[LMB] OT: Inappropriate reactions (not)

[Lois McMaster Bujold]

[LMB] OT: Inappropriate reatcions
Meg Justus megj at nwlink.com
Sat Nov 4 06:36:33 GMT 2006
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Bill Wenrich:
 > On my second pass through TSK:B, I had a strong urge to dive into the
 > story and "whomp some characters up longside the head." The characters
 > were Fawn's Father, Brothers, Mother and just about everyone else in the
 > community who knew about it and did nothing. The action that set me off
 > was when, I think it was Stupid Sunny, said that Fawn's Brothers would
 > torment her until she screamed and then her Father would beat her for
 > making noise.

 > Stupid impulse. I'm still angry.

You're not the only one who had it, and I don't think it was inappropriate
at all.  I really liked TSK:B, right up till when Fawn and Dag arrived at
the farm.  Except for Nattie and *possibly* Fawn's mother, they were all 
the
kind of people who needed to be shot in the kneecaps, then left to bleed to
death.  The kind of people I simply don't want to read about, even when
they're the bad guys.  I am sincerely glad they won't be along for the next
installment -- or at least I hope Fawn's brothers have learned at least
enough not to follow them.  The last few chapters but one of TSK:B is
actually higher on my list of "parts of Lois's books I just don't want to
read again" than Mark's torture.  Which flabbergasts me.

It's a kneejerk reaction on my part.  Not something I really have a lot of
control over.  Or want to change, frankly.


*** Now, this is very interesting to me.  Because a lot of readers are 
having very diverse reactions to Fawn's family (including my own 
editor), and I'm rather wondering why some people get the problem, and 
some don't.  It may be one of those "you had to have been there to 
recognize it" things, like the landscapes.  Because in many ways, Fawn's 
is a normal family, in a rough & tumble sort of way, and yet...

    Besides the subtler toxicities of family, while writing Fawn I was 
thinking (among many other things), of a friend of a friend who had been 
in a bad car accident at about age 18.  She was a *very* bright young 
woman.  When she went to complain to her doctor later of feeling 
cognitively impaired (and depressed about it) they did tests to find she 
was, big surprise, way above normal, so what was she complaining about?  
She was fine!   Well, she was not fine: *she* knew the difference.  Took 
her forever to convince anyone else, though.

    Ta, L.
   

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Megaera



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