petrus

It is fascinating to read how many of your addicted readers - of which I'm one - have a preference for the outcome or, to put it in a bit of a trash-novel way: "Who gets Corbin?" I must admit I have no real preference. It seems that, for reasons perhaps still to be disclosed, the author has pictured Pete in the least unfavourable light - for being a seeker is, only, understandable. But then again, perhaps a bit suddenly, Mike shows a different side that apparently endears him to many. All in all, I'm not so sure. The fact that the book's title is "The English Year" can easily be read as: this was a chapter in CC's life, but it is now over. And, indeed, perhaps CC's life continues, beyond this story, without any of the men he's been sleeping with...

Dear author, I must admit I couldn't wait to see the way(s) you'd go to bring this convoluted tale forward. I also will admit you don't disappoint. But yet - am I convinced? Not (yet). I'm not an American, and, hence, don't know whether the formal side of things really is as you imply, viz. that Mike could indeed, by some binding honour code, be forced to testify. But even if that's true, legally - even, that is, if he could be formally expelled from the academy if he did not appear, did not lie: who was going to prove that he lied, if he did, for C's sake? But there's another point. Is the drama we're now witnessing, and, more specificcally, the action(s) taken by C, consistent with his character? Is the man who wanted to, somehow, do right by the girl who was raped, the man who ruthlessly 'destroys' two of his fuck buddies - who, as the author implies, were a bit more than that, only - at least in Mike's case. Is, to put it otherwise, C indeed as macchiavellian as he now appears, putting his career before everything? Last, but perhaps not least: would he really have a career, beyond the hallowed halls of this strange institution? For surely, all that's happening now, and the way(s) he is implicated, and acts, can, in some kind of future, be held against him... Unless, of course, the wider American society is as macchiavellian as the campus - or at least: the greek community on it - is made out to be... But then again: I shouldn't forget this is fiction. It's a novel, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

I have to admit: this odyssee is spell-binding. But yet. Why would Mike, who cannot but know that he's being pulled into something that's not going to be to CC's profit, be "forced" to speak the truth - either by his commanding officer, or by the boys who try to rule the fraternity? Obviously, a lie is a lie, but it seems to me that almost everyone in this story is lying all the time, so one more lie - especially in a good cause... - isn't going to hurt anyone. And, indeed: why would Mike let hemself be brought into CC's frat house, blind-folded, in the first place? It's not as if this is in any way an official justicial procedure, with subpoenas and what not? He could refuse and, I assume, not even his commanding officer could force him to subject himself to what, all being said and done, is a rather silly play enacted by a set of spoiled brats who try to make the world believe they are responsible grown-ups?

"I was in heaven, I decided. This was it. This was the one thing I wanted to experience over and over for the rest of my life." Says/thinks CC. The question is: is this a/his decision re Mike or Pete...? if so: what do I think about a man - is he a man? - who makes decisions based on momentary bliss, however orgiastically satisfying it may be? But of course we're not yet to know, given the dramatic turn the tale now takes. And precisely that has me facing a nagging doubt: is this, really, the best way to create the chapters that will bring the story to an end, or simply an indication that the author cannot yet say good-by to his own creation? Of course, throughout this saga some of the men in CC's frat house have been vying for power; from that perspective, the decision to introduce this turn may serve to end this aspect of the tale. But yet...

as an aside.... that nevertheless has some bearing on the CC-saga. Yesterday I saw "Call my by Your Name" for the second time. And realised why, despite all the praise lavished on it over the past years, it yet grated and grates on my mind. Purportedly, it is a love story - and yes, I did not mind it had no "graphic sex", like in most Nifty-stories. But if - if... - J. Wolf lets CC continue, beyond the story, with either M or P (for I cannot see CC believably return to any of the other suitors) - THEN I'd love to yet be given a litle bit more about their mutual attraction, beyond the sex. Or is that asking too much, and too late...?

Whatever the author has in store for CC - and, therefore, for all the young hopefuls surrounding him - AND, of course, for US, I'm sure all of us will miss that feeling we still have: will the next week titillate us with another chapter, and what will it tell us? I can only hope the author will invest his considerable talent in another story....

in short: I'm looking forward to the moment - "in three weeks' (novel-)time..." - that shows us how the author handles the choice that he has ML set C...

Ha, this is, of course, clever - and exactly what I expected the author to do. But it makes good reading nevertheless. Even so: in the end the author has to make a choice, and have Corbin tell us what that choice is... For - if I may be so free... - there's a limit to what's believable, or, to put it otherwise: to the readers' acceptance of the saga/odyssee of the protagonist's constant emotional wavering...

Ha, this is, of course, clever - and exactly what I expected the author to do. But it makes good reading nevertheless. Even so: in the end the author has to make a choice, and have Corbin tell us what that choice is... For - if I may be so free... - there's a limit to what's believable, or, to put it otherwise: to the readers' acceptance of the saga/odyssee of the protagonist's constant emotional wavering...

Knowing - or thinking I know... - the author, I'm not so sure about the victoryof the 'the team Mike' club. Indeed, I don't feel this is about "teams" winning, but about the author's success in making us accept that the final outcome - in the umpteenth chapter ... - is believable, psychologically. I'm not at all certain where he's heading - where, in his imagination, "his" Corbin is heading. But I'm still willing to follow him on this tortuous but as yet 'believable' road, though I do feel that, as far as the "arc" of a story goes, it shouldn't last too long. Remember - I'm old... - the "Forsythe"-saga, or the "Jalna"-series:- sometimes a story risks to go on too long. To show myself to be "up to date": so do, actually, many TV-series....

actually, I'm a romantic. From that POV neither Mike, nor, e.g., Lee or Chip or any of the other frat-brothers should win the prize. Pete - oh well, the author keeps us on tenterhooks with the possibility of his return, though if he opts for that finale, I won't be totally convinced. Personally, I've always preferred Nick - but the author did a good job in making Corbin aware of why that relationship wouldn't work. But the basic question is, or so I feel: is Corbin really a prize? I don't mean physically - I've no idea what the guy is supposed to look like - as opposed to most of the others, who get a description os sorts. But is he a prize that one covets - as a human being? In these last two chapters, he is, more than ever, a macchiavellian, scheming adult, who knows what he's after, and doesn't really give a damn about the consequences. Yes, the author (I've no idea whether Corbin is supposed to be modelled after him: I read this as a story, not as an autobiography...) suggests some soul-searching, some awareness of what he's doing. But in trying to escape his emotions, C yet again uses others - sexually, but, inevitably, also emotionally, for he gives them hopes he may not be able to fulfill. In thus portraying Corbin, the author does a great job - as a story-teller, with a fair dose of insight into the human psyche. Where it ends - I do not care. If the tale continues to be thus well-told, it fulfills its function.

First, I'll have to congratulate the author: for continuing the story - and for continuously keeping us glued to it. Moreover, intentionally or not, he seems to present Corbin in a growth-phase: C., acknowledging that in all his power-scheming there was, always, also an as yet un-acknowledged moral component that, perhaps, in that growth-process will have to be addressed. Speculating on where the story will go, and end, is, of course, tempting. In order to avoid a very unsatisfactory "and they lived happily ever after", I feel C and P cannot find 'peace' - or it must be the peace of accepting that, during the English Year, they learned a lot, and now have to part. Whether one of the 'candidates' for a "lasting" relationship with C will make it to the finish? Maybe C's not made for such a relationship, yet.

The Rusty-character definitely is the best one you have ever drawn...

As always, I couldn't resit opening the chapter asap. But surely: if almost no one knew JH was going home, how come Drew is there at exactly that moment? And how can this Drew even excpect to be forgiven if, as he must know, his video is being used to wreck JH's life at SH? And as for JH's parents arranging a marriage between the two - as suggested above: arranged marriages went out a century ago, and certainly haven't come back to mar the lives of two gay young men.