So, the town is called Hedston. Just out of curiosity, where exactly is Hedston?
Graylock Hall is apparently your run-of-the-mill haunted abandoned mental hospital in the middle of the woods. And apparently this one’s resident dark spirit is one of the nurses who worked the graveyard shift?
The first girl who died there during a summer thunderstorm was found “facedown in the reeds at the water’s edge.” What water’s edge? It… in the generic description of the asylum, there was no mention of any water nearby, just that it was in a forest. I’m assuming there’s a pond or a lake nearby? Because reeds? But it never actually said…
And then a boy died mysteriously in the same pond-lake-thing later that summer during another storm.
One nurse who just so happened to be working both times was the Obvious Suspect after a third kid died.
So Nurse Janet killed herself before the cops had a chance to arrest her. OK. That’s a lovely image.
And then the hospital shut down a few years later.
Sym’s got a crush on a historical figure. Or something.
So Titus is now sort of like an imaginary friend-type for Sym? Or a version of him?
Who’s Uncle Victor, and how does he know so much?
And… Uncle Victor already sounds like an arrogant asshole, with his views on education.
OK, so I’ve read this a couple times before, and even though it’s never explicitly stated, I’ve always got the feeling that Sym’s autistic, and her “obsession” with Antarctica and Titus’ lost expedition is more of a special interest. Plus the whole thing with having Titus as an imaginary friend because her social skills aren’t great is actually something I’ve done with my own Asperger’s.
Yeah, Uncle Victor, you’re right that normal education doesn’t really work for Sym, but have you actually sat down to actually think about why? Sym probably is autistic, but nobody bothered to check…
Sym’s saying that words don’t come out right for her… COME ON. JUST FUCKING SAY IT ALREADY, MS. MCCAUGHREAN. YOU’VE HINTED AT IT SO MUCH ALREADY IN FIVE PAGES. IT’S NOT A BAD WORD.
Uncle Victor’s just up and taking Sym to Paris for no reason. Lovely. This whole thing feels sketchy already. The random “newspaper contest” or whatever just sounds fake.
OK… Uncle Victor’s taking Sym to Paris right before exam week. That’s really sketchy, seeing how anti-school he is.
Sym literally said she’s awful at picking up on social cues… Hmmm…
Did… Did this Nikki girl just ask if Sym was going to have snails’ legs in Paris? Girl, you’re mixing up your foods here.
No, but really. Teenage boys are kinda dumb sometimes.
So, Sym’s dad is dead. Are we ever going to get more details on that?
Some friends Nikki and Maxine are…
Sym’s mom “lost” her passport. Yeah, or Victor threw it out.
No, but really, Victor’s totally kidnapping Sym, and Sym’s not picking up on it.
Well, that poem that got quoted is rather ominous…
Evan’s worried someone’s going to die. I mean, with the storm as bad as it is, I would be too.
OK, yeah, this “She” is just your standard sailor’s legend thing.
Is what Evan’s hearing really the She, or is it just part of the bad storm?
No, but I’m with the mom that old sailors’ superstitions being kinda sexist.
Well, that’s rather specific about which ships the She sank…
Yeah, Emmett’s one of those older brothers who’s a jerk just for the sake of being an asshole older brother.
Some of the ships that went missing might not’ve sunk, but went off the grid because they were drug runners… Well, that’s not suspicious at all…
Oh, fun. The mom’s radioing in about the storm getting worse.
So, not only are the parents stuck on their ship in the middle of the storm, their navigational equipment fucked up and sent them to the area where the She is supposed to hang out…
The mom’s telling Emmett that the storm’s not hitting them too badly… That’s a load of bullshit.
Now Emmett’s joking with the dad about the drug runners. That’s a dumb move.
And the dad’s talking about the really weird wind. That’s nice.
The She’s going nuts, and now the mom’s trying to send a mayday message. That’s lovely.
I think this may be more of a guilty pleasure book for me? Because on the one hand, it’s a really interesting story, but on the other hand, having a white woman write a huge chunk of the book from the POV of several black women in the south in the early 1960s (and using spelling like how black women from the south would “talk”) feels kinda off.
Society: Mae Mobley, you’re supposed to be a quiet little girl since you were born on a Sunday.
Mae Mobley: *constant noise*
(Attempting to do that as a meme in writing came out weird. Also, I don’t know how to do photoshop, and I’m not sure if the meme-making forms I used to occasionally on the Cheezburger websites still work.)
No, but seriously… First sign that Mae Mobly has a shit mother who sucks at being a mother: She calls her kid “it” instead of “she.”
So Aibileen’s son got killed in a workplace accident at a construction site. This is Mississippi in the ’60s. Part of me wonders how much his boss really gave a shit about some black kid who died on-site. But that was kinda glossed over. And the whole thing sent Aibileen into depression for a while. And then she got kinda bitter.
Mrs. Leefolt… apparently likes being bossy just for the sake of being bossy. And she wants to look all rich and high society when she’s not. I’m already not surprised.
At least Emma Stone was blonde in the movie like the character was actually in the book (I did actually remember that one, mostly because I had to keep double-checking the first time I read this, on the movie cover I have.)
OK, but why the hell is this Hilly lady so fucking extra that she drives over to bridge club at the Leefolt house when she lives literally next door?
No, but it really is sad that Treelore had to get killed off pre-canon because he was actually Trying to Do Something With His Life.
Why are these women so catty and gossipy like high school girls? They’re fucking adults!
They’re also talking shit about Aibileen’s friend Minny… Let me guess… Shit’s Going to Happen to Minny.
Can I just… Can I jump into the book and strangle Hilly? Thank goodness for Skeeter basically saying “fuck you” without actually saying “fuck you.”
Oh… Oh no… When Hiccup’s telling the story, it’s about how when he was a kid, there were a lot of dragons around… and now dragons are an endangered species…
Lovely. The book starts with a murder. (Well, technically a murder weapon, but close enough.)
So, Nobody’s parents and older siblings were all killed, and then when Jack went to go kill Nobody… the kid somehow yeeted himself out of the crib before Jack could get into the room. (I’ve seen way too much America’s Funniest Home Videos and other clip shows where toddlers have escaped their cribs, so the thought of Bod doing that then running around a murder scene without knowing what’s going on is funnier to me than it probably should be.)
Oh, fun. Apparently Jack could smell that Bod wandered out the front door. That Jack left open.
Yeah, this sounds about right for how Bod got out of his crib and out of the house, from what I’ve seen.
And… Bod wandered into a graveyard. OK…
Bod’s blond? This is one of those cases where, even with the description in the book and what I’ve seen of the graphic novel versions, I somehow completely missed crucial character descriptions.
So, the ghost of Bod’s mom told the Owenses to protect him from Jack. Guess who’s getting adopted by ghosts now?
OK, so… a ghostly fog plus the cemetery’s caretaker just confused Jack away from the graveyard. Right.
Who’s this Silas guy?
OK, the funeral chapel in the cemetery is one of those places that got abandoned due to disuse, but nobody can get rid of it because history.
This Lady on the Grey… I don’t really know much about the legends surrounding ladies like that, but I’m still guessing that this one in particular is Important.
Why did Jack kill Bod’s family? And why was it so important that Bod was supposed to die with them?
This book’s better than How I Live Now. Convince me otherwise.
Also, thank goodness for the Australian-to-American dictionary, because I’d be lost otherwise.
So, Ellie’s friends picked her to write down everything since Something Big Happened.
The creek and the pool where Ellie went to write sound really gorgeous.
OK. The Big Thing happened when Ellie and Corrie decided to take a group of friends camping over Christmas break. (Christmas is in the winter here, so it’s still weird for me to think this whole book started at the beginning of summer in Australia.)
So they all decided to go camping in a canyon called Hell with its own local urban legend about a serial killer or mass murderer or something who camped out there to avoid arrest.
Overprotective parents being overprotective parents… Yeah, it turns out that worrying about teen camping parties would be the least of their worries…
So, this show’s like a county fair thing? Based on context? Because that’s one thing that got left off the Australian-to-American dictionary.
Ellie’s glad that she’s getting away from all the foreign politics issues going downhill on the news… Oh, the foreshadowing…
A four-year-old Helen having to attend the opening of her dad’s temple for Aphrodite… Yeah, little kids and big public functions don’t mix…
No, but really, how is bloodshed supposed to sprout someone who’s associated with love?
The bit with Helen wanting the statue to be her doll: That’s totally a mix of “Ah, yes, little kids being little kids” and “That’s totally not a reference to classic mythology.”
OK, so, apparently twins run in the family?
Oh, the blasphemous child who just spouts out random stuff like her mom’s prettier than Aphrodite because she’s too young to know better…
Helen is kinda right about the “what good are tributes to the gods when they do whatever they want anyway” thing. Child logic makes more sense than adult logic sometimes. I don’t see how adults don’t get that.
Early Entries About Victor… This should be interesting.
The thing about the girls in 1918 or 1944 having their dads not coming home, too… Cathy… Your main journal takes place in 2006? I think? And even considering the possibility that these flashback entries are only a couple years old, you do realize that there’s war going on in the Middle East during those entries, too?
That bird sounds pretty.
Oh, Cathy, you should’ve gone with your gut the first time you met Victor. The creep factor is off the charts here. And the douche factor.
I used to really like the ArtGirl outfit drawing, but now it just feels like “edgy Goth teen girl shit.”
No, seriously, what’s the big deal about Victor? WHY DOES CATHY EVEN LIKE THIS ASSHOLE?
OK, what’s with the sudden slow-mo mode?
Dammit, Cathy, why are you taking Victor’s dare to draw him?
Cathy’s aging up people in her drawings is actually a cool concept.
Again with the Cathy’s dad teaching her about art. And this is like serious art history.
“Maybe Victor’s a vampire!” Yeah, sure, great idea, Cathy… But come to think of it, Victor does give me Edward Cullen vibes the more I think about it…
Also, why does it take “Victor just broke up with me, so I’m rereading my old journal entries about meeting him” for Cathy to even come close to remembering how douchey he was even then, and that thinking that dating him was a bad idea…
And two seconds later… Cathy’s wallowing again… and thinking about their first date in his plane…
Also, why was Emma third-wheeling on the first date?
I think I mentioned this last time, but even with Victor’s high-paying job, how the hell did he get his own airplane and know how to fly it expertly if he’s supposed to be twenty-something?
On a related note, in this list of things Cathy misses most about Victor, how did she not think it was super sketchy how Victor was a little Too Perfect?
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