Man, he said, that's a bad date.

I found it unusual, yet interesting, that Tim would include this analogy between war and his childhood sweetheart. Although the comparison was unexpected, it made sense. Ultimately Tim's talking about death. He handled these two completely different death experiences very similarly.

"But in a story I can steal her soul. I can revive, at least briefly, that which is absolute and unchanging" (page 224).

I know Tim is redundant at times, and he already made this point once or twice before, but giving us a second outside example helps push the point through. He writes to give his friends a voice.

He made Linda, Kiowa, Lavender, Lemon, and Norman all alive again. As Tim told this story, I "...dream[t] along with [him]...to make spirits in [my] head" (page 218). These people were alive in my mind and in the minds of every person who has read this book.

I think it's beautiful the way he says that.--"The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and imagination and language combine to make spirits in the head. There is the illusion of aliveness" (page 218). That has got to be my favorite take on writing that I've ever heard.

And You Knew Where The Sea Was.

"You couldn't see the sea. It was too far away. You could see only hills and more hills, and you knew where the sea was" (page 98).

As I was reading, everything seemed to be prose prose prose (and rather boring). Then I got to this line and it screamed poetry to me. I liked it, so I highlighted it. And as I continued reading, my mind was racing trying to think of a way to post about it. So here it goes:

This quote is an analogy to life (in this case, Jake's life). The sea is where we want to be by the end of our life. I don't think it's heaven or anything, just the point that we all are working towards. Whether it's retirement, having a family, marrying the person of your dreams, or even just graduating from school, everyone has some sort of goal. We can't physically see "the sea", because there are too many obstacles, or hills, in the way. However, we can all imagine it-we know where it is. Every obstacle we face and defeat, our goal gets clearer. We think about it, dream about and work for it everyday. I think in Jake's case, he wants to end up with the girl. (probably Brett). I don't really think he wants his writing job to be the center of his life for his entire existence. I think in this little adventure he is currently enduring, he will face hills, but through it, he will find what he is looking for.