From: djheydt@kithrup.com   
      
   In article ,   
   William Vetter   wrote:   
   >Because there isn't much activity here, except ugly activity, I'm gonna   
   >post something that isn't so important....   
   >   
   >I finished reading this book.  The plot structure was a buildup to a   
   >revelation.  There were two women, the title character, Virginia, and a   
   >cousin of hers that she was close to as a child, and about 4 older women   
   >who were their female relatives, 2 of which were elderly and confused.   
   >This structure was very obscured by the whole thing being written in   
   >stream of consciousness and shifting viewpoints between all of these   
   >characters.  Unfortunately, the author chose to name two secondary   
   >characters that were involved in the 2 confused viewpoint characters Roy   
   >and Ray, which made parts of the narrative awful to sort out.   
   >   
   >Virginia visits her home town while she's pregnant, develops toxemia,   
   >and collapses in her second aunt's house, who is the mother of her   
   >childhood friend.    She is out of it, and is advised not to be moved   
   >much, so all of the female characters come there to tend to her, and   
   >eventually there is the revelation that one of the grandfathers,   
   >Raymond, developed a mental illness during the last decade of his life.   
   >   
   >He was fascinated by King Tut and the Pyramids, and saw himself as a   
   >Pharaoh, and had himself buried in a concrete vault with his television   
   >and books about Egypt.  When he was alone with the girls, he terrorized   
   >them, told them he'd kill them unless they worshiped him.  When his   
   >burial arrangements were complete, he became abusive toward his wife,   
   >who eventually killed him and made it look like a suicide.  Each of   
   >these women has kept their aspect of the situation secret from the world   
   >and each other, and in the climactic scene, they tell one another their   
   >individual experiences, and how Raymond screwed up their lives.   
   >   
   >So that was the plot.   
   >   
      
   Thank you for telling us about this.  I, for one, would probably   
   have rejected it based on the back cover blurb, but it's always   
   good to have more (but not too much) information.   
      
   But your point, I think, is that it's lousy plotting.  I assume   
   it's supposed to be contemporary litfic?  Litfic HATES plot.   
      
   --   
   Dorothy J. Heydt   
   Vallejo, California   
   djheydt at gmail dot com   
   Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the gmail edress.   
   Kithrup's all spammy and hotmail's been hacked.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)