Mary Swann

[dotinthesky]

Although these questions are for K., feel free to answer them too if you have also read Carol Shields' Mary Swann:

1. Of the four main characters, which one was your favourite? Which one was your least favourite? Which one would you enjoy hanging out with?

2. Of the fragments we read from Mary Swann's poetry, together with the final poem, what do you make of her as a poet? (perhaps you can imagine here that you were also attending the symposium.)

3. What do you think of Mary Swann the person, and of her murder?

4. Sarah Maloney says at one point that women carry all their lives the "full freight of their mother's words." Can this be applied to Frances Swann?

5. Rose says, with relation to the Swann museum exhibition, that "the charm of falsehood is not that it distorts reality, but that it creates reality afresh." How do you think this statement fits in with the characters, Mary Swann's poetry, the book itself?

Comments

[rag-and-bone.livejournal.com]

1. Of the four main characters, which one was your favourite? Which one was your least favourite? Which one would you enjoy hanging out with?

My favorite character was by far Cruzzi. his entire section made me want to weep--reading that section, i suddenly understood what all the hype about carol shields is. he was completely human: flawed, intelligent, passionate (in emotional and violent ways) and introspective. i loved him. i do love him. i underlined something on every page of his section.

my least favorite was morton jimroy. i found him creepy and i felt that his character was just... detestable. pompous, hurtful, cruel, lecherous, obsessive.

as far as hanging out with someone: cruzzi, all the way. cruzzi + kate=BFF.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Yup, I agree with you on both accounts.