What the Folk!

Actually I thought that's what this thread was supposed to be, a discussion of the contents of the book with just a spoiler header but once I saw the black boxes I figured I'd better use them too.

Yeah, that is what this thread's for. It's just that people who want or are in the middle of reading the book are posting here too. Hence the spoiler boxes.

Go ahead, click them, you'll love it!

oooh! this arrived for me this morning!
thank you so much for posting it right round the world for me Carol!!

Well, it looks like I've got a copy to mail out, if anyone is interested. (Oz hasn't been around much and I haven't got her addy )

I wanna read it!

Im in Michigan...not sure if yours is the closest copy to me, though.

Whomever wants to send it my way, let me know so I can give my address!

Well, we already have a line for this one...a short one but still. It's going to delirium tomorrow and then to nonch. So you might want to step over to Suzy's line and see what she says.

oh it doesnt matter to me...Im in no hurry for it. Whomever has a slot in their list open..

Ok CJ, you can have mine (or rather, DangerMouse's ). PM me your address!

delirium, the book's on its way to you! Enjoy- I know you will!

Kelly- I mailed off your $ and the magnet, too.

Back tomorrow to review...I should be in bed...

I just lucked out big time and found a used copy on alibris.com for $3.50! It should be here next week and when I'm done if there is anyone else that wants to read it, I'll be happy to send it out.

OK. First, this will probably sound weird and maybe it's because of my own experience but Cedric seems to be a bit of an Aspie. His nickname Professor is practically a symptom of asperger's, as well as his lack of social skills. But, I also agree with MM who mentioned the word sociopath. Cedric seems to feel guilt over the first blackmail but only because he'd like to have been the one with Maybelle, not out of genuinely feeling bad, and he certainly wouldn't have felt he deserved punishment had he been the one with her! That and the fear of getting caught. While he did seem caught up against his will, he got quite a thrill while doing the bad things. I also agree with MM that if Morrieson had ever written a sequel, we'd find that Cedric had done some very bad things in his new life.

Suzy, I didn't get the feeling that anyone would suspect Mervyn as being the one who called Blair. Like Blair said, if no one showed up, then it would just remaine a mystery. I don't think there was any reason to connect Mervyn to Blair. Mervyn would go to jail for the bootlegging and assault and get some of what was due him and Blair? I really wanted to know if he'd get another slap on the wrist or end up in jail himself!

There certainly was foreshadowing...we knew someone was going to trip on that wonky stair and fall from the tower. I thought Spook had been staying in there and that was how he'd die.

Spook was a sympathetic character to me. He'd had a hard life and been a hanger-on and broken some laws, yes...but he didn't seem to be as inherently bad as Mervyn. I knew he was going to die thanks to the big spoiler on that guy's YouTube video but I didn't know how. Not what I expected, lol. I actually thought "Did I just read that correctly?" I wonder if they'll do it the same in the movie....pretty gruesome, even for today's standards but that had to have been shocking when it was first published, eh? Didn't she say he'd kept on "hacking" at him?

I think the theme here was what we all have lurking under the surface and what people are willing to do or capable of doing under the right (or wrong) circumstances.

Cedric fell pretty easily into blackmail....and I think subconsciously at first, he knew that Mervyn was a thief and murderer....Blair and his (*snort*) step-mother having an affair....Blair killing Spook and apparently really getting into it (there may have been more mayhem for him in the future as well)....can't include Mervyn since we know he'd pretty much do anything already.

Yeah, I was expecting a big showdown at the end and thought Cedric would end up dead. It was a bit anticlimactic but I also like the fact that it's had me thinking about it and of all of the possibilities left open. Cedric had indeed been the mastermind and manipulator during this short period of time and it awakened a dark part of him. I doubt that he'll be happy with his dream of becoming a writer and he'll soon need something to give him that 'thrill' again.

I wondered if maybe Morrieson based Cedric on himself? Was he that idealistic about writing when he was young? Did he expect it'd make him rich and famous and the stories would pour from him, only to find that wasn't the case? We saw the beginnings of a relationship with alcohol, as Cedric felt better after having it and was obviously going to turn to it, just as we know Morrieson did. And this takes me back to the beginning of my loooong post, lol, and I wonder if Morrieson wasn't an Aspie. Lots of so-called reclusive geniuses were/are. They certainly like order in their lives and do not like change.

I was also bummed every time Cedric burned something he wrote down, lol. I thought perhaps Huggins would find them later and have some evidence of Mervyn's killing his father and who the headless body belonged to. Didn't we all know in the beginning exactly what was going down when Mervyn befriended Cedric and insisted he come back to his house? I wish I had written down some quotes I really liked...the scene where Cedric first gets a glimpse of the true Mervyn was a bit chilling. There were some sentences that were poetic and made me go 'wow.'

Sooo....just my thoughts right now. I'm sure more will occur to me. I think I'll try and track this book down as a keeper.

Laura, loved your post. Like I said, I think it's a beautiful little gem.

I think because people are mid- and waiting for a book, we'll use spoilers. It's, as I said, not like Ol' Yeller or Star Wars or anything like that. And a number of delicious plot points are much better unspoiled.

I'd like to wait until the movie comes out or there is a more easily available reprint (not everybody wants to send away to NZ for it). I think we started with the spoilers because there were loads of people discussing the book who hadn't read it. And a particularly awful spoiler in a promo piece for the movie.

We'll keep the bars a little while longer.

It's cool.....I just didn't go back to the 1st post and see how the thread was set up. I'm used to having a thread that's safe- like this- before a book's read, and another with spoilers abounding, lol, where open book discussion happens without the boxes.
This is cool....I liked the little teases at Elena...hehe!

You don't have to ever take the boxes away....there'll always be someone new who comes along and hasn't read the book yet....

Yay! Thanks Laura! I need your address for payment! I'm so looking forward to actually being able to read this thread! hehe It's so hard not to click on all the boxes!

I fell for it again!!! But I am almost finished with the book so then Ill be FOOLED no more!