#AutumnalCity discussion

Discussion of pages 301-400

The Kid is kind of at loose ends in this part of the book. I'm at the part where he can't find Lanya, so he ends up at Bunny's place drinking cheap wine out a jar. Then he ends up on a bus and going on a run with Nightmare, Denny and the Scorpions. We're introduced to more of the Scorpions by name and we get a better idea how the projection devices work (or don't work). Everything is a bit surreal here. Kid is drunk and we definitely get that sense from his actions and from the way these passages are written. I liked the part where Kid looks in the mirror and it freaks him out. I think its significant that Denny is just Denny, but the other Scorpions go by nicknames. If I remember correctly, he becomes more prominent as the novel progresses.

You do remember correctly, David! Need to check my printed book (disintegrating) but isn't this where the Kid starts losing big chunks of time?

I'll let you know when I get there. :) I'm betting that starts in Creatures of Light and Darkness. As I'm reading, I'm wondering why the discussion wasn't broken up into the 7 chapters. It's just as well. I've read most of this in the e-version, despite the fact it sort of sucks and it doesn't mark the chapters very well. Still waiting for my Vintage edition to arrive.

I'm also wondering if anyone else is reading this along the time line. I know Aloha got sidetracked into Women and Men, which I pretty much expected to happen once her book arrived.

That's a good point, David, and were this my second reading I would surely have broken things up that way. Since I didn't know how significant the section breaks would be (and I'm just coming down from a discussion of another book with no chapter/section breaks at all), pages seemed to be the way to go. My bad.

I'm still keeping up. Got to 430 yesterday while waiting for an animation exhibition at the museum.

No problem on doing it by page breaks. You had to break it down somehow. It's easy for me to say do it by chapter because this is my 4th reading of it.

I just got to the part where Kid loses time. We find out during his conversation with Lanya in the Church basement in part 4 of In Time Of Plague. He's lost 5 days and only remembers the equivalent of 1. They're mad at each other. They end up having sex in the church basement-- of course. Kid wakes up and she's one again. This is where it gets interesting (or more interesting). Has it been a matter of hours or a matter of days? Suddenly Kid isn't a very reliable narrator. In the 5 days he lost he becomes some sort of legend among the Scorpions. Was it simply because he saved someone's life or did a whole lot happen he's lost and therefore hasn't written about? Maybe the notebook was his to begin with, but he doesn't remember any of it? We don't know and I'd say neither does he.