Comments on: Not Bread Alone: Chapter 9

By: lindberg

lindberg — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:27:11 +0000

Yes, real life is messy. That’s one of the things I liked about this story — everybody was fairly nuanced (except maybe the shrewish mother-in-law). The characters all had problems and flaws, but virtues too. People improved and developed over the course of the story, but things didn’t turn out perfectly. Decisions had consequences that were sometimes difficult to live with. It felt a lot more real than these stories sometimes do.

(But I still think Henry’s obstinate thickheadedness in this episode was a bit over the top for my taste.)

By: Julia

Julia — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 11:11:41 +0000

It would have been nice if Henry had been a little less of an idiot. At least enough not to turn her suicidal.

By: Not done with my life

Not done with my life — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 06:20:04 +0000

Isn’t that the way life is though, unresolved until we die, and not really then? I have a friend, who I was in love with for years I grade school and high school. I married someone else because we were always only friends. He came back from his mission shocked that I hadn’t waited for him.

After I was divorced (it had nothing to do with him) he came and visited his parents. We went out on a date and he told me he was gay, but that I was the only woman he had ever liked enough to get married to. Did I want to try it out? No, I didn’t think I could be married to a second man who wasn’t sexually interested in me, even though I know he wouldn’t have been as cruel as my first husband. Did I love him? Yes, in the same way I did in grade school, as a very “cute boy” and wonderful friend.

We are still friends. My husband knows all of our history, and doesn’t mind when he comes for a weekend to cry on my shoulder. Will our story as friends ever be finished? Probably not. If I was 90, a widow and just wanted a companion, might I marry him then if he wanted to? I have no idea. Too much life still to live.

By: lindberg

lindberg — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 21:28:41 +0000

Yeah, Henry’s an idiot.

I’m not as harsh with Linda, because that seems like the sort of dumb thing I’d do…

Interesting the way the story just kind of ends there, with her still sick in bed, plenty of things unresolved with the kids etc.

By: kevinf

kevinf — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 19:59:17 +0000

First reaction: Henry’s an idiot.
Second reaction: Henry’s still an idiot, but then so is Linda for not telling him sooner. How could she not think that keeping the whole tension between her and Mel a secret from Henry would only look bad in the long run? Silly girl, married to a silly boy. Oh well, I guess it all turned out okay in the end, except possibly for Mel, for Effie and the letter that the folks in Cedar Basin sewed on her, and her son Dicky who died from complications of Effie’s “indiscretion.”

I’m just glad that they came up with that vaccine that cured women from their inclination to suffer the “vapors” at moments of great stress. I know that to be true, because I have only read about it in old books and stories, and seen it in old movies, but never in person.

The story did have a message at the end, but we sure took some strange turns to get there.