Comments on: Await Your Reply wrecked me

By: Leslie

Leslie — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 14:45:13 +0000

In reply to Dustin.

— SPOILER ALERT — SPOILER ALERT—

response to Dustin: The real Jay only appeared briefly in the book, when he met “Mike Hayden” and they joined forces. The Jay who called Ryan was actually Hayden. After Ryan’s hand was cut off, Hayden decided to become George Orson and teach school. According to my calculations, the timeline is: October 2006, Ryan leaves school. May 2007, Ryan’s hand is cut off and Hayden goes to Ohio. June 2007, Hayden sends a letter to Miles and Lydia, who go to Inuvit. June 2008, Hayden and Lucy o to Nebraska and then to the Ivory Coast. Yes, the Russian trio are the same men — they’re all wearing Hawaiian shirts, and the one guy has spiky hair. And if they’ve hunted him down and are now in a room with him guarded by a guy with a gun, there’s no doubt what has happened to him.

By: Jodi

Jodi — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 02:52:22 +0000

In reply to Laura. I never noticed the 'help buts' which surprises me, because I'm usually the first to pick up on stuff like that. I also just wanted to drop in with a "hell yeah" about the annoying A Sense of an Ending. Man, I hated that one.

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 02:50:26 +0000

And Chaon doesn’t do any of his plotting without a GREAT DEAL of thought. See here:
http://fictionwritersreview.com/interviews/unanswered-questions-an-interview-with-dan-chaon

Hayden’s mom wonder why he couldn’t make up happy stories…

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 02:46:08 +0000

My problem with Chaon is that he is a compulsive user of “can’t help but” and “couldn’t help but.” Drives me NUTS!!! I wish his editor had sliced SOME, if not all, of those. Messy furniture in the way of the narrative and plot. He does the same thing in his short stories. WHY? He doesn’t even have to jettison the non-standard usage in favor of more prescriptive forms; he could write in a more lean fashion: i.e., “He noticed” rather than (wince) “He couldn’t help but notice” or “He thought” instead of “He couldn’t but think…” If he needs to put some kind of spin on it, I suppose he could throw in an adverb (oh, we editors worry about adverbs!) “Immediately he noticed …”

I tell you, the library will not be pleased with my pencil marks on all those “couldn’t help but”s. YUCK!!!! I plan to read two more of his books (they’re on hold at the library) and I am preparing for more late-night spasms.

Oh, the plot? Well…I was engrossed but having been PROFOUNDLY annoyed by Julian Barnes’ infuriating Sense of An Ending, I wondered if Chaon wasn’t doing something similar, creating a snow globe reality the reader was supposed to massage (that old “if your narrator can’t tell the truth, what part of the story is anything but fiction” tack). Were there really twin brothers, was Miles really the narrator or was Hayden building the “vanished twin” idea….we had an omniscient viewpoint in that we saw Jay and Ryan WITHOUT Miles’ being present; yet the book concluded with our wily protagonist, the shapeshifting Hayden and his delusions and alter egos and promises and musing. It was clear Hayden pretended to be Jay, and that he was also Mike; but maybe, like “The Usual Suspects,” the whole book was a story concocted by….Keyser Soze!

By: Nancy Williams

Nancy Williams — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:42:33 +0000

My question is, what happened to the real Jay?