Author Topic: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?  (Read 7893 times)

charity

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So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« on: February 02, 2008, 08:59:02 PM »
He's changed it from 3 books to 4 books. I'm probably late on the band wagon here but I just read that and thought it was interesting.

skibocastle

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2008, 09:05:45 PM »
I hadn't heard that.  It did throw me that Amazon is selling the third one already, even though it doesn't come out until September.  What did you think of the movie version of Eragon?

charity

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2008, 09:28:36 PM »
I caught that when I was browsing amazon and then they had this little interview with him below it and I was half listening until he said that he had changed it to 4 books.

I'm semi-interested in this series, I thought the plot was rather thin, but I've been reading them none the less. I hated the movie, though, some of the acting was just painful.

White

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2008, 10:30:16 PM »
Well I guess it's better than trying to shortchange story further by squishing what would have to be the most action percentage of the story into one book. Though I don't know if I'll be able to take much more homo-erotic subtext with a straight face (and hey, that's almost a pun).

Seriously though; it's almost as funny as Heart of Darkness and the islet that rose out of the river like the curve of a naked man's back. (I mean, not *quite* though because with HoD you can apply liberal use of the phrase "[going] Gay in the Congo").


Sorry, have always found the whole "male authors accidentlly forgetting their characters 'like girls' " hilarious. 

On a nother note:
Thanks for posting this thread~! I never would have found out about this otherwise!


Ps, on this way at least he'll have a chance to have all 4 active dragons on the cover (the red, blue, black and other who I'm logically expecting to be green).
Clyde Bruckman: You know, there are worse ways to go, but I can't think of a more undignified way than auto-erotic asphyxiation.
Mulder: Why are you telling *me* that?
Clyde Bruckman: Look, forget I mentioned it. It's none of my business.

charity

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2008, 12:07:55 AM »
Quote
Though I don't know if I'll be able to take much more homo-erotic subtext with a straight face (and hey, that's almost a pun).

-k- I must really be missing something in the books cause I haven't a clue what you are referring to.

Pygmalion

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2008, 12:45:21 AM »
Yeah... me either...  ???

"Vision is the art of seeing the invisible" - Jonathan Swift

Bryant

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2008, 03:11:12 AM »
Admittedly, I wasn't exactly scholarly in my reading of Paolini's stuff, but I don't really remember anything remotely homo-erotic. In fact, I remember being left with the impression that the protagonist was almost unhealthy in his fixation with the elf girl, going so far as to badger multiple other elves about it.

charity

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2008, 03:55:45 AM »
yes that's more the impression I got too, that he had a childlike infatuation with a woman way to old for him. And when she tries to explain why it'll never work he casually shoves that aside, again in a very teenage manner and still pursues her. Very obnoxious, IMO.

White

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2008, 06:19:50 AM »
Oh, it's there I'm not just paranoid or whatever. Sift through book 2 and you'll pick it up.

Consider the looking at and description of Eragon's naked elf teacher - looking at it in terms of the proportion of time spent describing him rather intimately compared with the smaller amount of description and lesser degree of detail used in descibing the 'love interest' Who seems to represent much more of a courtly type of love which is representative more of an idealized worship than a physical attraction or real sort of relationship personality 'click'.

His dragon also wants to do his teachers dragon (not necessarilly as relevent but perhaps there's a hidden metaphor in there).

I mean, I read the book a while ago so I don't really remember things all that well, but if you're re-reading it just look out for it and you'll notice some little things along the way mainly in the second book.

Please, honestly this isn't a "I see subtext!" (wooOOOOooOoOOoooOOOooooo~!) type of thing, when I've talked about this with other ex-lit students they've noticed some of this as well.

[sorry for the editing I'm still sleepy so I made some typos and nonsensical sentences].
« Last Edit: February 03, 2008, 06:52:02 AM by White »
Clyde Bruckman: You know, there are worse ways to go, but I can't think of a more undignified way than auto-erotic asphyxiation.
Mulder: Why are you telling *me* that?
Clyde Bruckman: Look, forget I mentioned it. It's none of my business.

Pygmalion

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2008, 05:03:25 AM »
You aren't an English major by chance, are you?
"Vision is the art of seeing the invisible" - Jonathan Swift

Azhev

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #10 on: February 04, 2008, 05:35:00 AM »
His books aren't bad, but I've never thought them worthy of the hype they have received.  There are better books at there, more original books with more unique plots and charactes.
"The ending of a book is, in my experience, both the best and the worst part to read.  For the ending will often decide whethet you love or hate the book."

-Alcatraz Smedry, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, p262

White

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #11 on: February 04, 2008, 07:16:58 AM »
No I'm not an english major, I study Design/illustration actually. But, like I mentioned earlier I did read Heart of Dearkness back in highchool and picked up the undercurrent of sexual objectification of men in that book (which, is of course very amusing for a female) so when I was reading this series it was kind of a "well haven't seen that in a while...." type of thing.

There's a lot to be said for going to an all girl school because it certainly led to some fascinating discussions such as as one of the class members asking- when studying Medea, if we thought that the belief that "all women want to be sexually dominated" applied to her. Fascinating discussion with some unusual arguments - my point was more for the 'Praying Mantis' method.

But yes Girls = find homoerotic subtext hilarious.
(because it's usually the other type).
 ;D
Clyde Bruckman: You know, there are worse ways to go, but I can't think of a more undignified way than auto-erotic asphyxiation.
Mulder: Why are you telling *me* that?
Clyde Bruckman: Look, forget I mentioned it. It's none of my business.

skibocastle

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2008, 01:16:55 AM »
I didn't get any of the homo erotic stuff either.  I thought it was obviously written by a kid, but liked the story well enough.  I try to take the story at face value, and don't try and read stuff into it.  I'll leave that to the english majors. :-)

Nessa

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #13 on: February 05, 2008, 04:44:31 AM »
Ohmygosh. If you're seeing that kind of stuff in Paolini, you're looking for it intentionally, dude.

Anyway, Paolini is a smart kid, but he's taken a dragon by the tail and it's just too much for him to handle. Hence, a story that's over-long with a too-simple plot , stereotypical characters, and inane dialogue.

But whatever. If it gets kids to read and love fantasy, that's fine with me. I've gone back to read the Terry Brooks original Shannara books, which I loved at the time, but I read now and realize how lame they really are.
"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter--'tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning."  -  Mark Twain

Check out my book reviews at http://elitistbookreviews.blogspot.com/

White

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Re: So did you hear about Chris Paolini's books?
« Reply #14 on: February 05, 2008, 07:56:33 AM »
Well considering the vast quantaties of books I read compared with the only 2 books (counting the eragon series as one and Heart of Darkness of the other) that I believe to contain this, I'd say it's not entirely existing in my head.

I mean, it may only be a very small element in the book and I believe that element to be unintentional -  but I think there's still a degree of it there nonetheless. It's not a big thing certainly but it is something I noticed was a little unusual.

I mean, you can argue with me that the evidence of it is not homoerotic or whatever, and that it's really something else, but that doesn't change the fact -  (in my opinion at least) that there is enough evidence and incedents to add up to something that could be construed as an (unintentional) homoerotic subtext.
Clyde Bruckman: You know, there are worse ways to go, but I can't think of a more undignified way than auto-erotic asphyxiation.
Mulder: Why are you telling *me* that?
Clyde Bruckman: Look, forget I mentioned it. It's none of my business.