The time has come to tackle another great work of English Literature; Brian Friel`s Translations. Let us know your reactions and your comments as well as your thoughts on the novel that we just finished.
Enjoy
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Glad to be the first to comment... =)
ReplyDeleteI was kinda disapointed by the end of "Kiss of the Fur Queen". I think it's weard that the book, being the author's story, ends with his brother's death. Wasn't it Jeremiah's story, first? What happened, after, what made him begin to write? What's real and what's not, in the book? Overall, I didn't think it was a bad book, but I didn't really like it either.
I've finished reading the first act of "Translations". First, I'd like to tell how much I hate reading theater. In French or in English, I always have a hard time understanding a theater piece when the actors aren't in front of my eyes, espacially when there are a lot of characters.
However, I think "Translations" is very well chosen for the class, since we all study languages. I love the fact that there is greek and latin in the lines, even if it's sometimes annoying to look at the end for the translations.
I'm still getting lost in the characters and even the storyline, but it's oK. And I'm glad we've got less reading every week than when we were reading Kiss of the Fur Queen :)
That's it, long enough
Ève Kirouac-Turmel
Since I have forgotten to fill the very last page of the exam Friday, I will do that on here.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite poem: First of all, I despise poems. I hate to read them, no matter the language. However, since we HAVE to choose one, I'll pick "To a Locomotive in Winter" by Walt Whitman because it gave me a good laugh for the wrong reasons thanks to Simon. :)
Now, Kiss of the Fur Queen. This is going to be a long one so bear with me. I openly said I hated this book and I still do. However, for seriousness purposes, I'll review it neutrally. I will say this; I do not think it's a good idea to show this book next session. The main reason being it's a challenge to read for most people, but not the good kind of challenge. The reason it's so hard to read for nearly everyone is not the language itself, it's the confusion the plot brings. The way the author portrays vision, personify people through mythical creatures at random or the way he mix reality with myth without real tangibility leaves an awkward ambiguous bitter feeling toward the story. People won't see the symbolism behind it like the author would like us to, they will sigh and wonder what the hell they're reading. When this happens, you can't say the book succeeds in his intentions. I've had a few hard times to read the book because of these unclear moments that plagues the book and I'm in 103, I'm easily among the best English speaker and writer of the program. However, a lot of people are in 101 and 102. For them, this book is just an unfair challenge because instead of just being hard, it's actually confusing. The fact we have to go look at the end of the book for the meaning of the words is really annoying and breaks the pacing in reading. The book does have its redeeming quality. The sentences are well written, the passages where myth doesn't collide with reality can be interesting to follow, the main characters are portrayed well enough that you can hate or love them which means you actually care about them. The book isn't garbage, the author has talent in writing but his storytelling skill is mediocre in this book. This is what it is: a mediocre book that is polished to look good. In the end, I give KotFQ a 2.5 out of 5.
Now, for Translation. Unlike Ève up there, I actually enjoy reading theatre pieces or scenarios. I am delighted by short and sweet books once in a while. I love Irish folklore and translation is where my future is at, so this book looked quite interesting from the very start to me. I'm done with the first Act and I have to say I like it. I was a little confused once in a while, especially when Lancey first spoke to the class, interruption his own speech ever three words. I'm also a little annoyed by the fact we have to look at the end of the book for the translation. Unlike in KotFQ, however, I am interested by Greek and Latin. I just didn't care about Cree. Although this might seem a little biased on my personal preferences, I think it fits here more than in the last book. Why? Because in Kiss of the Fur Queen, the author didn't put all Cree in Cree, only the part HE wanted to put in Cree. Most of it was translated in English except for some random parts. It was useless. Here, at least, the Irish languages stays written in English all the time and what is in Latin and Greek has purpose in the story, to show us they are breaking from their native tongue to speak the other languages they are learning.
Wow, I found a way to rant about KotFQ even in my impressions of Translations, I really hated that book. To sum it up: I recommend NOT using KotFQ next year and Translation seems alright for now.
Also, forgive the grammar and spelling mistakes my last comment might have like "quality" that should have been "qualities". There was no way I was going to proofread the whole thing. :)
ReplyDeleteHeum...well,I disliked "Kiss of the Fur Queen". I'm not sure what made me dislike this book, but I just couldn't get into it and that made me confused about the story (and because of that, I'm pretty sure I failed the exam... ;_; ). The story started by talking about Jeremiah and ended up focusing everything about Gabriel. Seriously, I don't even know what is the author's purpose of writing this book... ok, maybe he wanted to express something like "look out for AIDS" or "life can be tricky, you will switch from one side to another!", besides these two options I have in mind, I really don't understand the author. Ok, yeah, Gabriel is dead, and what about Jeremiah? What happened to him after his brother's death?
ReplyDeleteFor the book "Translations", I haven't bought it yet, and reading Ève's comment, I think this book is a bit more interesting than the first one, even though I don't know what the story is about.
Kevin, I totally agree with you.
Angela.
Most people in class dislike Kiss of the Fur Queen. I may be the exception. Actually, I quit like this book especially the end, but it is too long to read. Something, it is hart to understand if you don’t pay more time on reading. I agree that this is a nice book, but it may not be a good idea to put on next session. I don’t think people will like it.
ReplyDeleteAbout the book of Translation, I not quit understand… there are some words that I never heard before and will ever heard in the future. However, it is a small book that we will have more time to enjoin reading.
Florence Chiang
I have to admit that I loved Kiss of the Fur Queen. I think you should keep teaching it, because no matter what book you choose to teach there will always be people who likes it and people who hates it. It just gives the opportunity to student to read books that they would never read by themselves.
ReplyDeleteI started reading Translation and I think I am going to love it! I love that there is some greek and latin in it, even if I can't pronounce it well, ahah.
Sabrina Lecompte
Hi folks. I forgot to fill the impression sheet on the exam, so I will tell my opinion about Kiss of the fur queen here. I strongly sugest not to give it to students next year, it was way to confusing, names and Cree words just made it worst. As well, there were way too many details ! I never quite understood what the fur queen actually meant in the book..
ReplyDeleteAs for Translations, I have to say that it seems interesting and easy to read. Seeing some Latin in it makes me remind of Spanish and I enjoy it.
Still not a fan of the last novel. I doubt I will ever be one. I don't plan on ever reading it again. For the sake of next year's students, please choose another book.
ReplyDeleteTranslations was, and still is the best book we've read in this class.
Kiss of the fur queen was a nice experience save for the fact it gave me the impression to read some philosopher's thoughts. I didn't like neither the slang it was used in the book nor that the queen did not appear often.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, nice book, nice use of the coarse language.
I prefer the book Translations of Brian fiel. so easy to read and so divertising.
It's classic and follows the rules of a classic theatre play with one place, a few people and a limited space.
Mathieu Bussières
Hello everybody!
ReplyDeleteI totally forgot to write on the blog this week, and I thought about it in the Spanish course. I take my break to give you my opinion from what we have done since the beginning in English Literature. I appreciate that we can give our opinion on what we think of the course. Indeed, it's actually great!
My favorite poem was ''Papa's Waltz'' firstly because I understood the explanations of the teacher; in addition, its meaning had deeply touched me. Some people in class thought that his father beat the little boy. It is marveling to see that we should not always rely on our first impressions and to always look further in each text we are reading. However, as Kevin said, I also hate read poems not because they are sometimes too complicated (actually, I've learned new vocabulary, which is pretty awesome) but I've no interest.. :(
Most people in class hate ''Kiss of the Fur Queen''s reading and I'm one of them. Sorry to be against the book even more but I'd rather be honest than lie! The number of pages of the novel is very convenient and it's a good thing that I liked. However, from the very first pages, it is difficult to decipher the meaning of history. There was many (I believe) non-impotant explanations and the temporality was changing everytime that I've been confused! The author explained and talked of the ''Fur Queen'' at the beginning and it thought that I knew who she was originally. Finally, we often referred to this character in the story and my understanding has fallen to zero. Who is the Kiss of the Fur Queen? I never learned its importance in the history. I know in the program where we are, I might have understood who she was because it could be part of our understanding ... I know. I never quite understood ... Well, I did not always known how she was moving the story of Gabriel and Jeremiah. On the other hand, I agree that reading this novel can help on our general culture. After I've done it, I could see what the author lived during his youth. It's very biographic of the poor situation of ''Autochtone'' people. As Kevin Ledoux wrote: ''The book isn't garbage, the author has talent in writing but his storytelling skill is mediocre in this book.''1 You're right! I'm sure the author has talent but he did not proove it in this book. It was so confusing. In sum, you should just NOT take back ''Kiss of the Fur Queen''.
Now, Translation! I finished the first act yesterday, and I prefer this book as ''Kiss of the Fur Queen''. It affects the interest of all of us: languages! It's very entertaining: love, humor, tension. I will not give my opinion summary but I believe Translation's history motivate me to complete it!
See you on Friday,
Sakina xxxx
1. Kevin Ledoux. :))
HI PEOPLE!
ReplyDeleteI agree with David, I either still don't get the ''Fur Queen'' thing. Is it a fox ? a women? a voice in Jeremiah's head? A goddess? Or all of them at the same time? To add some point, I could have expected the tragic end of the book from the ending of part 4 (or beginning of part 5?), when Gabriel move with Gregory. I might have to agree with Kevin and wonder about why were sentences told in Cree but written in English in the book, and others told in Cree and written in Cree ? It got me confused at times because we couldn't know if the boys we're speaking Cree or English at the moment. To complete, I have to say that I give to KotFQ a 6/10, which passes the test if Olivier wants to teach it next semester.
About Translations, I am not quite finish with the first Act, I have to finish it this afternoon. I will bring my opinion on next week, or in today's class.
Marianne Noel A
Hi everyone !!!! For my part, I think that "Kiss of the Fur Queen" is not a book to put on the list for your next class of English literature. It was extremely long to read. I could understand most of the time 3 words in the sentences. It’s hard to be concentred when what you read is not understandable and when the actions are not explained clearly by the author. This is maybe literature but really BORRING.
ReplyDelete"Translations" looks better than the book that we just read. In fact, I like the shortness of the book and the words used. It’s in a way easier to read but also hard to comprehend sometimes because of the high number of characters. It can be confusing by times.
Émilie B.G
As it's totally disrespectful to burn or to throw a novel, I will simply hide Kiss of the fur queen in a shelf,behind lots of better books and try to forget it for the rest of my life. I didn't enjoy reading this novel, not at all!Maybe Thomsom Highway was trying to passa message with all the mythologic things and the fur queen, but he couldn't have done it less clearly! It might be a good thing to have a different writing style, but it was exagerated! However I must admit that I was moved by the end, if I had understood the rest of the book maybe I would cry...or not.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I read, Translation pleases me much more.
Jany Tessier
Kiss of the Fur Queen was an interesting novel, but I'm glad we're finished with it. I agree with Kevin that it was challenging to read because of the plot sometimes, which could be pretty unclear with the mythology things...
ReplyDeleteFor Translations, it appears a good book so far. It's small too! It is nice that there is Latin and Greek, that the author did not translated. I might finally learn more words in Latin!!
See you in and hour, =P
Ariane
Kiss of the Fur Queen... do I really need to do this? I mean, I believe this is the first I've ever managed to hate a book. The book, in my opinion was complete bogus, and most definitely not worth my time. I will admit; however, that the book, towards it was getting a little bit more tolerable than the beginning (and no, it's not just 'cause I was counting down the pages that were left until I was finally rid of the blasted thing!)
ReplyDeleteNow... like Ève, I HATE plays. Or, reading them rather, but, it's not half bad so far. I'm not exactly done with the whole thing yet, but it has managed to capture my curiosity for more than two minutes, which is a very good sign...
J.W
For me, KotFQ is a novel that is not for everyone to read. I liked the main plot about Jeremiah and Gabriel's lives, and the intro with the legend of babies falling from the sky was very interesting to me. But like everyone said, it was ver hard to follow, especially since we gro through the birth of both children to their thirties. It's not that it's impossible to follow, but it's too long to analyse while reading, or reading all over again; we have other books and deadlines.
ReplyDeleteTranslations seems very promising, I don't mind theatre pieces and since it's speaks of languages PLUS it's shorter, it will be easier to read, analyse and enjoy.
Kiss of the Fur Queen had some good point, as how the two brothers are on their own and how they evolve....but finally, I really hate this book. This is simply not my style.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the book Translation is better even though I don't like to read a theater. At least, it's diferent to what we are used to .
Antoine Després
Way more interesting than Kiss of the Fur Queen. I think I'll love this one. The guy who's a mythology maniac annoys me a bit but the other characters seem ok.
ReplyDeleteDavid Boucher Dagenais