Wake of Forgiveness: Favorite Passages

[TudorRose]

"He's gone his whole life asking himself unspoken questions about his mother, and now something about the cool, unlit morning and this girl in her dress and riding boots has him wondering if his mother ever sat horseback, ever rode while he was inside her for those months when, unlike every month since, he could touch her, even if he didn't know he was doing it, when they were together in that way and both alive and maybe riding together amidst the morning light and the fields of alfalfa and the smells of coming rain and late-cut hay."

Page 34

I love this passage.  It is beautiful, profound and bittersweet.  I find it intriguing how little everyday events make Karel think of his mother and imagine what their life could have been like together if she had not died.  I was touched by Mr. Machart's imagery of an unborn baby touching his mother from the inside.

Kimberly Giffin

[Vermontcozy]

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Peppermill wrote:

Susan -- "Untrustworthy narrator" is not a comment on an author's trustworthiness or lack thereof!

It is a writing technique, more often called "unreliable narrator," capable of being used skillfully and powerfully by the most trustworthy of authors!

Machart has demonstrated considerable writing skills so far.  I am just speculating on what exactly are those skills, as I do in several of my other posts here. 

In this case, I believe the "narrator" whose reliability I am questioning is Vaclav himself.  Can I, as a reader, trust his self-knowledge, his self-assessment?  (True, that assessment is passed along to the reader by an omniscient narrator at that point, who seems to be accepting Vaclav's evaluation.)

And, perhaps I have just read too much postmodern stuff recently and am speculating too much on what is being taught in writing schools today.  But, speculating is part of the fun of reading with the schedule (as I am managing to do so far) and we were asked for evidences for sympathy for Vaclav. The views of the townspeople do contrast.

Pepper

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Vermontcozy wrote:

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dhaupt wrote:

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Peppermill wrote:

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dhaupt wrote:

Okay It took me a while but I finally chased down my favorite passage from this section it's from page 5 and I think sets the stage for the whole story.

"The townsfolk would assume, from this day forward, that Klara's death had turned a gentle man bitter and hard, but the truth, Vaclav knew, was that her absence only rendered him, again, the man he'd been before he'd met her, one only her proximity had ever softened."

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Deb -- as I have said elsewhere, I have come to ask if we have a trustworthy narrator here.  Or as Vaclav's view of himself self-deceptive and self-justification for the man he became?

Does the author ever give us any history of Vaclav by which to judge?  Not so far.

Pepper

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Pepper,

Is the narrator trustworthy, maybe not, or maybe he's not supposed to be, maybe the narrator wants us to form our own opinions and then either lead us in a different direction or let us know we were right. It's certainly a unique way to tell a story, one I'm enjoying. It's like a big puzzle that we're working on and sometimes the pieces don't fit together even though they're the right size and sometimes there seems to be pieces missing.

I'm hoping it'll all fit together for us in the end.

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Pepper..Its so early on in TWOF..To form such an  opinion is quite unfair. Bruce has spent years researching,and writing this novel,and to be in the frame of mind that he is "Untrustworthy"... is quite harsh This is not a biography.Its a novel of a  time frame in Americas History,and I mirror Debbies thoughts,its a puzzle,each page,sentence, a piece to fit or not to fit. I have a very vivid imagination...and not judgmental,People did what they had to do to survive,even if lust,greed was part of that survival.......Not every book is wrapped up in a Pretty Package..Now that would be quite boring.Susan

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Peppermill wrote:

Susan -- "Untrustworthy narrator" is not a comment on an author's trustworthiness or lack thereof!

It is a writing technique, more often called "unreliable narrator," capable of being used skillfully and powerfully by the most trustworthy of authors!

Machart has demonstrated considerable writing skills so far.  I am just speculating on what exactly are those skills, as I do in several of my other posts here. 

In this case, I believe the "narrator" whose reliability I am questioning is Vaclav himself.  Can I, as a reader, trust his self-knowledge, his self-assessment?  (True, that assessment is passed along to the reader by an omniscient narrator at that point, who seems to be accepting Vaclav's evaluation.)

And, perhaps I have just read too much postmodern stuff recently and am speculating too much on what is being taught in writing schools today.  But, speculating is part of the fun of reading with the schedule (as I am managing to do so far) and we were asked for evidences for sympathy for Vaclav. The views of the townspeople do contrast.

Pepper

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Vermontcozy wrote:

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dhaupt wrote:

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Peppermill wrote:

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dhaupt wrote:

Okay It took me a while but I finally chased down my favorite passage from this section it's from page 5 and I think sets the stage for the whole story.

"The townsfolk would assume, from this day forward, that Klara's death had turned a gentle man bitter and hard, but the truth, Vaclav knew, was that her absence only rendered him, again, the man he'd been before he'd met her, one only her proximity had ever softened."

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Deb -- as I have said elsewhere, I have come to ask if we have a trustworthy narrator here.  Or as Vaclav's view of himself self-deceptive and self-justification for the man he became?

Does the author ever give us any history of Vaclav by which to judge?  Not so far.

Pepper

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Pepper,

Is the narrator trustworthy, maybe not, or maybe he's not supposed to be, maybe the narrator wants us to form our own opinions and then either lead us in a different direction or let us know we were right. It's certainly a unique way to tell a story, one I'm enjoying. It's like a big puzzle that we're working on and sometimes the pieces don't fit together even though they're the right size and sometimes there seems to be pieces missing.

I'm hoping it'll all fit together for us in the end.

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Pepper..Its so early on in TWOF..To form such an  opinion is quite unfair. Bruce has spent years researching,and writing this novel,and to be in the frame of mind that he is "Untrustworthy"... is quite harsh This is not a biography.Its a novel of a  time frame in Americas History,and I mirror Debbies thoughts,its a puzzle,each page,sentence, a piece to fit or not to fit. I have a very vivid imagination...and not judgmental,People did what they had to do to survive,even if lust,greed was part of that survival.......Not every book is wrapped up in a Pretty Package..Now that would be quite boring.Susan

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Pepper...Then what is it exactly Pepper are you trying to say..That Valcav(Bruce) its his character,and his thoughts..and his depiction of the events that occurred..We cannot always back up facts when  emotions are involved,its Bruces interpretation and and given his lenghthy research and his wonderful imagination,and having spoken to members of his Family who have  guided him..Then My interpretation of what you are trying to say..Is just that mine...Writing Schools today are Much more advanced,have an enormous amount of resources available and Students who still love Literature,,So many  people think that The YA population fall short of those skills..And when I volunteer with YA in a Reading Group;;Its a breath of fresh air..I am also reading on schedule..and to be honest..It was a very selfish world.then It was all about survival..They turned their heads concerning the abuse,and had very little respect for the Valcav character,,I am hoping that Karel,with his minor flaws will be loved and be able to show love...Susan

[sandrabrazier]

So many great lines! Here are my favorites:

p. 139 "Now Karel felt the onset of movement within him, and, as much as he wanted to finish and escape the sour, confined heat, the boy found it difficult to reckon how he could let so much of himself fall from his body and still emerge squinting, just minutes later, into the bright sunlight to find that there  was nothing of him missing, that he was still the same boy he'd been when he'd gone in."  

...and then a feeling is expressed, one that most of us have experienced: " How is it that seeing the priest who baptized him could occasion memories of naked girls? How is it that anything ever gives rise to what it does instead of what it should?" p. 124

"Karel wondered now, as he neared the line of water oaks fringing the creekbed and the sky darkened to a deeply bruised blue, if it was this aspect of brotherhood that had made it near to impossible for boys like Billy Dalton to come home from the war, if the mud they had tasted and the gases they'd dodged in those trenches had hardened them together in the same way that countless grains of sand, compacted and fired so long underground, were baked together, in time, into stone."  p. 198

[sandrabrazier]

 awesome passages...

"... they ate upwind of the fire And watched as smoke And orange embers swept up through the branches of the nearby trees.The moon had timidly off the horizon to find the sky wide And cloudless, as few proud stars already shining."  p. 201 EXQUISITE!

And for a giggle: " It was the third time Joe had spoken since sunup, And Raymond wasn't accustomed to his brother being so damned talkative."  p. 202

"He's been inside this church so many times, on Sundays and holy days, for the yearly anniversary Mass of his mother's death And for his own boyhood sacraments, but it has felt, on these occasions, like nothing more than an echoing And all-too-orderly indoor auction house, filled only with the improbable hopes of those who sit And kneel within, fashioning of their own desperation a god who intercessions they rely upon for help amidst all the hardships for which they somehow hold him faultless."  p.233

"Once, so long ago, now that Karel had all but surrendered it to the whitewash of forgetting..."

p. 274

"It was cold out, sure enough, but now Karel realized how flushed he'd become standing sandwiched, as he now felt,  between is recollections of the past And the diminishing flames of the stable fire." p. 275

And Karel's thoughts about his brothers... "It must have been, Karel realized, for them, like waking, morning after morning, from colorful dreams of manhood to find that they were still, all of them, still playing with sticks down in the grassy shadows on the bank of the creek."  p. 277

" Karel had never accustomed himself to the way a woman's  joy And sorrow could sound so much the same when given voice."  p. 285

"Clouds had come chasing the previous day's stray overnight, And their undersides blushed as the topmost arc of the sun came beaming like some proud suitor over the distant trees. From the water oaks And pines along the northern fork of the creek, a mockingbird called out the first of the day's admonishments."  p. 300

[erinsam]

pg 243

She brushes a damp strand of hair from the corner of her mouth.  "I wish you'd have seen him when your mother was still alive.  Wish you'd seem them together.  He wore a smile you couldn't score from his face with hog bristles.  At the parish dances, he wouldn't give her a rest, has her on her feet for every polka and waltz.  Even in church, n the pews, he'd have his arm around her shoulders.  She was a handsome woman, your mother.  All that pretty blond hair.  You've seen pictures."

It is just a jarring reminder that Karel's father was not always the hard man and in losing Kara he lost himself.

[Immortal-Spirit]

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pen21 wrote:

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thewanderingjew wrote:

p. 57

And so by her will, if not by G-d's, this child would live.

Thoughts of the Widow Vrana

p. 127

MY name. Its Graciella. And my mother is alive to everyone but my father. Now follow me.

I liked this quote because it contrasts the difference between the Villasenors and the Skalas. her mom is alive but her father doesn't acknowledge her yet Karel and Vaclev would give anything if Klara was alive so they could acknowledge her.

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twj,

these quotes say alot about women in this book so far. The times were very hard, but it seems we are seeing the worst of how women are treated.

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That is so true.  I'm hoping it will get better for them as the book goes on.  I'm still wondering what will happen to the mother of the twins. 

[Stoll1]

I loved the entire section of the horse race between Karel and Graciela.  Very well worded.  I could envision the whole thing and was riveted to the end and beyond.

[reader76]

I like the passage where Karel is crooning his horse and working on the first race with Dalton boy.  The race outcome for that was exciting and you could feel the anticipation in the air as you read the chapter. 

[Vermontcozy]

"A Spoiler for Some"..I just read this passage.a few minutes ago""

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erinsam wrote:

pg 243

She brushes a damp strand of hair from the corner of her mouth.  "I wish you'd have seen him when your mother was still alive.  Wish you'd seem them together.  He wore a smile you couldn't score from his face with hog bristles.  At the parish dances, he wouldn't give her a rest, has her on her feet for every polka and waltz.  Even in church, n the pews, he'd have his arm around her shoulders.  She was a handsome woman, your mother.  All that pretty blond hair.  You've seen pictures."

It is just a jarring reminder that Karel's father was not always the hard man and in losing Kara he lost himself.

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     """" PASSAGE COULD BE A SPOILER FOR SOME """" Thank you,erinsam I just read that passage a few minutes ago..It mad me sad,and wanting more..Will finish later tonight..Must be careful that I avoid Spoilers...for the last few pages.....Susan

[tylerm]

Some of my favorite passages are:

Page 51  It has begun, she know that, but she couldn't know that it would progress in the way it would, that the baby would be rendered from her in a fashion as protracted and inexorable as the way stones are tumbled, turned smooth by years of rushing water, and men are eroded of kindness by the slow, interminable friction of their unrealized desires.

Page 64  Joe kept his eyes on the table, his mouth pinched up between drinks like he's been trying the whole of his short life to wash one bitter taste from his mouth with another.

Page 68  The beer did its work in much the same way he knew river water did, running through him and carrying away, grain by grain, the sediment of ill will that had embedded itself within him over the past year of hard work and worry.

Page 157  Karel didn't marvel at the fact that he was doing for his boy, in this, the first full day of his life, what his father had never done for him.  It would occur to him only later, when the boy was older and asked questions about his grandfather, and when Karel realized how few of the answers he could resurrect from the graveyard of memories put so long before to rest.

Page 304  And then he wonder if he's just done it, of it could be that simple.

I could go on and on.

[literature]

SPOILER --

Please be careful when posting.  If you post anything further than the pages that are our scheduled reading for that particular week, please start off with the word "SPOILER" on the first line.  The reader then has the option to either read the posting or skip it until we have finished the book.

Thanks.

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tylerm wrote:

Some of my favorite passages are:

Page 51  It has begun, she know that, but she couldn't know that it would progress in the way it would, that the baby would be rendered from her in a fashion as protracted and inexorable as the way stones are tumbled, turned smooth by years of rushing water, and men are eroded of kindness by the slow, interminable friction of their unrealized desires.

Page 64  Joe kept his eyes on the table, his mouth pinched up between drinks like he's been trying the whole of his short life to wash one bitter taste from his mouth with another.

Page 68  The beer did its work in much the same way he knew river water did, running through him and carrying away, grain by grain, the sediment of ill will that had embedded itself within him over the past year of hard work and worry.

Page 157  Karel didn't marvel at the fact that he was doing for his boy, in this, the first full day of his life, what his father had never done for him.  It would occur to him only later, when the boy was older and asked questions about his grandfather, and when Karel realized how few of the answers he could resurrect from the graveyard of memories put so long before to rest.

Page 304  And then he wonder if he's just done it, of it could be that simple.

I could go on and on.

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[mommybooknerd]

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literature wrote:

SPOILER --

Please be careful when posting.  If you post anything further than the pages that are our scheduled reading for that particular week, please start off with the word "SPOILER" on the first line.  The reader then has the option to either read the posting or skip it until we have finished the book.

Thanks.

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tylerm wrote:

Some of my favorite passages are:

Page 51  It has begun, she know that, but she couldn't know that it would progress in the way it would, that the baby would be rendered from her in a fashion as protracted and inexorable as the way stones are tumbled, turned smooth by years of rushing water, and men are eroded of kindness by the slow, interminable friction of their unrealized desires.

Page 64  Joe kept his eyes on the table, his mouth pinched up between drinks like he's been trying the whole of his short life to wash one bitter taste from his mouth with another.

Page 68  The beer did its work in much the same way he knew river water did, running through him and carrying away, grain by grain, the sediment of ill will that had embedded itself within him over the past year of hard work and worry.

Page 157  Karel didn't marvel at the fact that he was doing for his boy, in this, the first full day of his life, what his father had never done for him.  It would occur to him only later, when the boy was older and asked questions about his grandfather, and when Karel realized how few of the answers he could resurrect from the graveyard of memories put so long before to rest.

Page 304  And then he wonder if he's just done it, of it could be that simple.

I could go on and on.

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Reading some of those passages brought me back to those moments in the books...such beautiful words!

[mommybooknerd]

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Stoll1 wrote:

I loved the entire section of the horse race between Karel and Graciela.  Very well worded.  I could envision the whole thing and was riveted to the end and beyond.

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I agree with you so much with what you said...you could feel the weather and the tension, all of it...such magical words!

[DSaff]

I am really enjoying the descriptive language in this book. It is easy to see what is going on. Here is one of my favorites thus far.

"As he had ever since he'd come of age enough to grow it, Henry wore an ambitiously waxed mustache that seemed to curl around the sides of his mouth like some invertebrate creature that had slithered through cold, congealed oil only to find itself mired on a simple man's face."

[1archi1]

I completely agree w/ both of you.  I found myself cheering, actually for both of them.  Being a female I was cheering for Graciela to beat Karel but when Karel was behind I found myself saying "go, go go" for him to try and catch up to her.  I could picture every detail in my head so much it felt like I was actually there.  Excellent writing!! 

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mommybooknerd wrote:

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Stoll1 wrote:

I loved the entire section of the horse race between Karel and Graciela.  Very well worded.  I could envision the whole thing and was riveted to the end and beyond.

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I agree with you so much with what you said...you could feel the weather and the tension, all of it...such magical words!

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[Peppermill]

Page 157  Karel didn't marvel at the fact that he was doing for his boy, in this, the first full day of his life, what his father had never done for him.  It would occur to him only later, when the boy was older and asked questions about his grandfather, and when Karel realized how few of the answers he could resurrect from the graveyard of memories put so long before to rest.

This passage bothered me.  I was never convinced Karel put his memories to rest.  He may have stuffed them into denial, into forgetfulness, but "to rest"?

[mommybooknerd]

I was so engrossed in the second section of reading that I did not make a single mark in my book.  I will have to go back and look again because I know there is some amazing stuff in there!  I just cannot get over how moved I was by this book.  Never thought I would have been either!

[momofprecious1]

Page 5- "The townsfolk would assume, from this day forward, that Klara's death had turned a gentle man bitter and hard, but the truth, Vaclav knew, was that her absence only rendered him, again, the man he'd been before he'd met her, one only her proximity had ever softened."

I totally agree w/you that this passage definitely sets the stage for the whole story. it is hard for me to think of him as a gentle man b/c of the way he treated his sons. I just never so him showing them any love or affection.

Page 17- "What they didn't know, though they might have suspected as much, was that Vaclav had taken in those days to praying shamelessly of a Sunday that pestilence might visit the Dalton herd, & that Dalton had once that summer crept in the moonlight among the outermost rows of Skala's melon crop, injecting the ripe fruit with horse laxative."

[krb2g]

This passage stuck with me: "'Well,' says Karel, 'seems only fair that you tell me your name, don't it? Before you leave me in the dust, I mean.' "She turns the horse back at him and walks it up slowly so that she's looking directly down on him, her eyes so deep and full of their dark allure that Karel imagines she could pull him out o his boots and into the saddle with nothing more than a look. She curls a few strands fo the horse's mane around her finger and wets her lips with her tongue, and, before she gives her horse a heel and gallops him into the early morning fields, she leans down over Karel such that her hair brushes against his face and he breathes her in and she smells of lavender and of beeswax and of sweet feed, and then her voice is in his ear and she's whispering: 'Ask me Saturday, and I'll tell you it's Skala'" (35).

[Peppermill]

There have been some wonderful passages mentioned in these posts, many of them relevant to the main story line.  However, I'll share one tangential to major theme or plot, but which caught my fancy for its imagery:

"...the idea works itself free in his mind the way a deep cedar splinter from a hard week of fence-work will sometimes slide, as if tweezed by a ghost, from beneath the calloused skin of his hands."  p.97