FINALLY, our last blog post!!! Now that we are done with our last book I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Not only was it something completely different from what we have been reading but it also was a page turner as well, which constantly kept me interested.
A point in the novel that I found to be quite interesting, was on page 229, when the narrator states:
“ We were always oral. We were forever biting , we bite hard, we spit and shined each other, we licked each other, we slobbered, we gorged, we made elaborate meals of ourselves, we made holiday feasts Scotch and Korean, the cold strange meal of tongue, of ankle, of toe, we made a mess..” At this point in the novel, the narrator is telling the reader how he is making love to his wife for the first time in a while. But what I noticed to be interesting is that Henry once AGAIN talks about their ethnic differences while talking about how he is about to have sex with his wife. He mentions that they ‘made holiday feasts scotch and Korean.’ I feel as though Henry can never get over how different they are ethnicity wise. He constantly mentions it in almost any big event that happens in their lives. Which could be a problem, even though they are beginning to ‘mend’ their damaged relationship.
He even states how its been“.. 5 months since he has seen her naked and maybe eight or nine since he has really touched her…”
This just proves what a horrible relationship they had over the past couple months and they were just beginning to solve it right then and there. I find it a little sad that for so long that those two lost each other in a way, they forgotten the love they had for each other with Lelia constantly going away on her “solo” trips and Henry never speaking up for himself. Henry also states how “he had forgotten how to make love to his wife.” I feel that Henry and Lelia grew apart from each other mostly because of their son Mitt’s death. Especially since they both dealt with their sons death so differently. As in previous chapters Henry and Lelia got into a huge fight about how Henry is always so quiet about their son’s death and Lelia constantly wants to talk about it
All of this happens at the end of the chapter, and continues on into the opening paragraph of the next chapter with them moving back in with each other. They are finally starting to begin to heal their broken relationship.
Lauren Said:
on April 29, 2007 at 4:34 am
Yay, our final blog posts! Feels great to have all of this behind us; a sense of accomplishment for reading through all of these books. It was an enjoyable time because as you mentioned it got us thinking in ways we didn’t before. You bring about some imteresting and significant points from this book. You can obviously tell from these passages that Henry and Lelia had a broken relationship, and no matter how hard they tried it all mostly seemed hopeless. Yet, Henry still tried and tried again. However, it does begin to heal and then at the end they end up working together. It seems as though all of this hardship all had meaning behind it. It was a struggle, yes, but life isn’t easy and they got through it.
mich119 Said:
on April 30, 2007 at 1:45 am
Devy, I must say that I always enjoy reading your posts! Ok, well I agree with you that Henry and Lelia’s relationship was so messed up for so long because of Mitt’s death. They both dealt with his death in different ways which is why I feel they drifted apart. THis book was interesting to read about because I found myself wanting to find out what would happen with them. I too thought their relationship was sad; however, that quote you picked out shows how they found the love they used to share.