My sister hates LFB :(

[Dromond]

My wife couldn't get past the rape. Regarding the opening chapters, she remarked how much she loved SRD's writing style, (She writes a little herself) but just stopped cold and said 'I can't read this anymore' I said the things we all have...'He's dreaming, the rape haunts his steps, keep reading', but it's over. Ah, well... She knows me and has watched me read these books at least ten times over the years, sees I'm on Kevinswatch often but the door is shut for her.

I accept it.

Yet I just know she'd be blown away by Earthpower and the people of the Land.

[I'm Murrin]

I wonder how these same people would have reacted if, instead of LFB, they had been given The Wounded Land first. If they had gotten Covenant's blunt revelation of the fact to Linden, rather than the scene itself.

[Cameraman Jenn]

I've been giving this some thought and I think that the only solution to this problem of people not giving LFB an honest chance is that they be given a simple choice. Read the book or burn at the stake. Choose.

[onewyteduck]

And so we have the First Tenant of the Church of Covenant?

[Dromond]

I wonder how these same people would have reacted if, instead of LFB, they had been given The Wounded Land first. If they had gotten Covenant's blunt revelation of the fact to Linden, rather than the scene itself.

I tried this with a friend... I happened to be reading it, she asked what I was reading...I gave it to her with a little background, she handed it back a few days later, lost , mumbling wtf is a VSE?

A little off topic, sorry.

[Cameraman Jenn]

BURN HER! BURN HER!

[Linna Heartbooger]

All of this is true, but to be honest the thing so many people can't get past isn't the slow pace or the (sometimes) labored prose, it is the rape...

So given that we know this is a problem preventing people from reading the book, has anyone tried promoting it to your friends by saying:
"I warn you... he's not your typical do-gooder fictional hero - one of the first things he does in the book is rape a woman."

Like I said... worked for me. (That's something like what a good friend of mine would always say about the Chronicles... took me several years to actually pick them up and read them, but...)

Otherwise, yeah, I would probably have been so horrified by the rape scene I would've given up. ...Or maybe not. I might have not been able to give up because I would have been so desperate to find out what was going to happen to that poor family. [/i]

[Blackhawk]

Stephen King has written about alot more disturbing subjects than Rape. tell her that the other books revolve around a woman named linden. that might get her to bite.. and if that doesnt work just say..yeah your right, you probably wouldnt understand it anyway, your not into books that make you think. and if that doesnt work just say..come on ..your smart sister you will learn to love these books for the other characters..not Thomas Covenant himself, the books just keep getting better..not worse.

Rape is the hard one to get by.. and if she gets to the Illearth war and reads how Covenants Daughter Elena is trying "Choose him as her mate" ..forget about it....done deal..end of story for her probably.

[Bran Pendragon]

Can't see "The Wounded Land" being nearly as powerful if you don't already love the Land as it once was. Reading the 2nd Chrons first would also ruin the visceral reaction to many of the shocking moments in the 1st Chrons, should you decide that you do like the story and want to go back.

I think its better to try and nurse people through LFB. My one attempt at getting someone to read it ended with them quitting somewhere in LFB - never worked out exactly what killed it for her, apart from maybe not liking TC as a character.

[Blackhawk]

Let's face it. As far as *first* novels go, LFB is extremely inaccessible. So is The Real Story for that matter. SRD is a writer who avoids all those temptations in story telling to suck you in early with a snappy opening. His storytelling is more slow and methodical. It tends to build slowly, but manages to reach epic heights later on. I don't think he writes very good beginnings honestly. However, because of the way he builds his story, he writes the best endings of any writer I have ever read. In the end, despite the lack of accessibility in the beginning, you have a richer, far more enjoyable experience.

Unfortunately, you still have to make it to Illearth War to realize how good LFB actually is I am in the same boat really; most people I try to get into Covenant can't get past LFB. I think I might start off by giving them The Wounded Land from now on, and see how that works.

that is a good idea, and it would probably work. I was told to read LFB because i got a low grade in my english class back about 20+ years ago. I liked the books so much that i asked for the others and got the whole paperback collection including Daughter of Regals.

[Mr. Broken]

Tell your sister that hate is an open doorway to despite.

[SoulBiter]

Ive debated trying to get my daughter to read The Wounded Land after she gave up on LFB. But I almost hate to ruin the reaction that you have when you realize that all that beauty, The Lords, Earthpower forgotten, all gone.

I remember how excited I was when it came out and I started reading and I remember the jaw dropping reaction when LF is talking to TC early in the book and says that its all gone.

"Now hear me , groveller. Hear my prophesy. It is for your ears alone-for behold! There are none left in the Land to whom you can deliver it."

And then just a few pages later to understand how much has changed

"Damnation!" Covenant spat. "Next you're going to tell me you've never heard of Earthpower!"

The old man sagged. "Earthpower?" he breathed. "Earthpower?"

Those moments and the ones that follow.... I remember being floored and I dont think you would get that without the background from the first books. You really have to take the journey with TC and fall in love with the land for it to have the impact that it should have.

[matrixman]

My sister read the 1st and 2nd Chronicles some years after I had, but we never really discussed them deeply- at least not at the level that Watchers do here. I was glad she read the books, but the Chronicles simply didn't mean as much to her as it did to me.

[Relayer]

I agree, without the experience of the first chronicles I don't think TWL would have the same meaning. But there are people here who read it in that order...

And imagine, calling THE FIRST CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT "background" reading

"Now hear me , groveller. Hear my prophesy. It is for your ears alone-for behold! There are none left in the Land to whom you can deliver it."

Interesting thing about this... it's not quite true. Nassic still held to the story of the ur-Lord. And although he didn't believe it, Sunder was at least aware.

[Rocksister]

I also did not hate TC for the rape. He had been impotent for all that time, never thinking for one second that it would be reversed, and all of a sudden a pretty young girl is practically adoring him and things "come up." I think anyone would have had a hard time controlling himself. I actually pitied him. But if you really want your sister to read SRD, maybe she should start with the Second Chronicles. The introduction of the Giants is such a positive thing, and seeing it from a woman's perspective (LA) might be better for her. There is enough in the "what has gone before section" for her to get into it, just maybe. Because of the Giants alone, I have special feeling for the 2nd chrons.