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I'm just guessing here, but could 400 pages be an estimate of some kind? Or a target after editing?
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Isn't anyone else worried by the jacket summary on the website? It seems like the whole book will be Leah snarking on Rachel...(and we all know that Rachel DOES end up getting the guy). I thought Rebekah was a little bit on the snarky side and it was the only thing that bugged me about the book.
But then, I'm saying this on an OSC fan forum, so I'd probably best shut up.
I really am looking forward to the new book though, I promise. The nicest thing about it is that I have a great excuse to splurge and buy it in hardcover. I received Sarah and Rebekah in their pretty hardcover versions as a birthday present last year, so I just HAVE to have the third book to match.
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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I always felt so sorry for Leah. She had to have known that Jacob didn't love her (or at least that he love Rachel more) and that must have been devastating for her all her life.And was she really so horrible that her father felt the only way to ever get her married off was to trick someone? And how must that have felt for her to have her father feel that way about her?
I'm interested in seeing how OSC characterizes her.
Posts: 26 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Laban's motive for sending in Leah instead of Rachel will be interesting. Unless Laban had no idea, and Leah tied up Rachel and hid her in a cave. Maybe their mother is sympathetic to Leah and caused it to happen. Maybe God causes it to happen because his chosen men keep choosing pretty but scarcely fertile wives. (What is with that anyway?) I mean, Rachel only has 2 sons, and I think she dies in the process of having the second. Do we really need Spoiler Warnings for bible stories? I just think we'll have to wait and see what Card does with it. But the fact that Leah was jealous of Rachel is fairly obvious in the Bible.
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I'd hate to think that Jacob just liked her cause she was pretty then. Are even prophets like that?!
Yeesh. I hope not. It will truly be disappointing if Leah turns out to be the one we like and Rachel the one we're annoyed by because we're on Leah's side.
But then, I'm borrowing trouble. I'll just read the book when it comes out.
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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I was just wondering about this book. It's the only series I've allowed myself the luxury of buying in hardback. I'll be glad to get to by a book right off the press. YAY!
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“The Seven Cow Wife”
Long ago, in a certain country there was a man looking for a wife. The custom in his area of the world was to offer a gift of livestock for the bride he wanted, equivalent to her worth. The average price was about one cow, and a very homely girl might receive a goose or two, while a very beautiful girl would receive two cows.
The man came to the home of two sisters, the oldest being very homely, and the youngest very beautiful. The man fell in love with the youngest, but knew it was right to marry the oldest. When he came to ask for the oldest daughter’s hand in marriage, he brought seven cows with him for a bride-price.
Everyone thought he was crazy. They asked why he would give so many cows for such a homely girl, when he could get her for much cheaper, or even choose the youngest for that price. He left the town without explaining himself, planning to return in a year for his bride.
When he returned, a ravishing woman met him at the gate. She had taste and style, and took immaculate care of herself. People were still talking, but now they exclaimed about how the man’s homely bride had become so beautiful. The man explained, “I offered seven cows because I wanted a seven-cow wife.”
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Anyway, I was just reminded of this story that I love. It probably doesn’t really relate, but I like it.
quote: It will truly be disappointing if Leah turns out to be the one we like and Rachel the one we're annoyed by because we're on Leah's side.
I guess I've never been fond of Rachel ever since I heard the story where she steals her father's "gods" (which are images of God apparently in this story) and when he comes to look for them she says she can't move because "The custom of women is upon her".
Also, I grew up in the shadow of my older sister. But she feels like I was the preferred one.
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I wonder sometimes about the things I missed out as the only daughter. One hand, it's wonderful. I'm not compared to anyone. I'm compared to the rest of society, but that's much easier to dismiss than a perfect sister.
On the otherhand, there is a sisterhood and connection that I desperately miss, and while I am grateful for the independence having no sisters has given me, there have been many times I would gladly trade one or two of my brothers for one.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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There is usually not so much of a difference, where one is clearly more pretty, charming, smart than the other.
I sometimes kind of wish I'd had a brother. I wouldn't want an older brother, because I was the oldest and that kind of rules. But a kid brother, that would have been cool. Maybe I'll adopt one from around here.
Posts: 3495 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Oh, my sister wasn't perfect but she was so smart the psychologist who tested her IQ had to "extrapolate a figure" to describe her. My IQ was "forgotten" so that I didn't feel bad (to this day I still don't know what it supposedly was). She also didn't appear to struggle with her weight through adolescence.
It was kind of like she excelled in everything that mattered to our father, while I was superior in every way that mattered to our mother (I was cute and the better artist). At least that was how it seemed. In reality, I think most children are naturally self-centered and prone to be jealous of any attention they get from their parents. But my sister definitely felt like she got the short end of the stick.
posted
*laugh* If it helps, I'm good at the things my dad is good at, but he doesn't approve of them in me. My mom admired me, but didn't understand the books and the writing and the slight fear of people.
So, my dad understood but didn't admire me, and my mother admired but didn't understand me. *sigh*
I miss my mom.
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Amka, I have to say, kid brothers rock. I adore mine. I'll bet Hatrack has a few guys in need of an older sister.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I pray every day that I will show my kids that I'm proud of all the cool things they do, even if they surprise me. I've started learning about things that interest my kids so that I will be able to understand what they really love and need. I'm studying bugs right now, because my son is a bug-freak. I want to be able to teach him things that he cares about, even if they are not too important to me. They BECOME important if they become my son's life.
"Train your children up in the way they should go..."
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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That sounds like a parenting stratagy I should share with my mother...
To go back a few steps in the conversation: I never liked Rachel. I'm really really glad she's apparently going to be "a bit of a brat". It's not just because I'm the ugly older sister. But as someone kinda said, if prophets will fall for women just because they are beautiful, well, no wonder our society is the kind in which 1 out of four college bound girls have some kind of eating disorder. Plus, Rachel displays a very "manifest destiny" sort of attitude with all her "give me your son's mandrakes" and basking in the role of the favored wife despite Leah's fertility. Then her son--not even close to the oldest son--is the favored son, becasue he has connections. Then Rachel steals a bunch of stuff from her dad. And since she is now connected to the chosen one, it's okay to do so.
(Easy to see on which parts of the "Judeo-Christian values" our country was built. The pretty, well-connected one is God's favorite.)
Oh, I really hope this series continues to be mind-bendingly good. I want OSC's take on this Bible story. He always manages to make every character understandable, if evil and twisted (think Achilles).
Religious fiction. Good stuff. Can't wait til R&L's released!!
Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I hope he doesn't make Rachel too unsympathetic (as, say, Qira in Sarah , or Esau in Rebekah .)
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
It's not like Leah was ugly. The Bible says she was "delicate of the eye" or something like that. I assumed that was a good thing.
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