Monday, November 12, 2007

The Great Divorce

Here is your place to post any questions, comments, or thoughts for each book we read. Feel free to comment during your read or upon completion. 

14 comments:

Johnny said...

Yahoo!!! I'm the first poster! That's about all I have to say so far. Happy reading.

Unknown said...

We haven't found the book, yet... but we're sure that when we divorce, it will be great...

Johnny said...

I like the part about the grumbler and giving into the mood so much and so often that you become nothing but a grumble.

There are a lot of quotable phrases in this book.

"For to be afraid of oneself is the last horror." I'll be honest; I don't really know what that means, but it sounds cool.

Sonya said...

I'm so excited to be in my first ever book club. Jenny finished the book and gave it to me, but Rob picked it up and started reading it, so I must continue to wait. Sonya

Jenny said...

Help me out, I lent the book away, but what did the lizard represent again? I really enjoyed the book, each ghost he met and described left me in deep personal evaluation. He really calls the sin out into the open and each one was very interesting. I thought this would be an easy read cause the book is so small, but I found myself re-reading spots too understand what he was trying to explain was the real reason the ghost had gone to hell. Like the mother that was attached to her son, to say she not only didn't love him but how her believing she did had led her down wrong paths. I loved the little dwarf on the trolls chain leash and when I learned it was cause the guy lived the martyr his whole life and used pity as a weapon against others was almost scary, do I ever do that? Wow I had better keep a check on the that. But what was the lizard again? jenny

shelly said...

My mind has been stuck on the "monsters" who come "only to spit and gibber out in one ecstasy of hatred their envy and contempt of joy." And how they are converted because "those who hate goodness are somethimes nearer than those that know nothing at all about it and think they have it already."
I'm reading in the BOM about the great conversion of the Lamanites by the sons of Mosiah and the hardness of the dissenter Nephites who won't come join in the joy (except one guy.)
I wonder how often all is well in my Zion and I'm not shaken enough to progress forward. I guess when I "think I got it" I better remember that all I got is pride.
Oh, and how great it is to think that all is not lost. Especially with those who seem further away from the truth...they sometimes humble up far easier and quicker than those who are "close." I bet Papa Morris can attest to that in his work in the Prison.


I also like the grumble. I can be a grumble sometimes. Grumbling for the sake of grumbling. Not productive. Man, Satan sure has a lot of tools.

Shelly

shelly said...

"For to be afraid of oneself is the last horror."

this is in reference to the ghosts being afraid of ghosts, right?

I think it is the part of us that is afraid of authority yelling at us but we yell when we have authority, the patterns of abuse, the foolishness of man. When we realize how much we have become what we hate. It's ugly and lothesome.

I'd love to hear other ideas on this as well. I'm just guessing.

Jenny said...

And the lizard? Any one? Also another ghost has come to my mind but without the book to re-read I would love someone to give me their idea. It was a ghost on the bus that was wanting to improve hell, so was just going to the next place to get ideas to take back home, what was his particular pitfall? I loved how as he educated our narrator on hell it brought alot of visualizations to what we do emotionally like moving farther and farther away from each other, cont. to move and never being satisfied with where we are. But as my final not LIZARD? seriously its driving me crazy. thanks love jenny

Spenny and Nellie Morris said...

So...we're still waiting for the book from the library.

Johnny said...

I haven't found anything definitive about the lizard symbolism but I have found several opinions in discussion groups like ours. The most common interpretation that I have found is that the red lizard represents sensual sin or lust. When that desire is finally killed, not just temporarily quieted, it becomes a white horse, which is a representation of purity.

An LDS blogger was more general in saying that the lizard represented our favorite sins or most challenging temptations; the sins we long to get rid of but have a hard time killing/repenting of. We tend to make excuses and tell ourselves we can take care of things on our own; we can control the temptation without giving it up completely. The sin is either too dear to us and a comfort or the process of "killing" it is too painful or both.

I don't really know what the "correct" interpretation is but my personal thought is that this section of the book touches on the nature of repentance. "Killing" our sins is difficult and even painful but the results are fantastic.

Jenny said...

Ok so the lizard is general sin or if you will a fill in the blank sin. thankyou for the insight. I enjoy reading the blogs, keep them coming. Spenny and Nellie- Hastings had it for like 5 bucks here in logan just f.y.i. love to all.

shelly said...

Yeah, I thought (thought is key, that symbol was a little tricky) that the lizard was our weakness (sin) and once we kill it we can make our weaknesses our strengths.

Also Chad wanted me to tell you that the dwarf guy represented Jenny. That made him laugh. Hopefully it will make Jenny laugh. If not, it was Chad!!!

shelly said...

Who's got December? It's coming fast.

I think that the guy on the bus who wanted to bring tangible "things" back to hell was just missing the mark. The things in heaven were tangible and real because of a "joy" or something particular to that world. No matter how much he wants "it" he can't just take "it". He must embrace heaven to partake of that joy, you can't just steal it. I also think that there was a consumer lust in his plan that wasn't as pure as he claimed.

Jenny said...

Alright already, just because the dwarf was small (and I assume beautiful, intelligent, innocent ect.) doesn't mean it should remind Chad or anyone else of me. Oh wait, you probably meant to say the beautiful perfect woman who talked to the dwarf reminded you of me. Well in that case thank you. Love to all. jenny