because my last post was a revision of one i had lost to the great internet in the sky, i omitted an important detail i thought i had included (well, i had included it first time around). the comparison between hoeg's the quiet girl and ishiguro's never let me go was made because both are about children who are beyond the norm. one reason ishiguro is more successful is that he (probably unaware) follows anthony trollope's theory, given voice in barchester towers, that "Our doctrine is that the author and the reader should move along together in full confidence with each other. Let the personages of the drama undergo ever so complete a comedy of errors among themselves, but let the spectator never mistake the Syracusan for the Ephesian (ref. to Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. . . ."
the suggestion from me? do give books for the holidays. i prefer that you give one of mine, especially the newest murder mystery, eloquent corpse. but do give books. as lenore henley says, "They're never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal."
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