A Dance to the Music of Time GR 2013 - March: The Acceptance World

Our discussion thread for the March volume of A Dance to the Music of Time: The Acceptance World



Main thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/147074

Welcome to March and The Acceptance World!

I haven't started the new book yet, but I'm planning to read the first pages today. Hoping to see Widmerpool and Templer again and to finally learn something about Nick's work.

One note before I start reading, I read the first 2 volumes on Kindle, but read a couple of reviews of The Acceptance World Kindle edition, which said that the errors were so bad that it got in the way of the flow of the language, which will obvious be a big distraction for these works!

For that reason I've ordered a paper back copy. Just thought others might want to be aware of this also.

We all seem to be leaving this one until the second half of the month. That's true, isn't it?

Still haven't got back to finishing the one from last month yet...

I'm almost done with this one and very much enjoying it, perhaps even slightly more than the other 2. Although I think that might be down to the fact that with each new volume the characters and story get richer when viewed as a whole.

It's interesting that Nick's character is starting to become clearer, but naturally only indirectly through the comments of other characters, notably Jean Templer.

I read the first chapter early and then took a break for RL things and to finish The Garden of the Finzi-Continis first which is written in a similar style with long sentences. I coldn't cope with both books parallely.

Small spoilers ahead for chapter 2:
Last night I picked up The Acceptance World again and am now on page 50. Nice to see Templer again! The time jumps are interesting, Nick must now be in his very late 20s. He refers to the incident with Templer's car (end of book one when he had just started college) as something that happened almost 10 years ago. Since the end of book 2 Jean had a daughter who is already 3 years old.
In the meantime Nick got a book published and I fear he'll tell us nothing about it.
In this chapter Nick makes some interesting remarks about the difficulties in developing literary characters and how he might be perceived should someone 'write him'.
I am also wondering if the title just refers to Widmerpool's new job or will have some deeper meaning.

I've been traveling and the big omnibus edition was not even considered for packing :-) I plan to start next week, I think.

I have not started yet either but I hope to soon.

Me neither - I needed a break after the last one and also to read my other March committment, Barbara Pym's Jane and Prudence - will start this one soon!

Finished it, loved it! Book 3 was the one where I finally gave up on the audio last year, I just couldn't follow the narrator anymore.

Now in paper I really enjoyed it. The first chapter was a bit of a stand-alone story, chapters 2-4 are set about a year later. Chapter 5 was hilarious, almost slap-stick, although I felt sorry for poor Stringham. Widmerpool is such a fantastic character and I am looking forward to see what will become of him in the next books.

I imagine Jean to look like a younger Cate Blanchett. I wondered why she didn't proceed with her divorce, with everyone else seperating and getting remarried constantly. The difference must be that she has a child, I guess this makes the negotiations much more complicated and also explains why she so insisted on discretion.

I think this novella is where everything has come together. I loved it too and not only has the character of Nick been fleshed out but I loved this bit about Widmerpool:SPOILER ALERT!!

Nick says to himself, "I was thinking of other matters: chiefly of how strange a thing it was that I myself should have been engaged in a physical conflict designed to restrict Stringham's movements: a conflict in which the moving spirit had been Widmerpool. That suggested a whole social upheaval: a positively cosmic change in life's system. Widmerpool, once so derided by all of us, had become in some mysterious manner a person of authority. Now, in a sense, it was he who derided us; or at least his disapproval had become something far more powerful than merely a defensive weapon it had once seemed."

A definite turning point in the narrative and it will be very, very hard not to forge ahead and read the next book.

I'm about halfway through so avoided Bonnie's well-marked spoiler! I am definitely finding this novel to move faster than the first two. I think I've found my rhythm...

I've read only the first chapter and I find myself chafing to get back to Widmerpool - a very different experience from the first couple of times I read it when I had eyes only for Stringham.

I finished The Acceptance World last night and really enjoyed it. The last half moved much more quickly than any of the rest of the "First Movement". Like Bonnie, I am eager to start the next one!

I am about halfway through The Acceptance World. So far it's my favorite of the three it might be because of the familiarity with the characters, writing style, etc. I hope to finish it tonight or tomorrow and will return with my final thoughts.

This is really a non-point, but I'm curious. For some reason I'm assuming that Bijou Ardglass and Baby Wentworth are a good ten years older than Nick and his crowd. Is that accurate? Wonder where I got that idea.

I finished The Acceptance World and quite liked it. Was anyone else surprised by the nude scene? So far Powell has only hinted at sex so this seemed a bit out of character, though I was glad to see that Nick has a playful side. His friends certainly aren't faring very well in their love lives!

Here I am a bit more than half through *AW* and completely sucked into this world again. I was just saying to Lucy that I expect random people I meet to be eager to know about and gossip about these characters. It's a wrench to my mental system when they don't. So I'm delighted to come here!!
Donna, I'm laughing at your reaction to the nude scene. It is so very, very, very understated that one could easily gloss over it. In fact, that's where I just put the book down to come here to natter a bit.
On this reading I'm paying a lot more attention to Nick's throwaway comments illustrating how he understands the world. They are something else that I glossed over when I read the series before. Sometimes I think, "Wow! That's a real insight!" Other times it's, "Is that truly how things are?", and equally often it's, "Oh, come off it!" Here are some examples:
"There is, after all, no pleasure like that given by a woman who really wants to see you." I hope that's true.
"I reflected, not for the first time, how mistaken it is to suppose there exists some 'ordinary' world into which it is possible at will to wander. All human beings, driven as they are at different speeds by the same Furies, are at close range equally extraordinary." I like that too.
"There is always an element of unreality, perhaps even of slight absurdity, about someone you love." Really?
"A woman's power of imitation and adaptation make her capable of confronting you with your own arguments after even the briefest acquaintance: how much more so if a state of intimacy exists." Oh, come off it!

Possible spoilers ahead:
To quote Peggy: Donna, I'm laughing at your reaction to the nude scene. It is so very, very, very understated that one could easily gloss over it.
I fear I DID gloss over it... or my memory is so bad that I should start taking those ginseng thingies. Who was nude and when? Or was it when Jean opened the door? I don't know why, but that somehow didn't surprise me. More learning about that other character she admitted to know more intimately and Nick's reaction: she's married to that loser, had an affair with that other loser, so how can she now have an affair with me (who is so much greater)?

About brenzi's spoiler scene in #12 from chapter 5: that's where I really had to laugh because it was just so funny to picture it: Widmerpool being all pragmatic, probably sweating with all the physical effort and Nick taking a step back, looking skywards (okay, towards the ceiling) and at length considering 'the positively cosmic change in life's system'.
Widmerpool and Nick are so great together!

Yep, that's the place, and YAY, Nathalie! I'm so glad that you're a convert. Now if we can just get Genny whole-hearted about the series, I'll be happy. I just finished and was much happier in book 3 than in book 2. I did pick up one error both on my Kindle and in my pb....near the end Sir Gavin Walpole-Wilson is referred to as Eleanor's brother when he is actually her father. I'm curious to know whether other editions of the book are correct.
And, by the by, Jonny, I had no trouble with the Kindle edition of book 3 at all. I don't know whether I'm less discriminating than the people who wrote those review or whether they revised before I down-loaded my copy. Anyway, I'm itching to move on to *Lady Molly*!

Finished it and I love this one best so far - yes, the nudity was quite surprising but I'm used to Nick being a somewhat restrained narrator but Powell needs close and careful reading to pick up all the nuances. The nude thing I think was to tell you all you need to know about their intimacy and the intensity of their relationship.

My review is now up here:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/recent-reads-the-accept...