TSK discussion | Passage, ch 1-12

[shimotsuki]

Life continues to imitate art, as today I'm traveling south toward the general vicinity of what's most likely the model for Graymouth. We're not going quite that far, though, and in fact aren't quite close enough to the actual Mississippi River (although I did see it when the plane was landing!). So you've escaped a picspam this time. ;)

Summary

• Chapter 1: Fawn and Dag, leaving Hickory Lake Camp, reach West Blue. Whit nearly hits them with an arrow gone astray, and Dag gives his very first farmer-lecture on groundsense and sharing knives to people who aren't Fawn.
  
  
• Chapter 2: Dag and Fawn stay a while to help with the harvest chores, but when they talk about their plans to go down the river, Whit begs them to let him come along -- just until they find their passage on a flatboat. Dag decides that this is a good first step for Lakewalkers and farmers learning to know one another (plus, Fawn suspects, he wants some tent-family).
  
  
• Chapter 3: The party sets off. A sleepy Dag ground-rips a mosquito and has a bad reaction. Fawn takes Whit to see the blight around the Glassforge malice's lair, and is badly shaken; Whit starts out assuming it's because she's "just a girl," but ends up being told a few tales about sharing knives and Wolf Ridge, and gains a few new things to think about.
  
  
• Chapter 4: Fawn, Dag, and Whit arrive at the hotel in Glassforge. Whit is amazed by Fawn's local celebrity, and begins to exercise his talents for trading -- he sells his team to Sassa the glassmaker's boss, and the party ends up riding the rest of the way on glass-goods wagons bound for the river. An apparently shiftless boy working on the wagons, Hod, tries to scavenge for food in Dag's saddlebags. Dag senses his approach and decides to let Copperhead teach him a lesson, but the horse shatters the boy's kneecap, and Dag feels compelled to try some medicine-making. In the process, he discovers that the shiftless behavior and the food-stealing probably had a lot to do with a large tapeworm, and heals Hod of that, too. The party finally reaches the river, and Whit will never be the same again.
  
  
• Chapter 5: Dag pays a visit to Pearl Riffle Camp, hoping they will let him have a primed knife to carry. But he finds himself in the middle of an incident -- two young patrollers named Barr and Remo were in a brawl with local farmers, in which Remo's new sharing knife was broken. Between that, and the (possibly biased) council news from Hickory Lake Camp that has preceded him, Dag returns empty-handed.
  
  
• Chapter 6: Meanwhile, Fawn goes to have a look at the flatboats on the river, and meets Berry, a young flatboat boss. Berry is looking for her father, her brother, and her betrothed, who went down the river on a flatboat the year before and never came back. She offers a chance to join her crew, with Fawn as cook and Fawn's as-yet-unseen husband as an oarsman. Whit meets Berry, too, and is rather struck by her.
  
  
• Chapter 7: Dag's arrival at Berry's boat, the Fetch, takes Berry well aback, but (after yet another explanation of the wedding cords) she decides she's willing to give a Lakewalker a chance. Dag makes an effort, too, joining in the story-telling after supper. The next day, Hod turns up, saying that he wants Dag to work on his knee, and Dag figures out that he has accidentally beguiled the boy.
  
  
• Chapter 8: Dag doesn't know what to do about Hod's beguilement, but the boy wants to come along down the river, and Berry is willing to take him on, so the flatboat crew grows again. But an unhappy delegation from Pearl Riffle Camp comes to have another talk with Dag. Word has gotten out about Dag's healing Hod, and a local carpenter farmer went to the Lakewalker camp demanding help for his very sick wife. Things turned ugly fast, so the local Lakewalkers want Dag to stop stirring up the farmers and just go away.
  
  
• Chapter 9: Trouble follows Dag: a mob of boatmen and townspeople show up with the sick woman and demand his help. Dag diagnoses appendicitis (not in so many words), and figures he can probably help. He also takes advantage of the opportunity to tell the crowd some of the Lakewalker, groundwork, and sharing knife basics. The carpenter's wife looks likely to recover, but Dag suspects there will be another visit from irate Pearl Riffle Lakewalkers, so he and Fawn hide out having a picnic (among other things) the next day. That night, Remo -- the young patroller who broke the sharing knife -- turns up.
  
  
• Chapter 10: Remo wants to run away from home, and wants Dag to take him on. A little intervention from Fawn ensures that no one makes any hasty decisions, and the next day (after a solid nudge from Dag) Remo asks Berry to take him on as crew as well. The river's water level begins to rise, at last. A couple of keelboat crews move out, and Berry plays her fiddle for one of them to keep the men hauling. Then, at last, the Fetch launches, too. Dag's groundsense keeps them from running into a snag, and Berry goes a little thoughtful.
  
  
• Chapter 11: Adventures on the river. Fawn learns to cook on a moving boat. At her request, Dag goes after a catfish -- and hooks one that nearly makes off with him. He visits one more Lakewalker camp, but, no luck getting a knife. Dag also gets curious about ingesting ground, and eyes a thorny locust tree, but Fawn talks him down to trying just one oat, first. More thinking about the beguilement problem.
  
  
• Chapter 12: Archery practice, and lessons for quite a few folks. Dag coaches Whit on his bow, and sets Whit to teaching Hawthorn and Berry. Remo is finally drawn in enough to start talking with Whit. Dag shows off a bit with his own bow (possibly not only for Remo's benefit). Just as things are going well, Hod, feeling left out, smashes up his knee, again. Dag finds out he was underestimating the boy, again. Communication improves all around, and the whole group thinks some more about beguilement: farmers and Lakewalkers beginning to work together, on one flatboat on one river, at any rate.

It will probably be next Tuesday before I can put up the discussion post for the second half of Passage, since on Monday we'll be traveling once again (on our way home). Although, I may surprise myself and be efficient. ;)

By the way -- they're having another Ficathon right now at bujold_fic, and Sharing Knife prompts and fic are fair game! Can we get something going for this fandom over there? I'll be pondering prompts...

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Past discussion posts:

• Beguilement, ch 1-3 | ch 4-11 | ch 12-19
  
• Legacy, ch 1-9 | ch 10-19

Comments

[katyhasclogs.livejournal.com]

I don't have my book on me right now, and I'm going to be away for the next few days, so I won't be able to discuss until at least Sunday.

But I just want to say - so glad we've got to Passage, it's my favorite of the four books. :D

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

I'm not exactly getting a lot of LJ time myself this week, being on a family visit (and having work stuff that needs to get done even so). Come by when you can!

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

I really like Passage. I like the new characters, and the return of Whit in a better light. Also, (not to be spoilery but) this volume feels more like a fairly tightly crafted plot than either of the first two books.

On the other hand, I think it's fair to say that Passage wouldn't be quite as satisfying as it is without the background from the previous two books. Particularly striking is Dag's determination to talk about Lakewalker lore to farmers now, in comparison to the beginning of the series, when he found it hard even to make himself talk about ground and sharing knives. And as hard as it was to read Legacy and see Dag's place in Hickory Lake Camp crumbling away around him, all that was a necessary backdrop to his and Fawn's current plans.

I really like the development of Whit's character -- he doesn't suddenly turn perfect overnight, but once he's off the Bluefield farm, he starts to grow up, much like Fawn did. Actually, the archery practice in the very first chapter was already an interesting development, and one that Dag certainly wasn't expecting.

The crew of the Fetch are interesting and fun, too, and some of them, especially Berry and Hod (plus more to come in the second half of the book), are explored in enough detail for us to really get to know them. Berry is a wonderful character -- competent and determined in the face of possible personal tragedy; a quintessential Bujold strong female character. And I love the detail that she plays the fiddle.

The details of life on the river are wonderfully vivid. I've certainly never been on anything like a flatboat (the nearest thing might have been a canal boat on the Erie Canal system a few years ago), but it's easy to see and feel what the characters are experiencing.

I have some more critical thoughts, too (she said, trying not to sound like a squeeing fangirl ;) ), but they mostly go with the second half of the book, so I'll hold off for now.

...And I always have a feeling that there's more that I meant to say when I'm posting one of these comments, lol, so if I think of anything more, I'll be back. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my reread of Passage, now with my very own copy -- my home airport contains, most unusually but brilliantly, a used bookstore. On the way to Munich last month I spotted a copy of Passage in paperback there, but didn't want to have to carry it to Germany and back. I had my fingers crossed on Tuesday when we set off to fly south toward Graymouth that it would still be there, and it was! (Luckily for me, because otherwise I would have had to do this discussion post without a copy of the book -- the enormous hardback copy I have out from the library did not make it into my luggage, heh.)

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

I'll be back to leave a proper comment but wanted to say it's probably as well you didn't quite get to the Mississipi - I'd be insisting you caught a giant fish and took pics!

Hope you're having a good time with all the travelling. It really does sound like life almost imitating certain books, lol.

And yes, totally agree about this feeling more tightly plotted than the previous two. Even though the riverboat adventure floats off at a leisurely pace, at least to start with.

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

This is where I went from liking the books to loving them, and with Passage I felt as if I could see where the whole series was heading.

Most of my thoughts seem to relate to the second part or the book overall, so I'll keep this brief. I found the characterization really interesting: Dag and Fawn quickly gather this mobile 'village' around them, and I was most amused by Copperhead finding comfort in Daisy. If the tall, stroppy Lakewalker horse can get along so well with the short, docile farm goat, then maybe it'll be acceptance for all!

Of course, it's not just acceptance for their marriage that Dag seeks, but survival for both sides. Berry's an attractive character with her quiet, fierce bravery, but Hod's somewhat unappealing in comparison. I must admit I do enjoy Dag facing setbacks (sometimes he teeters on being Mr. Fixit, lol, but it's mainly because I like him slowly finding his way through them - or Fawn showing him the way - and then hitting another!). Realizing he'd beguiled Hod was a cracker, and a good wake-up call that the 'glamour' of having groundsense can have a very dark side.

Remo and Barr are both interesting from the moment they appear, especially when we hear what Barr's been up to and it ties into Dag's problem. It's difficult to comment on them without going further into the book, so I'll end by saying how much I enjoyed floating down the river on that flatboat and learning about early industrial and farming life as we went. Hucklebury Finn with magic.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

This is where I went from liking the books to loving them

Ah, me too. And it's been lots of fun reading this one again these last couple of weeks.

I must admit I do enjoy Dag facing setbacks (sometimes he teeters on being Mr. Fixit, lol

Indeed! Sometimes Dag has almost too many talents to be true, with the super-wide groundsense range, and this new ability to do groundwork and medicine-making almost instinctively. But Bujold is also good at showing him working things out, being wrong, and making mistakes, which keeps him human. I also like the way Dag has doubts and fears about whether what he's doing is a little too much like what a malice does, although of course that doesn't stop him from experimenting.

I agree that it's hard to talk about this first half of the book without spilling over into the second half -- a sign of how tightly plotted this one is, maybe -- and I have to admit that I'm running a little late with the next discussion post, which I had originally planned to post tonight at the latest. It's partway finished, though, so I do hope to have it up tomorrow (Wed) night!

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I'm running a little late with the next discussion post, which I had originally planned to post tonight at the latest. It's partway finished, though, so I do hope to have it up tomorrow (Wed) night!

You're doing sterling work with these updates, and especially with the chapter summaries, which kept me on the straight and narrow (I'm actually rereading book 4, so spoiler confusion could easily be my middle name!).

My favourite scene in the book is in the second half...

[katyhasclogs.livejournal.com]

Bujold is also good at showing him working things out, being wrong, and making mistakes, which keeps him human. I also like the way Dag has doubts and fears about whether what he's doing is a little too much like what a malice does, although of course that doesn't stop him from experimenting.

Yes, I like the way that this is quite literally a 'journey of discovery' for a lot of the characters.

[katyhasclogs.livejournal.com]

This is where I went from liking the books to loving them, and with Passage I felt as if I could see where the whole series was heading.

Ditto. Much as I loved the Dag/Fawn developing relationship, it was really good for the horizon to expand at this point and allow us to see (and explore) the wider issues.

[katyhasclogs.livejournal.com]

Here I am, finally, a mere fortnight late!

I mentioned above that Passage is probably my favourite of the four books. Part of that I think is the river-trip element, making me pine for another canal holiday, and part of it is the elaboration and exploration of the Farmer/Lakewalker issues and the beginning of hints of solutions and further questions.

A big part of it though is the characters: Berry may well be my favourite character in the whole series, I love Remo and his self-flagellating hyper-sensitvity (he'd fit right into my family, heh) and I have to confess to liking Whit even right back in Beguilement when he was a bit of a twit (it was his 'innocent' musings on how Dag fastened his trousers with no hands, lol) and it's great to watch him grow (and develop a mutual respect with Fawn) in this book.

I also think Passage has some of the best quotes, particularly "I swear with you it's 'two's partners, three's a patrol'" and the way that Fawn really develops "stands to reason" as a catch phrase. ;)

I have to say, I think Whit's idea of Blight Day Trips is nothing short of genius. In my own mind I like to think there's a saying 'He could make money out of blight' for canny businessmen, a sort of kinder version of 'He'd sell his own grandmother', and that Whit fulfills this in a pretty literal way.

On another note, this book was the point where I cracked open google for a bit of research as I hadn't the faintest idea what a flatboat was supposed to look like. I looked up the word 'sessile' while I was at it. ;)