#p. 43

[aylili]

En una nota a pie de página: "Esto no significa que las utopías no se interesen a su manera por aquello que es posible. Tal vez describan tierras lejanas o sociedades del futuro imposibles de imitar hoy, que tal vez nunca seamos capaces de imitar. Pero la idea subyacente es que estas cosas son realmente posibles en el sentido de que forman parte de la naturaleza humana. Esto es lo que piensa el narrador del libro de Moro: los utopianos viven de acuerdo con la naturaleza".

[firstreadbooks]

So when I pointed out a pair of sandals that would suit her skin tone, she was like, “Yeah, but…” the but being ‘but they will expose my hideous second toes to the public’, and I said “Kaitlyn, you’re the only person I’ve ever known to have toe-specific dysmorphia,” and she said, “What is that?” “You know, like when you look in the mirror and the thing you see is not the thing as it really is.”

Chapter 3, p.43, p.44 (TFiOS)

Dysmorphia is a serious mental illness, considered akin to O.C.D. So far, all I’m thinking is that it’s been applied for a half-arsed attempt at 60 second scene one character development. Surely you’d understand how much of a bad idea that is, Jawn.

[firstreadbooks]

We went to this shoe store. As we were shopping, Kaitlyn kept picking out all these open-toed flats for me and saying, “These would look cute on you,” which reminded me that Kaitlyn never wore open-toed shoes on account of how she hated her feet because she felt her second toes were too long, as if the second toe was a window into the soul or something.

Chapter 3, p.43 (TFiOS)

If Kaitlyn is so self-conscious about her second-toes, why is she drawing attention to them like this? More to the point, what on earth does Hazel mean by ‘window into the soul’ in relation to an apparently hideous set of second-toes? Does Kaitlyn even know what sort of shoes Hazel would like or think cute?

I hate it when all I can do is ask questions.

[firstreadbooks]

“What in heaven is that?” asked Kaitlyn, gesturing to the book. “Oh, it’s sci-fi. I’ve gotten kinda into it. It’s a series.” “I am alarmed. Shall we shop?”

Chapter 3, p.43 (TFiOS)

Jawn, why are you assuming that girls don’t like sci-fi?! The only two girls introduced by the author who claims to be the leader of the nerds, and neither of them are fans of sci-fi? Are you so blind that you haven’t seen the passion of the female fans of all things sci-fi? It’s because of them that such as Supernatural and Doctor Who have such unparalleled popularity.

Meanwhile, does Kaitlyn have no idea of Britain’s LONG AND SIGNIFICANT Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction tradition, then?

-- 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke -- A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess -- Animal Farm – George Orwell -- Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer -- Brave New World – Aldous Huxley -- Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell -- Frankenstein – Mary Shelley -- Good Omens – Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett -- Harry Potter – J. K. Rowling -- His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman -- Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones -- Lord of the Flies – William Golding -- Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro -- Nineteen-Eighty-Four – George Orwell -- Noughts and Crosses – Malorie Blackman -- Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers – Grant Naylor -- Revelation Space – Alastair Reynolds -- The Blazing World – Margaret Cavendish -- The Chronicles of Narnia – C. S. Lewis -- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Addams -- The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkein -- The Island of Dr. Moreau – H. G. Wells -- The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness -- The Last Man – Mary Shelley (a.k.a. the first post-apocalyptic) -- The Long Earth – Stephen Baxter -- The Lost World – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- The Once and Future King – T. H. White -- The War Of The Worlds – H. G. Wells -- V For Vendetta – Alan Moore

There’s so much more on the list that I simply haven’t added for space. I also guarantee that a fair few of these will have been on reading lists during Kaitlyn’s schooling.

Note: Jonathan Swift, particularly notable for Gulliver’s Travels, has not made the list. That’s because, as a Dublin-born Irish author, he is not British. Any Irish person would tell you the same (and probably delight in it).

[firstreadbooks]

I thought of telling her that I was seeing a boy, too, or at least I’d watched a movie with one, just because I knew it would surprise and amaze her that anyone as dishevelled and awkward and stunted as me could even briefly win the affections of a boy. But I didn’t really have much to brag about, so I just shrugged.

Chapter 3, p.43 (TFiOS)

What is it with you that keeps portraying Hazel as so full of self-loathing and insecurity? This is ridiculous, considering all the factors.

[firstreadbooks]

“Health is good?”

Chapter 3, p.43 (TFiOS)

Please, Brits wouldn’t say anything like that. At least, none of the thousands I’ve met have. I’m so tempted to offer recordings of me speaking Kaitlyn’s lines, just to show how ridiculous her Brit fetish is becoming.