Mic Breaks Only discussion

***Open discussion of chapters 41 - 50 below, no spoilers needed. Be sure you have read through chapter 50 before reading! Note: if this is your first visit to this topic I recommend you read this post about discussion ideas, then skip down and post your initial response, then read and respond to other people's posts.***

At the very least check in here when you finish chapter 50 and tell us if you are enjoying the book. I'll post specific discussion ideas below, along with some general topics we'll see repeated throughout the book. If you have additional ideas post them and I'll add them to this post.

Chapter 41 - 50 discussions:

1) Post your ideas!

2) Post your ideas!

General Discussions:

1) Share your favorite quote(s) from this section.

2) Do you have a favorite or most intriguing character at this point in the novel?

Location reminder

If you are returning to this topic after having continued past chapter 50, here is a plot reminder:

Campbell tries to wake up while being moved to the Bull's barn.

GO!

This will be a brief one for me. Ghosts has turned into pure action. The political intrigue and mystery that brought a freshness to the first half have dissolved into a blur of stale exposition and violent sequences.

I still have a flicker of hope for there to be a last minute twist coming up.

Character: I feel really bad for the dogs. That is all.

I agree Andrew there seems to be less background now as the story has been explained and now it is full of violence and death.

I also feel bad for the dogs, but I do find Campbells situation fitting. He is one of my least favorite characters because he has no cause he is fighting for other than his own greed.

The threat of Bull's character was implied early on but I was not prepared for how horrible he is, he has no respect for life other than his own and his families.

Almost done, funny how slow the 1st chapter was for me and the closer I get to the end of the book it is going so fast!

@Sally the Bad Irishwoman: I love your insight into Campbell, it illuminated the main reason I could give a shite less about his character.

What role is Campbell meant to play in this book? At first it seemed like he was Fegan's nemesis/future assassin, now it seems like he is fighting to keep Fegan alive. This part of the book was all about Campbell, or maybe it seemed this way because as a character he is most confusing to me. Something significant happened to him during the drive to O'Kane's compound with Marie and Ellen, but I wasn't totally sure what it was. The specific section was "No, he didn't hate her, he didn't even know her. But hate was in his heart. Who for? When the answer came, as hard and sure as any single thing he'd ever known, he could hold her gaze no longer." What is this? Is he disgusted in being a pawn in this whole scenario? Is he tired of being undercover? Does he finally realize he doesn't really have a horse in this race... "And there was Davy Campbell, standing alone at the center of the room, the Black Watch turncoat, the Scotsman fighting for Ireland."

Campbell is apparently near death and floating above his body and seeing the men who want him dead, so maybe at this point Gerry is both crazy and haunted?

The one Campbell plot point that was clear from the beginning of this section is that Bull O'Kane knows he is undercover and the outcome will not be good for Davy.

Instead of ghost references, the author was stuck on shadows... "Hopkirk faded back into the shadows of the corridor" "Campbell eased back into the shadows of the barn" and "shadows moved across the yard, turning, searching."

I thought the McGinty-Marie revelation was anti-climactic. I thought Sally was right in suspecting that Ellen was really McGinty's child.

My favorite quote was "the procession marched across a sea of grey to a burning sun" maybe because it seems so out of place, like it belongs in a different book.

This is going to be odd, but my favorite character in this part of the book was Bull O'Kane's son Padraig. He seems like a fairly likeable gent. Padraig seems to bring out a certain gentleness in Bull. Then again Bull, in referencing Ellen crying, says "If any of his seven sons and daughters had ever wailed like that, they'd have got a slap to shut them up" so maybe the gentleness was misinterpreted on my part.