Favorite Character---POSSIBLE SPOPILER [ Edited ]

[Librarian]

POSSIBLE SPOILER

A question about Lynn-------On page 377, Hank mentions that Lynn died in 2003 0f ovarian cancer. But during the time they were working with her, she had found out she had breast cancer. Can the cancer progress that way? Or is this a discrepancy in the plot?

Librarian

Message Edited by Librarian on 04-12-2008 07:33 PM

[Melissa_W Moderator]

In cancer epidemiology, sometimes the presence of one cancer predisposes the patient to a second type.  In the case of breast and ovarian cancers, the genetic mutations that cause the tumors are very similar because both tumors arise in estrogen sensitive tissues.  It is rare, but not unheard of, for a woman to find a lump in her breast and then in the course of the work-up for breast cancer to find a second, primary ovarian cancer (ovarian cancer is much harder to detect because many of the symptoms - bladder fullness, urgency, abdominal cramping, constipation - mimic other more benign illnesses like UTIs). 

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Librarian wrote:

POSSIBLE SPOILER

A question about Lynn-------On page 377, Hank mentions that Lynn died in 2003 0f ovarian cancer. But during the time they were working with her, she had found out she had breast cancer. Can the cancer progress that way? Or is this a discrepancy in the plot?

Librarian

Message Edited by Librarian on 04-12-2008 07:33 PM

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[Kat727]

i know, joe was definitely the most normal of the group, but i think that anyone different from the majority seems mysterious. which is ironic because usually the majority would be the "normal" people. (who knows what's normal?). plus i would probably relate more to the quirky characters. 

[Stephanie]

Melissa,

Excellent explanation re: breast/ovarian cancers. I was surprised at Lynn's death, I thought surely she would be a survivor. I would have been much more surprised, however, if the breast cancer had killed her. The survival rate for Lynn's age group is 85%.

[Melissa_W Moderator]

Yes and no - Lynn vacillated about seeing a doctor; she was so frozen with fear that we don't really have a good idea of how long she waited between finding the lump and finally going for treatment.  I was really surprised that the fierce businesswoman, working for the survival of her company, just retreated when faced with the big "C" instead of meeting it head on.  I think Ferris created a great character with Lynn, a lot more depth than many of the others.

(And thanks - my master's work is in cancer epidemiology)

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Stephanie wrote:
Melissa,

Excellent explanation re: breast/ovarian cancers. I was surprised at Lynn's death, I thought surely she would be a survivor. I would have been much more surprised, however, if the breast cancer had killed her. The survival rate for Lynn's age group is 85%.

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Message Edited by pedsphleb on 04-14-2008 05:45 PM

[Librarian]

Thanks Pedsphleb for the excellent explanation about Lynn's cancer.

Librarian

[lenoreva]

I still have a couple of chapters to go (hope to finish tonight), but my favorite so far is Benny.  I like the whole totem pole storyline.  Larry is probably my least favorite.  Guys who have office affairs are not very likeable in my opinion!

[Stephanie]

That totem pole business was something else, wasn't it?  I could not imagine owning such a thing- and how anyone would come to own one, and just put it up in his yard was beyond me.  Let us know when you're done, so we can talk some about what became of it. 

[lenoreva]

I'm done!  I really liked the last sentence of the book - the way it is worded makes you feel like you've been included the whole time. 

Finding out what happened to Tom in the end certainly makes him a more endearing character somehow, but Larry is still scum   Since the interlude was actually part of Hank's book, does that mean it didn't really happen?  I guess that makes it less of a break from the third person plural device - but also adds so much.  I really don't think the book would have been as good without it.

What I liked most about the totem pole was that it said so much about Benny's character and that Old Brizz (probably) knew he's do the right thing.

[Librarian]

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lenoreva wrote:

I'm done!  I really liked the last sentence of the book - the way it is worded makes you feel like you've been included the whole time. 

Finding out what happened to Tom in the end certainly makes him a more endearing character somehow, but Larry is still scum   Since the interlude was actually part of Hank's book, does that mean it didn't really happen?  I guess that makes it less of a break from the third person plural device - but also adds so much.  I really don't think the book would have been as good without it.

What I liked most about the totem pole was that it said so much about Benny's character and that Old Brizz (probably) knew he's do the right thing.

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Hi lenoreva and others-----I like that last sentence too. So the "we" of the story is the reader and an unnamed character at the agency. I also, once I reached the end, thought the interlude was part of Hank's book but I was thinking of it as really happening. But your question is interesting. So now I'm thinking Hank's book is novelized so everything didn't have to actually happen that way to Lynn.

   Does anyone have any thoughts on why Old Brizz had the totem pole in the first place and how he might have acquired it?

Librarian

[Stephanie]

Once I found out the section from Lynn's pov was fiction created by Hank, I knew there were certain things that he'd probably fabricated, but more that were true. I think Lynn probably talked to him a great deal, knowing he was writing the book, and knowing she wasn't going to make it.  Why not, at that point?  I'd be honest too, nothing to lose.

I have to admit, I don't like things left unsaid.  It  bothered me a bit that at the end questions went unanswered.  I'm also not sure about the ending, not sure all readers will want to be "one of them"  - - Group, what do you think? 

[Kat727]

i don't know i think i like the fact that some things went unanswered, so you had to decide what happened. i also really enjoyed being included in the group. i absolutely loved the last line of the book.

[lenoreva]

I almost got the feeling that the teller of the story was part of it, but above it all and not someone mentioned by name in the story (unless maybe, possibly Hank).  I think the teller acheived what Tom insists Joe acheives, namely that he is "up here".  And of course, as the reader who is part of it as well (thanks to the last line), I am also "up here".

[Stephanie]

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lenoreva wrote:

I almost got the feeling that the teller of the story was part of it, but above it all and not someone mentioned by name in the story (unless maybe, possibly Hank).  I think the teller acheived what Tom insists Joe acheives, namely that he is "up here".  And of course, as the reader who is part of it as well (thanks to the last line), I am also "up here".

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I think I know what you mean... as if the writer was "Everyman" in the office, and put me in that same sort of position of overseeing all events.   Why didn't "we" get fired?   

[lenoreva]

I actually get the feeling that "we" were fired (or left) eventually.  In chapter 5, we talk about about we had to update our resumes and get used to new commutes.  The focus has shifted from the agency we worked at the whole book to the group itself, and wherever its individual members ended up.  Out of everyone, it seemed only Joe stayed long term, and even he wasn't there at the end.  And really, in most ad agencies, to have someone stay more than 5 years is a minor miracle!

[Stephanie]

That's true - also, it seemed as though, when all the firing was going on, everyone felt the way "we" did, that they would never be the one to get let go... as each person was dismissed, they were fairly surprised.  That part of the book was very hard to read for me, it was something like worrying about your friends losing their jobs. 

[MARISSAD115]

Hey all! I'm just starting to read this book now and I am only on chapter 3 but this book so relates to my work now!! I work in an Advertising dept. of a newspaper so all this corporate stuff I can totally relat to and laught at some of the same thing my co-workers and I do to pass the time. I think it really relates to tought times now with the economy and lay-offs going on everywhere, with the firings in the book which is kind of scary.