Kevin's Watch

Can you imagine...

--A

Avatar wrote: Can you imagine...

--A

Unfortunately, I think I can...

When I first read the Gap series I was in my late teens/early twenties. At the time I was pretty green, having lived what I now consider to be a relatively sheltered life in my childhood. I was reading all manner of sci-fi, horror and fantasy at the time and I remember enjoying the books.

Now I'm pushing 50. I just tried reading these books again and I had to stop. Problem is, in the intervening years I've worked with the victims of sexual assaults and too many female friends have confided in me about the assaults men subjected them to.

This is not like the rape scene in the First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which at least seemed to be in the book for storytelling purposes.

Donaldson's treatment of Morn Hyland's character in the Gap series is so banal and gratuitous that in the end I couldn't re-read these books because I was sat there wondering what the hell was wrong with the guy.

Still think they're the best books he's ever written. Maybe some of the best sci-fi of the late 20th Century.

Agree it can be brutal, but I never felt it was gratuitous myself. It's the foundation of so much of the development of multiple characters and their arc. (And it was really only in the first book.)

--A

I'm sure they're great, I definitely remember enjoying them the first time I read them. Just couldn't get past that part this time round.

Not standing in moral judgement over anyone who likes them, just my $0.02!

Didn't think you were.

And we want more than $0.02 from you.

--A

I find a lot of that stuff pretty off-putting myself. Fortunately, it's mostly confined to the first two books. (I think I find myself more horrified by what Nick did than what Angus did. Not because of the specific actions, but because I was more pulled in I guess.)

That said, it's certainly not gratuitous. No one could REALLY understand what it meant for Morn to work with Angus and help him break his welding if they did not witness what Morn went through. Victim/Victimizer/Rescuer etc. Yes, the Chronicles scene was far more brief and far more removed, but Lena was also far less central to the story, and all her responses to her rape were rather straight-forward and understandable; Donaldson never really needs to get down deep into her head like he does for Morn.

Agreed.

Also, thinking about it the topic title, not sure whether we can ascribe morals to a work of fiction. We can perhaps say that the actions of a character are immoral or amoral or moral, but the work itself?

--A

+JMJ+

wayfriend wrote:[...]

That said, it's certainly not gratuitous. No one could REALLY understand what it meant for Morn to work with Angus and help him break his welding if they did not witness what Morn went through. Victim/Victimizer/Rescuer etc. Yes, the Chronicles scene was far more brief and far more removed, but Lena was also far less central to the story, and all her responses to her rape were rather straight-forward and understandable; Donaldson never really needs to get down deep into her head like he does for Morn.

^^This^^

Still reading. Still loving these books. <3

Motherlode wrote: ↑ Still reading. Still loving these books. <3

Nice to see you around. Still some of the best books.

--A