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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 1d

And his brother's story is so sad, arriving home with his "grotesquely tattooed body and a mental condition that meant his life would never again be his own." Ryan did not become a soldier, but I think he can be ruthless. At least callous. I guess I don't trust him. #rachelcusktogether

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 1d

I confess to not liking Ryan much, though he makes an impression. His habit of taking the inside place on the sidewalk and basically acknowledging he is exposing her to vehicular homicide rubs me the wrong way.
#rachelcusktogether

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 2d

I agree about the anecdotes too. These books are full of them, always with an interesting, and sometimes disquieting, point.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 2d

It really is an amazing first chapter--her sharp and witty observations of these men as they unroll their whole lives, her reflections on her own life, and the confidence, control, and intelligence of the voice. It never fails to interest me.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 2d

I know--it's insane. 🤣 I am adding The Dispossessed!

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 3d

...and her impressive critical reading of the Greek's account of his second marriage. She makes him add the nuance! I was already taking it at face value and siding with the storyteller against the villain he was creating (the second wife). #RachelCuskTogether

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 3d

I've read Outline twice, yet this first chapter fascinated me all over again. The billionaire and the Greek's stories, the "magic" of distress that brings her children's dropped items back, the armchair in-laws, the exhaustion and expense of a life without limitations... #RachelCuskTogether

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 3d

Kindred is quite powerful. I read Parable of the Sower during the pandemic. I got through it and admired it but without relishing the experience much (hard truths in that book). I want to read Parable of the Talents... I read Wild Seed too, start of the Patternist series. Strange but fascinating.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 6d

He doesn't quite regret it. He acknowledges the feelings of constriction that led him to break it, but nothing since has been so unconscious or absorbing; after all, he was childhood sweethearts with his first wife.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 6d

"life...had treated them abundantly, and this--he now saw--was what had given him the confidence to break it all, break it with what now seemed to him to be an extraordinary casualness, because he thought there would be more." #Rachelcusktogether

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 6d

Backlisted recently did a great episode on The Tombs of Atuan for Earthsea fans (Wizard of Earthsea my first LeGuin in 7th grade). www.backlisted.fm/episodes/247...

I've read others by her but never The Dispossessed.

247. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin — Backlisted

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan (1971), the second Earthsea novel, is the subject of this episode. Joining Una and Andy is writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce , current Children’s Laureate. We loo...

www.backlisted.fm

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 7d

And the narrator of these books is much like Nick in that she finds herself frequently listening to people tell their stories.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 20d

I wanted that too! Though it seemed clear when Nick met the man who knew him in the POW camp that he was really dead. The Modigliani represents him, I guess.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 20d

"Lord Widmerpool seemed to enjoy a tussle, then giving in, and being given a penance. Never knew such a man for penances." Ah, what an enigmatic figure was Widmerpool. Plenty of penances (you might say) throughout the books, from bananas to sugar to red paint to stink bombs.
#anthonypowelltogether

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 20d

He appears out of the December mist (running) when we first see him in the first book, so that would have brought it full circle. But his downfall has more pathos.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 20d

Well said!

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 20d

I love the Mantel trilogy. Will gladly read it again with a group if you take it up.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 21d

"Ken's transcendental gifts were not what Scorp wanted him for. I doubt if he possessed any. Not like Gwinnett. It was Ken's will-power." But Scorp's will-power, Barnabas tells us, is "stronger than anything." He subjugated the irrepressible Widmerpool. #anthonypowelltogether

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 21d

I don't know... He may be curious. I don't think these monikers suggest repulsion. They add to her mystique.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 22d

"Fashion, decreeing one kissed almost everyone these days, might not unreasonably have brought that about had she kept herself less erect."
Poor Nick. Does he want to kiss her one last time? #AnthonyPowellTogether

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 22d

Ah, the many aesthetic apotheoses of Jean. This retrospective is particularly poignant.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 22d

Hmm. Good question. I don't remember much about Shuckerly.

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 23d

Surprised to see Barnabas go from being held all but captive by Murtlock to having his own gallery... and putting together a major retrospective (of Mr. D no less).
And Quentin Shuckerly got "battered to death" in Greenwich Village? (Just a parenthetical statement here.) Whoa.
#anthonypowelltogether

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 24d

That description of Apollyon in the book, with reference to Murtlock, was chilling. Even more so than the images (which I wanted to see after reading it--thank you!).

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Maureen McGranaghan @mcgranaghan.bsky.social · 24d

Widmerpool seems at rock bottom to me here. After all his striving, to come to this... Would anyone hire him now? Given his age and how alone he is in the world, he has fewer options for escape than Fiona and Barnabas.

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