finished brad whittington's welcome to fred last night. it was a good read, until i came to the ending, when the narrator, mark cloud, came to terms with God and religion, and burnt his copy (which wasn't really his, because he filched it from the high school library. okay so he didn't filch it. he borrowed it and paid overdue fees from his income from newspaper selling, but he never returned it. isn't that called stealing?) of mark twain's mysterious stranger.
no offense to anyone who's deep into religion (i'm roman catholic), but i think it was totaly unnecessary to burn the manuscript up. he could have just returned the book (it was an anthology, for pete's sake) to the library, therefore increasing the chance of other kids reading it and finding out for themselves how or why God exists. i mean, let the other kids have their own frigging epiphanies!
oh, yeah. have your own epiphany. watch the vid. it's cool. and sick. barf bag, anyone? mark twain is THE man. :D
07 October 2007
the mysterious stranger
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3 comments:
yo, poseur,
thanks for reading the book. nice to hear you liked most of it. i did struggle a lot with whether mark should burn the book, because, as a book junkie, i can't imagine burning a book of any kind for any reason. in the end, i decided i needed a physically dramatic symbol of his rejection of nihilism.
you'll be happy to know my editor objected strongly to the book burning scene.
nice tie in with the clip of the claymation twain thing.
oh, and the stealing thing. as one who has lost a library book once or twice, i can report that not only do you pay the back fines, you pay to have it replaced. so, the library got the funds to buy another copy to replace it, and he ended up with his own thorn in the flesh to carry around.
me personally, i still have my copy of 'the mysterious stranger' along with some other academic books showing the evolution of the manuscript, from the more caustic version twain wrote to the softer version his assistant edited for actual publication.
anyway, thanks again for 'reading welcome to fred'. the books in the trilogy actually get better as they go, so check them out if you have the time and inclination. in each novel, a book plays a big part in shaping mark's understanding of the world. in 'living with fred', the book in charle's sheldon's 'in his steps.' in 'escape from fred' the book is jack kerouac's 'on the road.'
oh my frigging gawd.
what an honor to have you landing on my page, mr. whittington! i am so at a loss for words.
i did struggle a lot with whether mark should burn the book, because, as a book junkie, i can't imagine burning a book of any kind for any reason.
what a relief.
you'll be happy to know my editor objected strongly to the book burning scene.
i am happy. thank you for letting me know. :)
i do hope i find the second and third parts of the trilogy - i live in a very obscure part of the world, and just chanced upon "welcome to fred," i didn't see the other two books. i'm keeping my fingers crossed. :D
thanks again for dropping by.
you may be wondering how i tracked down such an obscure reference to 'welcome to fred.' two words: google alerts.
the chances of the other two books crossing your path by chance are exceedingly slim. if you live a part of the world where amazon.com delivers, you can get the fred books for about $11 each. if you find something else you want for $5, you can get free shipping. (assuming that offer covers your area.)
by the way, don't feel bad about being honest about what you like and don't like about the book. not everybody can like everything, and i'm always interested to hear the honest take readers have on the books, both positive and negative. after all, the books do have some flaws, as everything does, and perhaps i'm not aware of them all, yet.
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