Ok, so it's been bugging me slightly that Dunstan is promised by the stranger who rents out his cottage "his heart's desire" and then meets the fairy chick and has sex with her, but never sees her again. I mean what exactly are we counting as his heart's desire, to bang a fairy chick? If there would have been any sort of resulting courtship I would have thought, fine his heart desired something different and magical, a true love, I don't know something along those lines, but now...it just seems like his heart's desire was that of any high school boy; to loose his v-card to a hot chick.
So what is the deal with Victoria, does she actually have feelings for Tristan, or is she just leading him on? And what time period do we think this is? They seem to be pretty sheltered, I mean Dunstan's dates with Daisy consist of "walks" with her mother & sister present.
Is anyone else curious as to who or what the other creature in the barn with Dunstan was that night? Clearly they have to call back to that, I mean why else would Gainman have written that encounter to begin with?
I like the book so far, am really glad though that Tristan is leaving Wall to go out to the meadow...Wall on a whole is kind of boring....
Like you said, perhaps his heart's desire was either to have or witness something magical. It doesn't necessarily have to be sex, however, Gaiman includes the part, 'and it was then that Dunstan learned of sex'. That makes me think sex was meant to be part of it. Depending on the sex, it can be magical, no? And what better way for it to be magical than with a fairy girl?
Victoria ... Oh, Victoria. She is so much about herself and her own pleasures. I think she finds poor Tristan amusing and enjoys tormenting him, but has no real interest in him aside from what she can get from him. There is not and never will be that fairy tale love that is usually in these types of stories. I rather enjoy that he is so stupidly in love with her and yet she could give two shits. It's a-typical and not often seen in the childhood fairy tales we're all used to. I think perhaps she is meant to be a source of forward movement seeing as Tristan is off to Fairy land to hunt for a star and she is his reason for returning to Wall.
That creature in the barn I am insanely curious about. Is it Cousin It? I wanna know!
Time period, I'm thinking, could be one of the bustle periods, say 1860's to 1880's. Still Victorian, but maybe with a dash of steam punk for flare. I'll stop, okay? I know, stop designing the book, Cate.
I eagerly await Tristan's adventures outside of Wall!
I was wondering the same thing when Dunstan slept with the fairy girl and that seemed to be all. For some reason I was expecting more in terms of him getting "his heart's desire." When the story started out it seemed to describe him as having a little bit of wanderlust, or at least wanting to get out of Wall, and I thought him meeting the fairy girl would be the start of that. Maybe in truth he just wanted to have something adventurous happen, and meeting the fairy girl and the consequences from that are enough to fulfill that. As far as Victoria is concerned, I actually do think she has feelings for Tristran (btw, took me almost an entire chapter to realize it was Tristran and not Tristan). As disinterested as she acts and as silly as she seems to think he is, she did let him walk her home. I think maybe she knows that she is the most beautiful girl in Wall, and because of that could have pretty much anything she asked for, and is a little bored because of that. Maybe she finds Tristran's oddness, and the rumors about his origins, intriguing. I feel like her challenge to him is an extension of that - her wanting something out of the ordinary to happen to her. Totally forgot about that creature in the barn until I looked at the discussion and thought back on the chapters. Obviously Gaiman means for the character to come into play at some other point in the story. I'm especially interested to see how since now we've moved on to the next generation in Tristran without it coming up again. Definitely loving the story so far. I saw the movie when it initially came out, but that was so long ago that the plot isn't that familiar to me anymore, so I look forward to being surprised by the book and then going back to the movie afterwards! And Cate, I totally love the steampunk Victorian era description. I can totally see it!
Ok, so it's been bugging me slightly that Dunstan is promised by the stranger who rents out his cottage "his heart's desire" and then meets the fairy chick and has sex with her, but never sees her again. I mean what exactly are we counting as his heart's desire, to bang a fairy chick? If there would have been any sort of resulting courtship I would have thought, fine his heart desired something different and magical, a true love, I don't know something along those lines, but now...it just seems like his heart's desire was that of any high school boy; to loose his v-card to a hot chick.
ReplyDeleteSo what is the deal with Victoria, does she actually have feelings for Tristan, or is she just leading him on? And what time period do we think this is? They seem to be pretty sheltered, I mean Dunstan's dates with Daisy consist of "walks" with her mother & sister present.
Is anyone else curious as to who or what the other creature in the barn with Dunstan was that night? Clearly they have to call back to that, I mean why else would Gainman have written that encounter to begin with?
I like the book so far, am really glad though that Tristan is leaving Wall to go out to the meadow...Wall on a whole is kind of boring....
Like you said, perhaps his heart's desire was either to have or witness something magical. It doesn't necessarily have to be sex, however, Gaiman includes the part, 'and it was then that Dunstan learned of sex'. That makes me think sex was meant to be part of it. Depending on the sex, it can be magical, no? And what better way for it to be magical than with a fairy girl?
ReplyDeleteVictoria ... Oh, Victoria. She is so much about herself and her own pleasures. I think she finds poor Tristan amusing and enjoys tormenting him, but has no real interest in him aside from what she can get from him. There is not and never will be that fairy tale love that is usually in these types of stories. I rather enjoy that he is so stupidly in love with her and yet she could give two shits. It's a-typical and not often seen in the childhood fairy tales we're all used to. I think perhaps she is meant to be a source of forward movement seeing as Tristan is off to Fairy land to hunt for a star and she is his reason for returning to Wall.
That creature in the barn I am insanely curious about. Is it Cousin It? I wanna know!
Time period, I'm thinking, could be one of the bustle periods, say 1860's to 1880's. Still Victorian, but maybe with a dash of steam punk for flare. I'll stop, okay? I know, stop designing the book, Cate.
I eagerly await Tristan's adventures outside of Wall!
I was wondering the same thing when Dunstan slept with the fairy girl and that seemed to be all. For some reason I was expecting more in terms of him getting "his heart's desire." When the story started out it seemed to describe him as having a little bit of wanderlust, or at least wanting to get out of Wall, and I thought him meeting the fairy girl would be the start of that. Maybe in truth he just wanted to have something adventurous happen, and meeting the fairy girl and the consequences from that are enough to fulfill that.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Victoria is concerned, I actually do think she has feelings for Tristran (btw, took me almost an entire chapter to realize it was Tristran and not Tristan). As disinterested as she acts and as silly as she seems to think he is, she did let him walk her home. I think maybe she knows that she is the most beautiful girl in Wall, and because of that could have pretty much anything she asked for, and is a little bored because of that. Maybe she finds Tristran's oddness, and the rumors about his origins, intriguing. I feel like her challenge to him is an extension of that - her wanting something out of the ordinary to happen to her.
Totally forgot about that creature in the barn until I looked at the discussion and thought back on the chapters. Obviously Gaiman means for the character to come into play at some other point in the story. I'm especially interested to see how since now we've moved on to the next generation in Tristran without it coming up again.
Definitely loving the story so far. I saw the movie when it initially came out, but that was so long ago that the plot isn't that familiar to me anymore, so I look forward to being surprised by the book and then going back to the movie afterwards!
And Cate, I totally love the steampunk Victorian era description. I can totally see it!