Comments | clunkhall: More Birdsong!

clunkhall

More Birdsong!

Jan 24, 2012 16:02

So, now that I'm thinking about it, I can't stop.

My last post was about the power of the front line scenes in Birdsong. But really, the point of the novel is about the two greatest extremes of what you can feel - fear and arousal.

Stephen and Isabelle's affair is of absolute importance. Now, here I bang on about sex scenes again, but truly for once ( Read more... )

birdsong, sebastian faulks, fiction

Comments 4

eolivet January 24 2012, 17:38:29 UTC

Impalement? Oh...MY. That's a seriously powerful image. :D

And a gorgeously told love scene...seriously, the emotions, the little bits of description...it paints such a picture.

It's passages like this that make me fail to understand why sex scenes get a bad rap. Because...SERIOUSLY, the sheer amount of feeling in these paragraphs with so few references to anything untoward (just allowing the reader's imagination to take hold...sigh :)

This makes me want to do a post on my favorite literature-based passages about sex and romance... ;p

clunkhall January 24 2012, 17:43:03 UTC

with so few references to anything untoward (just allowing the reader's imagination to take hold...sigh :)

And here, I have to admit that this passage is heavily edited with, um, all the detail left out.. There's a lot of detail.. Not much imagination needed... :P I mean, not in a bad way. In a superb way, actually. It's wonderfully written. But I just so, so appreciated these character insights between it all - I just find it so powerful, the idea of liberation and discovery and re-discovery even though it's terrifying and should be wrong, and... yeah. It's powerful stuff.

Which is my issue with the adaptation, because all that implied was... a steamy sex scene. You got NONE of this. The book is SO MUCH BETTER!! *stamps foot*

:D :D

This makes me want to do a post on my favorite literature-based passages about sex and romance... ;p

Oh, you should!! You should!!

epea_pteroenta January 25 2012, 01:57:09 UTC

You know this (at least what you've copied here) is exactly the kind of literary sex scene that I just haven't been reading! So much as I'm not a fan of war stories, you are making me quite curious to read this. I really like there is a point to what she is feeling. No, I don't mean a point. I mean that everything that she is feeling is related to her. It's not just any old person doing these things - it's Madame Azaire and this is why she's doing these particular things. Does that make any sense ( ... )

clunkhall January 25 2012, 10:35:18 UTC

I really like there is a point to what she is feeling. No, I don't mean a point. I mean that everything that she is feeling is related to her. It's not just any old person doing these things - it's Madame Azaire and this is why she's doing these particular things. Does that make any sense?

It makes PERFECT sense. And is precisely what I love about Birdsong, and precisely why I'm feeling the adaptation can't do it justice. How can that possibly be conveyed in a look, or action, or dialogue? And yet it's so fundamental as an understanding of her character.

I really think you'd like it for a juicy protagonist to get your teeth into. I'd actually love to know your thoughts on it. Stephen isn't a 'hero', he isn't particularly likeable, he doesn't make a lot of sense - but he's so, so human. And this book is so incredibly deep at exploring character. Everything has a point, everything is shaped by understanding, everything fits if you think about it a little - it's wonderful ( ... )