Boy in the Moon Reading Blog

Ian Brown’ first impression of L’Arche was a very interesting realization. It was “In that community, I was the stranger.” (187) He was quite nervous when entering the house in Verdun for the first time but it slowly began to grow on him. This is explained in a quote from page 194, “The remarkable thing about that house in Verdun was that the calm descended upon me again and again in a single evening. For a long time I didn’t want to leave.” However, his nervous attitude toward the community was something hard to shrug off. When visiting the L’Arche communities in Cuise-la-Motte and talking to the director Garry Webb he found the activities in the house in Semance “interesting, free, spirited, and made me extremely nervous.” (196) He had a slight skepticism towards the almost perfect atmosphere of the communities and thought “If Walker ever lived in such a place, would he be surrounded by people who cared for him for his own sake or by people who cared for him because they were in a cult? I didn’t want Walker in a cult.” (197) However, after several days in many of the communities he realized that “It was a pleasant place to be, and conveyed no sense that life ought to be otherwise.” (200)

When I visited L’Arche in Toronto it was very apparent that the place was a large family where everyone was free to be themselves and applauded for doing so. It was a very relaxed atmosphere in which it was hard not to smile at everyone around you. The community was very unique and it is clear that “No one at L’Arche talked about integration….this community existed for the disabled and made no pretense that residents eventually would be part of the “normal” community” as Ian Brown stated on page 199.

The most apparent thing I have learned about life with a profoundly disabled child is it is most definitely a full-time job. However, those who have to take on this responsibility would not refer to it as that. I can tell it is a great learning experience where there is a lot of giving involved but a lot given back. A child like this can give hope, but also stifle a parent’s life and become a burden at the same time. I can only say so much because I have only read the book and not experienced life with a disabled child.

My three questions include: If you could go back in time and have a child without a disability instead of Walker what would you do? What is one thing that you have learned from Walker that you think anyone could benefit from knowing? If there was one thing you could change about how you raised Walker, what would it be?

Dead Cold Reading Blog

C.C. de Poitiers can be easily described by this quotation, “CC gripped harder, willing herself not to launch herself over the sleek metal divider and onto Clara. She balled up all her rage and made a missile of it and, like Ahab, had her chest been a cannon she’d have fired her heart upon Clara. Instead, she did the next best thing. Turning to the man next to her and she said, ‘I’m so sorry, Denis that you think Clara’s art is amateur and banal. So she’s just wasting her time?’” (38) This quotation proves that C.C. is a very intentionally cruel person and finds pleasure in hurting other people like Clara. Ruth Zardo is portrayed in this quotation, “‘This’s a waste of time,’ she said, her short-cropped white head bending over Clara’s book. ‘No one from Montreal came, not a goddamned person. Just you lot. What a bore.’” (30) This quotation shows that Ruth has no problem saying what is on her mind, no matter how appropriate it is.

Clara Morrow is depicted in the following quotation, “Will that happen with my art? Clara wondered as she swooshed through the revolving doors into the perfumed and muted atmosphere of Ogilvy’s. Am I about to be plucked out of obscurity? She’d finally found the courage too give her work to their new neighbor, C.C. de Poitiers, after she’d overheard her talking in the bistro about her close personal friend, Denis Fortin.” (27) This quotation shows Clara’s positive attitude and optimistic mood that she maintains throughout the novel. Finally, Inspector Beauvoir is depicted by the following quotation, “Jean Guy Beauvoir was constantly at war with himself, at odds over his need to wear clothes that showed off his slender, athletic build, and his need not to freeze his tight ass off. It was nearly impossible to be both attractive and warm in a Quebec winter. And Jean Guy Beauvoir didn't want to look like a dork in a parka and stupid hat.” (147) This quotation shows Beauvoir's constant attitude of style over comfort in order to show off his good looks.

Crie Lyon is a very self-conscious 14 year old. She is overweight and tormented for that everyday, even by her mother. However, this does not hold her back from being a great student, especially in science. This is depicted in the quote, “At her side was a bag containing her snowflake costume. Stuffed into it was her report card. Straight As. Her teachers had tsked and shaken their heads and bemoaned the fact that such brains had been wasted on someone so damaged.” (27) Crie wants desperately to be liked and to impress her mom, but this seems almost impossible. C.C. even insults Crie after she sang beautifully at the Christmas service by saying, “They were laughing at you, you know. Deep and crisp and even…And your clothes. Are you sick? I think you’re mentally unstable.” It is very clear what motivates Crie to kill her mother. It is understandable to have a deep hate for someone who torments you on a daily basis and shows no love for her daughter.

A good example of Louise Penny’s use of humour to break down tension comes on page 27 when Kaye says, “Fuck the Pope.” This effectively breaks the tension created by Mother Bea realizing that her meditation centre and C.C.’s book having the same name, “Be Calm.” My second example of humour being used to break down tension appears on page 77, “How does someone get electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake? You used to be able to electrocute someone in a bathtub but that was before most appliances had automatic shut-offs. Toss a toaster in your spouse’s bath these days and all you’ll get is a blown fuse, a ruined appliance and a very pissed of sweet-heart. No. It was almost impossible to electrocute someone these days, unless you were the governor of Texas.” These two light-hearted jokes reduced the tension after Gamache heard the news from Lemieux that C.C. was in fact murdered.