let me ask about lionel asbo, what did you think of him working the quote who let the dogs in, which appears before the first chapter (which i thought was gonna be a trite comment on who let the trash into the upper class by quoting a very trashy song) and then finding it worked into the dialog of the last chapter totally relevant to the plot? that was technically brilliant to me. uncle li, who let the dogs in? who, who let the dogs in. (i really thought the baby was dead). i also loved the symmetry of the first and last chapter mimicking each others syntax and prose. he mentions a symmetrical poem in house of meetings and then he kinda writes it in lionel asbo. i also loved the loaded name of lion-el, the way he pronounces it (bringing to mind a lion and his pride), and all the pride he had in him which he was always denying existed at all. like when he actually calls the warden sir when he learns hes won a lot of money. the first sign that money, even the possibility of money, will indeed change him despite his claim to an unchanging nature represented by his name (anti social behavior disorder). the split nature of des's race with all the good, intelligence, height and strength coming from the black father he had and not the other white relatives which is what everyone wants to think (dawns fathers brain size comments come to mind). grace aging and dying anything but gracefully. i could keep going but a lot of this technicality in his writing was amazing to me. i also loved the love dread that des had for lionel, i know that feeling first hand and very up close (the fear and dependency). it felt very accurate to me and the line about there being inconceivable voids in des's knowledge also rung home for me. as an aside the topless models are no more and have just been done away with.
the rachel papers is the book im kinda fearing to read as i think i wont connect to its subject matter whatsoever. it feels like its gonna be very generational with no connection to my lifes experience at all. sex is kinda taken for granted in todays times so i dont understand the conscious pursuit of it as a motivation for a character in as novel. anyway still reading the pregnant widow which is good in style so far but im wondering if ill connect to the plot at all. i liked his comments on times passing and its effect on peoples psyches but his comments on womens measurements seems kinda lame to me so far. who does that. no one ive ever known