The Grey Lines (Binah Serial by EGSchwartz)

willow

Tue, Sep 02 2014, 10:35 am

chocolate fondue wrote:

That maybe true, but the fact is that most of the best writers in the Frum world are either a baalas teshuva or a giyores.

Scotty, I actually has a dream the other night that The Grey Lines hadn't actually finished and there was still another chapter to read. I was very disappointed when I woke up! Looking forward to your short stories!

It may be true but EG isn't either and I put her on par with any secular writer.

fromthedepths

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 12:28 am

I also love Etka Gitel's writing, although I read all of Binah from cover to cover Smile

.

Can I add another complaint/request about The Grey Lines? I thought a big theme was relationships between sisters -- the big split between Mother and her sister, and then Caro and Gusta discussing it, and Gusta saying that it would never happen to the two of them. So I was expecting the novel to continue along the lines of Caro becoming religious/traditionalist and the way her choice affected her relationship with Gusta. I was really disappointed that it wasn't the focus in the end. I mean, we're told that they're still talking to each other, or rather writing to each other, but we don't really know if they managed to maintain the close relationship they had before. I'd love to see more of that in the novel.

Keep it up, all the Binah writers!

stem

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 3:17 pm

chocolate fondue wrote:

No problem Stem. We can agree to disagree. Just wondering; who do you consider to be the best Frum writers of fiction? (If you meant non-fiction; I agree with you; there are many talented writers.)

Ok, I don't know the "status" of every single author, but some that come to mind are Riva Pomerantz, Libby Lazewnik, Sara Weiderblank, Miriam Zakon, Yaffa Ganz. And yes, there are many authors who are BTs that are great too, my only point is that I think it's a little small-minded to think that an FFB can't be a great author.

stem

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 4:22 pm

fromthedepths wrote:

Can I add another complaint/request about The Grey Lines? I thought a big theme was relationships between sisters -- the big split between Mother and her sister, and then Caro and Gusta discussing it, and Gusta saying that it would never happen to the two of them. So I was expecting the novel to continue along the lines of Caro becoming religious/traditionalist and the way her choice affected her relationship with Gusta. I was really disappointed that it wasn't the focus in the end. I mean, we're told that they're still talking to each other, or rather writing to each other, but we don't really know if they managed to maintain the close relationship they had before. I'd love to see more of that in the novel.

I agree. There could have been a lot more character development and relationship exploration had she not used up all her space with an overabundance of flowery and lengthy descriptions. The story moved extremely slowly, and not much really happened in all those chapters (I could probably summarize at length in about 3 paragraphs). A few less "Oh!"s and some more relationship developments would have been a more satisfying read IMO.

Many of the characters remained stagnant. Gusta, father, mother, Uncle Simon (never even made an entrance after all the build up).

seeker

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 10:04 pm

Stem, regarding the "stagnant" characters, I think that was part of the point - some people heed the calls to change, and some don't. Some people can go through a life-altering experience and still be the same inside, or even a little (or a lot) broken inside from not growing with the challenge. However, I disagree with you that Father didn't change. He seemed to indeed find some inner spirituality and desire to connect with tradition, he just didn't act on it as outwardly as Caro did. He did support her choice, though, which ought to count for something. It would have been much too corny if the whole lot of them made teshuva.

Scotty

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 10:25 pm

Quote:

This. Exactly. Couldn't have said it better.

Wanted to say something but generally - once something's published I sort of feel it belongs to each reader, and their own personal interpretation of it is as real as what I had in mind when I wrote it, because it's THEIR experience. But I had to say - this. Precisely.

Mother and Gusta's whole arc of development was that they DIDN'T, and that was the tragedy of it - Hashem can 'bring a horse to water' but if we don't drink... The story tried to juxtapose not only the two sets of sisters but the brotherhood of sorts between Wolf and Obermeyer (and Mose) as well, with the most devastating commentary on each one's 'development' the future each one ends up with via their actions (or lack thereof).

After all, the "grey lines" of the title doesn't only refer to the Confederate lines of soldiers :-)

Also - while Father may have mellowed in his 'old age', remember that he's still married to Mother, and the results of his own choices years before -- a flat 180 turn would be unrealistic and unfair to his character and situation. He's trying to juggle his child's needs, his wife's, his own personal beliefs and the changes the war has wrought upon them, ALL AT ONCE -- I think it's pretty big that he almost openly supports Caro at all after all that!

stem

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 10:36 pm

Scotty, thanks for clarifying. I guess I proved your point by wondering why mother and gusta stayed so exactly the same. And about father, he was absent for so many months that I forgot what he was like before he left for the war.

Now, what about Uncle Simon? I was sure that the meeting between him and Caro would be a watershed moment. I wanted to hear from him, his side of the story. I kept waiting patiently, week after week, and it really seemed like it was leading to that. But no. What was the point of mentioning him so often throughout the story, and even describing him in the list of characters?

seeker

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 10:37 pm

I felt that Father was trying to "mend" his own past by supporting Caro. Lots of parents do that... try to live vicariously through a child. It was so bittersweet and I loved how it felt so REAL. A mass teshuva would have felt most un-real and dissatisfying to me, we have enough frum lit like that. I mean, it could happen, but remember truth is STRANGER than fiction. If it happens for real, that's G-d being cool. If it happens in fiction, that's a writer playing G-d, not very impressive to me.

seeker

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 10:40 pm

But I still think it would have been nice to have some closure on what happened to the Gusta and Caro relationship. It seemed to be heading towards acceptance while not understanding each other, but it's very unclear. It would have been nice if the epilogue included some more feelingsy letter exchange between Gusta and Caro showing whether indeed they still felt and behaved sisterly despite their differences. And what about Mother - did she ever forgive Caro for her desertion? Did having adorable frum grandchildren mellow her at all? And did this change her feelings about the Becca thing?

Many loose ends. It was NOT all "Caro married Wolf and they live adorably ever after."

stem

Wed, Sep 03 2014, 10:45 pm

seeker wrote:

I agree that mass teshuva would have been cheesy, but I believe that everyone changes even minutely, hopefully for the better as they get older and experience life.

Scotty

Thu, Sep 04 2014, 1:02 am

One can always hope :-)

All too often, though, people don't - I wanted to push the tragedy of that, and your frustration with that lack of growth is the best compliment of success in that regard. So really psyched to hear you say that!!

That being said, I think you'll find a lot of fulfillment in the tie-in epilogue coming up, though.

(speaking of which, any interest in some cut scenes/bits and bobs from the tie-in that ended up on the cutting room floor out of space constraints? I figure it's only fair, since it's imamother that first inspired me to write the story in the first place!)