The Moonstone - Chapters 1-5

[dragonfly411]

To give this a start, this will be the place to discuss The Moonstone Chapters 1-5. Let the book club discussion ensue!

 

[Haven]

Thanks for starting this thread, Dragonfly!

 

[AGBF]

I was afraid someone had already started reading the book and posting about it! Since I do not, yet, have my copy it was making me feel woefully inadequate! I have to admit that it was a relief to open this thread and see that no one had, yet, launched an in-depth analysis of the book! I finished The Glow Stone today; for those who like "young adult fiction" or who teach teenagers, I recommend it. It isn't really very deep, but it is a cute book. (This comment probably doesn't belong in this thread. Sorry.)

AGBF

 

[Haven]

I was afraid someone had already started reading the book and posting about it! Since I do not, yet, have my copy it was making me feel woefully inadequate! I have to admit that it was a relief to open this thread and see that no one had, yet, launched an in-depth analysis of the book! I finished The Glow Stone today; for those who like "young adult fiction" or who teach teenagers, I recommend it. It isn't really very deep, but it is a cute book. (This comment probably doesn't belong in this thread. Sorry.)

AGBF

Thank you for the recommendation, AGBF.

I don't even have my copy of the book, yet. A friend is currently borrowing my Kindle, and I didn't make it to the library today. I imagine I will be very late to the discussion.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I'm also putting this on my "next book" list. I've been reading a lot of Sylvia Plath and just started her journal entries. I may get bored with it and get The Moonstone before I finish this book.

 

[April20]

I started reading it yesterday. I got just into the first chapter.... I haven't had time to read today, but I'm flying tomorrow, so I might get a little time in.

And can I say I love discussing chunks at a time? I am all over the place these days and my ability to remember what happened in the first few chapters when I'm say, 250 pages in, is less than stellar.

 

[AGBF]

My copy arrived today and and I had just started to read The Help this morning (or was it last night?). At any rate, I had to wrestle myself to the ground and remove the copy of The Help from my resisting hands! I am sure I will love The Moonstone, but it arrived at an inopportune moment!

Deb/AGBF

 

[vespergirl]

My copy arrived today and and I had just started to read The Help this morning (or was it last night?). At any rate, I had to wrestle myself to the ground and remove the copy of The Help from my resisting hands! I am sure I will love The Moonstone, but it arrived at an inopportune moment!

Deb/AGBF

Oh Deb, I loved The Help! I just finished it a few weeks ago, and I couldn't put it down! It's such a great book.

I'm also glad that we haven't started discussion on the Moonstone yet, because I was planning on picking it up tomorrow while Andrew's at camp.

BTW, is there a date that we are going to start discussing? For instance, have we decided to "meet" on the first of every month, for example? Just let me know in case I missed it ...

 

[elrohwen]

DF, not sure if you saw my reply to your post in the Book Club thread back in Hangout - should we perhaps include more than just 5 chapters per thread? There are quite a few chapters in the book, and there are no natural divisions every 5 chapters, so I think we'll be cutting off plots points and things if we try to limit ourselves this way. Maybe every 10 chapters would be better, or trying to center the discussions around the divisions built into the book. The table of contents in my edition isn't laid out very clearly as far as chapters goes, but SparkNotes splits it up pretty well:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/moonstone/

It might just make sense to split our discussion into the First and Second Periods, or at least have those as the basic divides and then split further from there. The book is told from the point of view of different people, so I think it's important to try to keep those sections together if we can otherwise our discussions will get pretty confusing.

 

[dragonfly411]

Elro - If you think that would be best we could do that.

I downloaded the free kindle version onto my iphone and started reading yesterday.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Hi, ladies! Just checking in. I still can't get the Kindle app on my phone due to the version of the Android OS that I'm running. I tried to download the newer version of the OS (which would allow me to download the Kindle app), but it's not working. Sigh.

Soooo, instead I downloaded the Kindle app to my PC! I just ordered the free Kindle version of The Moonstone, and I'm about to start Chapter 1.

 

[dragonfly411]

Just so I know my version is the right one. The first three chapters do consist of the story starting and restarting for others yes?

 

[elrohwen]

DF, I was just making a suggestion, because it seemed like you didn't see my suggestion on the other thread before the thread moved on down the list. In my copy, the first five chapters (not counting the prologue) is only 26 pages. Especially with the flowery writing and all, I'm not sure enough is going to happen in 26 pages to give us good discussions. Of course, we can see what the other Book Clubbers would like to do.

Also, I'm not sure about your last post - are you referring to the prologue? I have an older edition so I'm not sure what you're referring to.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

OK, I just read the Prologue and Chapters 1 through 5.

Yes, DF, the first three chapters consist of the story being restarted repeatedly. (Which is actually a little bit endearing, considering the character who's telling the story! LOL!)

And Elro, I don't know how everyone else will feel, but I think there's a good bit to discuss after reading the first five chapters. It gives us a lot of backstory, which is very interesting! Of course, I'm reading the free Kindle edition, so I don't know how the book is divided up. (I'm a Kindle virgin though, so there may be a way of figuring that out that I just don't know about yet.)

If everyone else wants to discuss five chapters at a time, that's fine with me! Or, if there's another way of dividing it up (maybe based on how the book itself is divided up), that's fine with me too!

BTW, I'm loving it so far! It keeps making me smile!

 

[dragonfly411]

Elro - I'm ok with the idea of others want to! I was just hoping to get the ball moving in starting the thread for those who had already begun reading.

Glad to hear mine isn't the only one restarting haha. I really liked it though, I feel much more familiar with the narrator because of it.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Elro - I'm ok with the idea of others want to! I was just hoping to get the ball moving in starting the thread for those who had already begun reading.

Glad to hear mine isn't the only one restarting haha. I really liked it though, I feel much more familiar with the narrator because of it.

DF, I feel the same way! He seems like a cute little old man, doesn't he?

 

[Tuckins1]

I have read the first 8 chapters so far... I am definitely enjoying the story, but it's kind of hard for me to read too much of it at a time. I think it's because it's written in an old english fashion, and tends to go on and on at times. Kind of like reading Tolkein, the language sometimes requires a lot of focus and concentration and I don't always have the patience. I do like it though. I really want to find out more about just what the three Indians are doing with that "ink"....

 

[rainwood]

The idea of an online book club seemed intriguing, and I just happened to be by a Barnes & Noble yesterday with some unused gift card balance so . . . . May I join you?

I went old school and bought the paperback, there's a 33-page Introduction, a Preface, a Preface to the Present Edition, a Table of Contents, and then the Prologue! After all that, I'm only at Chapter 3, but it seems like a good read. I look forward to our discussions.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Tuckins ~ I agree about the ink! I'm getting the impression that the little boy is a "seer" of some sort and the ink is how he gets his visions? Verrrry interrrresting!

Rainwood ~ Of course you can join us! Welcome, and we're glad to have you!

 

[dragonfly411]

Irish - I don't think the boy himself is a "seer" so much as a tool. They said that they found him wandering the streets as a beggar. I think that maybe they need a pure or innocent soul to use the ink?

I'll be interested to know what the significance of the quicksands are. I found that so odd, I've never heard of anything like it.

 

[Berryluv]

I have read the first 8 chapters so far... I am definitely enjoying the story, but it's kind of hard for me to read too much of it at a time. I think it's because it's written in an old english fashion, and tends to go on and on at times. Kind of like reading Tolkein, the language sometimes requires a lot of focus and concentration and I don't always have the patience. I do like it though. I really want to find out more about just what the three Indians are doing with that "ink"....

I agree. I'm in the first 3 ch. and I find I can't read it when I'm not alert for the same reasons. It's progressing so hopefully I'll get in to it more.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Irish - I don't think the boy himself is a "seer" so much as a tool. They said that they found him wandering the streets as a beggar. I think that maybe they need a pure or innocent soul to use the ink?

Ooooh, good point, DF! I hadn't thought of it that way. I'm through Chapter 6 now, and I'm going to start Chapter 7 sometime today (hopefully). I can't wait to see what happens next!

 

[dragonfly411]

Was it common for a woman to have a male companion that was something of a servant/common worker follow her through life, the way he did?

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Was it common for a woman to have a male companion that was something of a servant/common worker follow her through life, the way he did?

Good question, DF . . . I was wondering that too!

 

[AGBF]

My copy arrived today and and I had just started to read The Help this morning (or was it last night?). At any rate, I had to wrestle myself to the ground and remove the copy of The Help from my resisting hands! I am sure I will love The Moonstone, but it arrived at an inopportune moment!

Deb/AGBF


Oh Deb, I loved The Help! I just finished it a few weeks ago, and I couldn't put it down! It's such a great book.

vespergirl...I am so glad that you were here and confessed this! Because, in the end, I couldn't put it down, either! I finished The Help last night. I felt guilty, as if I were neglecting an assignment for school in order to read a novel for pleasure, but I kept telling myself that I''d be able to catch up! Now we'll see if I can!

Deb/AGBF

 

[AGBF]

I'm almost up to chapter 5. I had no idea that the "chapters" would be so short! What I realized, when I encountered the Indians and the young boy, was that I had seen this!!! I thought I had seen a BBC production of the story. So I went to amazon.com and saw that Masterpiece Theatre had, indeed, produced a version of, "The Moonstone". That was in 1997, however, and I was no longer watching television by 1997. Yet I had a vivid recollection of seeing scenes from that movie. It occurred to me that perhaps I had never seen the entire movie, but advertizements for it on another Masterpiece Theatre DVD. I don't know which I saw, the entire movie or just ads for it, but I saw at least some of it! It's a good thing I have no memory. I cannot recall anything else about the plot and thus will thoroughly enjoy reading the book through with the rest of you!

Deb/AGBF

 

[elrohwen]

AGBF, you crack me up!


DF, I've been thinking about your question, regarding male servants. I've read a fair amount of lit from the same time period (mostly Dickens, who was a very close friend and collaborator with Collins) and I have never heard of something like this. I got an inkling of a deeper relationship between Betteredge and Lady Verinder that made her keep him around even when she moved out of her father's house. I don't think this will be addressed, but enough was said that it seemed to be implied. It could also just be a plot technique to give a male character intimate access into Lady Verinder's life.

 

[dragonfly411]

Elro - I felt the same thing, and actually expected her to propose marriage when she came to his home for tea . This was especially a thought because of the fact that she took his daughter under her wing.

 

[elrohwen]

A proposal like that would never happen in Victorian England though, even more so because she's a lady of rank, not just a normal rich person. But I do feel like they have some sort of relationship that's vaguely improper.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

OK, who else is like waaaay beyond Chapter 5??? Full disclosure: I just finished Chapter 15!

I'm trying to pace myself and only go as far as what we're currently discussing, but I'm really getting into the story! LOL! Does anyone think we should start some threads for the next sections of the book (maybe one for Chapters 6 through 10 and one for Chapters 11 through 15)?