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Post by wireman on Jul 15, 2020 13:16:14 GMT
Tonight (or anytime you feel like it) we will be discussing Loaded by Joe Hill. I know I don't have to say this to you guys but I will anyway. It's going to be impossible to discuss this story without talking about a certain hot topic. Let's keep the discussion of that topic to what Joe is saying about it and not go off the rails.
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Post by Wicked Esther on Jul 15, 2020 14:47:48 GMT
This was a tough one for me to get through. It’s well written, of course, and the character development is excellent. I felt like I actually knew Rand Kellaway...even though I didn’t want to. But it left me with a feeling of  . Not saying that every story has to have a happy ending, but wow.....When I finished reading it and put the book down, it was kind of like the same sense of relief you experience when you wake up from a bad dream and feel so glad it wasn’t real. (Why am I getting that little face ^^ when I try to type "hope less ness" ??!?) |
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Post by cat on Jul 15, 2020 20:16:42 GMT
This is a tough story for me, too. Everything snowballs and connects back to the beginning, which was clever. I took that to signify the viscous circle we are in with gun violence.
However, guns are a big part of my family's lives and we have taught our kids and had them taught as well by police and game and fish to respect them and the correct, SAFE way to handle them. I have a hard time understanding anyone picking one up and using it for violence. I know it happens, obviously. I do not live under a rock. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the mentality that any kind of violence is acceptable, gun or no gun.
I do not know what the answer is to make that stop happening.
It is hard to discuss without going into hot topics, for sure.
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Post by wireman on Jul 15, 2020 20:32:47 GMT
This is one of Joe's darkest and most disturbing stories. I think it's an angry story. Joe tackles several issues here, like gun violence, domestic violence, hero worship and the media and comes at them from different angles with the different characters. If there is a main theme here, I think that it's Joe's push back against the slogan, "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." He meticulously sets up a scenario where that isn't the case. The story makes the connection between domestic violence and mass violence. It's not a pleasant story to read but I think Joe did a masterful job of telling the story.
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Post by Wicked Esther on Jul 15, 2020 20:36:55 GMT
This is one of Joe's darkest and most disturbing stories. I think it's an angry story. Joe tackles several issues here, like gun violence, domestic violence, hero worship and the media and comes at them from different angles with the different characters. If there is a main theme here, I think that it's Joe's push back against the slogan, "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." He meticulously sets up a scenario where that isn't the case. The story makes the connection between domestic violence and mass violence. It's not a pleasant story to read but I think Joe did a masterful job of telling the story.
Somewhere in that mess of violence, PTSD comes into play, too. So many unpleasant issues. I kind of felt emotionally wiped out by it. I can't even imagine the mental/emotional drain of writing something like this. |
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Post by wireman on Jul 15, 2020 20:43:53 GMT
This is one of Joe's darkest and most disturbing stories. I think it's an angry story. Joe tackles several issues here, like gun violence, domestic violence, hero worship and the media and comes at them from different angles with the different characters. If there is a main theme here, I think that it's Joe's push back against the slogan, "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." He meticulously sets up a scenario where that isn't the case. The story makes the connection between domestic violence and mass violence. It's not a pleasant story to read but I think Joe did a masterful job of telling the story.
Somewhere in that mess of violence, PTSD comes into play, too. So many unpleasant issues. I kind of felt emotionally wiped out by it. I can't even imagine the mental/emotional drain of writing something like this. |
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Post by Wicked Esther on Jul 15, 2020 20:46:34 GMT
Somewhere in that mess of violence, PTSD comes into play, too. So many unpleasant issues. I kind of felt emotionally wiped out by it. I can't even imagine the mental/emotional drain of writing something like this. I agree. Absolutely. I really had a hard time getting through the ending. It's SOooooo not the way I wanted things to turn out. A tragedy in every sense. |
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Post by spideyman on Jul 15, 2020 21:54:10 GMT
Gruesome and disturbing. A very difficult read. As stated above, Joe brings to the table many issues. Hill covered just about every side of the gun control argument. The good guy with a gun argument, how a person not allowed guns easily gets them, mental health issues, etc The ending was terrifying.
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Post by wireman on Jul 15, 2020 22:16:16 GMT
Gruesome and disturbing. A very difficult read. As stated above, Joe brings to the table many issues. Hill covered just about every side of the gun control argument. The good guy with a gun argument, how a person not allowed guns easily gets them, mental health issues, etc The ending was terrifying. |
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Post by Wicked Esther on Jul 15, 2020 22:28:42 GMT
Gruesome and disturbing. A very difficult read. As stated above, Joe brings to the table many issues. Hill covered just about every side of the gun control argument. The good guy with a gun argument, how a person not allowed guns easily gets them, mental health issues, etc The ending was terrifying. Exactly. There’s nothing here that couldn’t actually happen. Or hasn’t come close to happening already.😔 |
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Post by neesy on Jul 15, 2020 23:01:38 GMT
Again - I must bow out (sorry) but look forward to reading this story once my book comes in (if it ever does!)
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Post by spideyman on Jul 15, 2020 23:21:01 GMT
Again - I must bow out (sorry) but look forward to reading this story once my book comes in (if it ever does!)
Threads remain open, so you are able to post at anytime you would like. Hope the book comes soon. |
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Post by wireman on Jul 16, 2020 9:45:59 GMT
Next Wednesday we will discuss Aloft by Joe Hill from the book Strange Weather. Be there, Aloha.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2020 13:44:24 GMT
Ok, i'm gonna be honest here. I did not like the story. And it hasn't anything to do with the ending. It was a horrible ending but it was logical. My objection here is that the writer obviously has an agenda. He puts, as someone noticed many issues into the story. He obviously has strong feelings for these issues. That Joe has this agenda with the story does, IMO, that he does not let the story tell its story, it is the agenda that decide the story. You can feel his anger and frustration through the story and it is welltold. But what i admire in Stephen King is saying "When you write the story is the boss" (perhaps not exact quote but pretty close). Here the story is just a minion, not the boss at all, and i dont like it. Then it does not matter that its wellcrafted.
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Post by Wicked Esther on Jul 16, 2020 16:46:31 GMT
I've been thinking about which freaks me out more--supernatural horror stories or realistic fiction.
Loaded, and other stories of this type, make me pretty sure that realistic fiction is more disturbing to me.
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Post by wireman on Jul 21, 2020 17:09:51 GMT
bump
Wednesday we will discuss Aloft by Joe Hill from the book Strange Weather. Be there, Aloha.
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Post by Wicked Esther on Aug 12, 2020 18:13:48 GMT
I hope it's ok to go back and post about stories we read earlier.
Lately, I think of the story Loaded when I hear certain songs....
*Jimi Hendrix-Hey Joe ("Where you goin' with that gun in your hand?")
*Aerosmith -Hangman Jury ("I swear I didn't know that .45 was loaded.."
*The Beatles - Rocky Raccoon ("Rocky had come equipped with a gun to shoot off the legs of his rival.")
I might come back and add more as they come to mind.
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Post by wireman on Aug 12, 2020 18:24:47 GMT
I hope it's ok to go back and post about stories we read earlier. Lately, I think of the story Loaded when I hear certain songs.... *Jimi Hendrix-Hey Joe ("Where you goin' with that gun in your hand?") *Aerosmith -Hangman Jury ("I swear I didn't know that .45 was loaded.." *The Beatles - Rocky Raccoon ("Rocky had come equipped with a gun to shoot off the legs of his rival.") I might come back and add more as they come to mind. Yes, everyone can add to these threads anytime.
i don't usually think of anything good to say until several weeks later.  |
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