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When you know the Disney Beauty and the Beast, the bones of this story are very apparent. But they're good bones. And though I don't like the first two-ish chapters, it does pick up nicely.

Well, that was cheerful. And I'm noticing so many more little similarities between Persuasion and P&P and the evolution from P&P to Persuasion is very interesting to think about. The use of the epistolary is so good.

The beginning is actually better than I remember it. I remember thinking the beginning was a bit too bland, a bit too cookie-cutter, but I think there were little details I missed, or maybe that got flattened as I got further into the book. Or maybe I'm just better at paying attention to those little not-really-hidden things that are interesting.

WOW. This book had long been on my to-read list, but I pushed it to the top, as someone mentioned that it helped them cure their depression. It surely didn't do that for me, but it had me reflecting on my own life. There isn't a lot here that's resolved, but it's so easy to get attached to the many, many characters--both "small" and large. I felt most attached to Don Gately, and Mario is one of the single most lovable characters in literature. There's so much here that's unresolved, but it feels a lot like life. The book functions as both a circle and a triangle, but I'll let you read it to get a sense of what I mean by this.

I have more to say on this, and I might just write a post about plateaus and what J. O. Incandenza calls "figurants." Those two concepts, in my reading, are central to the novel.