Case (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
case) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomsecrets2018-01-07 03:34 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2018-01-07 03:34 pm
[ SECRET POST #4022 ]
⌈ Secret Post #4022 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
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Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 45 secrets from Secret Submission Post #576.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
Book club - Briar Rose discussion
Re: Book club - Briar Rose discussion
Mostly it was horrible. Like, immersive, but so horrifying. I had to put it down after a little while and take a breather because it was just depressing. Not only is it more horrible than most atrocities in fiction, but it isn't fiction - it was all real, except for the specific stories of the protagonists. It's just unbelievable.
Poland honestly sounds like kind of a depressing place. I'm sure it's not, overall - it was probably just the story that made me feel that way. Anyone here been to Poland?
As for the characters, Josef and Gemma and their contemporaries were compelling; the rest were pretty annoying. Becca's constant correcting of Magda really grated on me. Like she never asked her to coach her in English and Becca understood her just fine. idk I may be overreacting to that. Shana and Sylvia were irritating and Howie (I think that was the name of one of the husbands who tried to get Becca to make him breakfast?) was a complete ass. Seriously, just a bunch of really annoying people, lol.
Josef was compelling and dynamic and flawed, and I enjoyed reading his story from beginning to end.
Stan was alright but his romance with Becca felt kinda shoehorned. He wasn't really at all essential to the story. And it was a little cringey because like, is he just going to continue to be her editor? while they're dating? that's not super professional and sounds potentially very awkward. and the jealousy towards his friend Samantha was totally irrelevant and also unfounded to begin with. I just don't like that trope much though.
tl;dr I loved the part of the story from Josef's perspective and pretty much hated the rest of it.
I also thought the Sleeping Beauty connection was tenuous and rather forced. Especially because it wasn't clear to me why Josef was the "prince" when Aron was the person Gemma actually fell in love with, married and got pregnant from, AND he's the one who actually rescued her from the pit. I get the whole "kiss" thing but CPR =/= a kiss. idk it just seemed weird. and I wonder why Gemma never talked about it. it seems odd that she would have just...forgotten it all. is that a PTSD thing? I do think she pretty much forgot about her life before Chelmno, or maybe chose to forget; she probably lost all of her family there, or before. :(
What are your thoughts? Tell me your reactions to the story, the characters, and the writing! What was your overall impression?
Re: Book club - Briar Rose discussion
I thought the siblings were supposed to be annoying, especially since they were viewed through the eyes of their little sister.
Well I thought the connection to Sleeping Beauty was Gemma trying to rationalize the horrible things that happen to her. They lived in what the Polish people called a castle (and she was given the name princess). All of her people were gassed and put to sleep (put under a spell). And she was rescued by a prince by a kiss.
I think she does remember what happens she just refuses to talk about it. Or, she refuses to talk about except framed as fantastical tale. I know a lot of veterans will refuse to talk about what they saw/did during the war.
Re: Book club - Briar Rose discussion
That could be an interesting way of coping with it - framing it all as a story.
I agree that the siblings were supposed to be annoying. They were just also kind of annoying to read about in addition to being annoying to Becca. And they behaved badly. They were rude about Gemma before she died. They were bossy too.
Re: Book club - Briar Rose discussion
I quite enjoyed the book! As diet_poison said Becca and company were pretty meh. The strongest part of the story was when Josef was telling the story from his point of view. I liked that they didn't discover EVERYTHING in the end because that is sometimes how stories end. They are not always so neatly tied up.
I don't have much to say because I don't know how to write open ended discussions. :( But I'll probably respond to other people.