On 11/23/2010 3:02 PM, Steven Harris wrote:
On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 12:41 PM, Michele Riccio<mishka_30@yahoo.com> wrote:
----- Original Message ----
From: Steven Harris<harrissg@slu.edu> To: Glen Cook: Science Fiction/Fantasy Author <glencook-fans@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tue, November 23, 2010 3:17:10 AM Subject: Re: [Glencook-fans] SPOILERS Gilded Latten Bones
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On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 10:23 PM, Morley Dotes<morleydotes@yahoo.com> wrote:
Steve/Stacey said: "I was very surprised Tinnie was so unceremoniously dumped. Worse, she was dumped after she made a valiant effort at redefining herself to be a better person and a better girlfriend. I found Garrett's defection from her despicable--for reasons of sex, it would seem. He's never been quite that shallow before: Yes, he'll go with a girl for reasons of sex, but he's never before hurt anyone so callously for that reason."
Sorry, Steve/Stacey, don't see it that way at all. She wanted to rebuild him from the ground up.
No, Pat, I can't agree with that at all. There's no evidence of that in this book. She wanted to be with him. Period.
I've know folks like that and you run screaming into the night. She made him give up almost everything that made him Garrett. His friends, his house, his work.
No evidence of that, either. He decided to live with Tinnie, apart from the Dead Man. it wasn't her doing. He decided it was easier to be a security officer for the Tates than a private dick.
Away from the book...but I seem to recall Garrett mentioning a couple of times that he had not seen his friends because Tinnie didn't want him to. That isn't a good sign. I could see her not wanting him to hang around with past flings (Belinda and possibly Winger) but why would she not want him to see Playmate?
Possibly, though I don't recall that from the previous book.
But if so, then it ought to have been mentioned in this book, as giving reason for what's going on. Leaving it out is definite flaw, in my opinion.
Steve/Stacey
I feel like I read a different book. It's very clear (though not directly stated) in the beginning that Tinnie made Garrett give up EVERYTHING except his brewery and Combine duties. Ch 1 indicates he's not even been out of the complex "in a rat's age," and the unstated "promise" Tinnie mentions in Ch 2 means he can't do his regular work, go home, see his friends, visit the Dead Man, or anything else. The "normal life" she says she wanted in Ch 5 doesn't include any of the people Garrett used to run with, and you'll notice that Tinnie herself doesn't seem to have a lot of friends coming over (no doubt related to her meltdown that took her out of the performing world and into Garrett-keeping full-time). Tinnie has no life outside Garrett and her accounting work. And she's made sure Garrett has no life outside of her, either. He doesn't know Playmate is ill (and has been for a long time--his comment in Ch 72 suggests 1.5 years since the previous book, so over a year), has no idea what's up with Morley, doesn't know Melondie Kadare died, and has been gone from home long enough that Singe is running things. Evidently, Tinnie won't even allow Garrett to receive messages, or surely he'd know about Kadare. This isn't garden-variety jealousy. Note also that Tinnie recognizes the relationship isn't healthy for her, either, but the Dead Man diagnoses that it would take some major mental rearranging to straighten out the problem. Getting her back into the theater is Garrett's attempt to straighten out her life, as is breaking up with her. I'll note in passing that they aren't married and Garrett has always had sex with other women. Is the problem that this isn't idle sex but a real relationship? Why precisely do we believe Garrett owes Tinnie anything? GLB suggests to us that her wonderfulness as presented in the previous books may be a matter of Garrett's perception, not reality. Watch Garrett's place fill will all his friends and allies. Then think about the alternative--Garrett and Tinnie alone in their place. Is their relationship worth all the rest? If so, why? Note that none of this means we shouldn't be uneasy about Garrett's new girlfriend, who seems too good to be true. David
He may have gone along with her edicts, which makes him as much to blame for the deterioration of the relationship, but I'm pretty sure it was her idea to separate him from his friends, and his career. At least, that is how I read it.
Michele