Book Discussion: The History of Now (spoilers possible)

I don't know how many people are planning to read this, I'll probably do a quick reread this weekend, just to remind myself of all the awesome stuff I wanted to talk about. In the meantime, we can discuss here as we read.

Ack!! I'm behind! My lovely copy from you is next to my bed! I've nearly started it. Will catch up here soon as I do!

I'm about a third of the way through. I like several of the characters and am enjoying reading about them but I don't know where the narrative is going ultimately. I keep wondering if the glimpses we get of random people will all come together later or if they stay separate stories.

But don't tell me! The journey is the fun part! ;)

Hooray! Looking forward to people being ready to talk!

I noticed today that History of Now now touchstones. That's exciting because I was about to sheepishly ask who the author was so I could look for it.

Finally! I've been trying to touchstone the book for ages!

I really liked Franny's little rant about cards. I must say I agree with her.

KIK! Took me a minute to remember it. I like the snarky, sarcastic ones though.

I agree with Franny about cards, too.

SPOILER WARNING

Did anyone else love the name 'Write Now'? I know cards are something they sell there but every time I read the name of the store I read it as 'Right Now.' It couldn't have anything to do with it being 'right now' instead of the history of now. ;)

END spoiler warning

#9 That's an excellent point. I actually didn't think about that when I was reading it. I'm not a big symbolism person, I'm much better with allusions, metaphor, etc.

There are some pretty funny sarcastic cards, Bib, that's true. But I still don't really like cards.

K, I loved the store name too. I hadn't thought of it as being "right now" but that is an excellent point!

**I have finished the book and the following post assumes you have too. Beware of spoilers.**

So I love Hector. Had I been in Lila's position, I am sure I'd have fallen for him completely too.

I also really liked the back story of the runaway slave who became the current deVries' ancestor. Maybe it's just because I run and liked reading about the girl's running everywhere, but whatever, I liked her.

When I got to the part just before the cops show up to do their drug raid and Flip grabs Lila, I had been about to put the book down for a minute, but then there was the hand over the mouth, a harsh "be good" and so much for whatever I was supposed to be doing. I was so surprised by the sudden unhappiness just when the story was looking up.

I really liked the way the book made the point of enjoying now. That really is the best option. If you're not happy now, when will you ever be?

I know I have more to add but I can't think what it was just at the moment. I'll be back.

Hooray! I'm so glad people are finishing!

I want to know if everyone else caught the allusion earlier in the book to the Columbian in the U.S. Army who a few years later is killed in Afghanistan while taking cover behind a rock. Remembering that when Hector was sent to the army had me in absolute tears.

I've always been a fan of books and movies that have a slow, realistic build to events before exploding in extraordinary circumstances. That's how life is. My life was normal and ho-hum and I wasn't happy but I was living when my ex attacked me. Everyday someone's normal becomes extraordinary and when I read a story like that it always hits me.

I loved the idea that "now" is infinite. That every actions has a reaction that has lead to this moment. I can trace me sitting here, writing this post through job changes, moves, pregnancies, divorces, etc., not all of them mine but all those regular events converged to put me where I am now. They are my now. I LOVE that!

Yes, yes, me too, but you say it better! I have always been amazed at the tiny things that have bigger consequences we can't even imagine at the time. I had never thought of all that combining to be infinitely now, but I love that idea and embrace it fully.

I didn't know about the Columbian killed in the US Army. I'm not so good with current events. Had I known, I probably would have been fighting tears reading about Hector being sent over.

I found that I didn't feel sorry for Franny at all. She seemed so selfish. Maybe there was more to it than I am remembering, but it seemed like she broke down over not getting things she wanted/expected.

When the police did the drug raid at Lila's work, my first assumption hadn't been that it was a drug raid per say, or that if it was, Flip was taking advantage of the situation. Because Flip was the dirty-minded guy who couldn't get a clue and seemed like a sort to be abusive, I had at first assumed as I read this part that Flip was trying to make an idiot of himself again.

Like lefty I didn't know about the Columbian in the US Army getting killed.

I disliked Franny's breaking down to the point that it went, and when she got out of that place I was surprised she wasn't at home with Laia. It felt like abandonment, even though she surely loved her daughter. She was lucky to have her father there to be there for Laia when she couldn't be.

It's not a current event, it's mentioned earlier in the book. I'm at work, so I don't have my copy right now, but I'll try to find it and post the reference to it when I get home. I'll email myself about it now.

ETA: I fully identified with Franny, but I have been in a place of severe depression in my life and can understand how the little things can snowball to that moment. I felt like she was working on coping and it also seemed as though Lila had no real inclination to have her mother around. I think it's sometimes easy to forget that mothers are human too, they have emotions and get ill. It may have been healthier for Lila not to be around her mother while she was still healing.

Also, I'm not sure if other know this, but some of the literature I've received from the publisher has mentioned that The History of Now is the first in the Granville Trilogy!

Okay, this is what I was referring to that made me sob at the ending:

There are close to half a million towns and villages in the world that are the size of Grandville, and surely it is an accident of the highest order to hapen to be living in one of these towns at one particular interval of history. It is as randoma conjunction of time and space as, say, the sudden bolt of lightning that split the cross atop the onion tower of St. Joseph's Parish Church in Triesenberg, Liechtenstein, in the summer of 1937; or the poppy seed that germinated from a four-hour-old pile of donkey dung early this morning on the Pondicherry Road in Krishnagiri, India. Or, say, the swaying palm tree that will fail to deflect a bullet's trajectory when it spirals toward the forehead of a young Hispanic recruit from Grandville, Massachusetts, the winter after next in Samarra, Iraq; or the rock that at this moment shields a child from a bullet in Puerto Alvira, Colombia.
page 52

It seems I mixed the last two examples into one, still, it's not a leap to imagine that the "Hispanic recruit from Grandville" is Hector. I guess we'll find out as the trilogy continues.

Well now I wonder what else I missed! Apparently it is deserving of a reread. Or wait for book two! (Knowing me, probably both reread and book two.) I definitely missed that one though, Bib. Thanks for pointing it out!

I suppose I can see Franny as a good character for some to relate to. I think I just have a hard time understanding severe depression since I've never had dealings with it, personally nor with anyone around me. So her story seems selfish to me, but is perhaps an accurate summation of someone with depression.

I did like Lila and was always hoping she'd snap out of teenager mode and make better choices. Teen years don't have to be miserable, but often people seem to like taking the misunderstood route rather than realizing the bigger picture of life. Even Harry is a bit guilty of that. ;)

#17 - Oh my gosh, that completely passed me by as well. Thank you for poointing it out. I'm sure it must be Hector, but if there are going to be two more, then I guess we'll find out. How heart breaking if it is.

I'm totally late to this thread, but I've now finisehd the book and bib reminded me to come back here!

I loved it.

SPOILERS

I found the character of Lila to be a very convincing portrait of a girl that age. It wasn't a patronising caricature, but a rounded appreciation of someone trying to discover where she fits in, what makes her happy, etc.

I can identify with Franny's breakdown in itself. When a "major depressive episode" hits, it can be in a very unexpected way, and yet you have no control over it. I'm not sure that I necessarily saw it coming though. I'm not saying for one second that she shouldn't have had one, but I didn't experience any signals, so when she started the fire, I saw it as an unmonitored overreaction and unreasonable act of revenge, rather than a breakdown as such. Does that make sense?

Oh gosh, and I've just realised that it was arson that tore down the building in the first instance which then gave birth to the Phoenix....and then Franny brought that full circle. I'm slow.

Overall, I too love the concept of the infinity of "Now", of constant cause and effect - the butterfly causing the tsunami. When we were first introduced to Hector's story I found it incongruos, and it distacted me from this small american town I was learning about. I did know that he would come to fit in somewhere, and as his chapters became more frequent the whole story gelled more, but at first I found it a bit clumsy.

Now I am lead to believe there will be more books to follow, I'm hoping to find out more about Stephanie. I think she deserves more of a platform and hasn't had enough opportunity to breathe yet.

I love Wendell. I wish him well.

edited for disgraceful typo, one month after the event...tsk!

So my only problem with the book is that I found myself forgetting things. I don't know if it's because I took too long to read it or if because of all the different stories my brain couldn't handle all of them.

Anyway, Cause and Effect is something I often think about. "I chose this route home which was a traffic jam, so I should have gone the other way, but if I had then whose to say I wouldn't have been in an accident or something" It's hard to say I should have done this...because you don't know what that outcome would have been.

I loved Franny and got annoyed with Lila. I never identified with Franny but I did connect her a bit to you, bib, and I think that is why I loved her. I hope we get more of her and Herb in the next books.
When she burned down the Phoenix I actual thought to myself "go ahead let it out!" Lila was just a whinny teenager, who thought she knew everything but forgot that adults are human, too. Which I agree is an accurate depiction of a lot of teenagers.

Wendall, I loved him too. He was so human and so enjoyable to read. I found myself looking forward to his bits. I liked the scene where he is meeting the professor, he sees how he is being judged but just says, "yea alright, I'm just gonna be me"

I'm still not sure about the love between Lila and Hector, I'm hoping in future books we'll dig a little deeper into that. I also did not remember that bit in the beginning but have now bookmarked it to point out to my book club tonight.

I think this is a definite re-read. A book that I'll get much more out of the second time around, and I love that about a book.

I guess that's it for now. ;)

I feel such sorrow for Micheal Dowd. Poor man just tries to help out and keep busy and keep his wife and children happy and it just seems to blow up in his face. I suppose in future books we'll get more of the relationship between Michael and Stephanie and her "obligation" to him that she feels.

There is so much more to expand on he really did an amazing job, there is plenty of material left for 2 more books.

Mandy, I did think the same thing when Franny lit the fire. For half a moment I actually thought it was a perfectly okay thing for her to do to get out her frustration. Then my senses caught up and I realized it was arson. Not such a healthy outlet after all.

Good point about Dowd. Poor guy couldn't do anything quite right and not for lack of effort.

Yea, not so healthy, but definitely in the heat of the moment seemed like a decent plan.