[Reading Group] September 2014: Among Others

[Ophiucha]

The book for September is Jo Walton's Among Others! Here's a short summary from Amazon.com:

Welsh teen Morwenna was badly hurt, and her twin sister killed, when the two foiled their abusive mother's spell work. Seeking refuge with a father she barely knows in England, Mori is shunted off to a grim boarding school. Mori works a spell to find kindred souls and soon meets a welcoming group of science fiction readers, but she can feel her mother looking for her, and this time Mori won't be able to escape.​

This novel doesn't have chapters, exactly, so we'll be splitting the novel up by the dates of her diary entries.

Week One: 1st May, 1975 - 2nd November, 1979
Week Two: 3rd November, 1979 - 18th December, 1979
Week Three: 19th December, 1979 - 23rd January, 1980
Week Four: 24th January, 1980 - 20th February, 1980

I'll post some discussion questions towards the end of each week. This is a fairly recent book (2011) and a popular one, so it should be easy to find at your local bookstore or library, and is available for Kindle and on Audible.

 

[Steerpike]

Isn't Mori Latin for death, or something close to it?

 

[Ophiucha]

A verb, I think, but yes. Like in memento mori. Not sure if it's related, though - Mori is found in many languages. Japanese is 'forest', Italian is 'black' (like Moor).

 

[Mythopoet]

Looks like I can get this one from the library. Count me in.

 

[Ophiucha]

Some questions for anyone who has started reading (or has read it before),

1. In terms of the style, format, and perspective - how do you find reading the novel so far?
2. What do you think of Mori? Is she a character you like to read about?
3. What do you think of the magical elements of the story so far?

 

[Steerpike]

I'm behind this month due to work and other obligations, so I'm not very far in even though the month is almost over.

1. So far, I like the author's style and voice. I get tired sometimes of reading generic novels (in terms of author style and voice, even when plot elements or characters are unique) that may have been written by anyone or by committee. Walton has a nice style, and I find that her descriptive style separates her book from a lot of "generic" work out there.
2. So far I like Mori. I'm not very far in yet, but I feel like she is a character I'm going to have a connection with.
3. I haven't encountered enough of the magic to know what I think about it.

I did flip to the last page when I bought the book and saw a reference to C.J. Cherryh's Gate of Ivrel, and that was a pleasant, and positive, surprise. Not many people I know are aware of those early works of Cherryh.

 

[Steerpike]

This was a great book. Just wanted to throw that out there, as there was never any real discussion of it. Very nice pick.

 

[Steerpike]

I don't know who else read this one, but I thought it ended up being a great pick.

 

[Philip Overby]

Yeah, I wanted to read this one, but I just started back work for the semester and was pretty busy.

 

[Steerpike]

Between work and trying to do Nano, this month has been a bust for me, but I've read Perdido Street Station before. I liked it, but it's not a fast read.