Wild swan: +1542
I’d be very interested to hear from other readers of The Sand Mandala. I’ve just finished the first chapter and am particularly impressed by the characterisation. I also have an inkling about some of the possible significance of the old lady’s gesture. There are so many shifts in mood – it looks as if Jamie’s on an emotional rollercoaster.
Edit: apologies – that should of course be Hurlstone.
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I’d be very interested to hear from other readers of The Sand Mandala. I’ve just finished the first chapter and am particularly impressed by the characterisation. I also have an inkling about some of the possible significance of the old lady’s gesture. There are so many shifts in mood – it looks as if Jamie’s on an emotional rollercoaster.
Edit: apologies – that should of course be Hurlstone.
beleive me Elizabeth….. read on its a gripping novel….. really. Yes Jamie is on an emotional roller coaster, it seems to go from bad to worse with an occasional glimmer of hope. Its so intense and real………. you appear to be quite young and may not fully appreciate the writers story.
From his photo he looks like a normal guy but from his writing the detail and emotion within it I beleive this is a life story…. what do you think……… also trying to get this book posted on the club cant figure out how to do it , it just keeps showing no books posted… can you help
Thanks, Doug. I will indeed read on and hope that my age (I’m in my twenties) won’t act as too much of a barrier to an appreciation of the text :) Certainly see what you mean about the intensity of the prose – there aren’t any ‘filler’ paragraphs and the pacing is excellent.
For technical help, I recommend posting a question at the CN discussion club: http://www.completelynovel.com/clubs/1
Elizabeth, I dont doublt your appreciation of the text….. its just.. well….. as you get older the more tradgic…and indeed exciting experiences can be…. 6 years ago I lost 32kg in weight after a traumatic divorce. as i read between this authors lines his life as you say have been an emotional roller coaster…….. I suspect he could tell us a few other stories but believe me there is a lot in this book. read on we can discuss more
Just found this discussion, connectivity a bit slow over here [China] but am holed up in a Wuhan hotel and plenty of time to browse around.
The old lady in question actually turns out to be the wife of a couple that lived alone in the mountains of Yunnan, until her husband died. He was the person that built the five thousand steps for her [actually based upon a true story] She was much younger than her husband, a situation that caused them to be driven out of their village because such relationships were frowned upon. She provides the clue that eventually leads the protagonist, Jamie, to discover a secret place that was the old couple’s home. Her husband still waits for her to return [the blind urhu player also mentioned in the first chapter]
So, for anyone that is remotely interested, the old lady’s gesture has, as Elizabeth rightly spots, quite a lot of significance.
Gary Hurlstone
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