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Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 2, chapters; 5-7

#104: Jan. - Feb. 2012 (Fiction)
WildCityWoman
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 2, chapters; 5-7

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Part II, Ch 7 ... I truly liked the way the author described the professor's size and how he took up the whole room kinda' thing. And the way he described Glory Glory ...

That was well done with the Alabama thing. I remember the first time I heard a person from Alabama speak. I was 13, in Florida for a vacation. I met a boy (about 16 or so) named Jimmy. We kids were all entranced with where each of us came from - when he said he was from Alabama I was fascinated.

I thought people only talked like that in the movies.

(just loved that fridge full of food - ha ha!)
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 2, chapters; 5-7

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WildCityWoman wrote:I'm still bristling from my anger, provoked by the discussion of sexual offenders so far - which is nobody's particular fault, of course. The book itself, I think, is intended to make the reader 'think'.

I'm about to read these 3 chapters now and will struggle to put my anger (which has a personal flavour, btw) on the back burner.

I may tell about why I feel angry, and then again, I may not.
I definitely think that Banks is provoking thought and discussion with this book. He skillfully depicts the grey area between what should be legal and what should be illegal and shows how anyone at any time can be very close to the demarcation line.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 2, chapters; 5-7

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Part II - Ch 6

I like the way The Kid has made friends with the parrot. He probably misses Iggy. Poor Iggy - he himself has been a victim in a way. Any animal kept in captivity for the pleasure of a human is doomed, one way or another.

................

It will be interesting to see how this business with the parole officer coming to meet the professor - or the other way around.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 2, chapters; 5-7

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Part II - Ch 7

Yes - I liked that with the dialogue. And that, at least explains how he got kicked out of the military.

Ottawa ... mmm - there is a strip club up there - on the French side of the provincial bridge - it's called Lipstick - it has male dancers.

I lived in Ottawa for about 4 to 5 months - a long time ago. I never went to that club but knew a guy who danced there. A girl I knew was madly in love with him.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 2, chapters; 5-7

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I have been thinking about the title for a while and wonder if maybe there may have been some minor affection shown by Kid's mom and the lost memory is that of physical contact. It seems that Kid has had minimal contact, even socially, with other people since his release.

In these chapters, again, we are presented with reasons for Kid and the professor to be seen as "other". The professor had an issue with secretive and excessive eating while Kid had never felt like he has fit in. On another note, can the professors constant physical hunger be a metaphor? Is the professor hungering for something other than food as well?

Kid mentions that he has not been abused as a child and that he had a roof and food when asked if his had been a happy childhood. He does say that he does not believe anyone can have a happy childhood. Kid seems to be a bit of a glass half empty kind of person. This may be either a reflection of his seeming neglect or of the persecution by society that he currently is faced with.

Both Kid and Gloria question the professor's motives. I wonder if there is anything to question or if the professor may simply be interested in keeping the relationship with Kid for further data. Could he be seeking further human connection as well?

I believe it was Giselle who mentioned the possibility of Kid reoffending based on the way he is viewed by the greater society. I thought it interesting for this to come up as I was thinking about it earlier in the book. Kid had mentioned committing some other crime as a way to reenter the prison system for "four square and a bed". This seems to be a good way for a homeless adult to keep a reliable source of meals and relatively safe housing.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 2, chapters; 5-7

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realiz wrote:It was interesting that both the Kid and the professor's wife had the same thought about the price of exchange for the professors gifts. Is this just a statement on human nature, or is there some darkness the professor we'll see later?
Well I said I wouldn't do anymore predicting but seeing as you asked ( 8) ) I think it is some darkness. I don't trust the Professor anymore.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 2, chapters; 5-7

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giselle wrote:The prominence of sex related stuff in these chapters, including some nasty aspects like kiddie porn movies, makes me reflect back on the title of the book, Lost Memory of Skin, and wonder about possible meanings .. I had assumed that it refered to 'skin' in the sense of 'identity' but now I'm thinking that it refers more to 'skin' in the sense of 'sex', like the expression 'skin flick' and 'showing a lot of skin' and related sexual connotations of these and other expressions which link skin and sex. Not sure how the 'lost memory' part might fit with this idea though ... and I may be way off base, but we'll see how the story and its theme develop.
Oh I never thought of that. Good thinking on your part Giselle. I've been wondering about the title of the book and why it was chosen.
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Re: Lost Memory of Skin, Prt. 2, chapters; 5-7

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Well I now see where you guys were coming from with the Prof's eating habits. The guy gets the bad case of the munchies :o Can you imagine? Yea I know there is more to it then that.

I fear that the only reason the Professor is doing this study is to try and figure out what is wrong with himself. Sexually that is.

Remember when Kid was reading the bible and wanted to know if it was written somewhere about what is wrong and what is right? Like what are the rules? Where does it say that you can't have sex with a 14 year old girl. He just didn't know that it was wrong legally or morally. Whereas the Professor does know that it is wrong. You can bet that some of those countries he was going to and watching the shows being performed were with under aged children.

I don't like Professor. He's up to something. If he cared at all about Kid he wouldn't let him be in an area that is frequented by drugs, sex and illigal shananagans.

And now Professor would like to interview the workers.

Is it really all in the name of science? I think not.
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