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"The Lost Boy" by Thomas Wolfe

War

The war obviously had a great impact on Tom's mental and physical health ... I can't decide to what extent it affected his faith or belief in God.

J.G. Keach

Monster! A monster in cloth!

Right ...?

Tom and Alice

(KC, I'll try not to call her Miranda, the new name I gave her post-Tom's "Botticelli" reference.)

At times Tom called Alice the love of his life, but he suggested that he never thought of her as more than a beautiful woman to observe until Moon inquired how they were getting on. Did you have any trouble visualizing or understanding this relationship?

Settings and characters

Something that struck me about the story is how much detail the author gives on the setting and features, especially the countryside, but also the church and the belfry, the mural, of course, but less-vivid descriptions were given for the characters. (I think more pages were given to the description of Birkin's roommate, the magnificent stove, then of Alice.) Would you agree with that? Do you suppose that was the author's stronger side or a deliberate effect for the character Tom?

The mural

I found myself as excited as Tom about the eventual uncovering of the mural, learning about the types of materials used, and which subjects merited the most expensive stuff, and the artist's techniques and who he deemed worthy of his best work (the sinners) and not so much the others (the saved). What an interesting piece of history!

Food

I was interested on the emphasis of food in this novel. Tom Birkin went into a lot of social situations where the company was sweetened by the promise of any or all food -- the morning tea with Moon, Sunday meals with the Ellerbecks, then feeling obliged to preach for Mr. Ellerbeck as a thank-you for all that hospitality. I can't imagine what it would be like to eat so little (bread, vegetables, occasional meat) and not know for sure where your next meal is coming from.

For starters ...

"A Month in the Country": Idyllic but a little earthier than I expected? What were your initial impressions?

Next discussion

Hi, guys. I realized the first week of May is slipping away ... how about I start posting questions for "Month in the Country" on May 10?