[Rob B]

I'll keep this topic closed until 1 November rolls around then one of the admins will open it so the discussions can begin.

[Sammie]

Am reasonably sure it's the 1st in most places now......so here you go folks!

I can't get the ball rolling....cos I've barely started it...but feel free to go for it....:)

For now, at least, can people please go with FF's suggestion, and start each post by naming the chapter (or page number) that they have reached/are discussing.

Enjoy :)

Sammie.

(have terrible urge to break bottle of champagne over the thread, and christen it as our first fantasy Book Club discussion :))

[ezchaos]

I finished the book about a week ago, so I won't start with any spoilers and I'll try to stick to the beginning of the book first.

Would people actually be as cruel to a leper as they are in the town the Thomas Convenant lives in? Maybe so since leprosy isn't that common of a disease in most parts of the world. There'd be massive ignorance about it. I can fully understand why TC acts the way he does, what with his wife and child up and leaving him and the towns people totally outcasting him. It's a constant struggle for him to keep on living day-to-day, although I think the want to live is stronger in him. Throughout the book he hints at wanting to kill himself, but he never quite goes through with it.

Also, what's up with the mysterious beggar?

[Holbrook]

Hmmm. I first read this book when it first came out '77 '78. That would be pre AIDs or rather pre the common knowledge of that illness.

Re-reading the first section it struck me how very alike is the town's, and Convenant's wife's reaction to leprosy is the same as many folk's reaction to AID's

The panic, the "unclean" "lock him away" it is there in the book. And having lived through the stupidity that flamed in the press and public awareness concerning folks with AID's .It makes the passages about Covenant's attitude to his illness far more understandable. Or could it be that I am 25 years older, a little wiser and more cyinical about the world..

[helenf]

I can see that happening anywhere where there's children (always cruel) or closeminded people - pretty much anywhere then. There's always ignorance, and that's what causes people to be so cruel and seemingly unable to think about how the person in question is thinking.

The unbearable loneliness such cruelty causes must be near impossible to bear - and that has to be in part or almost wholly, why TC behaves as he does.

[DarthV]

*sigh* ~~~Cadfael~~~ :D

#############SPOILER###########
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

ezchaos:

I find how much the temptation of power torments TC is the main, at least towards the end, part of this book. Power & potency = a cruel death for a leper. Awesome book!

[saintjon]

I read this book about six months ago.

The big thing as I was reading the beginning was that I was totally taken unawares by the in-depth description of leprosy, and it's consequences. That coupled with the titling of the chapter, "You shall not hope" was an instant clue that I was into some totally new territory.

I found it fascinating to tell people about the leprosy descriptions in the first chapter and then watch them lose interest as soon as they found out that it was a fantasy story.

Also, the damning reality of the disease, that they who need the most compassion will recieve the least, is such a perfect illustration of the overall crumminess of life. I used to feel that way in self-pity, but I had nothing on a leper.

[Nimea]

The first thing that struck me was the leprosy, the details about the illness and the reactions. TC was characterized very well, I think.

The second thing was the language. I was impressed and more than the character and the story it was the language that just pulled me into the book and into the story. It is not really easy to read and so I am only in chapter 14 'The council of Lords' - but it is a plessure to read it.

Hard to explain. I still can't say how much I will like the book, and it will not be one of my absolute favorites - yet it is really good.

I also like the Land. What and how Donaldson describes this strange world, its inhabitants, its history . . .
The idea of the character of Covenant is very interesting, problem is only I don't know what to think of him. Well, yeah, that is something fascinating and good, but for a book I love I need to have a connection with the character . . .

Mmh, ramblings late at night. Need sleep. Need to read. Which thing first?

*schnarch*

[Hereford Eye]

First half of book: On the second read after 25 years, I can see more the reasons for TC's behavior but I cannot fathom his refusal to learn. Donaldson doesn't help us understand why when weeks go by and things happen TC remains locked in his defensive cocoon. He is not a leper in the land and he knows it; he simply refuses to deal with it. aaaaaargh!
But the language!!!! How many of us have the courage to write threnody or lornly? The man loves the language and delights in its roads less travelled.

[Lani]

I am on Chapter 14 as well.

I think this is a pretty original book. Even though the idea of going in some fantasy land etc. is far from being original, but I think it is the main character that makes up for everything in the book.

For one this is the first book I read, where the main character is not very talented in some way from beginning. He is not extremely handsome, smart, charming, honest, or skillful. Quite the opposite, I'd say for some of those.

I never knew much about leprosy, but I think this book gave some interesting insights on it. What is more interesting, I think this is the first time I meet the main character in a fantasy book that starts out with an incurable disease.

One thing Donaldson seems to do is to throw me off all the time. Often once several chapters are down, I make some kind of opinion on the character that stays with him throughout the book, but here TC keeps doing something that totally changes my opinions of him. Sometimes it is pretty hard to even feel pity for his mental condition, sometimes he seems like a person to be respected for what he does. It is not that I expect him to be black and white, but he keeps changing the shades of gray, and changing them alot.

One thing I could not understand is now easily he lets himself off after he rapes Lena. Yeah, at first he is sickened, but then two days pass and there is no show of his guilt whatsoever, he just erases it or something. It does not bother him in any other way then the result of Atiaran's hostility and Lena was a person who basically cured him of leprosy.