The Republic of Heaven

The window under the hornbeam trees

Discuss the second book of the trilogy

The window under the hornbeam trees

Postby Somewhat » Sat Dec 09, 2006 9:51 am

I'm re-reading TSK, and I've gotten rather dubious. How is it no-one noticed the window under the trees? After all, Will saw it and it wasn't that impossible to find, and it was on the side of a residential street next to a busy road linking to an even busier road. Had the window been opened very recently? And even so, how was it no-one noticed it for three or more days?
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Postby Jaya » Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:10 am

People are oblivious and you can only see it from one angle?
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Postby Somewhat » Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:53 am

Alright, so you can only see it from the road. But if it was open for any amount of time I refuse to believe someone wouldn't have have noticed it sooner or later. Pullman must've had a reason, because the only other window in our world was in a place where no-one would ever find it, while this one is in the middle of Oxford suburbia.
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Postby Ian » Sat Dec 09, 2006 12:33 pm

The argument was that you could only see it at an angle, and only from the road. Now this was the Oxford ring road, the argument being people were driving past and wouldn't see. Having driven past where the window should be, I can believe that it'd go unseen. Obviously a combination of luck, and the fact that it is fiction have helped ... but who's to say that no one has ever seen it? People may have passed through from Will's world, that we don't know about...
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Postby Somewhat » Sat Dec 09, 2006 12:54 pm

It's in a residential area, I'm sure someone will have walked past it or next to it or through it at some stage. I think this is one of the weaker points of an otherwise strong book.
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Postby Mr Anderson » Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:09 pm

You can't find what you arn't looking for.

And the window looked onto an exact patch of grass in both worlds, and was in between the main road. Very little people would have passed it close, if any. And those that did would be trying to avoid speeding traffic.
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Postby Ian » Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:30 pm

I think this is one of the weaker points of an otherwise strong book.
Quite the opposite, really. It is playing on the human ability to ignore a lot of things.
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Postby Somewhat » Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:36 pm

Like Will and Serafina Pekalla, I find that dubious as well. But maybe that's just because I notice a lot of things and watch people intently in buses. :twisted:
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Postby furbaby » Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:42 pm

There's always a weirdo on every bus.

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Postby Jaya » Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:56 pm

Yesterday there was a crazy drunk guy on the bus who tried to grope me :(
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Postby Somewhat » Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:38 pm

The day before there was a mad woman who thought the bus was a ship and kept calling the driver 'Cap'n'. It was rather amusing.
Note: Australia is one of the few countries in the world without mental asylums.
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Postby bethanwy » Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:58 pm

There was a woman who was talking to herself on the bus the other day. She was singing christmas songs, methinks.
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Postby Jaya » Sat Dec 09, 2006 3:50 pm

Note: Australia is one of the few countries in the world without mental asylums.
That's because Down Under is a mental asylum in itself. The British just sent all the crazy lunatic people down there and it's self evident from the way they developed their own strange brand of English, and invented corky hats...
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Postby silversong » Sat Dec 09, 2006 3:52 pm

Note: Australia is one of the few countries in the world without mental asylums.
That's because Down Under is a mental asylum in itself. The British just sent all the crazy lunatic people down there and it's self evident from the way they developed their own strange brand of English, and invented corky hats...
Hey-she's right, you know. :P


EDIT:
I think this is one of the weaker points of an otherwise strong book.
Quite the opposite, really. It is playing on the human ability to ignore a lot of things.
Of course, someone could have noticed the window and made their way through to Cittagazze...the chances are good. Fanfic subject matter!
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Postby Somewhat » Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:36 pm

Note: Australia is one of the few countries in the world without mental asylums.
That's because Down Under is a mental asylum in itself. The British just sent all the crazy lunatic people down there and it's self evident from the way they developed their own strange brand of English, and invented corky hats...
Hey-she's right, you know. :P


EDIT:
I think this is one of the weaker points of an otherwise strong book.
Quite the opposite, really. It is playing on the human ability to ignore a lot of things.
Of course, someone could have noticed the window and made their way through to Cittagazze...the chances are good. Fanfic subject matter!
Shh! Shh! Stop straying on-topic!

The English are no better, Jaya. I mean, half of them sleep with sheep!
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Postby Jaya » Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:00 am

That's not English, that's WElSH, and might I remind you of a certain someone who is your accomplice in turtledom and comes from the LAND OF SHEEP.
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Postby Somewhat » Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:22 am

And what is there to say we don't partake in sheep-stalking on occasion?
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Postby Jaya » Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:52 am

Well, your sheep-related actions are obviously justified by the fact that you reside in a mental asylum.
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Postby Somewhat » Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:57 am

There's... er... there's nothing I can actually say to that... :P

So, back on topic, perhaps? I still find it dubious a window couldn't be open and unseen for a long period of time. Did it say anywhere how long it was open for?
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Postby bethanwy » Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:46 pm

I don't have sex with sheep. I settle for dead people :shifty:
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