22 March 2017

We Are Not Ourselves Book Club: Week 3




Meagan

This house is giving me pure anxiety. What a classic example of being blinded to all of the issues with something because you want it so badly. I CAN RELATE SO BADLY IT HURTS. The metaphor is also alarming:

"She was determined to let these subterranean details remain subterranean. They could be handled in due time. The issue now was preserving her vision. The base of the house might be rotting, but the visible portion was commanding enough to chase any qualms away," (215).

Also WAS the visible portion commanding enough? She seems to not even be happy with anything when they first move in. She kept believing it would make her a better wife and mother when they finally had a house (the logic is flawless) that she's shocked to find they're all the same people just in a different house that needs so. much. work. I also hate the way she lies to the Orlandos for NO REASON just to sell the house faster and not to them. She is such a spiteful bitch I don't understand.

I hate hate hate the scene when the boys make Connell prank dial his friends. I literally feel bad for every single character in this book, Becca is right about something uplifting for next book club.

I don't have much more to say. The last thing is that I was chuckling at Connell complaining about Ed making him have toll booth change ready an hour in advance because this is EXACTLY how Meg is when we order takeout. She can't even resume watching TV until the delivery man shows up and she has her money or card all ready on the table, staring out the window like a dog even if they say it will be 45 minutes.

Meghan

So Eileen is finally pursuing her dream of living in a mansion … I’m finding all the interactions between her and the realtor are making me cringe. But I’m also picturing the realtor as Annette Benning in American Beauty. I do like when Eileen finally admits her real budget and the realtor stops acting so professional and starts to regard Eileen as just some girl she knows who she happens to be house hunting for. 

It was stressing me out to hear the realtor list all the issues with the new house .. mould, water damage, etc.. and then to see Eileen just overlook them because she wants the house so badly and doesn’t want to have to let go of the new life she has envisioned. It kind of reminds me of something that would happen to my sister. Sometimes she wants something so badly that she is willing to overlook some pretty obvious problems.

This book is also starting to seriously bum me out especially whenever we are reading a Connell storyline. I hated the chapter where he hangs out with those other assholes and prank calls his two close friends. Especially when they find out it is him. I also hate how he throws that rock through the window of the convenience store. When he describes how nice Andy always was to him, and how he would slip him baseball cards every so often it made me so sad.

I really liked when Eileen kind of goes on about what she thinks is wrong with Ed … how she thinks it is just a mid-life crisis.

"He's had to spend so much energy managing his depression, his midlife crisis, his students, his research, that formerly ordinary tasks like doing his grades had become insuperable burdens. The strain had caused him to short-circuit. He had lost his mind over a few calculations, some entry of data into a book, some transposition of that data onto a sheet to tape to the wall."

At this point in the book I still hate Eileen. I hate the scene when she goes up to tell the family that has been living in her apartment for decades (and who have been watching her son while she was at work for years) that they are buying a new house. I thought Brenda was right to suggest “don’t we have tenant rights?” Eileen should have mentioned to them long before that she was looking to move. I also know this would be a practically impossible situation and I would never want to be in Eileen’s shoes, but I hate how she immediately hardens to Brenda all because she is stress smoking in the living room. 

My heart also sunk when Eileen and her family finally move into the new house and she is DISAPPOINTED. Like yes of course you are because materialism, as we all know, does not bring anyone happiness. I learned this lesson the hard way by purchasing a 34 inch TV and it has actually brought me nothing but PAIN.

"She could see them growing impatient. All they wanted to do was move her things from one location to another. They had no idea that everything they placed in a definite spot brought her one step closer to disappointment." 

3 comments:

  1. I don't have much to say about this section. I am still annoyed with Eileen, worried about Ed, and sad for Connell. I feel like they're all on the edge of a major meltdown, and I'm not sure who will blow up first.

    I'm still enjoying the story, but it's very emotionally draining. I'm also reading The Goldfinch in between which is a GREAT book, but again pretty emotional. I'm going to go on a only uplifting and fun book binge when I'm done these two!

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    1. I have some options in mind but I think we should just enjoy this one and not pull a Moby Dick where we're so desperate to leave the book behind that we're focusing on the next. I will try to keep it uplifting but... hard to know since I won't have read it :)

      I'm also loving Meg pointing out that material goods don't make you happy because the second she's upset she heads to the mall to blow ~$50-$300. It's one of my favourite things about her.

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    2. Lol I just went to Old Navy this afternoon to make me feel better .... BECCA THE GOLDFINCH IS AMAZING EH? It is my favourite fiction book. But it is far from uplifting ... Theo is just sooo depressed it is heartbreaking. But I assure you, Tart does write a glimmer of hope in its final message.

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