The Sun Dog - Reading & Discussion Group 3/13/15
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Feel free to post your thoughts at any time, but we'll try again for the first eight chapters next Friday - give everyone who's interested a chance to catch up. 
Hi!, just wanted you to know that i'm not forgotten about you. But haven't had much time for reading. Hopefully by next friday i be up to it.
Feel free to post your thoughts at any time, but we'll try again for the first eight chapters next Friday - give everyone who's interested a chance to catch up.
Dana Jean - would you (pretty please) change the date of this thread to 3/13/15? 
We can try again for a discussion on the first eight chapters tonight if anyone's interested! 
I'm sorry - I guess you can hold off on changing the date in the thread title. Maybe next week.Dana Jean - would you (pretty please) change the date of this thread to 3/13/15?
No, that's okay. Thanks - I might have to ask you to change it again next week though.
No worries!No, that's okay. Thanks - I might have to ask you to change it again next week though.
I don't know if I can make it on Saturday afternoon(your Friday night) so I'll put some of my thoughts down now.
Reference: 'The Sun Dog', in Four Past Midnight, New English Library Early Export Edition, 1991(Hodder and Stoughton)
Questions-based on the first eight chapters.
1)How did we experience the book? Immediately engaging?
Ayup. Everyone likes a birthday present, so this catches the reader's attention. At first, I thought Kevin was going to be a spoilt brat, but he's not. The Polaroid Sun 660, catches the attention.
2)Main Characters Actions, were they justified? What about the dynamics between characters?
Ayup. All the characters are legitimate to the story. There are five main characters and two minor ones so far.
Major characters: The camera, the dog in the pitchers (Ayup), Reginald(Pop) Merrill, Kevin, and Kevin's father.
Minor: Kevin's mother and Meg, Kevin's sister.
In my opinion, the introduction of Pop, brings the story to a new level. Every small town( and large) have their 'Pops.'
There was a bit of King in how Kevin's father had to sweat at the Mill.
3)Any Growth or Maturity by end of tale?
Have to wait.
4) Plot, was it engaging? Fast or slow or twisty?
Of course it's engaging! It not fast, nor slow, nor twisty. It like the sound that camera makes. King is the master of internal dialogue. He gets into character's heads. This is a character driven story, in my opinion, and the camera is the conflict-and so is Pop. Pop is a perve. Pop is 'angle-man', always looking for an angle to make some dough. I love the characters-especially Pop.
5)Was the timeline sequential or lots of flash backs? Structure, single viewpoint or multiple viewpoints?
I think it's written in the third-person Omniscient, multiple viewpoints. A brilliant thing King does it where(Oh, there's a reference to an F-stop, and I think I worked out who F-Stop Fitzgerald is). King has a low regard to 'Summer People' which he also reference in The Stand, about the people coming up to 'Bar Harbor' to stay in their summer houses near the water. There is also a flasback seen from the time Kevin took the first picture to when he's talking to pop in the shop.
Reference: 'The Sun Dog', in Four Past Midnight, New English Library Early Export Edition, 1991(Hodder and Stoughton)
Questions-based on the first eight chapters.
1)How did we experience the book? Immediately engaging?
Ayup. Everyone likes a birthday present, so this catches the reader's attention. At first, I thought Kevin was going to be a spoilt brat, but he's not. The Polaroid Sun 660, catches the attention.
2)Main Characters Actions, were they justified? What about the dynamics between characters?
Ayup. All the characters are legitimate to the story. There are five main characters and two minor ones so far.
Major characters: The camera, the dog in the pitchers (Ayup), Reginald(Pop) Merrill, Kevin, and Kevin's father.
Minor: Kevin's mother and Meg, Kevin's sister.
In my opinion, the introduction of Pop, brings the story to a new level. Every small town( and large) have their 'Pops.'
There was a bit of King in how Kevin's father had to sweat at the Mill.
3)Any Growth or Maturity by end of tale?
Have to wait.
4) Plot, was it engaging? Fast or slow or twisty?
Of course it's engaging! It not fast, nor slow, nor twisty. It like the sound that camera makes. King is the master of internal dialogue. He gets into character's heads. This is a character driven story, in my opinion, and the camera is the conflict-and so is Pop. Pop is a perve. Pop is 'angle-man', always looking for an angle to make some dough. I love the characters-especially Pop.
5)Was the timeline sequential or lots of flash backs? Structure, single viewpoint or multiple viewpoints?
I think it's written in the third-person Omniscient, multiple viewpoints. A brilliant thing King does it where(Oh, there's a reference to an F-stop, and I think I worked out who F-Stop Fitzgerald is). King has a low regard to 'Summer People' which he also reference in The Stand, about the people coming up to 'Bar Harbor' to stay in their summer houses near the water. There is also a flasback seen from the time Kevin took the first picture to when he's talking to pop in the shop.
continued-
6. Themes - Main Ideas used? Any Symbolism?
Inanimate objects aren't always inanimate. Manifestations. He likes the word 'plinth'.
7. Profound Passages, funny dialogue, or sections that summarize the story
Kevin thought: It's like there was a wind-very soft, very cold-blowing out of that picture. (page 762)
Also bottom of page 758, and top of page 759. There's other stuff as well.
8. Was it satisfying?
You bet.
9. If you could ask the author one question, regarding this book, what would it be?
Which character is most like you?
10. Has the novel or story changed you in some way?
Yes, I read it till 2pm this morning, and I heard a possum running on the roof and two pages later, King said something in the story about a possum on television.
11. How does the setting figure into the story and would you recommend the book?
It's like a fishbowl: the town. I know what living in a fishbowl is like since I've done it a couple of times working in the bush as a schoolteacher. Places with populations under 3000 people, everyone knows, or want to know other people's business.
6. Themes - Main Ideas used? Any Symbolism?
Inanimate objects aren't always inanimate. Manifestations. He likes the word 'plinth'.
7. Profound Passages, funny dialogue, or sections that summarize the story
Kevin thought: It's like there was a wind-very soft, very cold-blowing out of that picture. (page 762)
Also bottom of page 758, and top of page 759. There's other stuff as well.
8. Was it satisfying?
You bet.
9. If you could ask the author one question, regarding this book, what would it be?
Which character is most like you?
10. Has the novel or story changed you in some way?
Yes, I read it till 2pm this morning, and I heard a possum running on the roof and two pages later, King said something in the story about a possum on television.
11. How does the setting figure into the story and would you recommend the book?
It's like a fishbowl: the town. I know what living in a fishbowl is like since I've done it a couple of times working in the bush as a schoolteacher. Places with populations under 3000 people, everyone knows, or want to know other people's business.
Anyone up for a discussion tonight on the first eight chapters?
Haven't read this story in a while. For you, is there one image of a book that represents the whole thing in your mind? So that whenever you think of the story, that's the first thing you think of? This is the case for me with the vast majority of Stephen King's works.
The Sun Dog will always be about Kevin's talk with his dad. His dad tells him how he knows Pop Merrill, and Kevin learns what we all learn sooner or later, that adults don't have everything under control and figured out. There's always a point in our lives where our relationship with out parents, and then our kids, changes, and this was Kevin's. Great writing!
The Sun Dog will always be about Kevin's talk with his dad. His dad tells him how he knows Pop Merrill, and Kevin learns what we all learn sooner or later, that adults don't have everything under control and figured out. There's always a point in our lives where our relationship with out parents, and then our kids, changes, and this was Kevin's. Great writing!
