tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088837105316583907.post7811364945579317742..comments2023-10-22T01:49:41.698-07:00Comments on Puppy Of The Month Book Club: Swan Knight's Son: Chapter FiveJonMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07705424889025942210noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088837105316583907.post-33708968826732892262016-12-18T03:11:28.147-08:002016-12-18T03:11:28.147-08:00I'm way late in responding to this comment. I...I'm way late in responding to this comment. It's a great point, and one that should have jumped out at me. <br /><br />Never apologize for lit-crit on this blog. That's the whole point of the exercise!JonMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07705424889025942210noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088837105316583907.post-82972742585909879182016-12-12T08:51:48.807-08:002016-12-12T08:51:48.807-08:00Rather than seeing it as merely a slow rollout, it...Rather than seeing it as merely a slow rollout, it can also be seen as an aspect of the whole 'the real world isn't what we think it is' storyline. Not to get too lit crit, but Gil does need to be Everyman to some extent, and so his experience - not knowing who he is, not knowing what he is supposed to do, not knowing who he can trust or just how far he can trust them - has to be our experience, too. Thus, he has to find out slowly and with few clear answers; his mother must be a teller of riddles; his cousin, partly out of fear of the elfs and partly because she can hardly grasp his ignorance, doles stuff out furtively and maddeningly incomplete; his pooka, we suspect even this early in the books, wants to tell him more than he can, but is hiding stuff as well. <br /><br />Gil trusts a dog, a bear and a mermaid. He doesn't trust a school principal or any school 'friends'. He loves his mother, but hardly trusts her to tell him the plain truth. The connecting thread is beauty - Ruff, Bruno and Nerea are all archetypically beautiful after the manner of their kind. <br /><br />Like real life, the answers may be out there (or in here) but do not come with a handy one-page cheat-sheet. One must trust *appropriate* beauty, such as the beauty of a loyal dog, yet be wary of the beauty of the elfs, which hides hardness, a certain viciousness - and sadness. <br /><br />Like the fairy tales it is based on, and like life when properly considered, Swan Knight's Son is often sad, yet mysterious, beautiful and true.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com