Remainder - April Book Club pick
So, Goutis, I'll bite and start the April Book Club thread.
Spoilers may be found throughout.
My thoughts will appear in a sort of review/opinion fashion:
I was one who got the free copy of Remainder by Tom McCarthy from this site. I was a little wary about getting a free copy of a book, thinking that there must be some flaw or must not be that great if they were giving copies away for free. When the book arrived in the mail, I had just finished reading another book so I decided to jump right in on Remainder.
I was completely enthralled with the story. It took me just over two days to read the whole thing, which is pretty much record time for me. I thought that the story was very mesmerizing and captivating. I admit that the first few paragraphs made me a bit apprehensive. With statements like: "It's blank: a white slate, a black hole." I began thinking about something I heard about amnesiac writing. The thought goes: when a writer starts a story with the context that the main character is found in alone white room, or not remembering the past, is a symbol of the author's struggle with finding a cohesive story. A sort of 'what happens next will be a surprise to the author just as much to the reader'.
My thinking was quickly righted. McCarthy paints a stunning picture for us readers with his overly obsessive character (Who I don't think was ever named. Am I wrong on that? We can, however, assume that he is male with the story about how he met Catherine).
I was in love with how meticulous our main character is with his 'recreations' throughout the novel. One question I had was: The character references that the frying pan in the floor below him smells of cordite more than once. He also said that the champagne from the celebration night with Catherine and Greg smelled of cordite. Towards the end of the story, Naz asks him when it was the he came into contact with cordite and the reply given was: "Cordite?...I don't think I've ever been near cordite." which makes me wonder how he would know what cordite smells like. Perhaps it's something similar to when one says something like "it tastes like bleach" even though they've never ingested the substance.
I also liked the twist at the end, which leaves our hero in a sort of perpetual bliss. We don't see him arrested for his final 'recreation' in the bank robbery. Instead, McCarthy leaves him weightless and turning in the air with Naz. I loved Naz's character as well. I liked the way he was described as a thinker, with the "whirring back behind his eyes".
I think that the detail of the recreations throughout the book mirror McCarthy's character in the repetitiveness with making his subjects do things over and over with perfection, despite the level of insanity the parts were.
Overall, I loved it. I recommend it to everyone I can. I had my girlfriend read it as well. Her opinion was slightly different in mine. Where I think that McCarthy's ending is wonderful, she thought that there should have been more to the end of the story.
I sought anything else by McCarthy immediately after reading Remainder. The only other book I could find was: Tintin and the Secret of Literature. A sort of essay/memoir on the Tintin comic character and how he was played throughout his history. That's next on my list to read. I also found that the rights to the movie adaptation for Remainder have already been doled out and I am eagerly awaiting the moment I can watch that. Throughout reading the book, I kept thinking that it would make an excellent indie film.
That's my take.
Discuss.
:cool:
im about 2/3 of the way through it and i think the story itself is good but i hate how needy and bossy the main character is. it makes me wanna just punch him sometimes.
:11: :wtf1:
OK...question time...a few to hopefully spark discussion...there are a whopping 9 votes for this book to be the pick of the month...mine being one of them, so at least 8 of you are out there....
Was it just me, or was the character never named for us?
Towards the end of the story, our main character started having 'episodes' where he essentially passed/blacked out and lost time. Was this a side-condition of the accident from which he received his settlement monies, or was this due to exhaustion?
He also talks about a 'tingling' sensation when he is in the midst of reenactments. Perhaps a brain lesion or rupture? A blissful or orgasmic state?
When thinking of receiving a windfall settlement of £8.5m (some $16.7m in today's current conversion), most would think about spending it on something substantial, ie: new cars, large homes, etc. The happiness that our character found in reenacting past events was very interesting. He mentions that he doesn't even know where he remembers this initial 'crack' from. The one that he saw at David Simpson's party that led to his first bout of recreating the entire apartment building. Was his amnesia of the apartment building due to the accident, or was it an imaginary place to begin with?
The main character admits that his memory is possibly not accurate in the first chapter. Could his reenactments in fact be dreams during these episodes?
He was very descriptive of the homeless teen in chapter three, then admits to making the entire story up from his seat at the coffee shop window.
Or, could the character be imagining the entire story from a hospital bed?
What "object" hit our character to start these events?
He mentions: "blue light; railings; lights of other colours; being held above some kind of tray or bed." Towards the end of the story, when Naz has a doctor visiting him frequently, it sounds like a possible hospital scenario to me. Perhaps he is in a comatose state, waking occasionally, yet imagining the entire story and dying at the end: "For now, though, the clouds tilted and weightless set in once more as we banked, turning, heading back, again." ?
Maybe I'll have more questions for you to munch on later...
I'm only about halfway through the book, I don't really know what I was expecting. I like the style, but I wasn't crazy about the idea of the plot. I was worried that it would be just a big description of him reenacting the house sequence, now that it moved on to another sequence of reenacting, I'm having real trouble seeing where the book will go.
I kind of didn't like the idea of the plot from the beginning, not saying I don't like plot though.
Most fiction books I can fly through, with the exception of Crime and Punishment and Catch 22, but this book is kind of dragging for me.
Is his story supposed to be symbolic of something? His detachment for people, his need for organization, his puppetmastering?
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
[QUOTE=LoneKnypher;949248]im about 2/3 of the way through it and i think the story itself is good but i hate how needy and bossy the main character is. it makes me wanna just punch him sometimes.[/QUOTE]
me too, I wanted to slap him around the face for putting all his money into one sector, I have no idea of economics but I kept shouting, You're gonna lose your money! The characters repetiton is annoying in a kind of Faulty Towers kind of way but as a whole it was an enjoyable book.
As for the no name is it to symbolise that it could happen to anyone? I mean the object from the sky and the Obsesive Compulsive bahaviour?
I didnt vote for the book but I will be taking part so count me in.
[QUOTE]As for the no name is it to symbolise that it could happen to anyone? I mean the object from the sky and the Obsesive Compulsive bahaviour?[/QUOTE]
I suppose that it could, indeed, happen to anyone...though I think that this character is not supposed to be just anyone. I do feel that he had a persona and identity of his own. I'm not ruling out that it can't be a symbol of any random person though.
It almost seems that his OCD behavior was accentuated by the 'accident'. Though we don't know much about him prior to the story, we get glimpses of his past in Greg and Catherine that allude to his being somewhat 'normal' before he had the accident...
[QUOTE=PureTaurine;949258]Or, could the character be imagining the entire story from a hospital bed?
What "object" hit our character to start these events?
He mentions: "blue light; railings; lights of other colours; being held above some kind of tray or bed." Towards the end of the story, when Naz has a doctor visiting him frequently, it sounds like a possible hospital scenario to me. Perhaps he is in a comatose state, waking occasionally, yet imagining the entire story and dying at the end: "For now, though, the clouds tilted and weightless set in once more as we banked, turning, heading back, again." ?[/QUOTE]
This is an intersting take on it; could his obsessive compulsiveness be a desperate attempt to recreate what he knew outside of the coma?
[QUOTE]This is an intersting take on it[/QUOTE]
It just sorta came to me, and the more I think about it, the more and more things kinda fall into that scenario.
[QUOTE]could his obsessive compulsiveness be a desperate attempt to recreate what he knew outside of the coma?[/QUOTE]
...or further, could it be a desperate subconscious attempt to hold on to life itself? Perhaps the 'crack' is a symbol for the point of trauma (like a cut or gash) and all of the reenactments are attempts by the character to communicate with his body in an attempt to control what has happened to him.
Also, the 'gushing' of the washer fluid in the car could be symbolic of his own bodily functions. The part where they disappear into thin air could be his lack of being able to know what is happening to his body outside of this dream-state. The part where he wants to have the car scene reenacted and the fluid to disappear completely on a constant basis also could have to do with his desire to control and understand everything that is happening to his body.
The book seems a whole lot better to me this way..
I'm also wondering; cordite is a kind of gun propellant, and many soldiers who came back from war before cordite stopped being used associate the smell with their time in battle, so it's a sort of fear. Maybe the smell of cordite popping up in the characters senses represents his fear of death.
[QUOTE]I'm also wondering; cordite is a kind of gun propellant, and many soldiers who came back from war before cordite stopped being used associate the smell with their time in battle, so it's a sort of fear. Maybe the smell of cordite popping up in the characters senses represents his fear of death.[/QUOTE]
The cordite is something that resonates with me still. I was thinking about this book constantly for weeks after I finished reading it.
The thing about the cordite is this: Cordite is, as you mention, not used anymore...yet the book takes place in modern times, since the character references Diesel and Evisu clothing. (see pg. 53)
I did a search on wiki for [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordite]cordite[/URL] and: "Cordite is now obsolete and it is no longer produced. However, cordite may still be encountered in the form of legacy small arms ammunition dating from circa 1995 and before. Legacy ammunition containing cordite is periodically sold off as military surplus by some countries and destroyed by burning by other countries." (The wiki reference also notates Remainder under the 'In Fiction' section!)
This leads me to think that perhaps he is a soldier wounded in battle or something...
[QUOTE=PureTaurine;949311]The cordite is something that resonates with me still. I was thinking about this book constantly for weeks after I finished reading it.
The thing about the cordite is this: Cordite is, as you mention, not used anymore...yet the book takes place in modern times, since the character references Diesel and Evisu clothing. (see pg. 53)
I did a search on wiki for [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordite]cordite[/URL] and: "Cordite is now obsolete and it is no longer produced. However, cordite may still be encountered in the form of legacy small arms ammunition dating from circa 1995 and before. Legacy ammunition containing cordite is periodically sold off as military surplus by some countries and destroyed by burning by other countries." (The wiki reference also notates Remainder under the 'In Fiction' section!)
This leads me to think that perhaps he is a soldier wounded in battle or something...[/QUOTE]
This talk from Chiminey and Pure Taurine is making me see this book in a whole new light, I have a feeling its going to be a well visited thread, now I feel bad for not voting for it.
Ok regarding the questions from above:
1. I don't think the narrator was ever named.
Think about Fight Club even - that narrator is unnamed -except for all the names he give himself at the groups and the whole I am joe/jack's body parts.
I took this to mean simply that his name is unimportant to him.
2/3. I'm not sure whether his episodes are accident related, but i'm guessing probably yes. Look again at pg 220. The Dr. talks about how he is manifesting and how he has high levels of opioids. The reenactments,( and indeed anytime he begins feeling 'real') are what bring on the tingling sensation. I think that the tingling he experiences is his body administering painkillers to him, which is really the reason that he does the reenactments. He gets high on the opioids that his body produces and seeks them out by furthering the reenactments. He later talks about being an addict or something - and mentions that Naz is as addicted as he is. He probably passes out/has episodes when he overdoses or something of that sort.
4. I wondered about whether the building he recreates is real or not too. I found it interesting that he never attempts to really rediscover all the things he doesn't remember or to figure out why this building is so important to him. I think it probably did exist, but really, what does it add to the story if it did exist? What does it add if it is imaginary? It's really about the narrator's obssession, not the setting - as we can see when the reenactments move to other locations.
5. I hadn't thought about the fact that he may still be in a coma, but i think the story could definitely be interpreted that way.
6. I was thinking that the repeated mention of cordite indicated that the object that hit him was made from cordite, especially whe he says that he has never come in contact with it. He doesn't remember what hit him, and even if he did, wouldn't be able to discuss it.
One question you didn't ask which I am interested in:
What does everyone make of the short councillor?
While having an episode Naz tells the narrator that he is ok, but the later Naz asks 'what councillor?'
He is presented as someone who understands the narrator's motives almost intimately. Obviously he is a figment of the narrator's imagination, but for what purpose?
[QUOTE]What does everyone make of the short councillor?
While having an episode Naz tells the narrator that he is ok, but the later Naz asks 'what councillor?'
He is presented as someone who understands the narrator's motives almost intimately. Obviously he is a figment of the narrator's imagination, but for what purpose?[/QUOTE]
I don't think that the short councillor is a figment of the narrator's imagination. Naz comes to the narrator's place while the short man is there and acknowledges him. He then says that the councillor is the one who helped to set up the shooting reenactment. However, the councillor is the only other person in the story who is able to smell the cordite that the narrator keeps smelling, which makes him "special" in a sense...
Each time I have flipped through the book again to research passages or to come up with questions, I find more interesting little tidbits that point more towards the fatalistic theory.
On pg, 276, bottom paragraph, the narrator likens himself to a Pharaoh, with all of his actors as his 'servants'. He alludes to a 'final voyage' he will be taking and refers to his staff as being dead very soon. He also mentions a "colourful Staff Heaven".
Passages like this make me lean more towards the comatose/dying theory and that the narrator is imagining all of this from a hospital bed.
If that theory is true, then, yes, the councillor is indeed a figment of his imagination, which would explain how Naz would know the man, and how the man would be able to smell the cordite. It would also help the fact that the councillor seems to know so much about the narrator's feelings and desires.
just finished the book and i have to say overall it wasn't a very good book. the first 2/3 of it are either irritating and kinda slow. it gets interesting from when they start the bank re-enactment on.
also the book is written as though its the narrator confessing his story but it ends with him just flying in circles. i was really hoping for like an epilogue or at least something to explain why he is writing these things down and why (if he is so mental) is he writing like a sane person that is acknowledging his mistakes? it seems to me like maybe he is writing his memoir while in prison or maybe even a mental institution.
any thoughts?
Interesting observation. I agree that it's a bit too cohesive and intelligent to be written from the hand of an insane person...one would think that if it were a memoir from prison, especially with his neurotic obsession with getting things [I]just[/I] right, he'd include something about getting caught, or at least add a bit about the procession to the prison.
--
One thing that I noticed, when [I]again[/I] flipping through this book is that he mentions aeroplanes quite a bit. He even talks about a dream he had (beings on last line of pg. 152) where he and all of his staff link arms and form the shape of a plane and he sees his world as if he is having an out of body experience. He mentions seeing himself talking with the old lady. He also refers to the sports track in this dream and a few other times throughout the book. At the end of this dream, the plane nose-dives to the ground and the narrator wakes up just before impact.
This is random, but my girlfriend mentioned it tonight: [I]If[/I] he is dead, why does he talk about physical therapy in the beginning of the book?
This got me started again, and I noticed that while he is describing the rehabilitation sessions, he talks about the use of a carrot as a training device. I found this a bit odd. I know that after breaking my arm, they used 1lb dumbells and rubber balls to begin the rehab process. I know that a break and a traumatic experience are completely different things, but the carrot still really struck me as odd.
on page 200 now...
[QUOTE=chimney scott;949307]The book seems a whole lot better to me this way..
[/QUOTE]
I agree, it does make it more satisfying, than some guy wasting his money trying to stimulate the pleasure centers of his brain. However, I don't think that if you were comatose you would "slip into a trance"?
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
I have to agree with bassplr. I'm about 80 pages from the end and I don't think I'll finish. The descriptions are so meticulious that they feel tedious. It feels like the book is all head, no heart.
However, I lol'ed with the cats falling off the roof.
[QUOTE=tomstrong83;951553]I have to agree with bassplr. I'm about 80 pages from the end and I don't think I'll finish. The descriptions are so meticulious that they feel tedious. It feels like the book is all head, no heart. [/QUOTE]
Yeah, I got this a bit too. Most of it was so much about his neurosis, that it lacked a lot of real emotion. It's almost like being neurotic, yourself.. reading the book
I bought this book a couple of weeks ago...pure coincidence that it was selected as April's book club book. I bought [I]Remainder[/I] with five other books...I've finished one, I'm about to finish another, one was accidentally thrown out by a friend of mine (don't ask) and so I have three left. My original plan was to read [I]Remainder[/I] last.
Would you guys say this book is worth jumping ahead in the queue? I get the feeling the answer will be no, but before I start another Irvine Welsh book, I want to know.
8.5 million pounds + 4.5 million would have to have been spent way before the bank heist (only up to there ~page 255). Since the Tyre shop "re-enactment" was going on for three weeks, along with the building tenants, three shooting re-enactments.
I find it funny that Naz seems to be getting off on his management.
The councillor could have been a hallucination of the narrator, since he was coming in and out of trances, maybe he wasn't coming in and out but instead of him commenting while he's under, he graduated to an "external" commentator?
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
[QUOTE]Yeah, I got this a bit too. Most of it was so much about his neurosis, that it lacked a lot of real emotion. It's almost like being neurotic, yourself.. reading the book[/QUOTE]
This was one thing that I especially liked about Remainder. It almost makes you [I]understand[/I] what it's like to think in neurotic terms. I think that the lack of feeling could be associated with the coma theory.
[QUOTE]I agree, it does make it more satisfying, than some guy wasting his money trying to stimulate the pleasure centers of his brain. However, I don't think that if you were comatose you would "slip into a trance"?[/QUOTE]
I do think you would be able to 'slip into a trance' while comatose. The brain could be switching from "on" to "off" kinda like dreams in a 'normal' situation. Basically, the whole thing could be a dream while in a comatose state and the 'slipping into a trance' stuff could be times when the brain is inactive or "resting". Kinda like when you have 'continuing dreams' where you start dreaming and you're in a new place in the same situation though...and you have a sense of what has happened....has that ever happened to anyone else?
[QUOTE]Would you guys say this book is worth jumping ahead in the queue? I get the feeling the answer will be no, but before I start another Irvine Welsh book, I want to know.[/QUOTE]
Yes. I think so. You can join the discussion then... 
[QUOTE]8.5 million pounds + 4.5 million would have to have been spent way before the bank heist (only up to there ~page 255). Since the Tyre shop "re-enactment" was going on for three weeks, along with the building tenants, three shooting re-enactments.
I find it funny that Naz seems to be getting off on his management.
The councillor could have been a hallucination of the narrator, since he was coming in and out of trances, maybe he wasn't coming in and out but instead of him commenting while he's under, he graduated to an "external" commentator?[/QUOTE]
I don't think that would necessarily be true...he did have his investments in 'technologies', so I think that there would still be funds available.
I agree about Naz' passion lust for taking on these projects for the narrator.
I'm not sure that I understand what you're getting at in regards to the councillor. Can you elaborate on that thought??
Again, I'm only on ~255, but the only place so far that the councillor has interacted was in his trance.
When he was in his coma, he had to narrate.
Now in the trance, possibly the councillor is narrating. I don't know if there would be any signifigance to this if it were true.
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
I also thought maybe none of it happened i.e. he was still in a coma perhaps.
I found the book did drag in places and got too repetitive, the character wasn't a very nice person and was quite rude to people which I found annoying, and also I expected the cause of his initial accident to be part of the story when in fact it wasn't at all.
Perhaps his use of the word 'cordite' is due to his obsession with certain words and their meanings - the things he talked about may not have smelled like cordite, he might not know what it smells like (as he admitted he didn't think he'd been near cordite) yet uses the word because he likes it.
[QUOTE]I also thought maybe none of it happened i.e. he was still in a coma perhaps.
I found the book did drag in places and got too repetitive, the character wasn't a very nice person and was quite rude to people which I found annoying, and also I expected the cause of his initial accident to be part of the story when in fact it wasn't at all.
Perhaps his use of the word 'cordite' is due to his obsession with certain words and their meanings - the things he talked about may not have smelled like cordite, he might not know what it smells like (as he admitted he didn't think he'd been near cordite) yet uses the word because he likes it.[/QUOTE]
Interesting point about the cordite. I found his obsession with words quite funny. I liked how he has Naz look everything up. There was a point, when Naz's people couldn't find the word [B]recidual[/B], so he had them find a bigger dictionary. I thought that was hilarious. He even gets to a point when Naz just looks up the words [I]for[/I] the narrator, without being asked.
I think that the narrator's attitude towards other people was a very deliberate part of the story. I also think that the shift in the way he treats people was directly related to the settlement money. I think that kinda got to his head. I also think that his obsession with being "authentic" instead of fake has to do with his persona.
I was wondering if the whole cordite thing was just his senses getting banged up in the accident. My roommate's mom fell off their roof several years ago and she pretty much lost her sense of taste. But she does like certain weird flavors, like she would always make microwave popcorn that was burned black because she said it tasted good to her deformed pallete.
Theory on what fell on the dude:
Okay, the obvious answer seems to be that he was in a construction site and a bunch of crap fell on him. But that's also boring.
How about this:
A hot air ballon was traveling to a hot air balloon rally. But this balloon was special because it was equipped with flourescent lights and the basket was actually the carcass of a dead whale. Everything went haywire and the thing fell. The pilot was one of those eccentric billionaires who try to fly balloons around the world. So the billionaire paid big in the settlement because part of the settlement included the rights to recreate the accident over and over again. Ta-Da!
Any other theories?
[QUOTE=bassplr19;951854]When he was in his coma, he had to narrate.
Now in the trance, possibly the councillor is narrating. I don't know if there would be any signifigance to this if it were true.[/QUOTE]
Alright, I finished the book, I think my theory above is probably accurate. I want to disagree with the whole coma theory, I think all of this stuff happened (in the book, of course).
Is there any symbolism for the plot or is it WYSIWYG? I'm leaning towards the WYSIWYG and the theme being do whatever makes you happy, no matter how weird it is.....
The ending reminded me of Survivor.
I also agree with one of the above quote, I thought we'd find out what happened to him, or he'd have an epiphany during one of the re-enactments.
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
[QUOTE=bassplr19;952771]Alright, I finished the book, I think my theory above is probably accurate. I want to disagree with the whole coma theory, I think all of this stuff happened (in the book, of course).
Is there any symbolism for the plot or is it WYSIWYG? I'm leaning towards the WYSIWYG and the theme being do whatever makes you happy, no matter how weird it is.....
The ending reminded me of Survivor.
I also agree with one of the above quote, I thought we'd find out what happened to him, or he'd have an epiphany during one of the re-enactments.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I meant to mention something about happiness. On the cover of the copy I had there's a quote from Jonathan Lethem. I'll try and remember it as close as I can: "A book about one of the rarest subjects in fiction...happiness." It was something like that.
Anyway, that hit me as weird because the main character didn't seem all that happy. The part where he seemed happiest to me was when he went into the coffee shop and got his frequent buyer card. That was earlier in the book.
So what did Lethem mean? Was he talking about the pursuit of happiness?
[QUOTE]Yeah, I meant to mention something about happiness. On the cover of the copy I had there's a quote from Jonathan Lethem. I'll try and remember it as close as I can: "A book about one of the rarest subjects in fiction...happiness." It was something like that.
Anyway, that hit me as weird because the main character didn't seem all that happy. The part where he seemed happiest to me was when he went into the coffee shop and got his frequent buyer card. That was earlier in the book.
So what did Lethem mean? Was he talking about the pursuit of happiness?[/QUOTE]
Good point, Tom.
Yeah, an interesting quote. I noticed that as well and I think that the pursuit of happiness is the closest answer to that question...yet, as you mention, the narrator doesn't quite seem 'happy' per se throughout the story. There's a twinge of it as he's doing his reenactments here and there...there also seems to be a bit of inner happiness at the end of the story while he's 'floating among the clouds'.
So what, after we achieve happiness it's time to die??
Think for yourself. Question Authority.
[QUOTE=bassplr19;954024]So what, after we achieve happiness it's time to die??[/QUOTE]
Maybe the book is about the cycle of happiness then. You can't always be up.
I have read that recent studies have shown that people who suffer head trauma will often report depression for up to a year afterward.
OK, so I got a late start on this book because I just happened to pick it up during my last visit to Barnes & Noble, before it was even voted the April Book Club Book and wanted to read a couple of other books first...so I just started and I'm only about 80 pages deep at this point...but I agree with a lot of what's been said so far. It is definitely dragging at parts...I feel like he is almost being wordy just for the sake of being wordy...though not so much that it's turned me off to the book - just enough to be a bit annoying. And I also don't see how this is a book about happiness...but again, I'm only 80 pages in, so it's probably just early. Eh, I dunno though...for where I am in the book, I'm probably enjoying it the least of the last 10 books I've read. Hopefully it will get better.
[QUOTE]So what, after we achieve happiness it's time to die??[/QUOTE]
In short, yes.
[QUOTE]Maybe the book is about the cycle of happiness then. You can't always be up.
I have read that recent studies have shown that people who suffer head trauma will often report depression for up to a year afterward.[/QUOTE]
Interesting research. I'd like to read about that. Do you have a link to anything?
I definitely can see the cycle of happiness in the book. The only things that seem to make the narrator really happy though is getting his cafe card stamped, having people look words up for him, pretending to get shot and deciding to rob a bank.
That seems rather dull for happiness, but to each his own I suppose...
so im about two thirds done, and what i have to say at this point is that the narrator is a tool. id dropkick him in the mouth if i knew him in real life.
are we gonna have a poll for May's book or are we just gonna go ahead and make Rant the book of choice?
[QUOTE=PureTaurine;957058]In short, yes.
Interesting research. I'd like to read about that. Do you have a link to anything?
I definitely can see the cycle of happiness in the book. The only things that seem to make the narrator really happy though is getting his cafe card stamped, having people look words up for him, pretending to get shot and deciding to rob a bank.
That seems rather dull for happiness, but to each his own I suppose...[/QUOTE]
[URL=www.biausa.org/elements/BIAM/2004/depression.pdf]here's one basic link. It's a PDF that outlines the whole thing[/URL]
[URL=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3370411.stm]here's a BBC story on it[/URL]
It is interesting to see the things that DO make him happy. I wonder if he was that way before his injury. Any thoughts on whether he was always like that or if it's a result of his accident?
[QUOTE]are we gonna have a poll for May's book or are we just gonna go ahead and make Rant the book of choice?[/QUOTE]
I suggested a few titles to Goutis a while back for May. I don't know if May will be for Rant or if that'll be in June...
If Rant isn't for May, I'd like to see these in the poll:
Raw Shark Texts
Riddley Walker
Black Swan Green
[QUOTE]here's one basic link. It's a PDF that outlines the whole thing
here's a BBC story on it[/QUOTE]
Thanks for those links...
[QUOTE]It is interesting to see the things that DO make him happy. I wonder if he was that way before his injury. Any thoughts on whether he was always like that or if it's a result of his accident?[/QUOTE]
I think it's a bit of a combination. I think he was likely an ass before the accident, but he seems to have led a somewhat "normal" life. In the beginning of the story, he seems to have had a weird crush on Catherine...he mentions giggling fits in classes and writing letters back and fourth for a while. Then the whole crack at the party led him into his spiral of needing to reenact everything. So, I think perhaps his injury did have a bit with turning him into a total jerk.
ya i want The Raw Shark Texts to be in the poll too. along with The Road by Cormac Mccarthy
[QUOTE]along with The Road by Cormac Mccarthy[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I'd like that one on there as well. A friend of mine was talking about 'The Road' and said: "One word to describe that book: bleak."
Sounds fun.
With three days left in April, I got a Reading Group guide for Remainder from Vintage Books...lucky me. 
There's a few great thinking questions in there that I thought I'd pass along here and see what everyone else thinks as well:
1 - Why might McCarthy have chosen the word "remainder" for his title? What particular resonance does the word have in the context of the novel's themes of repetition, re-enactment, and things left over?
2 - In what ways is [I]Remainder[/I] an unconventional, shocking, and troubling novel? What expectations does it either frustrate or satisfy in unexpected ways?
3 - "No Doing without Understanding: the accident bequeathed me that for ever, an eternal detour" [pp. 22-23]. Why does the narrator find this condition so intolerable?
4 - In what ways does the narrator's obsession with controlling time--reliving the past, creating a self-contained world where he can act as a god over people and events--reflect desires that, to one degree or another, most people feel? Is the need to control an inherent part of the human condition?
5 - How does the relationship between the narrator and Naz change over the course of the novel? Why does Naz end up catatonic?
6 - The phrase "Everything must leave some kind of mark" is repeated several times throughout the novel. What is the significance of this novel?
7 - The narrator kills Robber Re-enactor Two, he says, "because I wanted to," and is fascinated by the blood coming from the body:"Wow, look at it. It's just a...thing. A patch. A little bit repeating...Isn't it beautiful?" [pp. 299-300]. Why isn't he able to feel any empathy for the man he has just killed? Is the narrator himself, by the end of the novel, beyond the reader's empathy?
8 - The novel ends with the narrator forcing the pilot to keep flying back and fourth, creating vapor trail that describes a figure eight in the sky and achieving a state approximating pure stasis. Why does this give the narrator such pleasure? How is the flight likely to end? With a deadly crash or a return to land and incarceration?
9 - Can [I]Remainder[/I] be read as a kind of parable of the human condition? If so, how?
Those questions got me to thinking.
Maybe he wanted to reenact in order to gain control. Whatever his accident, it seems like a crazy random thing, just crap falling out of the sky. By reenacting, the narrator knows what's going to happen in every detail and can also control what's going to happen.
I thought I would pick one of the above questions, the one about the title.
Remainder is what's left over. I spent the book trying to figure out what was left of this guy from before his accident. His personality, you know?
I think that only [I]shreds[/I] of his personality are left. There's a almost snapping of his mind when he first sees the crack on the wall. Before then, he was mostly friendly. There's a part where he's remembering Catherine and how they got along before his accident. I think that you have a very strong point though. "Remainder" seems to be alluding to the shred of his "real self" that's left after the accident...maybe that's a part of his obsession for "real" things. I thought it was interesting that he was obsessed with finding real things in life, yet all of his recreations are largely artificial, since he's hiring actors to pretend to be real.
I just want to say,I'm really thankful to this website for the link for the free copy of Remainder. Going into the book, I had no idea of what to expect, because the description it offers in incredibly vague, but after I finished, I realized that this was completely intentional. This book was one of the most unique ones I've ever read, and it gave me a lot to think about. I definetly got the coma idea from it too.
Thanks for jumping in and volunteering. You are now the discussion leader.
If there are any thoughts, suggestions, questions you want to post for everybody else here - go ahead. Hopefully this discussion will be more active than the last one.