The Discussion

[vicki]

Welcome to the VBC's September 2007 discussion of the second Kate Martinelli novel, To Play the Fool. LRK will be dropping in on the discussion as her schedule allows, and she has provided some excellent introductory materials and information to help get the ideas flowing.

So, what did you all think of To Play the Fool?

[The Grey Badger]

I'm rereading "To Play the Fool" and the character of Brother Erasmus is fascinating. From the good he's doing, it's obvious there's a very keen mind behind the foolishness, but is it one actually operating in our consensus reality?

We meet the homeless people in Golden Gate Park in the 1980s. I think of the homeless people I see in Albuquerque near the University. It is rather hard to connect the two populations. Perhaps it's the times, or perhaps Albuquerque gets a different sort of people. Or perhaps the lack is in me.

I loved the cremation of the little dog.

[Kilgore Trout]

I was unable to get interested in this book the first time I started it several years ago. For some reason, I couldn't put it down this past weekend. I was a little concerned that Brother Eramus' quotes might be too obscure to figure out if I didn't know the context (like the omelette for breakfast).That wasn't the case however. I kept wondering how tough was it for LRK to come up with the quotes to answer the questions??

[Kerry]

Grey Badger, I know what you mean. I was in Albuquerque this summer and tried hard to avoid the street people on Central Avenue. Perhaps it's a lack in me that I don't see the hidden treasures that seem to be revealed in Laurie's GGP homeless population.

Two of the things I noticed on this reading of the book . . . first, although Kate refers to Al as "Al" when she talks to him, the narrator's voice almost always refers to him as "Al Hawkin" (rarely as "Hawkin", and I don't think ever as "Al"). As in "Kate called Al Hawkin." I wonder why that is -- I know who Al is, and the addition of the last name makes the tone seem more formal. Perhaps that's the reason? To indicate a level of formality in their relationship that is not revealed in their conversations?

The second was the lecture about Holy Fools that Eve provides to Kate. It's really lovely, and I'm wondering if Laurie wrote it or if it's from something else. There was a note referencing a work on one of the front papers of my paperback edition, but the page numbers were incorrect so I couldn't tell which passages were being referenced.

OK -- three things, now that I think about it. In this book, we really don't spend a lot of time getting clues to the solution of the murder proper -- rather, the mystery that slowly unravels is really about Brother Erasmus. I figured that out as I got to the solution of the murder and realized that, while it was a puzzle, it wasn't the mystery at the emotional core of the book. So I didn't really mind that I never had the pieces to the puzzle. Instead, I really wanted to know more about Erasmus, and loved following his arc from Erasmus to David and back again. Wonderful! I do love this book.

[The Grey Badger]

In local author Jane Lindskold's "Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls," there is a girl who talks only in quotes. She is highly intelligent but - well, there's a mystery at the heart of that, too. Not the same mystery. The two novels make good companion pieces.

[jtb1951]

I've started re-reading To Play The Fool this evening so I could participate in the discussion, but I have to jump in to comment after only a few chapters. Just as when I first read this book 10 years or so ago, I got shivers down my spine reading the description of Kate wending her way around the north side of campus on her way to the Graduate Theological Union, passing all the old familiar landmarks from her days at the university. My wife and I lived in the Berkeley area from 1976-87 while she was a biochemistry grad student at Cal, and many days of the formative early years of our marriage were spent on and around campus. When I re-read Kate's description of the "...pizza and beer joint in whose courtyard..." (LaVal's Pizza on Euclid Ave!) I was all of a sudden 26 years old again, drinking beer and eating pizza with my lovely young bride and our grad student friends!! Oh, how precious the memories!! Thank you, Laurie!

John.

P.S. I did a lot of bike riding in the Berkeley Hills in those days, and spent many pleasant hours basking in the serenity of Holy Hill.

[Monarchist55]

I'm new to this so bear with me.
I loved this book when I read it a couple years ago.
I spent some time as a monk (Catholic) and have studied a little about the theology of the "fool". One could say that to become a monk, even a novice monk, would be foolish thing to do. At any rate, there were some aspects that touched me.
"To Play the Fool" was I think the first of the Kate Martinelli books I read. I had read the Beekeeper's Apprentice series and loved those so much I went looking for more Laurie King.
This is interesting and I hope to participate more.
Thanks

[jtb1951]

Welcome to the VBC, Monarchist55; we are glad to have you with us! If you have the chance to browse through our varied topics I think you will find an interesting group of fellow book-lovers; have fun!!

John.

[Elizabeth Chase]

Just by chance today while at the Library picking up another book I found To Play a Fool so I'll be joining the discussion after all. (I was pleased to actually find several of Laurie's books today, she doesn't seem to be very popular here. )

I'm enjoying the book, though I was momentarily thrown out of the narrative by a homeless woman in 1995 San Francisco using the term 'dunderhead'. Totally unexpected.

Gotta run, I'm only on Chap. 4!!

[jtb1951]

Just finished re-reading To Play The Fool and am more impressed by Laurie's writing than when I first read it years ago. She brought Erasmus to life as a prototypical Holy Fool, but unique in his own discernment!! Wow, what a work of skilled, inspired writing! I am going to have to take some time to more properly digest this. Thank you, Laurie!

John.