TMoP

[Lawrence Bryan]

I had just finished reading TMoP for the second time when Richard  
started up. Been busy since and last night started reading a third  
time as some of my notes got tossed out. I think all my notes, save  
one, have been covered so far. But no one has mentioned the one word  
paragraph on page 5.

							Matryona.

I confess that I feel a bit over my head after reading the excellent  
comments so far. If someone would like to take over my duties for the  
last four chapters, I would feel a great sense of relief.  As the time  
for me to take the reins approaches, I am starting to feel some  
empathy with Ms. Palin.

There was an old love song from the 30's, "I don't know why I love you  
like I do" which resonates with the way I feel about some books. I  
don't analyze the reasons, I just enjoy them. It's not true with a lot  
of my books, but it seems to be true with a lot of Coetzee's. I have  
no idea why I like GR so much, why I can set down with it, open it up  
and start reading with a very distinct feeling of pleasure. Some of it  
is remembrance of the first time a certain passage was read, but a lot  
of it is just the way he puts things together. Sometimes I'll read a  
sentence and find myself smiling. I'll stop and reread it again. It's  
like poetry. It's akin to listening to certain sections of music, I'll  
want to stop, back up, and listen to it again, sort of have it going  
over and over relishing it like one sips a good wine, whirling it  
around in one's mouth.

 From another point of view, from a different dimension, the words are  
droplets of water meticulously forming clouds within which we perceive  
meaning, al a that wonderful Schultz cartoon of Charlie Brown  and  
Linus lying on their backs on a summer day staring at the clouds,  
Charlie pointing out the cute bunny rabbit and Linus pointing at  
Holbein's Portrait of Erasmus.

Lawrence