periods in his life. The the reader could then see how much of Eddie's life remained to be 'explained'.
I was intrigued by the meeting with the blue man, but found the character of the Captain rather clichéd (for example, he came from 3 generations of military men and vowed that 'no-one gets left behind'). The descriptions of being held prisoner seemed too quickly skimmed over like many sections in the novel. Like Rathbone I felt frustrated at Ruby's explanation of Eddie's Dad's behaviour. I found it difficult to believe that Eddie would have suddenly forgiven his Dad at that point - I wouldn't have. The meeting with Marguerite was very sentimental but enjoyable - I must have some romance in me I guess!-
and of course, the last meeting is very poignant.

Each person Eddie meets ends his/her conversation with Eddie with a moral; it may be the importance of the sacrifices we make or the value of loyalty and forgiveness etc. but for me the central theme can be summed up by the title of the John Donne poem,

[ecm]

[Maria]