MAY READ - SPOILERS - Till We Have Faces

I have it from the library but it will probably be next week before I can get it started.

I've wanted to read this one for years.

I read it a million years ago and remembered bits and pieces. Picked it up last week to see if I wanted to read it again. Almost right away, old Jack displays his usual sledgehammer subtlety by having the tutor ask Orual what the baby's name would be in Greek. Can't trust those readers to make the obvious connection! Not sure if I'll continue or not.

I'm about halfway through and put it aside for a short time. I can only take so much of unlikable characters. And the main character is not a nice person.

I read it (more or less), and didn't like it. I'm not very interested in mythology, so I didn't make the connections, and just didn't enjoy the story. Morphy is right, the characters aren't nice.

I love this book. I read it first when I was 14 and re read it every five years or so. At different ages I see different things but always find a lot that is worthwhile.

I'm not having a lot of luck with my GD picks this year. The only one I *really* liked was The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. But I'm glad I'm pushing my boundaries. I gave this book 4 out of 10 stars.

My micro-review:

Only vaguely interesting story about unlikable characters who mostly have unpleasant lives then you get hammered with a moralistic ending. Yuck.

Well there ya go. No accounting for tastes.

To me, no accounting for tastes is meant as a put down. Is that how you meant it?

I don't see why that idiom would necessarily be a put down.

I don't see why it would be a put down, either. There really is no accounting for tastes. I've seen so many books I've loved bashed in here, sometimes gleefully, that I've become somewhat numb to what others think. And I'm sure I've bashed a few that others hold dear. So it goes.

Okay. You can't hear tone so I thought I'd check.

No I didn't mean it as a put down. I don't play passive aggressive games. If I disagree I will say so. If I think something is unreasonable I will say so. In this case I was just musing on how strange and interesting it is that different people can have such different experiences of the same book.

Which is just a marker of different people being, well...different. Thus: no accounting for tastes. Which is a good thing. If we were all identical I'd keel over from boredom. I was just surprised and bemused by it - the same way I am when someone tells me they don't like chocolate. Or really enjoy oysters. No accounting.

I don't demand that others share my tastes, or think i have some right to require everyone to like what i like. Because that would be silly. But I can be surprised when something that feels awesome to me isn't enjoyable for others. Same way if the waiter brought out a Black Forest gateau and everyone else at the table said ewwww.

Thanks for responding! I typically "hear" it as an insult but from what I've seen of your posts you really didn't seem like that type of person at all. So I figured I wasn't understanding what you were saying and checked it out. Seems like other people don't consider an insult either.

And I'm with you - love chocolate and hate oysters!

So for me Till We Have Faces is chocolate. Thus the surprise when others see it as oysters. Doesn't mean they are required to see it as I do, just that I'm surprised. And also making a mental note, okay this isn't the audience for that.

Also thanks, I'm glad I come across as someone who doesn't go around being insulting.

I love oysters and chocolate. Not together, though. ;o)

I've just started rereading this - about 4 chapters in - and so far I like it just as much as I remember. I can sympathise with Orual being the unattractive sister, and I like the writing style that feels appropriately formal, yet still personal.

I too sympathize with Orual. I like her. She's struggling with things she doesn't understand and she gets angry and frustrated and scared - but to me that seems honest about the human experience. She could pretend to be always a sweet sunny shiny person but that would be a mask. Masks are a major theme here - what they hide, what they reveal.