The book as a whole was not as I expected it to be. I think I liked it... It was written so much differently than what I usually encounter. It almost had that fiction style of writing to it, but the reader could tell that it wasn't. It also had a poetic feel to it because of the way the book it organized. For example, there were short little stories in between the big ones. I'm not sure which gave more information though. The bigger stories like "The Wind Did It" gave me a lot of information, about other characters instead of the main character. The short stories, I feel, are the ones that want a reader to use a lot of inference and once the reader understand the idea, he or she get's an open perspective on the main character more than the reader would with the short stories. The story "Live Wire" had a lot in it. It really reminded me of a poem the way a reader can take it literally, because it probably happened that way, but the reader knows that it could stand for something completely different. There was definitely some ambiguity in my opinion and I tried to get the most out of it.
Personally, "The Wind Did It" is probably my favorite part of the story. I related to that part of the book so well. Bernard Cooper definitely took me with him into the story. I got upset at the part when his father had cut out everything from his past, including his own son, all for his new wife that he got a divorce from. I got emotionally attached. I've experienced something similar to that and I got mad. When B. Cooper talks about being in the car with his dad, despite everything else, it felt timeless. Even though the author stated ages, and described how his hair was receding, it still felt that way. Even when his dad was trying to recall what part of his body he had removed and when B. Cooper told him the name of a red mole, it STILL felt that way. I'm not exactly sure what it was. Maybe it was the feeling that came with riding a car and talking with his old man. It felt calm, peaceful, and just all around comfortable. It also felt fragile because they had recently started talking again and B. Cooper didn't want to jeopardize his new relationship.
Speaking of jeopardize, when he and his dad were watching jeopardy together, I thought that part was little strange. Or maybe a lot strange. It was so weird the way the author described the sensation when his dad was scratching his scalp. It honestly made me uncomfortable. I tried relating it to when I was a little girl and my mom and I shared a bed, because at the time I didn't have one, and while I was falling asleep she would brush his fingers across my forehead into my hair. I liked it when she did that. It felt nice to have my mom stroke my hair but it was also the connection we had for a little while. It's hard to describe. Maybe B. Cooper missed it when his dad did that when he was younger so when he did again it made him want to cry. I'm not sure. I can sort of relate but I didn't understand why it made him arch his back or want to wimper..
great response.
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