The majority of the second section in the novel was the story of the student and the story of the baron. We already know a lot about the characters, we don't need to learn much more about them. I wish that something would actually happen instead of the prisoners telling their stories. I thought that the stories would be the prisoners pleading their cases and throwing each other under the bus in each one, but to my disappointment all they did was tell their life story from when they were growing up and something they learned from it.
For example, the student, Narcissus, told a very long story aobut how he found out what love truly was. He started with talking about how he rarely saw his father and made his way through his life all the way up to when he met the girl of his dreams. He found that he would do anything for this woman that he was madly in love with. His story ended with them running away with each other. This occured from page 39 to 55. This does reveal some different intell about this character, but we already knew enough to understand him before and now the information is just becoming boring.
I haven't been delight by much so far in the novel. It also scares me to know that I have to read two more dreadful stories from the accounts of the soldier and the poet. I was hoping for way more from this novel and was utterly disappointed by it. It still has a chance to redeem itself, but the chance is slim and is closing ever so slightly as we progress into this novel. I really do want this book to catch my interest in some way but it hasn't so far. Maybe when we finish the life stories of each and every character, we will finally be able to have some real action take place and catch my interest and prove itself worth reading.
The website, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/causes-and-events-of-the-french-revolution.html, gives great intel into why the French Revolution of 1848 happened. This revolution is what France is heading into in the time of the novel. This means that some of these causes could also be the reason why the prisoners in the novel did the things they did (which Bufalino still hasn't told us by the way...). The website says that Louis Phillipe tried to please all of the political parties of France, but by doing so angered 3 of the 4. This could be a reason why the prisoners committed their crime. They could have been part of 1 of the 3 angered parties and wanted him, out of the throne so they commited a crime. This website gives other possible reasons like this.
This post seems very focused on the whole idea that there must be a rising action, but maybe that's not what the story is about. With not nearly as much enthusiasm as your earlier post, it seems obvious that the story took a turn for the worse. However, it could just be that so much of the story resides in the tales of old that it really doesn't matter why all of the character have been jailed. Maybe the author meant to keep you in the dark, hoping to surprise when the truth was finally revealed. Just trying to give you some hope.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, overall.