Barrayar readthrough

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Okay, readthrough #2: Barrayar! Sorry that this one's a day late - I just got back from vacation last night and was too pooped to post. ;) Some thoughts to kick us off:

• In my readthrough of this novel, I was surprised to see how much the "gun principle" applied. You know - "if you see a gun in the first act of the play, it will certainly be fired by the third act"? Only it applied to everything, not just nerve disruptors. For instance: Drou's disappointment when Cordelia wants to go shopping (and her parallel thrill when they go to Siegling's) is echoed in Cordelia bringing Vordarian's head back in a shopping bag. Even Cordelia remarking on how Drou looks awful in the "superior servant" dresses is echoed by Alys Vorpatril dressing her beautfiully for her wedding. Maybe this is part of what it is to write a really tight story?
• I was kind of uncomfortable with Koudelka's ideas about what he was "doing to" Drou. I think that given Barrayaran society, it's perfectly... understandable? That's not the right word, but you know what I mean. But because we don't really deeply delve into Barrayaran society until books later in the timeline (they were, I think, previously published, though) it is jarring. I'm now kind of itching for fanfic.
• Speaking of itching for fanfic, Barrayar brought up all this great stuff about the Time of Isolation and the Cetagandan war that I'd really, really love to see handled.

On those topics, would people be interested in doing some kind of a fest? I'd be into running one, if people were into writing for one, but I'm nervous that there are too few Vorkosigan fanfic writers around to make it very big at all. Worth it anyway, do you all think?

Comments

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Honestly, I can hardly imagine what trying to give a young Miles the Talk would have been like. What a nightmare! I'm so glad that my kids are highly unlikely to turn out like him. If Cordelia ever needed proof that childbearing and -rearing is as difficult and important as war (which seems to be one of her major theses in Barrayar, Miles has got to be it.

[cjk1701]

I'm trying to picture it... Miles is really quite a bit Old Vor, whether he likes it or not, so I suppose he would be torn between being horrifyingly embarrassed and being a total smart-arse, possibly to cover the embarrassment. That is, if Cordelia ever managed to get him to sit still long enough to listen.

Elena, now -- I think Cordelia had a great deal of influence on her, consciously or unconsciously counteracting Bothari's painfully conservative ways, and everything Elena grew up to be is in some ways a reflection on Cordelia and how she shaped the new generation.

[flourish]

That is very true, about Miles and Old Vor. You see it in his relationships, and in how tied to Barrayar he is. He might be socially liberal but he can't truly embrace galactic life because he's got his roots firmly twined around Barrayaran soil. Actually, Miles has a lot in common with native Barrayaran wildlife, now that I think of it.

I do agree about Elena, though obviously Cordelia didn't ever get to sit her down and give her the sex talk, at least not to the extent that I imagine she would've Miles (remember how Elena reacts to her first moments on Beta!)