The DIS Book Club Discussion Group: Round 4 - Wild Ride!

[WDWGeek1971]

I am reading this, slogging through, as it were. Creepy clowns are not my thing. I am a huge Stephen King fan and there are definitely some of his influences here, IMHO. I also can't get the scene in the movie "Big" out of my head where the fortune teller machine gives cards with eerily relevant advice. And that was even before it started happening to Mab!

Those were my impressions as well! The creepy clown theme kept reminding me of Stephen King's "IT". The fortune teller in BIG was exactly what I pictured as well. It also had a bit of a small town in New England feel, even more than a small town in the Midwest. That was very clearly an influence of either my copious reading of Stephen King, or the writing. Not sure which, though.

I did find the characters interesting enough for a summer read. I wasn't expecting the same sort of deep character development as I would find in a work by Tolstoy. I found a lot I could relate to in the Mab character. I think her behavior was within the realm of reason.

Spoiler

I would also not be surprised if in a postlog we learned she put the kid up for adoption and had a new gig at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London! ;-)

 

[minie_meese]

I'm not really a fan of para-normal novels. I think Stephen King is a good writer, I just can't read most of what he writes. They just scare me too much but I really enjoyed Wild Ride, I think because of the comedy. While I think the book started pretty slow I just loved it as it progressed. Every time I thought it couldn't get more ridiculous, it did. I laughed through the entire last 1/3 of the book - even as people were getting murdered. That seems very bizarre.

I loved the parts with the minions - it felt like everyone was in the middle of a midway game.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Hi Everyone!

I just returned from my WDW trip and hope you all had a good week. I agree that Wild Ride was a tough one for some of us to get through. I think we'll need to go more mainstreamed for the next book choice. I'm hoping to get that going soon. In the meantime, share your thoughts on the ending of Wild Ride here.

Here's something that I found on the authors' website. I thought it was worth discussing...

This is a story that begins with the idea that good and evil are absolutes, no gray areas, and that evil must be eradicated or at least permanently contained. By the end of the book, there are evil humans (Ursula, Skinny, and Quentin, for example, not to mention Ray) and sort-of-good demons (Fun and Beemer). Did this softening of the absolute weaken the book or make it stronger? Do you agree with the book’s assertion that hanging out with demons/giving in to their demons makes people turn toward evil while hanging out with people/connecting to others makes demons more likely to behave humanely? That is, were the fates suffered by Ursula, Quentin, Skinny, and Ray justified? Should Mab and Ethan and the rest trust Fun and Beemer and possibly Vanth now? How does this connect with the theme of community/family that runs through out the book?

 

[BeamsofLight]

This is a story that begins with the idea that good and evil are absolutes, no gray areas, and that evil must be eradicated or at least permanently contained. By the end of the book, there are evil humans (Ursula, Skinny, and Quentin, for example, not to mention Ray) and sort-of-good demons (Fun and Beemer). Did this softening of the absolute weaken the book or make it stronger? Do you agree with the book’s assertion that hanging out with demons/giving in to their demons makes people turn toward evil while hanging out with people/connecting to others makes demons more likely to behave humanely? That is, were the fates suffered by Ursula, Quentin, Skinny, and Ray justified? Should Mab and Ethan and the rest trust Fun and Beemer and possibly Vanth now? How does this connect with the theme of community/family that runs through out the book?

Hope you had a good time, Nikki.

I think softening the absolutes make the book more realistic, at least. Solid black-white delineations are more fairy tale material, in my opinion. I mean, obviously it can't be real-world realistic, because ... y'know, demons. But I think it helped to flesh out Mab and some of the other characters to put them in a setting that functioned a bit more like the real world does, anyway.

The second part seems like a pretty deep question for a pretty fluffy book (to me ). I do think everyone pretty much got what they deserved/had coming in the end. I'm not sure if the 'good' demons should be trusted at the end or not, but it didn't seem to me like Mab et al. were going to 'trust' them, per se. I think in the end Mab (and maybe Ethan) learned that to be part of a family or community, she needs to accept people warts and all as they say, and the end of her journey through the book is recognizing that and still deciding to leave her secluded lifestyle behind anyway.

 

[NitroStitch]

Hope you had a good time, Nikki.

I think softening the absolutes make the book more realistic, at least. Solid black-white delineations are more fairy tale material, in my opinion. I mean, obviously it can't be real-world realistic, because ... y'know, demons. But I think it helped to flesh out Mab and some of the other characters to put them in a setting that functioned a bit more like the real world does, anyway.

The second part seems like a pretty deep question for a pretty fluffy book (to me ). I do think everyone pretty much got what they deserved/had coming in the end. I'm not sure if the 'good' demons should be trusted at the end or not, but it didn't seem to me like Mab et al. were going to 'trust' them, per se. I think in the end Mab (and maybe Ethan) learned that to be part of a family or community, she needs to accept people warts and all as they say, and the end of her journey through the book is recognizing that and still deciding to leave her secluded lifestyle behind anyway.

Well said! Softening the black-and-white was far more realistic as the book progressed. It also made the characters more interesting as their characteristics blurred into shades of gray.

I admit to having enjoyed it when the bad people got what they deserved, for the most part. The "good" demons should never be trusted, but it seemed like the characters were going to trust them only to a point in the future, always considering their true characters and that they ultimately can't be fully trusted because they're demons.

 

[disneydreamgirl]

I felt about the same way and liked that we can believe in many more futures antics and adventures...and that a child is going to grow up knowing her family, faults and all. I would have liked to follow along with them. I imagine, at the very least, that the roadtrip would have been hilarious!

 

[minie_meese]

Hi Everyone!
Here's something that I found on the authors' website. I thought it was worth discussing...

This is a story that begins with the idea that good and evil are absolutes, no gray areas, and that evil must be eradicated or at least permanently contained. By the end of the book, there are evil humans (Ursula, Skinny, and Quentin, for example, not to mention Ray) and sort-of-good demons (Fun and Beemer). Did this softening of the absolute weaken the book or make it stronger? Do you agree with the book’s assertion that hanging out with demons/giving in to their demons makes people turn toward evil while hanging out with people/connecting to others makes demons more likely to behave humanely? That is, were the fates suffered by Ursula, Quentin, Skinny, and Ray justified? Should Mab and Ethan and the rest trust Fun and Beemer and possibly Vanth now? How does this connect with the theme of community/family that runs through out the book?

Hi Nikki - Hope you had a great time on your vacation.

I liked the change from black and white to gray because it helped support the character development and as someone else said it made for a more interesting read.

I didn't try to read too much into anything, it was just a fun read. It almost felt cartoonish to me and that felt like the right thing for this book. Being able to just go along for the ride and enjoy really added to my enjoyment. I liked a lot of things about this book, especially in the last 1/3 as everything came together and the villians met their fates. I loved the ending.

 

[Eeyores#1Fan]

I agree with the last few posts around moving from black and white to a gray area. I do think that kept the book more realistic and continued it as a good read. I also 2nd that I doubt Mab and Ethan will 'totally trust' Flufuns and Beemer. ;o)


Hope you had a great time Nikki! Can't wait for the next book. I'm currently reading Angels and Demons and need to read Little Bee by Sept. 17th.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Thanks for the well wishes, all! I'm hoping to post information about our next book club selection soon.