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Book Club Discussion #1.2: Christopher the gay chimp

Discussion in 'Entertainment and Technology' started by wisefolly, Aug 13, 2015.

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  1. wisefolly

    wisefolly Guest

    This discussion covers the chapters from "Mrs. Day at Home" to "The Landlady Bears Her Soul".

    What say you?
     
    #1 wisefolly, Aug 13, 2015
  2. queermeerkat

    queermeerkat Guest

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    I have not read it as I've been getting ready for the past week to move to my dorm tomorrow, but on the fifteenth I'm sure I will have lots to say!
     
    #2 queermeerkat, Aug 13, 2015
  3. wisefolly

    wisefolly Guest

    Good luck with the move! I hope your RA is as interesting as Mrs. Madrigal.
     
    #3 wisefolly, Aug 13, 2015
  4. Wallace N

    Wallace N Guest

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    I've still been reading this! Unfortunately I'm currently reading 4 books at once (this is normal for me) and it causes me to sometimes neglect one in favor of the other.

    But I had to comment because I love this book. At first it was a bit hard to keep track of all the characters, but I like how they're becoming more interconnected as the story goes on and it seems less like a portrait of several random characters, but of a group of them who all share a closer connection.

    I love the humor, which is becoming more obvious as of this section: Mary Ann's crisis center having employees with crises of their own, Michael and his chimp story, Brian being rejected at the bathhouse because he's not gay or at least bi, etc. It's very interesting to see the climate of SF in the 70s, which although much of it hasn't changed, a lot of it has. Everyone I know who lives there now works for Facebook or Google or Twitter and lives in the gentrified areas. So it's nice to see a portrait of the more bohemian quality it once had.

    And of course I never tire of all the Northern California locations: Russian River, Hillsborough, Walnut Creek, Atherton, Mendocino, the Peninsula...all places I am very familiar with! (My dad grew up in Walnut Creek--I went to high school in Atherton, etc.)
     
    #4 Wallace N, Aug 20, 2015
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2015
  5. wisefolly

    wisefolly Guest

    Right on---multiple books is my habit as well, one I shan't be breaking anytime soon.

    I like the development the characters get the more we see them interact with each other. Mrs. Madrigal seems the most fully formed from the beginning, and I'm still kinda waiting for Mary Ann to come into her own though I think that will take more chapters since the book is about her finding her place in this new location.

    Mona has a great moment when she tells off that clueless client:
    I was rootin' for her 100%.

    The ironic situations that come are hilarious, with the ones you mentioned (crisis hotline people full of their own crises, the lady at the baths who won't sleep with a guy unless he's at least somewhat gay to "help them").

    The 70's time period is felt through and through. All that casual use of coke (though not sure if that has changed? I'm not quite on the up and up about that kind of stuff). At to that all the macrame plant holders, the Lurex shorts, the... everything.

    And the secret of Mrs. Madrigal. She's fun but kind of sinister too when we learn she (or 28 Barbary Lane) "chose" Mona to become the next new resident. It was an odd moment, and I'm not sure if Mona is pleased or creeped out. But they keep talking around something (such as Mrs. M saying she didn't mind if Mona told Mouse about whatever it is they're not talking about).
     
    #5 wisefolly, Aug 20, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 20, 2015
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