Complete-SOLO - The Untempered Wind by Joanna Wood-alg

[Sunrise2020]

Chapter 4 is ready for PL.

It's interesting to watch this author shifting between her different goals — the different things she wants to do.
In this chapter:
(a) she wants to sketch the kind of person who lives in the village, so she spends a lot of time on Mrs. Deans' life and her household;
(b) she wants to give us tidbits about village life in general, so she spends time on the itinerant rag collector;
(c) she wants to continue deepening our understanding of Myron, so she returns at the end of the chapter to thoughts about how Myron is handling things.

The shifts between these interests are pretty obvious — maybe a bit abrupt — in this, which is, after all, her first novel. I suppose a more polished artist might interweave the strands more gracefully.

I like your commentary which helps me to better understand the novel. I enjoyed the musings how Mrs. Dean’s son had come to his name and the antics of Mr. Dean. Maybe we can read one of the author’s later novels next.
PL is fine.

[beeber]

Chapter 5 is ready for PL.

A longer chapter, in which the author establishes the back story for Homer Wilson, who will turn out to be the second most important character in the book, second to Myron.

Bruce.

[Sunrise2020]

Chapter 5 is ready for PL.

A longer chapter, in which the author establishes the back story for Homer Wilson, who will turn out to be the second most important character in the book, second to Myron.

Bruce.

Chapter 5 is fine. Interesting description of family dynamics in the Wilson household.

[beeber]

Chapter 6 is ready for PL.
Bruce

[Sunrise2020]

Chapter 6 is ready for PL.
Bruce

PL is

[beeber]

Chapter 7 is ready for PL — with a little social history: a glimpse into the Temperance Movement, and small-town efforts to keep alcohol out of their community.

Bruce

[Sunrise2020]

Chapter 7 is ready for PL — with a little social history: a glimpse into the Temperance Movement, and small-town efforts to keep alcohol out of their community.

Bruce

Chapter 7 is proofed. And not shying away from using deception under the disguise of service for one's goals.

[beeber]

Chapter 8 is ready for PL.

Bruce

[Sunrise2020]

Chapter 8 is ready for PL.

Bruce

Chapter 8 is fine. I cringe when I hear that Mrs. Dean is coming onto the page and wonder what malicious intent she has. What was done to her once upon a time?

[beeber]

Chapter 9 is ready for PL.

How timely of you to be wondering why Mrs. Deans is the way she is! In chapter 9, it's as if the author realizes that it is indeed time to address the question of why some of these people are so vicious.

And it's a very dark chapter. She talks about the village's history and values, and suggests that there may be some inbreeding. And then she focuses on one particular child — a deeply disturbed boy — and suggests that his mental and emotional perversity may be an emblem for the cruelty of some of the women in the community.

(For your information, "Jamestown" is based on the town of Queenston, Ontario. The author was born in Scotland, but her family moved to Canada. She spent a number of years of her life in Queenston, and perhaps they weren't entirely happy years, if this chapter is to be taken as evidence.You'll notice that, as immigrants from England, Myron and her grandmother are seen as "outsiders"; the author and her family would have been in the same situation.)

[Sunrise2020]

Chapter 9 is ready for PL.

How timely of you to be wondering why Mrs. Deans is the way she is! In chapter 9, it's as if the author realizes that it is indeed time to address the question of why some of these people are so vicious.

And it's a very dark chapter. She talks about the village's history and values, and suggests that there may be some inbreeding. And then she focuses on one particular child — a deeply disturbed boy — and suggests that his mental and emotional perversity may be an emblem for the cruelty of some of the women in the community.

(For your information, "Jamestown" is based on the town of Queenston, Ontario. The author was born in Scotland, but her family moved to Canada. She spent a number of years of her life in Queenston, and perhaps they weren't entirely happy years, if this chapter is to be taken as evidence.You'll notice that, as immigrants from England, Myron and her grandmother are seen as "outsiders"; the author and her family would have been in the same situation.)

Chapter 9 is proofed.

I enjoyed guided tours of towns, museums, etc. Your notes remind me of that joy: being shown that gable and its significance in the town's history or why a painter chose a particular color. Without explanation, the town or painting are beautiful but now they come to life. Thank you for that!

[beeber]

Chapter 10 is ready for PL.

Bruce

[Sunrise2020]

Chapter 10 is ready for PL.

Bruce

Chapter 10 is okay.

[beeber]

Chapter 11 is ready for PL.

Now, there's no way of proving this, but it seems to me that in these chapters of her first novel, the author is becoming a bit more sure-footed, gaining confidence and trying out little experiments in story-telling. In particular, she seems willing to try being a bit more "poetic" sometimes. At the end of the last chapter, we had that startling passage in which she goes right inside Myron's head, describing the experience of a fainting spell. In its imaginative intensity, it seemed unlike anything we'd seen before in the book, just as the disturbing portrait of little Bing White, in Chapter 9, was unlike anything that had come before. (Actually, I think she doesn't quite know what to do with that character — how to weave Bing White into the plot. You'll notice that in this chapter, she has him wander briefly into the room, and then quickly whisks him off-stage.)

In this chapter, she begins with an extended account of nature — the streams and the plants. It is, first of all, a pretty authentic description of what you can actually see in that part of the world — she's paying attention to the plants — but she's also experimenting with making it all symbolic — seeing how she can make the natural world "stand for" human experiences. And then, at the very end of the chapter, she does a nice little poetic job of briefly dropping in on different houses, with lovely, deft descriptions of the different ways that sleep comes to them all.

(But my favourite part is the 3 pages she spends describing Mrs. White's gaudy, tacky, tasteless sitting room — a great picture of a certain type of domestic decoration that I remember seeing, decades later, in certain houses!)

[Sunrise2020]

Chapter 11 is okay.

I enjoyed this chapter very much ! The description of nature was cheerful and uplifting, compared to human behavior.

I meant to ask you, what is the meaning of "bonded girl"?