Living In Two Times

[SamanthaH]

Like others, I am not troubled by the shifts between the late 1600s and the late 1900s.  I did have to go back and check that the 1600s pieces were set is 1682, not 1692 (when the trials occurred).  This now makes sense to me, we're going to get ten years of history on the lives of Deliverance, Nathaniel and Mercy Dane.

Cool!

-SKH

[aprilh]

I find myself drawn to both time periods equally. I've read books before where I've wished there was more detail in one time period than another, so much so that I've actually dreaded reading one part! This book however doesn't have that problem. It seamlessly jumps from the 1600's to the 1990's. I am easily drawn into the story again without losing my place in the plot. The author has done an excellent job in this area.

[nlsamson]

I have to agree with everyone else that the transition from one time period to the other is smooth.  I can't decide which time period I enjoy reading more.  I am very curious as to what Connie discovers, but I also want to experience with Deliverance, what is happening around her. 

[cocospals]

I am not having any problems switching between the two times. I have read some books where they try to incorporate two time periods together and that is difficult to follow. The fact that Ms. Howe devotes an entire chapter to the individual time period makes following it so much easier. I am thoroughly enjoying this book.

[MSaff]

What is the effect of the shift in scenes? 

  I like the shift is scenes.  Ms Howe is giving a brief look back in time which I think gives the story a great deal of intrigue. There is a real tension when a stranger is brought into a hose to care of what appears to be a very ill little girl.  The father is scared and is unsure of what is happening, and also powerless to do anything to help here.

  I see many similarities between the tension in the Sick House and the Exam Room.  As stated above, the sick little girl's father is powerless to help her and he is showing extreme tension as a result of it.  

  Connie is taking an Oral Exam with at least 4 professors throwing out questions that require great deal in answering.  Her chosen profession is a stake here.  

  How comfortable are you moving back and forth in times between the 1680s and the 1990s?  

  I personaly am enjoying the moves.  What I did find interesting is the Connie appears to be doing the same thing, in her Daydreams.  Although I don't think that she is to happy about that.  

  Are you finding similarities between the two worlds?

  I can't say for sure, but Connie's daydreams and descriptions she gives are showing some parallels.

[PirateColey13]

The time shift bothered me the first time or two, because I really didn't feel invested in any of the characters-- then suddenly I was introduced to a whole new set. It didn't take long for me to fall in with the women in the novel, and once that happened I could jump back and forth with no trouble. Actually- half of the excitement of a new chapter was looking at the date to see who I'd be reading about!!

[GSB65]

I am really enjoying this book so far.  The trasitions between times has not been a problem as they seem to come about at the right times.

I think to start I was most captured by the father and his child and was hoping to have more time seen from the past, but as the story got going, I'm really enjoying seeing it as a puzzle to be fgured out by Connie.  I enjoy genealogy and it's always exciting to find a new piece of the puzzle of your past.

As for the shift of scenes in the beginning of the book, both scenes are filled with tension, though different types of tension.  Peter is concerned for his daughters health while Connie is concerned for her academic future.  You have the understanding that past and present will somehow come together throughout the book.

[kate23]

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krb2g wrote:
I think the text does a great job of keeping the movement between times relevant (that is, the story of Connie's discoveries doesn't outpace the unfolding of the narrative as these stories happen, or the reverse) and also of building tension--often the switch happens just as I'm entirely caught up in the other story. I also like the balance of more modern parts--it keeps our readerly attention on the fact that this story isn't just about what happened to one of the accused witches, but also about how you learn about and excavate the past.

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I also like the balance of more modern parts. The author gives just enough info in the past to correlate it to the present.

[deaver]

Hello Readers!

The first things that srike me in this novel and especially with the opening chapters is katherines use of imagery, foreshadowing, and the mood and tone. 

We know something witchy is brewing in the pot that is boiling over the fire with its ingredients of peas and 'applewood'.  The mood is dark and mysterious...very anxious and grevious.  The lady comes in yet she has an 'open' face a 'white' coif and she has a dog lapping around her...hardly seeming of a harmless type.

Then we move to chapter one and the mood is also somewhat anxious, dark and quiet.  The sunbeam, follow it through the first chapter if you will as it grows more dim then goes out.  We get introduced to Chilton and his 'Brahman' accent.  So old New England.  And then we see Katherine outside the room releasing some of that tension from the exam while lounging on the couch. She sees a mouse run behind a plant and (doesn't get grossed out?) she begins to think of this 'hidden' world under the walls and pipes of Harvard but is this foreshadowing of the somewhat 'hidden' world of witchcraft that even the Harvard scholars have never yet really considered.    And this sunbeam to me seemed to filter this hidden world into the present world of Connie Goodwin.  Though the sunbeam can have other meanings and I would like to hear anyone elses take on the foreshadowing and symbols that Howe uses.

Pretty Cool. 

[DebsScott]

Ms. Howe excutes the shift between time brilliantly.  In the opening prologue we are introduced to Deliverance.  I can feel her tension in the room while she cares for the sick Martha.  Then effortlessly we switch to the present (well, 1991) and the tension is still present in the testing of our heroine, Connie. 

We are even taken back to a past by descriptions of Granna's house, the photographs, the jars on the shelves, the lack of electricity taking us not back three hundred years but still to an eariler time which is interwoven into the story.  Connie's "daydreams" or, as I prefer to think of them, her visions into another time flow effortlessly into the storyline to mesh and form a plot that thickens with each turning page. 

Little things from the past are brought into the present: We are  introduced to the "mangy cur" that sits beside Deliverance and Arlo...who I believe to be one and the same familiar.  Also Richard Saltonstall, the man who examines Peter Petford at Deliverance's hearing, has the same name as the building in which Connie and Liz live.  Just little things that weave the past to the present and make it smooth.

Good job Ms. Howe!   

[quinncx]

I agree the time shifts  are seamless and add enormous value to the story.  I was struck by how the academic scene echoed the trial scenes that I'm sure will come.  I will admit to being more invested in the historical story and am glad that was chosen to frame the narrative. 

[BookWoman718]

The time shifts are well done and not at all intrusive.  We are seeing the late 1600s first-hand, as it were, instead of simply through Connie's eyes.  We are uncovering the backstory that lies at the root of her research, and we have to wonder how much of it she will be able to find through the sources that are left to her. 

I was a little put off, and unconvinced, by Connie's advisor's praise of her orals as the "best he's ever heard" - at first, thinking it was the author's conceit to make her protagonist one of those super brilliant people so we could buy all the unbelievable things she will be doing.  But I soon came to believe that, instead, it is revelatory of Chilton himself.  I agree with those who sense that he has some unsavory motive regarding Connie and/or her research.  Perhaps he has sensed her hunger for approval from a parent-substitute, and intends to use it to gain her confidence and claim credit for her research.  Perhaps he does have some knowledge of her family's history, or simply sees her as vulnerable. 

So far, I don't see the reason that the author introduced a serendipitous love interest into the modern story so quickly.  What is the purpose of having Sam in the story?   I don't get it yet, but I hope it has some meaning beyond a little something for Romance novel readers.  I don't see the thread that ties it to what we see happening in the 1600s, but maybe that will come later. 

I am enjoying the book and am looking forward to the continuing discussions. 

[gringorn]

I didn't have any problem either moving from one era to the other.  I think the stress of Connie's oral exam which was answering questions and knowing she has to express her opinion clearly is similar to the stress the plaintiff was likely under back in the 1600's knowing that she has to make the people in the area understand what it is she actually does! Her complaint to the court is specifically for injury to her reputation related to her use of "something" that failed to heal the little gir.  It appears to me pretty clear right off the bat that Connie's mother Grace is a faith-type healer.  Connie is a very methodical, organized person and I think much of her annoyance with her mother is somewhere in herself she knows she is either LIKE her mother or that her mother is expecting Connie to WANT to be like her.

[LeisaPS]

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DebsScott wrote:

Ms. Howe excutes the shift between time brilliantly.  In the opening prologue we are introduced to Deliverance.  I can feel her tension in the room while she cares for the sick Martha.  Then effortlessly we switch to the present (well, 1991) and the tension is still present in the testing of our heroine, Connie. 

We are even taken back to a past by descriptions of Granna's house, the photographs, the jars on the shelves, the lack of electricity taking us not back three hundred years but still to an eariler time which is interwoven into the story.  Connie's "daydreams" or, as I prefer to think of them, her visions into another time flow effortlessly into the storyline to mesh and form a plot that thickens with each turning page. 

Little things from the past are brought into the present: We are  introduced to the "mangy cur" that sits beside Deliverance and Arlo...who I believe to be one and the same familiar.  Also Richard Saltonstall, the man who examines Peter Petford at Deliverance's hearing, has the same name as the building in which Connie and Liz live.  Just little things that weave the past to the present and make it smooth.

Good job Ms. Howe!   

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I agree, Debs!  There are little hints here and there linking the past to the present (like the dog) and that makes the reader want to keep reading to find out how the two times are actually related and the eventual outcome.  I, personally, am having a hard time pacing myself and reading the book slowly -- and even putting the book down.  Ms. Howe's narrative is so descriptive, precise and flowing that I can picture even minor details in my head as I read and that makes me want to go on and on. I have to force myself to pop the bookmark (cover flap) in at the end of a chapter and get back to my real life!!

[momgee]

The shifting between two time periods has been flawlessly done. I have read some books where the chapters on the past are so long that when it reverts to the present, I felt like I was jarred out of the scene and the transition was not as smooth as it seems to be in Ms. Howe's book. She gives just enough of a glimpse into the past to make me want to move forward in the present time to when the story lines converge. The book drew me in immediately in both time frames.

Kaye

[mv5ocean]

Well this book has evoked several memories to me. I have been fortunate enough to visit Salem numerous times even though I'm from Tennessee and have visited two different reanactments of this event. I would assume in ANY era a father would try anything to save his dying daughter! 

What struck me about the academic exam is completely off the cuff, but I remember watching Flashdance and the scene where she finally gets to perform her unorthodox routine and actually feeling the tension and fear she felt, yet also feeling her confidence in herself at the same time and it reminded me of this instance. You are sure of yourself, yet those "superior" peers you are performing for are intimidating!!!

I'm truly enjoying the shift between the two eras and as the story pieces together I'm finding myself more and more intrigued.

[deaver]

I want to discuss Chilton.

How about those word choices to describe his eyes?  Hungry...serpentine...

He has a Brahman accent - old New Enland all the way.

He is into Alchemy???  His obsession with Connie's ancestoral find. Remember his last question to Connie in the Orals? - perhaps they were really witches? -

And what stitched it up for me was the painting Connie was mesmorized by as she waited outside his office during his heated up phone call.  (The painting is on pg 65).  Just let me throw a couple of her images out there:  "winding river" (so snake like) ... "forbidden wilderness"..(so witchy) ..."the many different species of herb and vine"... images she uses throughout the book to pull in 17th century to present day.

I myself think that Chilton is a warlock, though I haven't read ahead, may be wrong,  and may just be reading to much into it.

And I don't think my discussion of Chilton is off key.  This is one of many examples of the various ways that the readers already mentioned that Katherine keeps us intuned to both the latter and present day world of sorcery and witchcraft.

[DSaff]

You may be right. He certainly fits the bill, and what if it is time for a revival of Deliverance's book????? Maybe it needs to be found. I can't wait to read more. <grin>

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deaver wrote:

I want to discuss Chilton.

How about those word choices to describe his eyes?  Hungry...serpentine...

He has a Brahman accent - old New Enland all the way.

He is into Alchemy???  His obsession with Connie's ancestoral find. Remember his last question to Connie in the Orals? - perhaps they were really witches? -

And what stitched it up for me was the painting Connie was mesmorized by as she waited outside his office during his heated up phone call.  (The painting is on pg 65).  Just let me throw a couple of her images out there:  "winding river" (so snake like) ... "forbidden wilderness"..(so witchy) ..."the many different species of herb and vine"... images she uses throughout the book to pull in 17th century to present day.

I myself think that Chilton is a warlock, though I haven't read ahead, may be wrong,  and may just be reading to much into it.

And I don't think my discussion of Chilton is off key.  This is one of many examples of the various ways that the readers already mentioned that Katherine keeps us intuned to both the latter and present day world of sorcery and witchcraft.

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[floreader]

Very interesting observations.  I never stopped to think that Chilton could be a warlock, but from the first chapter I've felt that he would be a major character in the story.  The word "serpentine" to describe his eyes really jumped out at me, more than anything else in the first chapter.  I thought he is trying to gain something from any new source Connie uncovers, but your take on him possibly being a warlock - - now, that's something to ponder.

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deaver wrote:

I want to discuss Chilton.

How about those word choices to describe his eyes?  Hungry...serpentine...

He has a Brahman accent - old New Enland all the way.

He is into Alchemy???  His obsession with Connie's ancestoral find. Remember his last question to Connie in the Orals? - perhaps they were really witches? -

And what stitched it up for me was the painting Connie was mesmorized by as she waited outside his office during his heated up phone call.  (The painting is on pg 65).  Just let me throw a couple of her images out there:  "winding river" (so snake like) ... "forbidden wilderness"..(so witchy) ..."the many different species of herb and vine"... images she uses throughout the book to pull in 17th century to present day.

I myself think that Chilton is a warlock, though I haven't read ahead, may be wrong,  and may just be reading to much into it.

And I don't think my discussion of Chilton is off key.  This is one of many examples of the various ways that the readers already mentioned that Katherine keeps us intuned to both the latter and present day world of sorcery and witchcraft.

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[CathyB]

Interesting take on Chilton. I never thought to consider him anything other than Connie's professor. I do hope he is more than just the evil professor out to take credit for her work. If so, that would increase my interest in Chilton. To date, he is not one of my favorite characters.

CathyB

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deaver wrote:

I want to discuss Chilton.

How about those word choices to describe his eyes?  Hungry...serpentine...

He has a Brahman accent - old New Enland all the way.

He is into Alchemy???  His obsession with Connie's ancestoral find. Remember his last question to Connie in the Orals? - perhaps they were really witches? -

And what stitched it up for me was the painting Connie was mesmorized by as she waited outside his office during his heated up phone call.  (The painting is on pg 65).  Just let me throw a couple of her images out there:  "winding river" (so snake like) ... "forbidden wilderness"..(so witchy) ..."the many different species of herb and vine"... images she uses throughout the book to pull in 17th century to present day.

I myself think that Chilton is a warlock, though I haven't read ahead, may be wrong,  and may just be reading to much into it.

And I don't think my discussion of Chilton is off key.  This is one of many examples of the various ways that the readers already mentioned that Katherine keeps us intuned to both the latter and present day world of sorcery and witchcraft.

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