INTRODUCTION BY PAUL HOCHMAN
I first met Louise in 2006 while working at BarnesAndNoble.com. We had a fabulous lunch at a Greek restaurant in New York City to celebrate the publication of STILL LIFE. She signed my copy of the book as follows:
“For Paul, such fun undermining St. Martin’s together”
Little did we both know that just four years later I’d join St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and, together with Louise and the wonderful “Team Penny”, we’d undermine the publishing status quo and rocket Louise’s books to the top of the Bestseller Lists!
Gamache Series.com, the website you are now reading, and the Re-Reads initiative was originally conceived to promote THE LONG WAY HOME so to say I have a certain connection to this book (and all of Louise’s novels really!) is to say the least! This website – a community really – with an enormous amount of content and connections was built on the back of THE LONG WAY HOME.
The really unique thing about THE LONG WAY HOME Re-Read is that it was led by readers just like you, in real time, at the point of publication. Now – I doubt it – but if you haven’t read the book yet, beware, spoilers lie ahead!
RECAP
The Re-Reads initiative was initially launched in the lead-up to the publication of The Long Way Home. After the book was published, readers came together once a week on GamacheSeries.com to discuss the book, ten chapters at a time. What you’ll read below includes many of the insights from those readers.
Ch. 1-10: From the opening chapters, readers point out that this book is very different from previous books in the series. After all, How the Light Gets In ends with what feels like a natural conclusion: the internal struggles within the Sûreté du Québec are resolved, Jean-Guy gets the help he needs and marries Annie Gamache, and Armand and Reine-Marie retire to Three Pines.
The Long Way Home opens on the bench in the Three Pines village green. Armand has been sitting at the bench every morning, holding a book – The Balm of Gilead – but not reading it. Clara has taken to joining him. As they sit, Clara wonders why Armand never seems to read his book. Armand wonders if Clara has been sitting with him because she pities him – or because she needs something.
After some time, Clara tells Armand what she’s been struggling with: the year before, she and her husband Peter, also a painter, had separated. Before he left, they made an agreement that they would have no contact during their year apart, but on the first anniversary of his leaving, he’d return to discuss their relationship. But it’s been a few weeks since that day, and Peter still hasn’t come back. Clara is worried.
The neighbors gather for dinner, and Armand tells Jean Guy – who still can’t bring himself to call his new father-in-law anything other than patron – about Clara’s concerns. When Clara finds out, she’s furious at Armand: a fury that readers found frustrating and disrespectful. But Gamache, thinking Clara might not want his help after all, is relieved.
But she does need his help. When Gamache asks Clara why Peter left, she tells him that he was always supportive of Clara when she was struggling, but wasn’t supportive of her after her success. As Clara’s career took off, Peter’s plateaued.
First, Gamache pays a visit to Peter’s mother, Irene – a cold woman – and her husband, Bert Finney – a kind man. The couple has art all over their walls, paintings from the finest Canadian painters, but none by either Peter nor Clara. Neither have heard from Peter recently.
Doing their due diligence, Gamache and Jean-Guy check Peter’s credit card records, and find that he’s traveled all over the world – Venice, Paris – in the year he’s been gone. One place in particular stands out as unusual: Dumfries, Scotland. But the records also show that he returned to Quebec City recently, just four months ago.
Clara and Myrna travel to Toronto to speak face-to-face with Peter’s siblings: his brother Thomas, and his sister Marianna. Neither have heard from him either.
And Clara meets with Peter’s siblings to see if they know anything about Peter’s whereabouts. At his sister Marianna’s, we encounter Bean: Marianna’s child. Born out of wedlock, Bean’s gender identity is a mystery that Marianna refuses to share with her family, out of spite – though the readers in the comments speculate that Bean is a girl.
Ch. 11-20:
Clara and Myrna visit the Ontario College of Canadian Arts, where Clara and Peter went to school. They meet with the charismatic Professor Massey, who tells them Peter was recently there, but that he doesn’t know where he went after he visited.
Here, we learn more about Clara’s time at OCCA: she spent most of her student years as a bit of a reject – her art was shown in Professor Norman’s Salon des Refusés – until Peter, who was more conventionally talented and popular, noticed her.
Gamache and Jean-Guy go visit Dr. Vincent Gilbert in the forest to ask him about Paris. Later, in the Garden with Reine-Marie, Clara, Jean-Guy, and Myrna, Armand says he thinks Gilbert and Peter were drawn to the same place in Paris: LaPorte. The Door. A community created by a priest to serve children and adults with Down’s syndrome. Vincent Gilbert volunteered there, hoping to find himself, and the theory is that Peter did too.
In these chapters, commenters point out, a new side of Peter begins to emerge. Clara realizes that the paintings on Bean’s wall weren’t Bean’s, but Peter’s first attempts at painting something with feeling. “Peter Morrow took no risks,” Louise writes. “He neither failed nor succeeded. There were no valleys, but neither were there mountains. Peter’s landscape was flat. An endless, predictable desert.” Perhaps all of Peter’s wanderings were his attempts to find himself.
Marianne sends the paintings to Clara. Commenters point out that Clara feels a twinge of jealousy, looking at them. Where Peter used to only paint with muted colors, the new paintings were bright and colorful. Suppose they weren’t abstract, Gamache wonders? Suppose Peter was painting what he saw?
The Dumfries, Scotland question is still outstanding. Gamache calls the Police Constable in Dumfries to ask if there are any artist colonies there. Constable Stuart couldn’t think of any artist colonies, but did say they had gardens. Gamache sends him a picture of Peter’s painting, and Stuart recognizes it: he had painted The Garden of Cosmic Speculation.
Later, Constable Stuart asks around town about the garden. An old man, Alphonse, tells him about a time he went to shoot hares there. He sees a large hare, who stares at him, unmoving. And then behind that one, he notices 20 others. And then notices one turn to stone in front of his eyes. Back in Canada, Armand notices a circle of stones in the photos – a stone circle not visible on the garden’s official website. One commenter pointed out that the garden reminded her of Peter, straight lines and geometric shapes, but with a little magic thrown in.
Ch. 21-30:
Peter’s paintings continue to reveal new meanings. Clara and Armand look at one of the paintings in a new perspective, and see an image that they recognize: The St. Lawrence River.
They travel to Baie-Saint-Paul, a tourist destination near Charlevoix, where a meteor had hit millions of years before, creating a natural ecosystem unlike anywhere else in the world. Readers point out that just like the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, this is another “cosmic” location. Is there a reason Peter was drawn to both?
There, they split up to visit galleries, but no one had seen Peter. In their search, they meet a man named Marcel Chartrand, who runs the Galerie Gagnon, showcasing the works of Clarence Gagnon (you may recognize one of Gagnon’s paintings from the cover of The Long Way Home!) He introduces himself and offers them a place to stay, since all of the hotels were full. He knows Peter: Peter had spent many hours in the gallery back in April, and had ended up renting a cabin down the road. But he left before the summer, and Marcel does not know where he went.
However, Chartrand gives Gamache another clue towards Peter’s whereabouts: Peter had asked after No Man, someone who ran an artist’s colony in the woods. Was it No Man – or Norman? Could it be the same cruel Professor Norman who set up the Salon des Refusés at OCCA?
To find out more, Reine-Marie and Ruth go visit Professor Massey – who seems quite taken with Ruth – to ask him about Professor Norman. Massey says that Norman believed in the tenth muse: that there was a muse for art. Massey says Norman was eventually fired for being insane, and for creating the Salon des Refusés, a gallery for failures.
Massey doesn’t have any photos of Norman – in the yearbook, instead of portraits of the professors, students chose to feature a piece of each teacher’s art. The self-portrait by Professor Norman was wild, a portrait of insanity, and the signature on the art did not say Norman, but No Man. Had the pursuit of the tenth muse turned Norman mad?
Back in Baie-Saint-Paul, the group is unsure whether they can trust Chartrand. How connected to No Man’s artist colony was he really? Was he a former member, returned to Baie-Saint-Paul after the colony folded? Or how about the owner of La Muse, a brasserie in town – was he a former member? Jean-Guy asks around and finds out the man’s name is Luc Vachon, and that he did, in fact, live at No Man’s colony for a few years.
In these chapters, commenters point out that it’s not just Peter’s personal journey we are watching in this novel. We’re also seeing huge changes in Jean-Guy, too – in his calmness in sobriety, and in his acceptance of the villagers he used to disdain.
Although Clara is officially in charge of this investigation, Gamache goes to the police station, where the agents recognize him from the previous year. There, he meets Agent Morriseau, who tells him that No Man’s colony was a cult. Quietly, Gamache asks the agents to arrange for sniffer dogs, to check the area for any bodies.
And then Chartrand asks them if they’d like to stay at his home that night – not his apartment above the gallery, but his remote home in the woods. Clara says yes.
Ch. 31-end:
At Chartrand’s home, the villagers continue to inquire about No Man. Was he simply the leader of a commune – or was it a cult? Chartrand says he lectured there. Was he invited in, as an outsider – or was he already there, as a member?
Jean-Guy finds out where the owner of La Muse goes to paint: a remote village called Tabaquen, which means “sorcerer.” The only way in and out of Tabaquen is by boat or plane, so the villagers purchase tickets to fly, and at the last minute, Chartrand buys a ticket to join them.
The plane ride is harrowing, and the pilot points out that artists typically arrive by boat – but that neither option is a smooth ride. They show the pilot a photo from the art school yearbook, of Peter and Professor Massey, and ask him if he’s seen Peter. He says yes.
Clara then asks the pilot to land in Sept-Îles. She wants to retrace Peter’s steps as he would have done it, by boat. Jean-Guy wants to get to Tabaquen as quickly as possible, and is sick of following Clara’s lead. Gamache reminds him that they’re here to support Clara, nothing more.
On the ship, the Loup de Mer, there are two cabins. Thinking it would be the bigger cabin, the men take the Admiral’s Suite, which is barely big enough to fit the three of them. Gamache asks the porter about Peter, and the porter says he recognizes him. That he watched him closely on his journey, to be sure he didn’t jump from the deck. Meanwhile, the Captain’s Suite, where the women are staying, is luxurious.
Gamache recalls something from the flight: when the young pilot said he recognized the man in the photo he showed him, it wasn’t Peter he recognized. It was Massey who he’d flown to Tabaquen the day before.
The sniffer dogs found something suspicious, a substance buried in a container: it was asbestos, found along with the canvases. Whoever would have handled the canvases would likely die, eventually, from inhaling asbestos. The principal of the college confirms that asbestos was detected in Professor Massey’s office. Had Norman sent his asbestos-infected paintings to Massey in an attempt to slowly kill him?
After traveling through tumultuous waters, the river eventually flattens to glass and they arrive in Tabaquen. Clara stays in town – unsure of what they’d find – and Gamache and Jean-Guy head to No Man’s cabin. There, they find Peter sitting on the porch, looking unkempt. And inside the cabin, they find a body: Professor Norman. Peter says that Norman had sent him away, and when he returned he had found him dead. Luc, from the brasserie, had been there too – but Peter had sent him to call for help.
Here, Gamache realizes that he had everything backwards: it wasn’t Norman adding asbestos to his painting to harm Massey, but the other way around. Massey had been sending him asbestos-infected canvases for years, because Norman was a threat.
And here, Peter asks Gamache if Clara had seen his new paintings, and what she thought about them. He has changed: her opinion is all he cares about now. Peter tells Gamache that he wanted to return home to her, but before he could face her, he wanted to confront Professor Norman for what he’d done to her back in school. But when he arrived, the old professor was sick, and Peter stayed on to care for him.
“The tenth muse is not, I think about becoming a better artist, but becoming a better person,” Gamache tells Peter.
But meanwhile, there’s the issue of the dead professor. Thinking the killer would be Luc, the group heads back to town. But in town, they find Massey, holding a knife to Clara’s throat. “I love you, Clara,” Peter says, as he takes the knife for her.
Commenters seem to agree that by the end, Peter had become a brave man in a brave country – a man finally worthy of Clara’s love.
FAVORITE QUOTE
“Fear lives in the head. And courage lives in the heart. The job is to get from one to the other.”
CONCLUSION
What an amazing journey revisiting my friends from Three Pines in the pages of THE LONG WAY HOME. I can’t believe it’s been eight years since the book was published (and this website was launched!) and almost twelve years since I started working with Louise!
The activist and journalist, Ella Winter, once said, “Don’t you know you can’t go home again?” Thomas Wolfe would then use the quote to entitle his posthumously released novel YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN.
I, however, in the spirit of Ruth Zardo call bullshit!
Of course you can go home again. Even if it’s a long way home. We, as readers and lovers of the World of Louise Penny, are fortunate enough to go home to Three Pines every year!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Clara first approaches Gamache with great ambivalence: wanting (though fearing) to
know what happened to Peter, while reluctant to disturb Gamache’s newfound peace.
How did you feel about the decisions they both make at this point?
- “I thought he’d come home,” Clara says of Peter. Did you? How did your view of him
change in the course of the book?
- What does it mean to you to be a “brave man in a brave country”? How does courage—or
cowardice—feature in this novel?
- On the first page of the book, we hear about Armand Gamache’s repeated gesture, “so
tiny, so insignificant.” What is the true significance of this and other seemingly
inconsequential actions in this story?
- What do you think of Ruth’s role in this story? For example, consider the scene in
Massey’s studio, where she “seemed to have lost her mind. But found, Reine Marie
thought, her heart.”
- Both Peter and Gamache’s father, in a sense, disappear. What is the impact of this kind of
loss on Clara and Gamache? Have you ever experienced anything similar in your own
life?
- There is so much about art and the creative process in this book. How do we see that
unfold in the lives not only of Clara and Peter, but also of Norman and Massey? For example, what do you make of the Salon des Refusés? What do you think it meant to the
artists themselves?
- What roles do creativity and acclaim (or obscurity) play in the lives of both Clara and
Peter? In their marriage? Do you believe that Clara and Peter’s marriage could have been
saved?
- Louise has sometimes talked about the importance of chiaroscuro — the play of light and
shadow — in her work. What are the darkest and the lightest points in this novel? What
are some humorous moments, and how did you respond to them?
- Peter’s paintings look completely different from different perspectives. How does that
apply to other characters or events in the story?
- In Chapter Six, Myrna observes about jealousy: “It’s like drinking acid, and expecting the other person to die.” How does jealousy play out in the lives of various characters here?
What effects have you seen it have in real life?
- How does Clara’s quote from one of her favorite movies, “Sometimes the magic works,”
play out in the story?
- While a number of Louise’s books end in unexpected ways, the conclusion of this one is
particularly shocking. How did you feel as you were reading it, and what do you think
when you look back at it now?
- In some ways Clara’s quest to find Peter recalls such classic journeys as The Odyssey and
The Heart of Darkness. What are the most significant discoveries the central figures in this novel make along the way?
1,023 replies on “Series Re-Read: The Long Way Home”
Millie, I just read your later posting. I had read the one I just responded to and dropped to the Reply section. I don’t think you have anything to apologize for. I truly love your postings. I read the one you refer to but didn’t respond because I didn’t know what to say. As far as “this was your group …..”, That isn’t the way it is. I am not sure I’m saying what I feel and want to say. I’m writing this having had less than one cup of coffee. Let me get some more caffeine and I’ll post later.
Meg, I too have followed Lynley and Havers and Dalgleish but I think Louise’s characters are warmer. I have to say, Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George wasn’t a favourite for me either.
Oops! So Sorry, Julie. I typed your name in first start of this & didn’t swipe accidentally didn’t swipe entire line of names! You’re supposed to be up there too!
Meg – no worries! I totally get what you’re saying – and sure, there’s some of that for me too. I guess I’m a bit more laid-back in that I don’t mind that the mystery part of the stories doesn’t often engage me much. It’s the people I love and love to see their development. Like you, I was disappointed that we don’t get to see Peter go back to Three Pines and take up his brush again, and see what he makes of it. Unlike you, though, I guess I’m more able to let Louise take me where she wants to, never mind what I want. I did find that the re-read brought a much deeper understanding, and therefore, satisfaction, as I read through everyone’s comments and read the book a second time.
Missy Jewels,
Scanned thru earlier posts and found your one about needlecraft designs & checked out your site. Scan back for reaction. Give ya 4 gold stars for that series! LD
Ms. Anna,
I’d wear that Ruth Badge with pride. Unfortunately – came to poetry writing late in life and royally suck at it, but as our Ruth frequently proclaims, “I’m fine!” any how! <3
Ladies All,
It has been a pleasure, and horizon expanding experience. Thank you for sharing insights and contradictory opinions. Think all of our experiences have been enriched!
Meg – I did see that – thank you. I put an answer there by the original post – about some inspiration I got for the dark alphabet. Sometimes I feel everyone is connected in some way or another, and I love that stitching is a way to connect to people now, and people long ago.
Julie,
Just read story of your alphabet. What a wonderful tribute to your friend – and what delightful designs for stitchers too!
Oh Meg, it has been a pleasure for me as well. I certainly enjoyed reading your perspective. Seems I have some rereading to do. I’ve never encounterred anyone who referred to Helen of Troy as a trollop! I almost fell off my chair laughing.
Well, my prejudice, Millie. The woman left her young child back home with Menelaus when she ran off with the boy-toy Paris – and contributed to that whole mess in Ilium! Somehow, trollop seemed to fit. Guess she’d be called a cougar today! :~D
Cougar? ;-D
Meg, perhaps it’s because I read it in Spanish (and over 40 years ago) but my particular edition (in what seemed torturous ‘old Castilian’ Spanish and I guess mine is a more ‘international’ Spanish) had her portrayed as kidnapped. As I remember it, she was internally tortured she had to leave her child!
I always find it fascinating how words have different meanings in different languages. (As evidenced by my ramblings on the different meanings in English and Spanish of the simple word ‘ecstasy’.) And how much difference a single word translated with a perfectly correct but ‘not the appropriate’ meaning could alter the entire connotation of a passage or chapter, change the lens through which the reader perceived the ‘rest of the story’.
That’s why I now want to read an English translation… someday.
At this point in my life I am finally allowing myself to read for the sheer joy of it. And Ms Penny’s characters provide those moments of grace for me. To be perfectly honest, I literally rolled my eyes at the beginning of Chapter 39, p 351 “Gamache was sure of only one thing. He’d been wrong.” I wanted to reach through the book, shake the man (whom I adore!) and shout right in his ear, “Yea! No kidding! AGAIN! Stop asking questions, gazing into the landscape and go look for Prof. Massey already, not Luk you numbnuts! (Must be the soccer coach / Ruth in me! 😉 ) I find I have to let those moments of frustration go quickly or I will cease to find the joy which I desperately need during this time in my life where I am having to say the final farewell to so many people dear to my heart. Furthermore, since these are the first ‘mystery’ books I’ve ever read, I have no pre-conceived ideas or expectations.
In parting, I do want to thank you for your encouragement to ‘Just Write… because even if only for oneself it has great value.’ Doing so in this forum has enabled me to stop seeing the computer as an ‘enemy’, but more as a friend – again. And if what I write looks like a ‘dog’s breakfast’ it doesn’t matter. This is something I can do just for me. I am no longer attached to the outcome. As the old song, ‘Garden Party’ by Rick Nelson says, “But it’s all right now. I learned my lesson well. See you can’t please everyone, so you gotta please yourself.”
You just have to share Ruth’s hat with the soccer coaches.
I have been thinking about some of what you said about the murders being contrived. I think perhaps they were in this book.
The strength of the previous books has been the characters but there is no doubt the underlying story arc of the Arnot case provided depth and darkness even beyond whatever murder was being solved. There were always so many layers to the story. That there are fewer layers in this one has been raised.
It was always going to be a challenge to move forward from after the Arnot-Francouer affair wound up. Perhaps Louise tried to be too elaborate with the murder plot in this one to compensate a little?
For me the book needs both, the characters definitely, but a premise that moves them forward and injects drama is also important. It’s not easy to achieve. I have read a lot of crime mysteries and most are not as engaging for me on a character level as this series.
As for the crime, I think frequently real life murders are quite tedious and simplistic affairs…..a stabbing or shooting out of jealousy or rage, an indiscriminate punch in the street that kills……books frequently need something less easy to solve or the word count just won’t be there! And there is always going to be some contrivance or co-incidence that brings our characters into it.
Peter on his journey without a crime….would that have been satisfying? Probably not. Where to put the crime then? Not easy to weave the two together. It worked for some and not for others. Maybe depending on how much you value different elements of the story.
Anna,
Thanks for the reminder. Yes! The Arnot atrocities and fallout were horrific and set up Armand as The Moral Man for the series. Deliberate cruelties, systematic and deliberate attempts at ethnic cleansing, corruption of power and souls. That/those were the arc for much of this series until the climax in book 9. I have to say that I do find some mystery writers who are capable of creating both an intriguing and engaging ‘who-done-it’ (whether murder or not) — as well as characters for whom the reader can also care about. Off the top of my head – there’s Elizabeth George’s Inspector Tommy Lyndley and his sidekick Barbara Havers. Another one is PD James’ Inspector Dagleish series too. Both of these writers manage to do both, and I eagerly await next installments from each author too!
I would have been satisfied with Peter on his journey – without a crime. What happened personally with him, and then interpersonally with the 3 P-ers & Gamache group would have satisfied me. Would have seen just what Peter discovered and just how he changed during that year. Granted, it isn’t easy to weave two strands together, but sometimes just one with characters that grab our attention, ones whom we seem to know almost like family can be powerfully engaging too! With the latter, we wouldn’t have ‘needed’ a crime. Characters are so rich in and of themselves and there is so much that we do not yet know about many of them – backstories are potential ‘grabbers’ for future works here!
Babbling again. Am seriously sleep deprived after hoopla & travel of past week. Am looking forward to a quiet night’s sleep for a change! It’s so nice to be back in my quiet, little house after a rowdy week with family!
Barbara, Anna, Linda, Millie, Cathryn, Nancy et al,
First, apologies for being absent for last two weeks. I really had nothing to say about the third quarter of the book and had read the last one that week too. I was waiting for this week’s discussion, but had to be out of town for a family thing. To be honest, I was really disappointed when I finally got to the end chapters – as a READER instead of a fan..
The first three quarters of the book centered on the search for Clara’s husband or rather Peter’s own personal Odyssey. Like good old Ulysses, he traveled far & wide, experienced a number of adventures and was tested repeatedly on his journey to explore/examine/find “home”. “Home” for & within himself as an adult man; “home” as Clara”s husband and equal in Three Pines; “home” as the place in his soul where he could creatively/emotionally/and most importantly – authentically find a way to express himself as an artist, and “home” the place (physically, emotionally, intellectually) where he’d actually be safe to be Peter.
To me, there was something heroic, (maybe also epic) about Peter’s journey in this book. Felt that he and we readers were cheated when he wasn’t permitted to return to his metaphoric Ithaca, Penelope and Telemachus. Yeah, Clara “talked him home” as he was dying, but = that left a bad taste in the mouth for me. We slogged through his treks through Europe, through descriptions of his early (was it dog food? don’t have my book here!!)) messy efforts at emotive painting, through/across Canada. Gosh, we even had a “No Man” (Norman) character too – ie the name Odysseus gave to Polyphemus the Cyclops when asked his name!
Peter wasn’t the stagnant, smug, non-risk taker that we’ve seen in prior books at all. He actually became a seeker in this story. Clara’s recent success as an artist was his personal call to arms. Nope, he didn’t have to keep a promise to sail off to Troy to recapture that trollop Helen, his journey was in many ways – a much more difficult and demanding one – for him. As a reader, I felt that Peter was cheated as were we to see just what he would have found when he got back to 3 Pines.
The Prof. Massey “murder story” seemed, again very contrived to me – like Ollie being accused of killing the Hermit, like the young man killing the Hermit & not knowing it was his father, like the Abbott agreeing to the “grand reveal” during the Consecration of the Mass.
There is for me a feeling of illogical & contrived patterns in these books – in terms of the ‘who-done-it’ threads. Also became annoyed with frequent repetition of “sin sick soul” through out this one. Marked 2 or 3 places when borrowed phrase was applied to a character when there was no relevance for the descriptive.
Okay. On the side of Fairness & Honesty: I do enjoy Penny’s humor. I do find that I become very engaged with her characters and their interactions – very much like I did with old “Guiding Light” soap opera characters. Her ability to create believable personas with interesting quirks and insights and weaknesses and strengths are a delight to read. Have read a gazillion mystery stories by many authors and I’m finding that I am having difficulty recognizing Mrs. Penny as one of these. Her skills and successes as a writer, for me, are focused on her Three Pines & Gamache satellite characters – and not as a mystery writer.
My opinions as a reader. I prefer to look at what I’ve read for the most part instead of creating hypothetical what ifs or what will or what might happen. That’s just how I read.
Obviously, there is now a very close community of responders who have developed a real sense of community and commraderie (sp?) through out these re-reads of Penny’s books.
That was definitely a gift to any and all who were enriched by the discussions and many personal asides. Novice writers who joined this group – 3 Cheers! For any of us – for all of us – Just Write! It’s frequently the very best way to figure out what we mean and think! We can write just for ourselves – an audience of one, or for family or close friends. Braver penwomen will aim for a much wider reading audience. All efforts in this skill are of value – whether for only one’s self or polished – for others! It’s been a pleasure, ladies!
Best wishes for an awesome autumn! – That cranky, crabby, Meg!
P.S. MR. PAUL H. – Yes! – I’m gonna be a thorn in your butt again! :~P You shouldn’t post that something (Reader’s Guide Questions) will appear on September 22 – and then not do so! Responsibilities of Discussion Leader! Yup, I AM tweaking your nose!
Ah, therein lies your problem! Peter was never Ulysses on a trek to find himself. He was Plain Old Peter, looking for Norman so he could extract an apology for Clara.
Linda,
Peter’s Purpose –An apology for Clara? No. Our boy was looking for much more than that & for ‘prizes’ of much more value. Norman’s past actions when C & P were in art school are basically irrelevant by the time the couple has reached this age and stages of their lives. Peter was no longer the vapid, self-absorbed guy that we met in 9 previous books. His transformation in this one as he chose to go on his ‘hunting’/seeking expedition/ odyssey and self-discoveries were of much greater import than getting a decades late apology for Clara. If anyone owed Clara an apology, it was he. Don’t you think that our Peter finally realized that – and so very, very much more?
He did find himself, and then some, but even he said he was looking for an apology that in the end he was unable to ask for. Isn’t that the way most journeys are? We often go to Oz an then discover there’s no place like home.
Cranky, crabby? I shall call you Ruth!
And isn’t she one of our favourite characters?
Much of what I was going to complain about in chapters 31-41 are no longer the issues they were to me. TLWH will never be my favorite of the series but I can see it better now. Thanks to all who shared as your insights helped me. I was furious that Myrna and Clara did not share their cabin earlier. I thought they were being mean and petty. I don’t think they really knew earlier and when they did they shared. I was so disturbed by Clara’s words to Armand, early on, that I allowed them to color the rest of the book too much.
I did want to comment on one idea I don’t think has been mentioned. Must go now. Friend on phone…..will be back.
to continue. The exchange between Armand and Clara on the Loup de Mer when she puts the cough lozenge on the bench. She asks Armand if he would kill someone if all he had to do was touch the lozenge. He speaks of the teen who killed his parents and she admits there were times she wished Peter dead. I take that at face value. That she isn’t just saying it in a joking way. Will that come back to haunt her? Also, earlier in the book Armand is remembering killing Francoeur and the thought that he “enjoyed” it. Such deep soul searching from a man with strongly held values. I had the pages referenced but can’t find my notes just now. I think it would be a temptation to rid not only the world of some monsters but maybe take care of some personal problems, if it were so easy and “clean”. Any thoughts?
It’s interesting how people can read the same passages and have completely different feelings and interpretations isn’t it?
I thought the differences between the suites was hilarious. The guys had taken the Admirals Suite thinking, since Admirals outrank Captains, it would be the bigger and better and thus better suited for the men as they were three to the women’s two. The women were also under the same misconception. Thus all along (without either side seeing the other’s cabin) the women assumed that the men were living it up in something even more luxurious, whilst the men presumed the women must be in even more dire circumstances.
the truly telling part of all this is how the Three Piners didn’t bat an eye at leaving Chartrand in the Admirals Suite with nary a word. Of course it would be more appropriate for the single guy, but they don’t appear to even offer a meal. :-0
Did you giggle a little at the idea of scrupulously honest Gamache getting caught with his hand in Chartrand’s coat pocket looking for change?
I giggled a LOT! 😉
Clara does take him tea and toast, then another time soup, but he’s out cold. And later, when Clara goes to check, she bumps into Armand who had also gone down to check on Chartrand.
Oh, you’re right, they did. Did he ever see the. Nice accommodations though?
CLEAN KILL
When I ponder the passages about being able to kill by just pressing a lozenge, I thought first about a angry child storming at a parent the meanest thing they can think to say, “I hate you, I wish you were dead!” Do they mean it, maybe a little, or for a while, but really? I don’t know.
When Clara had that thought about Peter, was she angry? Like the child? Again I don’t know, though I may have experienced similar feelings in the past where I realize I didn’t really mean it, it was really more like meaningless cussing, something awful to slam on the floor. But, I can’t speak for Clara.
I also believe during the search she may have wondered if it would be better to find that Peter was dead than to find that he had become someone she disliked. Even in this thought, would it have been better if he HAD been dead rather than for her to have the dreadful experience that ensued? But then she would have never known that her Peter, redeemed and new, loved her more than life itself.
My husband was once a police officer. There was a time when he helped to rush a tiny weeks-old baby to the hospital after it suffered a severe beating at the hands of its parents. He, and every law enforcement officer I know personally, would stand in line to rid the world of some terrible monsters.
The problem? There are monsters we can all readily recognize. As we peer under our beds at night, though, how can we be sure what’s really a monster and what’s the new neighbor’s dog, lost and shivering in unfamiliar surroundings?
So many questions. So few Gamache’s.
Linda, your questions sound like something someone who dreamed of being an FBI anent as a child would think about – a lot! Is it OK to mention here other books one thinks someone might enjoy? If so, I’ve got a recommendation for a book with a strong female FBI agent although she is not the main character.
Is there a link? 😀
Linda, here’s an Amazon link which describes the book. I had to get past the first 1/2 dozen chapters of the introduction of the macho lead and his ‘job’ but then truly enjoyed it.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Innocent-A-Novel/dp/B007UWOXKE/ref=tmm_aud_title_0
One of my fave authors! Are you clairvoyant?
The answer to that question takes me right out of my comfort zone. (But I’ve been doing that since participating in this forum.) To some extent, yes. To be more specific, I’m an empath. The ability to sense the emotions of others – not their thoughts, thank goodness. 😉 And not something I’ve ever shared outside of my immediate family circle before. (Fear of being burned as a witch?) Many members of my side of the family have a ‘gift’ of one kind or another.
Read this whole series this year. I liked the characters, male and female.
Millie, Millie, Millie….. not surprised by your revelations. Just be who you are. We like you. Empathy is a component of emotional intelligence, a great gift.
I decided to look at the Chapters 21-30 section since I hadn’t had time to do so previously. I was surprised that so many more people participated than in this weeks chapters discussions… till I read a comment that froze me in my tracks. ‘I don’t comment much because I don’t feel as intelligent as some of you.’ I continued reading and saw an abundance of ponderings, speculations, theories by so many people. Without seeing these, I merrily jumped in this week and offered my thoughts on my thoughts of the ending. Some called them ‘profound insights’. I honestly didn’t think they were all that profound. Just my ramblings.
But, is that why so many people who had been commenting stopped? That thought brought overwhelming sadness and tears because the very last thing I ever wanted was to alienate people. Or have anyone feel uncomfortable expressing their own thoughts.
Meg sure showed how very wrong I was about my ‘profound’ thought about the biblical quote relating to No Man! It was from Ulysses! I’m as human as everyone else. I have loved my visit here but if my being here will cause others to fear commenting then I will graciously leave. This was your group long before I entered. And I want everyone to feel comfortable expressing themselves here. It seems it was a beautiful community of many participants till I started chiming in. I’ll cherish my time here. But for the greater good of group participation I think it best I back away. Blessings, thanks and my apologies to all.
Oh my word. Millie. I still remember when I was about 7 or 8 years old and my Mother told me I must never tell anyone outside the family that I was a little clairvoyant. I can’t make it happen. It either does or doesn’t happen. My empathic gift is much stronger. I struggle when I “know” a person’s feelings and they are not what they seem. No, I don’t “read” minds either. Thank you for sharing. I value you. My hands are shaking as I type this.
O Miss Millie, what an extraordinary woman you are!
I sometimes know about events before they happen. It’s not like being a fortune teller, and I don’t know when or with whom it will happen, most usually with those I love. It’s like catching an image in a window as I pass by. It used to frighten me when I was little. And I learned it makes others uncomfortable.
Now I’m old, I’ve come to realize it as a great blessing. Barbara and Millie, you’re meant to share you’re gifts and thoughts to help enrich the life’s of others. Thank you for sharing with us.
Linda, regarding your husband’s wishes as a police officer. As a teacher, I absolutely wished I could push a lozenge and sterilize some parents. Would I do it if I could? I don’t know, but, for sure, I wished them sterilized, REALLY (and I still do).
Barbara – these were exactly my impressions at those two spots, as well. I worry for these people – and seeing Armand’s beginnings of a “sin-sick soul” because of his killing of Francoeur dismayed me. I don’t really think he WOULD have killed Francoeur if the situation hadn’t been a self defense situation, but the fact that he thought about it, hoped it would come about – that bothers him (as it would anyone as good and honest as Armand).
And Clara’s thoughts that she wished Peter dead at times – okay – here’s a personal story – one I’ve actually never shared before. My first husband was an alcoholic. I worried that one night he’d wrap the car around a tree and kill himself, or worse – kill someone else. Each night he was out drinking, I half-expected that I’d get a phone call telling me of his death. When I realized that I was starting to hope for that phone call, I knew I had to leave. So I know about wishing someone dead, and luckily, I knew what that might do to me if it ever came true.
There’s a lot I think that will haunt Clara, and perhaps some of this will be in there, too. What she says is “There’ve been times I’ve wished him dead. I’ve wanted it, and dreaded it. It would be a terrible end to our life together. But it would at least be an end.” This was a bit of a shock to me, as this is said after having several times admitted that she wants to meet this new Peter, and that she was falling in love with him. To see so acutely that she perhaps still wanted an end to her life with Peter was a little brutal. This is something that may well haunt her as she goes forth without him.
The desire to be rid of problems is expected. Imagining being able to press a button and have them just disappear. There are people in that category in my life, mainly bullies. I have stood up to bullies on many occasions, befriended some, been bested and belittled by others. It doesn’t always end well.
Wanting to be rid of a dangerous person like Francouer is understandable. Finally achieving it brings its own problems. Gamache got lucky though, it could easily have gone the other way and Francouer certainly wouldn’t have sweated over that.
How we respond to the consequences of our actions says a lot about us. Gamache worries because he is a good man.
Barbara, in reference to your, “much about what I was going to complain about are no longer the issues they were”… I was fortunate enough to find another video of a ‘conversation with Louise Penny’. In this one she discusses her own road to her ‘Long Way Home’. She says this book is not only about finding Peter, but also the other characters finding themselves. And that she writes in order to find ‘herself’… Fascinating. Here’s the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alv2HTL5NuM
I really enjoyed this video.
Glad.
Thanks Millie, that was a great video. All praise the miracle of the gap. I could relate to so much of what Louise said, names change as characters evolve etc. One thing I do too is write a scene in multiple places and then figure out where it really fits. It means at least I get the information down and capture what I want to say. I just move where I say it. I was doing that today as I was editing.
Louise all talked about writing a 1000 words a day, which is what I try and do achieve some days and don’t others. I never beat myself up if I fail to achieve that, it becomes thinking time.
I like what she said about writing for the characters and not the critic.
Thanks for the link. I appreciate it when someone shares a site. I can’t attend these wonderful interviews etc. but I can see the videos. I am truly thankful for the internet. I was so afraid of computers at one time. I can be such a silly goose.
Anna, Thank you for the websites. I appreciate your caring.
.
😉
Meg R., I’ve been missing you. I went through all the posts for this book and, unless I overlooked one, you last posted on 9/14. I hope you are not having computer problems again. Please share with us again.
Well, Barbara, I’ve been out of town & w/o computer. Tried last night, but discovered my typing keys were frozen! Maybe time for a new machine?! Appointments today. Have been reluctant to post because I was sorely disappointed with what was done in this book and also didn’t want to add downers to postings of Louise’s fan club. If I get back in time, I’ll try to read 30-40 posts & respond. Apologies, – meg
Paul,
By the way, where’s the Reader’s Guide Q’s that were supposed to be posed on Monday? Page is still blank.
They should be up this coming Monday.
Hello Meg, I really don’t see opposing views as downers. Just a different perspective which opens further discussion from which we can all attain greater enlightenment.
Millie, I’m so glad you share the personal stories. I feel it’s a part of storytelling…being an author. I share personal stories very often. I see a tie-in in so many situations. Sometimes I hear my voice and think, “Oh no, I’m going on about myself or my family or friends again.” Thanks for sharing your stories with us. The story about your Mother’s poetry was wonderful. I don’t think I would ever tire of your stories.
Barbara, your words are a “Balm to a fear-full soul”. Big virtual hug to you, dear friend.
And that’s exactly how I feel! “Oh no, I’m going on about myself, again!” LOL
Anna, and everyone, here you go. A wonderful interview, whether one wishes to write or not:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_vsfEr_pSg
Thanks Millie. I have to go to work but will look when I get back. Much appreciated though
Well, I see that auto-correct helpfully changed the greek spelling to proper english plural spelling. “ekstasis”! And thank you Julie, for going deeper into the word ecstasy… I purposely left out a word in definition 2 and perhaps I should not have. The definition for number 2 was “an emotional or religious trancelike state”. My childhood was filled with ‘leave home and walk to a school filled with paintings, carvings and picture books of tortured saints in a state of ‘ecstasy’. No wonder the word makes me uncomfortable!
Julie, I didn’t think the moth needed a cigarette, I honestly thought it was dead.
So Julie and Barbara, heartfelt kudos for getting all the layers. I should didn’t till I dived into my head and came up gasping for breath. Unfortunately for you all I can’t seem to simply ‘explain’ things without a personal story – even to myself… How my sons wish I could! :-/
dang it! New computer and I don’t know how to turn off auto-correct spelling yet. Should read, “I SURE didn’t… But I’m a recovering perfectionist and if I go back to reread what I wrote I would never send another comment.
Anna and Julie, I found a video of Ms Penny, or as they say in the US South, ‘Miss Louise, where she talks about writing her first book and having to overcome sheer fear of having to write not one, but two more books with deadlines in order to get a contract. It’s comforting to know ‘I am not alone’…
Two books! Oh bother……..
Never alone Millie, just not aware of the crowd who feel the same. Have to watch that video.
LOL, Anna. Your ‘oh bother….’ reminded me of Winnie the Pooh. 🙂 Actually found the video when I went to the previous book’s book club page. There is a short introductory video. When it ended, there were pictures of other authors. But it said, ‘Torontolibrary.ca”. It was wonderful! I’ll see if I find it again and try to give you a good link.
And Ms Penny… thank you for pouring your heart into all you do and may your dear Michael stay safe and healthy.
Hear hear Millie. Thanks for the Pooh reference….it fits! I will check video when I get a quiet moment…..they are few and far between. Easy to tap something quickly on my Ipad but not watch videos.
Millie – I’m so glad you share the personal stories – I think it helps a lot when we really see each other as we are, and one way to do that is to know a little of where we came from.
I really liked your use of the word ‘changeling’ (bet your and Outlander lover also). And that is exactly how I feel way too often. Like I was taken to a foreign land over and over again, but it was my parents and then my husband, not fairies. Don’t get me wrong, I have had a wonderful life, just no ‘friends from childhood’, no roots, no sense of real belonging anywhere…
I hope we help a little although there are limitations to an online community, but you definitely belong Millie. I get what you are saying though. If you haven’t, have a read of the article I linked earlier. I think you will find it speaks to you!
Oh, this group is a wonderful place to BE!
I did glance at the article, Anna. I did find I resonated to so many points. It ‘sang’ to me. And yet, I resisted embracing it as applicable to me. Perhaps I shall read it with a more open mind.
Very common reaction Millie. Take what is useful if anything. Don’t get stressed by the title or the use of the word gifted. All information is just information.
Huh. Neither do I. I can’t even remember the names of my childhood friends. I think part of that is my family’s nomadic tendencies. I probably never made deep friendships. We had lived in 17 different places before I was 10, I think. I’ve now lived in the same place for 24 years and it staggers me – I’d never done that until I met my husband… itchy feet, maybe. I do always think that this early start in life meant I had no real ties – no close friendships. I now have the same friends I made when I first came here, and that amazes me… I’ve never thought of that. The changeling comment actually came because I’ve often wished I wasn’t really related to my parents, so was always fascinated by the idea of changelings. I’d far rather be a fairy, hee hee. Yes, Outlander is a favorite – and I’m loving watching the series so far.
I mean linked in my mind, not in the book. Sorry. I haven’t had any sleep.
I saw the ‘link in my mind’ also. Thanks for picking up the thread. New kid here wasn’t sure it was even OK to discuss, in too much detail, religious references.
I forget you probably didn’t catch Meg and I having a religious in depth earlier.
The word “ecstasy” is used two times in the book and the uses seem interesting to compare.
Reine-Marie stepped out their front door onto the porch and almost trod on the moth. It had fallen on its back directly beneath the light, face up, its wings spread wide as though in ecstasy. p. 35.
“The rabbit turned from flesh to stone , and back again,” said Chartrand, as though that was a perfectly reasonable thing for a rabbit to do. “Peter’s river turns from sorrow to joy. He’s learned the miracle of transformation. He can turn his pain into paint. And his painting into ecstasy.”
“It’s what makes a great artist,”said Clara.
Chartrand: “Creating a whole new form, one that doesn’t distinguish between thought and emotion. Between natural and manufactured. Water, and stone, and living tissue. All one. Peter will be among the greats.”
“It took Peter growing into a brave man,” said Gamache, ” brave enough not to explain it away.” p.261.
I find this fascinating, and uncomfortable. I decided from the first book to trust Louise Penny and just be led along for as long as it takes with some characters ( like Ruth) and some ideas. I’ve never regretted doing this, but sometimes I am confused and impatient and now I have people to ask for help. Finally! You all have helped me with Ruth immensely. I knew I liked her but missed so much of her deeper levels and I get so much more from her now. I know it’s not just from rereading the books because I had already done that before the reread.
I hope others will find the above about Peter and ecstasy interesting and comment. I find myself resistant to the rabbits and their transformation. Does it matter if it is only in the eye of the beholder? Help me out here!
One thing I noticed was that they were all weighing in and agreeing: Chartrand, Clara, Gamasche, and Myrna, though they have different educations, careers, backgrounds. Cleverly, Beauvoir was at La Muse during this conversation, although it would have been funny, and maybe even helpful, to hear his response!
Cathryne, during my late teens I realized that certain comments, dialogue on film, a sentence or passage in a book would impact me so strongly that it caught my breath, all time, thoughts and what was going on around me would cease. I realized I needed to focus on that because it had something important to tell me about me! Your comment did just that to me. But I wasn’t sure why. I had caught the first reference to the word ecstasy with regards to the moth, but skipped right past the second on p261. That word, ecstasy, has always made me uncomfortable. So I started where I usually do. I looked up the meaning and etymology.
The first definition: ‘overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement’ I’m OK with, but doesn’t seem to be just the right fit for either instance. Definition number two:’ an emotional trancelike state’. Hum… Maybe that applies to the moth, but Peter? On to etymology where I found this: ‘ORIGIN Late Middle Eng from Old French via late Latin from Greek: ‘ecstasies’
Standing Outside Oneself.
WOW! That opened a whole knew window into the transformation of Peter for me. What has he been doing with his painting up till Clara asked him to leave? Putting things under a microscope and going deep within that object and painting what he saw from within his safe rabbit’s hole.
That’s all well and good, but I figured there had to be a reason for the distinction between rabbit and hare. Dr. Wiki was too technical – a lot of like Peter’s painting, I was looking for the soul, and I found something interesting here:
http://www.orcca.on.ca/~elena/useful/bunnies.html
Seems there are a lot of differences between a rabbit and a hare, but this caught my eye…
“Hares are born fully furred, able to see and capable of independent movement(photos c, d). In fact hares can live on their own after one hour from they birth! Therefore their mothers feel free to leave them on the bare ground and hop away soon after the baby is born.”
Isn’t that pretty much what Peter’s mother did with Peter?
And to continue… “Rabbits usually live in burrows or tunnels in the ground, where they prefer to stay during daylight hours. They try to keep hidden. Hares on the other hand, always stay on the surface…”
Peter sure liked his little, neat studio in Three Pines. He feels violated when realizes officers have gone to everyone’s house to look for evidence in the village… But now he is on the surface. There’s no more safe little studio for him in which to hide, like a rabbit would? OK, maybe I’m stretching this too far, but for many years I’ve told family, friends, “I’m a night person. Please don’t call or expect me to join you in morning activities…” Hum? Am I? Or am I hiding from the ‘cruel world’? What part of “I’m a night person” is thought, what part is emotion? Makes me wonder. Makes me have to look deeper and here’s the scary part for me: makes me have to ‘stand outside myself’! Can I be brave enough to turn my pain into writing? Go “from sorrow to joy, and back again” like Peter’s river painting? Can I turn my writing “into ecstasy” rather than fear? I don’t know yet.
Thank you Cathryne. I don’t know if any of this helped you at at all. But you sure helped me.
Millie – this is fascinating – I love the distinction between the hare and rabbit, especially, but let’s start at the beginning of these thoughts – “ecstasy”. I don’t know if this happens to the rest of you or not, but it does to me a lot. A big part of it is probably laziness. Just like an earlier point I’d made about “show your work” on math tests, there are things I “get” without going through a thorough examination of them. I think I feel these things rather than understand them – they go deep – they have all the layers, it’s not that I only see the surface things, but I have great trouble explaining what I mean because I don’t really know the route I took to get there. Does that make any sense? Ecstasy is one of those concepts. I think, somehow, for me, it’s got to be both pleasure and pain to actually qualify as ecstasy. Maybe it’s pleasure born through withstanding pain? I think that might have something to do with both you and Cathryne feeling uncomfortable with the word? I know I felt like that moth needed a cigarette, hahaha!
At any rate, I kind of feel like Clara, Chartrand, Myrna, Armand – I know what they mean, it doesn’t need explanation, but I can’t turn around and explain it to someone else… So the word didn’t bother me, though I remember both instances and felt like that particular word was needed to convey all that Louise meant. I think all we mere mortals struggle mightily, anyway, to understand what happens in a Van Gogh or Mozart’s brain – great art comes from someplace deep within – maybe someplace hidden, but certainly someplace that only a few can access. Peter had been afraid to try before, but clearly, he’s got it.
I LOVED the thing about the mother hare just going off and leaving her babies – how very much like Mrs. Morrow is that! Good eye, Millie – I’d never have thought to look at the differences between rabbits and hares.
Lastly, Millie – I, too, am a night person. If left to my own devices, I’d go to sleep when the sun comes up and wake when it set. My circadian rhythms are all mixed up somehow. I know that since I was a child, a dark night sky fills me with peace, and I love to go outside when I’m the only one awake and just look up. But, of course, I have to live in a world that functions from 9 to 5. I don’t have to work that way anymore, thank goodness, but I do have to shop, see Dr.’s, etc. on a “day person’s” schedule. I don’t think I’m hiding, though. But it probably DOES have something to do with being comfortable to be by myself. I’ve known a few people who are afraid to spend a night by themselves – when their husbands are out of town, they have to have someone come and stay with them, which I just don’t get at all… But maybe I was a changeling and just don’t know it!
“There are things I get without going through a thorough examination of them” and the following sentences describe exactly like what I experience. Yes, all the layers are there but I can’t explain how I got there. Frustrating isn’t it.
Julie and Barbara, just for me, go and read this article:
http://www.sengifted.org/archives/articles/can-you-hear-the-flowers-sing-issues-for-gifted-adults
Actually, I think there are many people here who might see something in that article but your latest posts prompted me to think you two might relate.
Anna, I didn’t know this site existed! Thank you. It was like a description of me. How did you know? Were you familiar with the site or just happen on it? I read the article but now I’m going back and reread it. I don’t know when I’ve been so surprised. I’m glad I decided to check the postings one more time tonight.
Anna, the article is so interesting. I know there have been several of us that have described often feeling alone, or like an outsider perhaps like Nichols and Miss Louise herself. I see the giftedness in many of you and the stories and feelings you have shared. It is perhaps the very thing that has made this group so comforting and inclusive.
I have other resources if you want or need them. SENG is a very handy website. There are others. It’s an important topic. The paragraph on perceptivity is almost exactly what you two were saying. It rang bells. I meant to do something when Julie was talking about maths and showing the working out……
Anna, Yes, please more sites when you have the time.
Have a look at these websites:
http://gifted-adults.com
http://www.sengifted.org/archives/articles/counseling-gifted-adults-a-case-study
http://architectureofmeaning.com/gifted-soul/gifted/qualities/
http://www.stephanietolan.com/gifted_ex-child.htm
And this book is good:
Gifted Grownups by Marylou Kelly Streznewski
Available from Amazon and on Kindle
Anna – I think you are right that many people here would see themselves in that article. It was really interesting – I recognize some of the traits in myself, both the positive and negative aspects… so cool! I love that image – “hear the flowers singing”… Thanks!
Really interesting discussion thread Cathyrne and good work on the research Millie. Ekstasis, “standing outside oneself”. What an interesting root for a word we commonly attribute to joy.
This immediately linked to the use of the word Passion in the “Passion of Christ” referring to his suffering on the cross. I had a look and it seems that the Latin word passio meaning suffering also had a more obscure meaning related to emotion and emotional affliction and from there became linked to extremes of emotions across the spectrum.
It was apparently Shakespeare who used the word passion in Titus and Andronicus and thus began its link to sexual passion.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2004/02/why_is_it_called_the_passion.html
I can see a link between the use of the word ecstasy, Peter moving outside himself and the walls he had built that protected but also restricted and finally the passion of his final sacrifice. It seems so fitting.
wow… I need to refresh this page more often. I’m really gobsmacked how one question opens passages to further insights.
Gobsmacked is one of my favorite words! So descriptive.
I found your ‘we’ in ‘we attribute to joy’… interesting. Perhaps it applies to first language English speakers because I looked up the definition in my first language and it translates to this: The state of a person who unites their soul to that of God by means of contemplation (meditation) and who is unaware of outward stimulation.
Perhaps that is why the word ‘ecstasy’ as used in English has always made me uncomfortable. I have no mental reference that equates ‘ecstasy’ to joy…
Wow Millie, maybe because Spanish is closer to the Latin roots of the language??
I think so, Anna. but I also “had” to study Latin. It was not an elective. I found I could read it without any difficulty. Thank goodness we were not expected to hold a conversation as when learning a living language. But that was a lifetime ago. Only echoes remain.
Anna, I reread what I first responded to Cathryne and was gobsmacked!
…”during my late teens I realized that certain comments, dialogue on film, a sentence or passage in a book would impact me so strongly that it caught my breath, all time, thoughts and what was going on around me would cease. I realized I needed to focus on that because it had something important to tell me about me!”
‘Standing outside myself’? Ecstasy as meant by the ancient Romans and Greeks?
I thought I was going to break a rib laughing so there is a degree of self interest!
Nite.
Paul, was there supposed to be a reading guide uploaded on September 22nd? Not that we aren’t having fun but we do enjoy the questions and insights that we had in the other books?
Of course we have been happy sipping from our vases and having hysterics but I am worried about Millie’s ribs and a giggle induced re fracture………
Oh, Anna. As I tell the hubs, “Please do not use me as an excuse for what you want or don’t want.” That doesn’t mean I don’t want it also… 😉 Lifting my cup of hot, strong, sweet tea in a toast to you and all before saying goodnight.
Maybe he’s waiting for us to provide them with some truly insightful questions….
Julie, I just hope that Louise is reading this conversation as it would be a great antidote to her ( and Michael’s) long stay at the General Hospital ER. If she’s there again and calls me I will run over with lunch, a book and a large vase. Unfortunately, all I’ve got to fill the vase is diet-Pepsi but…we DO deliver.
Don’t forget the fir branch…..but that might take a bit of explaining if Louise hasn’t been following along.
Are Louise and Michael at the hospital? Hope they are ok?
Just checked her Facebook page and they are home again. Michael had a heart scare. Poor things. I am sure we are all sending our best
Water? Of course! (Sheesh! She mumbles to herself.) How about Quaking Aspen, like in the book? They clap! I would too if I drank a vase full. How does Ruth do it? Never mind. So apparently, Gamache has spent some time in the South… Well, of course he has. South of Montreal. 😉
Linda and Millie, You two are funny. Branch is water. I wish I could say it was something exotic but it’s just plain water. Anything else would interfere with the taste of the Bourbon which we Southerners like.
I loved the “Elm or Maple”. Couldn’t think of a funny tree name as an answer. Drat.
Ok, I am going to ask….Barbara, why is water called Branch? River branch maybe
Not worry, Dr Wiki tells me its water from the stream the distillery was built on as in the following explanation:
Water from a stream (a term primarily used in the southern United States)
Addition of plain water rather than soda water to a mixed drink (for example, “Bourbon and branch” refers to Bourbon whiskey with plain water)
When a whiskey is ‘cut’ (i.e. watered down) prior to bottling, the water that is used is very important to the final product. The preferred source of water is called ’branch water’. Branch water comes directly from the stream that the distillery is built on; some companies even bottle this water, so that bar customers can further dilute their bourbon with the original bourbon water. This branch water starts its life in the underground limestone shelf that exists under most of Kentucky and part of Tennessee. The limestone shelf acts as a natural filter for water that passes through it. Branch water is particular for its lack of character, with no traces of iron or other minerals that would be harmful to the whiskey making process.
Water that is steeped with a fresh young branch of a Douglas Fir tree, imparting upon it a distinct resinous flavor. Anecdotal evidence points to claims that water prepared in this way is cleansed of some impurities and odors and is also oxygenated. Natural stream water is, of course, steeped in a profusion of fallen brush and stream side plant material. Douglas Fir ranges in the Pacific NW and the Rockies.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_water
Hm. Now I have a picture of a fir branch soaking sweetly in bourbon in the drinking vase (it’s a vase after all). Ruth and Rosa will both be quacking. (Duck duck duck). Here in Washington state that could become so popular. We’ll have to call it the Barbara, shaken of course!
Shaken? Like a quaking Aspen? Or are you just stirring?
Could be a quacking Aspen ….where is my my vase?
Now I have a picture of a waitress serving a Barbara in a large antique vase that was my mother’s. When the holidays arrive and I can get a Fir branch, I’m going to put one in Mother’s vase for decoration. I might even put Bourbon in the vase.
I’ll do it two and all Christmas long we can look at it and giggle and only this Three Piners circle of friends will understand our affinity for such ornamentation. Raise vases high, salute, quacking!
Linda, Quacking good idea.
How very James Bond.
Ok, now that my 50+ words for the day are complete… We heard a lot about the creative process in this book from Ruth and Clara. Are there any artists here? Does anyone here represent, even if only dabbling or as a hobby, any of the other ‘muses’? Dance, music, theatre, needle or fiber arts??? Do you find it excruciating or meditative?
Millie, that post is 62 words. Seeing that, I am upping your homework to 200 words. Put down that vase of whiskey and 7up and pick up your pen young lady!
I like to draw…..more meditative than excruciating thank goodness. If it was excruciating I am not sure that falls under the definition of a hobby……although numbed to pain by whatever is in my vase, maybe I just didn’t notice……
Insert Rosa’s expletive quaking three times, please.
That’s three words…..it’s a start
but it was the wrong word…
That is what editing is for. Breaking the barrier of the clean white sheet in front of you is the first step.
Thank you. Listening to Louise Penny’s ‘conversations’ has really helped. And just being here! When I realized last night that this really isn’t a cozy conversation among a handful of people but probably has a huge audience that doesn’t post, I felt… well, a fool for one. And exposed. Then I took a deep breath and continued to work – no… this time, to play with my story. Ms Penny’s words really hit home, “Those of us who are fortunate enough to have grey hair, and have an opportunity to do what they love – how could you NOT rejoice!”
I write poetry. It starts in my heart where there are sometimes bruises of hurt or soft sweet dreams that ache or burn their way to the surface. For me there really is a lump in the throat that each must pass and then I can set it aside.
That post is poetry in itself Linda!
Beautifully said, Linda.
Linda, thank you for telling us that you write poetry. Do you find the poetry in Louise’s books especially meaningful? I don’t write myself, but a dear favourite uncle of mine used to write sonnets. Sometimes I helped him with them, so through that I got a little insight into the creative process. I love poetry, and I appreciate the poems in these books a lot.
I do needlework and design a lot of my own pieces, and own a small company with my best friend. We design gift items based on high resolution photographs of antique needlework, and we have also published 3 books on needlework. I do the graphic design for that, including all the layout of the books, etc.
I definitely find it both frustrating and meditative. It depends on how it’s going, hahaha. If I’m struggling with a design, it can be frustrating, but if I keep at it, something finally “clicks” and then it’s fun again. Needlework is very meditative – I stitch samplers like little girls used to do hundreds of years ago – they take a long time, and I love to sit and stitch while I have a conversation, or watch TV. It’s kind of repetitive in lots of ways, but also creative – so I get into a rhythm and it’s almost like saying a mantra…
Here is our website if you’d like to see the kind of things we do. All the designs in the freebies section are needlework designs that are mine. http://www.inthecompanyoffriends.com/
I popped over and had a look Julie. Well done!
I have difficulty hemming pants but I used to love doing cross stitch. My grandmother did beautiful embroidered art that I admired.
When my husband and I were first married and before I gave up trying to be domestic, I sewed a button on a shirt for him. He told me he would rather sew his own buttons in the future. He has for 51 years.
hahahaha – well done, Barbara! Train them early! I can’t sew at all – only stitch – most people can’t see the distinction, but obviously, this group can! 😀
Thanks, Anna – it’s a lot of fun!
It must be grand to be talented and be able to envision a design and make it. Thanks for letting us see your site. As I mentioned in a post for one of the early books, my grandmother did beautiful needlework and tatting. She was appalled that I just could not learn to tat, crochet, or embroidery.
I read two series of cozy mysteries set in small towns your general area.
The northwest is a spectacularly beautiful area, Barbara, and lots of authors are drawn to the locale. I love that we have a real diversity of stories set here – makes me feel like an “insider”! 😀
Julie,
Checked out your “Freebies” and am very impressed with your designs!. I’ve done cross stitch too. Have been making name-birthdate samplers for many nieces & nephews & now grand ones too! Just love colored pencils on graph paper! Good job! Your featured alphabet provided some chuckles too! Thank you!
Thank you, Meg! The alphabet is very dear to my heart – there was a designer in the industry who did lots of those irreverent type of designs – Lisa Roswell. Her designs all looked like they were for Halloween, but she did them all year round. Her company was called The Primitive Needle and here is a sample of her designs:
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/e5/b0/1a/e5b01a7379e4680385e76c6502717164.jpg
Or if that link doesn’t work, here’s a tiny url: http://tinyurl.com/o2enxj8
She died in a tragic accident – was swept away by a flooding river in her car. Drowning has always seemed such a terrible death to me. While Lisa is not someone I knew well, she and I had corresponded quite a bit by email, and I liked her a lot. Her death haunted me and I wanted to do something to honor her. This alphabet came out of that – it took me almost two years to design (putting up a new letter on our blog every two or three weeks) and another year to stitch it. But I just had to do something.
Youuuu hooooo, Barbara…. Common, tell us what Branch is. Inquiring minds want to know! I’ve never heard of it and probably Linda hasn’t either. Tho I thought her reply was very funny and in keeping with the earlier humor. Come out and play with us, again.
Anna, Millie, and Linda—-Tears are streaming down my face after readings your early AM exchanges. You make a very funny comedy team. I can’t stop laughing. I’ll have B&B (Bourbon and Branch) in my drinking vase please.
I’m not familiar with branch. Elm or maple?
SNORTZ!
You guys are really going out on a limb with those jokes! Well I’ll leaf you all to your drinks and jokes. Thanks for all the giggles!
Well played, Lizzy. 🙂
I, too, loved all the humor in this book. It eased the poignancy of Gamache’s healing process. I especially enjoyed the expansion of Reine-Marie’s role in the overall plot and of course, learning more about Ruth and what she’s thinking. I was a little disappointed in Clara’s character. I appreciate that she’s trying to grow and become stronger, more self-reliant. However, I suppose it’s natural to “overdo” when working on oneself. To me, becoming stronger also means knowing when to defer to those with more experience in a difficult situation. In the search for Peter, amid the concerns that he may have met with foul play, I was disappointed that she was unable to defer to Gamache. Unfortunately, when he did take control on the island and told her to remain at the port, she was unable to do so. Massey is ultimately responsible for Peter’s death, but if Clara had waited at the restaurant, Massey would not have returned to the cabin. Very, very sad and she’ll have to live with that knowledge.
Hello, Jeanne. I can see where you’re coming from. But doesn’t knowing when to defer to those with more experience come after there’s been some growth? Just pondering. Thinking about all the times my husband told me I had to allow our sons to make their own mistakes so they could grow… My husband also encouraged me to question everything. He’s just not too keen when I question him! lol… 😉
Ouch. Our actions can have unintended consequences.
Yes, they do. But sometimes, when both parties work very hard at it, till it’s no longer work, but a way of life… The consequences can be very rewarding. He has molded strength for me, and I became stronger. I modeled gentleness for him, and he became stronger.
(And I’m inserting this in my story! Thanks for the nudge Anna. It took me a while to stop fearing the upped challenge but I repeated Emma Watson’s words over and over till challenge met and surpassed: “If not now, when?” Now I can go let the tears of relief flow. )
I understand, Jeanne. If a loved one were missing, I would want the very best and most experienced person or group looking for him/her. Just my way of handling situations.