Author Topic: PC171: The Island Of Doctor Death And Other Stories  (Read 12351 times)

raetsel

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Reply #25 on: September 01, 2011, 08:07:54 PM
"Doors" was pretty clearly using "you" in the modern sense of "one."  I.E. "When one cooks chicken, one must prepare the surface first," and not in an actual second-person story like this.

One is right on the money, me thinks. :D



Sgarre1

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Reply #26 on: September 01, 2011, 10:58:42 PM
Really enjoyed this - thanks for going the extra mile and acquiring the rights.  I've had the Island/Dr./Death stories on my "to read" list for years but never got around to them - got to go hunt down the others now.  I loved how the book is obviously a Dr. Moreau pastiche with some "Lost World" action thrown in, and especially loved that we didn't really even know if Tacky liked it (other than the fact that he kept reading it) until near the end (glowing reverie of how cool it was would have ruined the naive boyhood tone).  Excellent reading from Ben, as usual.



Gamercow

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Reply #27 on: September 11, 2011, 11:23:19 PM
I didn't have the love for this story that others did.  I'm not sure what I felt about this story, but it fell somewhere on the middle of the road tome.  It was sweet, but had that off taste of milk that has just spoiled about it. 

The cow says "Mooooooooo"


Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #28 on: September 12, 2011, 06:21:33 AM
It was sweet, but had that off taste of milk that has just spoiled about it. 

So, like, yogurt? ;)

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Gamercow

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Reply #29 on: September 12, 2011, 06:52:34 PM
It was sweet, but had that off taste of milk that has just spoiled about it. 

So, like, yogurt? ;)

Exactly.  Gross, but you're not sure why, when everyone seems to like it so much.

The cow says "Mooooooooo"


Listener

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Reply #30 on: September 14, 2011, 11:05:21 AM
First of all... "Tackman"? Really?

Second... I dunno... the story kind of washed over me, and I guess I enjoyed enough of it, but it felt too long in places (mostly the scenes with the aunts) and the ending was kind of "you know it's all a dream, but you can go through it all again as often as you want". Sort of a paean to the childhood joy of rereading a favorite book and Tacky learning about that.

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eytanz

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Reply #31 on: September 14, 2011, 11:23:39 AM
I usually have a rather ambivalent response to Gene Wolfe's writings - I haven't really been exposed to his shorter work, and when it comes to his longer work, with one exception (the utterly wonderful "peace"), I always find myself both admiring of the craft in his work yet unable to engage in it. I remember losing interest in the Books of the New Sun about midway, and in the Books of the Long Sun even earlier. I tend to find myself overwhelmed and confused.

However, I really did enjoy this story. I think Wolfe may be better for me in short fiction - where he can be challenging without being overwhelming.



stePH

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Reply #32 on: September 24, 2011, 04:06:42 PM
Although I didn't dislike this story, the point of it was lost on me.

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Unblinking

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Reply #33 on: November 16, 2011, 03:12:17 PM
I did listen all the way through, mostly because I don't remember if I've read any other Gene Wolfe stories and I thought I'd give him a try.  But this one didn't really do it for me.

As is pretty much always the case, 2nd person narration was needlessly distracting.  It always comes off as cute literary experimentation that does nothing but drive me to distraction.

I also found the parallel reading of the book with the real-life to be distracting.  When Dr. Death and Captain Ransom (weird name for a hero btw) show up in the real world, obviously that's relevant, but in every section devoted to them I didn't really get the point of it.  It just seemed like padding to make the story hit a specific word count or something.

I'm not opposed to stories using oft-used conventions, in this case the child using fantasy to escape a less-than-ideal reality.  But when that happens, I find it hard not to make direct comparisons between the different instances.  Pan's Labyrinth was such a great use of the convention, that this one pales in comparison, and I find it hard not to make that comparison.



Anarkey

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Reply #34 on: December 31, 2011, 12:57:10 PM
Perhaps they will purchase the two other Island/Doctor/Death stories by Wolfe...

Sadly, my favorite of the tryptich, "The Death of Dr. Island" is so determinedly science fiction that I can't even pretend long enough to run it on PodCastle.  It even makes this story retroactively science fiction, if you can believe that, because there are recurring characters, but shhh...I won't tell if you don't. 

However, as so many people have talked about searching out more Wolfe, let me highlight some I'd recommend:

"The Death of Dr. Island"
"Seven American Nights" and if you figure out what the golden object is please get back to me on that.  I feel confident there are enough in text clues and I'm just not quite smart enough to get it.
"The Tree is my Hat" which is maybe my favorite Gene Wolfe story ever but is definitely horror.  Unreliable narrator is unreliable.

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