MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - MobileRead Book Club December 2017 Discussion: Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll (spoilers)

latepaul · 12-20-2017, 06:25 AM

I have to confess I struggled with this. I only read Sylvie and Bruno not Sylvie and Bruno Concluded despite initially planning to read both.

I would have given up if not for this book club. I actually preferred the second half of the book, not sure if this is because the style settled down or because I got used to it. You are sort of dropped straight into it with little explanation - which in some ways I like, but it was a bit confusing. It took me a while to realise who and what Sylvie and Bruno were, I just thought they were ordinary children.

I really really disliked the "baby" language Bruno had.

I liked some of the humour but I didn't ever laugh out loud.

I guess I preferred the "real world" sequences* more, but not because I was biased against Fairyland per se but because the former had more connected story (the on-going Arthur-Lady Muriel-Captain Lindon triangle) whereas the Fairyland sequences tended to be little vignettes.

I liked some of the poems. Although the one where the guy has to "pay back" money that they other guy never actually gets around to giving him, it just annoyed me. I "got" that it was a joke but I just felt bad for the other guy.

I liked it more than I'm making it sound. I gave it 6/10 in the spreadsheet that I keep.

12-20-2017, 06:25 AM	#4
latepaul Wizard Posts: 1,264 Karma: 10203040 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: a variety (mostly kindles and kobos)	I have to confess I struggled with this. I only read Sylvie and Bruno not Sylvie and Bruno Concluded despite initially planning to read both. I would have given up if not for this book club. I actually preferred the second half of the book, not sure if this is because the style settled down or because I got used to it. You are sort of dropped straight into it with little explanation - which in some ways I like, but it was a bit confusing. It took me a while to realise who and what Sylvie and Bruno were, I just thought they were ordinary children. I really really disliked the "baby" language Bruno had. I liked some of the humour but I didn't ever laugh out loud. I guess I preferred the "real world" sequences* more, but not because I was biased against Fairyland per se but because the former had more connected story (the on-going Arthur-Lady Muriel-Captain Lindon triangle) whereas the Fairyland sequences tended to be little vignettes. I liked some of the poems. Although the one where the guy has to "pay back" money that they other guy never actually gets around to giving him, it just annoyed me. I "got" that it was a joke but I just felt bad for the other guy. I liked it more than I'm making it sound. I gave it 6/10 in the spreadsheet that I keep.