The Jade Owl Book KLUB: Read with the Author - Chapters 1 - 8

[F1Wild]

I can't read much of this thread. I am reading The Jade Owl right now, and am only up to Chap. 3. I'll check back later.

I know - me too.  Anyway we can do the questions, etc. at a little slower pace or maybe not have quite so many right up front?  That way we could have a bit of discussion instead of feelng like some of us are way behind?

I am new to the book klub thing on this forum and so maybe I am way out of line.  Sorry, if so!

[Edward C. Patterson]

I'm new to i also, so perhaps we'll have a few more discussion questions and smaller chunks in the next thread or here. Suggestions for discussion questions?

Ed P

[F1Wild]

I'm new to i also, so perhaps we'll have a few more discussion questions and smaller chunks in the next thread or here. Suggestions for discussion questions?

Ed P

Thanks so much for the possibility.  I just don't want to read so much about what I haven't read yet...which reminds me...(note to self) get off the computer and into the book!!!

[Betsy the Quilter]

Folks,

the important thing, of course, is to READ the book. 

Also, (pardon me, Ed, feel free to argue, it's your book klub), don't feel you have to answer EVERY question online, although you should certainly consider them.  Look for questions that you don't feel have been fully discussed already or that you have a different take on.   And post new thoughts in earlier sections as they occur to you.

And, because it IS your book klub, Ed and Readers, if you want to take longer than a week to do a section, you can certainly do that!

Finally, based on my experience in other areas, if you get behind in answering the questions but are caught up on the reading, work on the CURRENT set of questions and deal with earlier chapters when you have time or not at all.

Betsy

[Edward C. Patterson]

Good advice. It tried to ask questions that are "asides" to the main story, with the hope that readers will want to discuss the meat and potatoes. I mean, the fact that the Museum is modelled on the DeYoung is something that one can live and long and happy life without knowning.  But I feel, since you are reading with the author, I'd give you all a window into my (demented he he he) mind. 

Ed P

[AppleHeart]

I'm new to i also, so perhaps we'll have a few more discussion questions and smaller chunks in the next thread or here. Suggestions for discussion questions?

Ed P

In Chapter I, I sensed that there were more to the feeling of dislike, perhaps professional envy, between the curator JJG and the late JB, at least, it seems to me it was more on the curator's side (since JB is now dead). Is it because he resented that Rowden is more JB's protege than his?
I also would like to know more about why you are paying homage to Maupin's "Tales of the City" which I think I read a long time ago, maybe I'll need to re-read to figure out your obvious-to-you-but-not-to-me reasons for the homage? I love that I can discuss things like this with you without rancor and since I'm inherently curious, I hope you won't mind my seeking answers to things I'm ignorant of.
Lastly, at the JBMH, when he was looking (admiring? worshipping? trying to figure out as if putting the pieces together?) at the Empress Wu's The Joy of Finches jewelry box, I got the feeling that the indentation at the top of the box have obvious significance. This is one clue I'm holding onto until I know for sure if it is significant or not. Or is this only one of several red herrings you say you'll throw at us? I like challenges like this as it makes me pay attention to what I'm reading cuz I read very fast so in this instance, I may need to slow-read so as not to miss important clues! Also the mirage I believe is one red herring, since he smelled lavender, Nick must have been near or in his peripheral vision, no, not peripheral as I seem to recall it (image) was in his central vision so either Nick moved fast out of his line of vision or maybe it was JB's ghostly presence. I'm guessing since Nick is JB's son that it could be JB's ghostly presence? A sort of precursor, an omen?

In Chapter II, I could 'feel' the desolation, the me-against-the-world desperation, Rowden was experiencing while at the bar. His fleeting thought of suicide, were it possible, I'd say "No, don't do it. There are other things you can do." and what a relief to have Nick come in and say what I so badly wanted to say! And because I've exprienced first hand the cable car's switching gears or direction and heard the musical (at least to me) clang clanging, it made me feel like I was right there with them. Thank you for the visual. (If I haven't said it yet, you are a very good writer/story teller and I'm now your newest fan!)
Another interesting character introduced - the antique shop and restaurant owner - there is more to this character, I think, unless it is another of your herrings, but I think not. He appears nice but there is something that makes me suspicious although I can't say what yet. Maybe it's because he spoke to Nick about something out of the professor's hearing? That makes me wonder...

Yet, another mention of the Jade Owl. I am beginning to think there is more to this. Nick knows something, definitely.

In chapter III, other than the food which you said was a mere distraction (BUT, what a wonderful distraction!), I suspected that there was something going on between the homeless Han and Nick, once again because of the secrecy - why go back to talk to Han when he could have said what he wanted to say in Rowden's hearing? Another red herring? Likely not. Another clue! Yep, that's it.

The Painted Lady and Miss Chatty and Simone - I love your description of them. I have never been to one so this may be the closest I can get to a real gay establishment. No offense meant! (Years ago, I was taken to a Chinese restaurant in NY by friends who wanted to shock me and where all the waiters were dressed in drag and if I recall correctly, close by was a place where people can watch people being chained and whipped on stage and get to participate too. I don't remember where it is or if it's still there but it sure was something I didn't want to experience again! My prudishness is showing, no? Anyway, nothing to do with the book so author and moderators can delete this if it is offensive to some people.)

What you wrote about there being no restaurants in China, that certainly was true in 1967, when I and an older male cousin brought Grandfather home to Peking (now Beijing) because he wanted to die in his homeland. It was scary and fun at the same time, especially when the red soldiers boarded the train for inspection and confiscated Ang-Kong's gold bars which he had carried in a belt around his waist. They took everything but luckily, didn't check my sad-looking made-of-flour-sack bag where I had hidden my late Grandmother's jewelry and it was what we used to rent a hut for him and for the husband and wife we hired to care for him until his death. The family would send money every month for 5 more years. Sorry, I digress.

I don't want to monopolize so I think I'll stop right here and rejoin when the others are ready to discuss. I'll read the rest of the chapters for this week tonight and will wait to post on them...

One thing I'd like to mention - you sound just like my theology professor, the late Rev. Fr. Alfred Ort, SMJ from New Jersey, who asked questions similarly, when I was taking the Pre-Nursing course at Xavier University, Ateneo de Zamboanga, Philippines in 1968. He'd pick one student for the whole hour of class and throw questions after questions at her/him once the original question had been answered... He was tough but his classes were always full, no empty seats. Maybe because he encouraged us to think and think further - in, and outside, the box! We all loved him.    

'Nuff said.

Edith

[Edward C. Patterson]

Edith:

You are on the right track. And thank you for the compliment. I love San Francisco - it's in my blood, although I was born and raised in Brooklyn, like Rowden Gray (and am a Sinologist, like Rowden Gray). The Maupin homage is to a "gay" author and I'm a "gay" author, although neither here nor there. I love cable cars so I thought I'd take up the challenge of writing a scene entirely "on the move," which is a challenge. Glad it works. You ate in Lucky Chang's in NYC - that place is a hoot. As for red herrings - keep tracking them. And you comments on your trip to China - I think you will feel right at home when the story eventually moves there.

Ed P

[Ann in Arlington]

Chapter Two: The Powell Street Line

1 – Please identify the author quoted by Rowden Gray in his drunkeness – “I’ve never cared for this life as a thing worthwhile.”
2 – Can anyone identify the neighborhood that Rowden has his serenity moment on the cable car overlooking San Francisco bay? What significance could it have?
3 – A K’ang-xi vase is discussed in Han Ch’i-wang’s Antiques. What is K’ang-xi in Chinese history?

1.  no idea
2.  no idea
3.  no idea

Geez, Ed, I thought this was supposed to be fun!  I feel like I'm taking a final exam and missed all the classes! 

[Edward C. Patterson]

1.  no idea
2.  no idea
3.  no idea

Geez, Ed, I thought this was supposed to be fun!  I feel like I'm taking a final exam and missed all the classes! 

1 - Thoms Hardy (Remember him from the Literary Triva challenge he he)
2 - Armisted Maupin's Tales of the City - Barbury Lane
3 - K'ang-xi is a 60 year reign period during the Ch'ing (Qing) or Manuchu Dynasty.

Esoteric information for your non-reading enjoyment.  None o this stuff is in the book, but in the author's mind. (A window, and you can throw me out of it)

Ed P

[geoffthomas]

Am posting here as a place marker to note that I have read this thread - fun, Ed.
And am now reading chapter 8.

Just sayin.....

[Edward C. Patterson]

 

Ed P

[Edward C. Patterson]

I posted this on another thread, which asked for a fun fact about author's books, and I think it is appropriate (and fun) to re-post it here and in the Read with the Author Book Klub, also:

Although I have been writing fo fifty years, my first professional book, The Jade Owl, was started by accident. I had just lost my job of 38 years and I considered writing something for publication (which, up until that point, was a private endevor), and while thrashing around for a subject, I came across a call for a submission for serial novels on-line. While pondering ideas in my kitchen, I espied a small little blue (not green) glass owl, which was always in my grandmother's jardiniere on her front porch. It was my table and waiting for storage. It was accidentally in with the Christmas ornaments and was set aside as "being in the wrong place." Actually, as it turned out, it was in the "right place," and thus I began a novel about a professional, "out-of-work" and beginning an unlikely journey involving a small "green" owl figurine . . . and I submitted this to that online house, and they were interested and I continued, and they sent me a contract. By June 2002 it appeared (in a greatly altered form from today's polished novel) on line at anotherchapter.com in serial form, a chapter a week. By September, the on-line company bellied up and I was stuck with . . . a great treasure. A completed manuscript, a terrorist editor, many friends in the business and a hunger to complete my over 20 incomplete works and get them published. Now I have 13 of those works published (14 is in the works), and I have matured as an author and I am learning more every day. I have just gone over the 2,000 sales mark across all titles, and have garnered 121 4- and 5-star reviews. I know a vast number of authors and professionals and I am thankful to God, who is my agent, for every new reader who picks up one of my books. I have also learned that authoring has less to do with money, fame and glory. It has to do with something even more intangible - a love for words, the spark of creation and the mantle of self-worth. How many times can an aging Old queen leave his seed behind to continue the magic when the end of the path is reached. Yes, a little blue glass owl from my grandmother's jardiniere misplaced and coming into sight at a fortuitous time. How's that for a fun fact.

Edward C. Patterson