So. It's been at least a day or two (or maybe three) since the last post. But I wasn't being lazy; oh no. The last post covered up to chapter 8, and I've now finished the book (all 40 chapters). I know, right? I picked up speed.
There were a few contributing factors for this (actually, for both having read so much and for not having posted). The biggest is that once you get into a get into a good book (especially a Stephen King book) it's awfully hard to put it down. That is why I read so much. It also contributed to why I haven't posted. I haven't had all that much free time, between school and work and such, and all the free time I had, I spent reading. I kept thinking 'I need to stop reading for a little while and post my notes and such so that I don't get too far ahead of myself'. I might as well have been telling Jessie to just man-up and snap the handcuffs in a ninja-like move of power and finesse. It simply wasn't going to happen.
But, I have a bit of free time now (maybe not nearly enough to post notes/thoughts on 32 chapters; I am pretty tired; I spent a good portion of the day on top of a mountain), so I'm at least going to get a start.
First, though, a bit of mention of my life (I know, I know, but there is a scroll wheel). Since St. Paddy's day, I've been a busy bee. Thursday afternoon I rode my bike from school to work. It's about a 2 mile ride (which is what I've been doing almost daily for the last week or so in an attempt to get in better shape). This, however, was a bit different than my normal route.
In my neighborhood,the route I take is a generally good path on a bike. There are hills, both down and up, and that's just great. The uphills are steep and just long enough to be a bit of challenge (the last several yards of said hills I'm consistently 'about to step off and walk it up the rest of the way', but somehow manage to make it up). The downhill parts are a great break, and the flat parts in between are also good.
The ride from school to work, however, is not so great. The first three factors contributing to it not being too fun are thus: I had a rather heavy backpack on, I'm horribly out of shape, and my stupid bike is stuck in a rather high gear, making uphill rather difficult. The last two factors were present before, but it would seem as though having the backpack just magnified them (and the added weight certainly must have, come to think of it). Also, though, the route itself was a bit more difficult than I originally thought. There are a lot of hills. None of them, however, are that steep. They're almost too gradual to notice in a car. However, on a bike, you sure do notice them. And not being able to downshift definitely made them all that much harder. Also, it's a lot more stressful riding a bike on a main road where cars are whizzing by inches from your elbow (I mean, the city obviously has money to install completely unnecessary stop signs in my neighborhood, but god forbid they put up bike lanes). So it was an experience. But I made it, so that's good.
Sip (decaf vanilla latte).
So, on to the book.
First, though, man is my handwriting bad sometimes. Granted, most of these notes were scribbled rather rapidly, on uneven or even unflat surfaces, and without anything to rest my hand against as I wrote, but still. They're pretty bad. I think I might post pictures of the notes soon. There are four pieces of paper, with both sides of each one (except for the last) written on. And because I'd placed two pieces together, then fold it into fourths, it's comical to try to follow from chapter to chapter, when it'll switch sides of the paper or even switch pieces. I'm almost definitely going to post them.
So. Chapter nine begins with Jessie thwarting the urge to vomit after having seen the dog tear off part of her husband. She wants to sleep, but can't. She is still thirsty, though. I have in my notes "^ is there anyway she could get the glass of water?". You will remember that earlier I commented on the fact that she was thirsty with a glass of water so close by her. It turns out I had a pretty good idea. She does indeed try to get the water, and she certainly gets cool points for how she manages it. The shelf on which the water sits is not attached to the brackets; it's merely sitting on them. She teeter-totters the shelf with her greatly restricted hands and arms, and manages a homerun-catch on the glass. It slides, according to plan, down the shelf to where (she hopes) her hand is waiting. There are a few moments where it's kind of touch-and-go (pardon the pun), but she manages it. I'm not sure I could have. This part really shows how talented King is at touching the readers emotions. The whole time I was reading this, I felt like I was Jessie. My heart sped up in nerves and anticipation at her attempt to tip the shelf; I felt myself filled with a sense of triumph as she finally gets it. I was equally as exasperated when she almost misses. I wasn't even aware of it initially, until I realized that I was furiously chewing my hands, and that I hadn't breathed during the whole ordeal. It was intense.
She is, however, stopped. After rejoicing in finally getting a grip on the sweaty glass of water, she moves to drink it, and is jarringly halted only inches from her face. Those handcuffs, remember?
Although I did see this as the outcome lines or paragraphs before Jessie, I still felt that sense of frustration when the glass did stop. Goody (Goodwife Burlingame), however offers a bit of advice, and this is how the chapter ends.
Before moving on to the next chapter, however, there's a couple of more notes. The first of these is that the chapter has a bit more of internal voices dialogue. The difference this time is that it's the voices bickering amongst themselves, a bit of a step further than Jessie even responding to two separate voices at once. This is pretty interesting; I don't know how common this is. But then again, Jessie is rather uncommon; it seems now as much as ever that the voices have been developed as coping method.
The final notes is that it seems to give a bit more insight to the Dark Day. It mentions that that was the first summer since she had begun menstruation, and thus had also begun (or quickened) her development into a woman, and that that may have spurred her father on. But it also let's us know, later, that the Dark Day is indirectly the reason that she left her therapist and her best friend. In both of these cases, Jessie ran away from them because they were prying too hard into what had happened that day (this will be important later on in the novel, trust me). This also could be the cause that the voice in her head had taken on the Ruth Neary personality; surely if she had not moved out of the dorm with Ruth, her voice wouldn't be Ruth's? This also furthers the idea that the voices are somehow related to the Day.
Chapter 10 is rather short. We begin by learning of and watching Goody's advice work. Jessie remembers that there was one of those card-stock magazine pull outs on the shelf (the ones that promise that you'll save oh so much of the list price by subscribing now), and Goody's idea is to fold it into a kind of straw. It works, but she manages to spill just about as much water as she drinks. Still, she gets a bit of water, and thats good. She leaves some in the glass for later.
The rest of the chapter is a nearly entirely a monologue from the Ruth voice, telling us about how their friendship ended. They had gone to a women's consciousness meeting, and upon hearing the testimony of another girl who had been abused, Jessie loses is and leaves. Ruth comes to her comfort, and Jessie almost tells her everything that happened during the eclipse. Just enough to pique Ruth's concern and interest. Another of the women, however, comes into the room, and Jessie clams up. After that, Ruth mentions it and mentions it, trying to get Jessie to open up about it, and finally Jessie moves out.
After this is a bit of backstory on Jessie and Gerald's marriage, Jessie falls asleep, and Prince (the dog) comes back into the room and continues snacking.
Chapter 11 is a dream-flashback to her brother Wills birthday, that birthday where he tried to 'goose' her (I believe we would nowadays call it 'pantsing') and she hauled off and punched him. My notes on this chapter are horribly vague and unhelpful, and I just skimmed back over it and decided that I'm much to tired to try to figure out what I meant and what is worth saying that's not in my notes, so this chapters going to be condensed. If you want to know more about it, get the book (which I'd prefer you to have been reading all along).
The two main important things in this chapter that come to mind now are the fact that she links Will's having pantsed her and the Eclipse (and, to a lesser extent, 'Gerald's Game' of handcuffing her to those both), and that she explains why she never came out and told her mother. The same song was playing on the radio during the party as was playing on the Eclipse day, and she punches Will in, what I think, retaliation against her father more so than against her brother.
The other note, though, is much more important.
She never tells her family what happened because she felt like it would have destroyed her family. She says that it would have killed her mom. It's interesting, to note, that after her father abused her, she still refuses to destroy the family, as if her telling, not her father having done, would be the catalyst. Although the only authority on the matter is having watched way to many episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, it would seem that this idea of blame being lifted from the abuser and even places, to an extent, on the abused is a common problem in the mind of the victim, especially in issues of family-abuse. It's also interesting to note that twice on the same page the Ruth voice (which is really just an extension of Jessie's thinking) tries to down play the magnitude of her fathers abuse. Surely, it could have been worse (although at this point in the novel I don't think we've found out exactly what happened; it can be dreadfully difficult to assume ignorance to events you know happen but haven't happened yet, at the part of novel you're talking about), but still, it was obviously an important enough event for Jessie to still be scarred and dealing with the aftermath nearly 30 years later. It would just seem that this is King's way of illustrating the tendency people, or at least I think people do this, I sure do, have of having a voice in his or her head that tells you to buck-up, it's really not that bad, so stop whining.
Chapter 12 is very short, spanning barely a single page. It is important, very important, for the future of the novel, though. Prince almost goes to sleep in the house after having snacked, but suddenly perks up, and gets nervous enough to flee the house (although he does hand around nearby, wanting to guard his meal). Prince senses something, you see. Something not quite right, and possibly, probably, dangerous.
And that is that for the night. I know I only got through four chapters, and have 28 more to go, but it's late, later than I planned on staying out, and I still have errands to run on the way home. But have a good night, all, and I hope that I've given enough to think about for one night. I'll hopefully be able to get a bit more blogging done tomorrow after work; after all, the book's only just getting good.
Have a good night, and
'Til next time.
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