Reading the Chunksters discussion

Week 3 discussion - Chapters 9-12

Hi Guys - sorry I'm a day late getting this going. How's everyone doing this week. Who's still with us? Ok so we are just over 300 pages in and wow I don't really feel like we've gotten very far. I was pretty much holding my breath though this section waiting to see what was going to happen to Elaine. What happened was not what I was expecting but I was glad for no more rape and torture descriptions. We also found out that Carlotta's son is with Elaine's group.

I had a pretty good idea of what a hair shirt was but I checked Wiki just to be sure.
A cilice /ˈsɪlɨs/ was originally a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair (a hairshirt) worn close to the skin. It was used in some religious traditions to induce discomfort or pain as a sign of repentance and atonement.

Cilices were originally made from sackcloth or coarse animal hair so they would irritate the skin. Other features were added to make cilices more uncomfortable, such as thin wires or twigs.

So that is what Caspar was wearing to atone for his supposed sins. When I think about how annoying a tag is in a shirt I don't think I would be a good candidate for that. The scene with Caspar and the Princess was strange. Eleazard asks the same question I wondered in his notebooks when he asks "Why does Schott use Latin for the lewd passages when the language was understood by the majority of readers of his time?" Any thought on that and on why they were translated as footnotes?

Moema, Thais and Roetgen are still swimming, drinking, doing drugs, and having sex is there a point to this? I liked the potential for their arc but I found it pretty boring this week.

Let's hear what you guys think.

I'm finishing Quincunx at the moment so I need a couple more days before I comment on this part, but I definitely want to read on.

Teanka wrote: "I'm finishing Quincunx at the moment so I need a couple more days before I comment on this part, but I definitely want to read on."

Same! I hope to be caught up by the weekend, but I am still on-board!

I finally finished this section, sorry that it took so long.

Amanda wrote: "Moema, Thais and Roetgen are still swimming, drinking, doing drugs, and having sex is there a point to this? I liked the potential for their arc but I found it pretty boring this week."

Same here. I don't know what is the point of all these sex and drugs descriptions. They seem to dominate the story, even in the Kircher plot. I got pretty bored after a while. This section was probably the worst one for me so far. As for Elaine, didn't you feel sorry for Milton who died and the other guy with the injured leg in a jungle? I thought what happened was even worse than I expected, and Herman is still with the group so who knows what happens next.

I did feel sorry for Elaine and her group. I'm not sure what is going to happen to them. That is the part of the story I am most interested in but every week we only get a tiny bit. Im finding this to be a bit of a frustrating read.

Amanda wrote: "Im finding this to be a bit of a frustrating read. "

I agree! Mostly I am frustrated because I am halfway through and have NO idea where this is going. I really have no comments either...I feel like this book is sort of just there. Each story in an of itself is a semi-interesting little tid-bit, but so far its really neither good or bad for me. Just completely and totally neutral. Weird.

Totally agree Kaycie. I'm finding it to be a very difficult book to discuss. I don't hate it. I just really have much to say about it. Hopefully the second half will improve.