Radium Baby!! In short, I really enjoyed the read. When StJohn first told me about the book, he described it as young adult fiction. As I no longer qualify as a "young adult," it's hard to say how successful this book was on that level. I can say that I was very much entertained throughout and I didn't know what to expect at any point, which imo is a good thing. I was captivated from the outset by the character of Mrs. Cholmonedely, she was by my estimation the most entertaining character in the book. I was so entertained by her that when she reappeared as one of the judges, I had a big smile on my face. Having her factor in at the very end seemed all together right and I wasn't disappointed. For the longest time, while reading the book I had thought to myself "they're going to find out that the Pepperpots had triplets." As mk alluded to in a comment in another thread, this was definitely an odd book. But it was odd in the same way that Willy Wonka, Alice in Wonderland or a Tim Burton film is odd. It's the kind of odd that I really enjoy. In fact, half way through reading it I told my wife that I could see it being a film directed by Tim Burton. I wish that we were able to learn more about the women that was a financial genius but was so mad that she was strapped to a table. -One of the mentors/judges. There must have been a more of a story behind her. I've never participated in a book club though, so I'm not really sure how to proceed. What did you guys think of the book? Were you rooting for Sam? I actually found myself rooting for Gloria as Sam's lack of initiative was annoying and Haydrian's being a little brat was annoying. I'm squarely in team-Gloria camp! Anyways, great book StJohn, you should be proud. I look forward to the ensuing discussion. I'm off for a run though. Back in an hour or so.
It's interesting you liked Gloria. Both she and Hadrian are, basically, little shits. But even though Gloria is such a terrible person, she's easily the smartest of the three Radium Babies. Sam might be less capable, but he's the one who matures faster than the others — he's the one who's wise enough to decide to quit the competition by the end, and he drags the others (kicking and screaming!) back towards the light. Still, we can make you up some "Team Gloria" t-shirts. Hey, if you can convince Tim Burton to direct the film, be my guest! Out of curiosity, who would you cast? In an ideal world I'd want Mrs Cholmondeley to be played by Margaret Dumont from the Marx Brothers' movies. She wasn't a fat woman, but she had Mrs Cholmondeley's magnificent carriage, and she has that air of New York aristocracy about her. Maybe a young Ralph Fiennes or Jude Law as Adrian Ember? And Ron White as Jebediah Northcote, the insane Texan! You, mk, and humanodon mentioned the weirdness, which I love. "Anything for a weird life," as Zaphod Beeblebrox said. But an awful lot of the weirdness actually happened one way or another (although I admit I riff off the concepts liberally). Claremore exists and had "radium baths", although in reality they were simply sulphur mineral springs with no radium whatsoever. But the radium craze was real and many actually radioactive products were sold (including a radioactive rod you would stick up your urethra to cure the damage done by "self-abuse"). I've got a boatload of ephemera from Claremore's radium days, which I'm hoping to post on my blog at some point.
Casting? That's a fun challenge that ill gladly accept. I am about to go for a jog and will think on it for all the characters. I reserve, like you, the right to use actors from any genre and at any point of their career. I can already say that perhaps Kathy Bates for Mrs. Cholmondeley but that has much to do with girth. Maybe Katleen Turner? -nah. Ill think on it.
Wha?
For some reason, the image that is now present in the comment of yours was not present before. Now your comment makes far more sense. Far left FOR SURE. Off to watch the new Arrested Development. Perhaps there is just a touch of Lucille Bluth in her too...?
I did find my self "Team Sam." He was the most genuine guy. I thought that his valor at the Pepperpot Mansion would have been what they judges were looking for all along and he would have come out the victor. I was thrown a little off guard that everyone was so quick to believe it was Herby Wise. I mean, would they not have been able to see that the piece of paper Mrs. Cholmonedeley had wasn't a birth certificate? Perhaps I'm bringing a sense of logic that has no place in an analysis of this book.
Especially with how rude she was to him at the beginning in the radium baths.
Her character won me over in the Radium Baths. I was very glad to see her return as a judge. I will say, I was very disappointed that she never got a chance to drink the hootch she was accidentally given by Adrianne. I would have liked to have witnessed a drunk Cholmondeley.
She'll have her heart broken in 6 years' time when Prohibition gets repealed. I imagine Mrs Cholmondeley in the future as someone whose dreams have evaporated around her, but whose determination still hasn't flagged. I honestly believe she'll get to the moon some day.
I imagine her as someone that drinks in secret and then publicly shames anyone who professes the "love of drink." I think she has a bottle stashed away somewhere on a mini-golf course in central park. She goes there late at night, drinks and then stares wild-eyed at her moon, dreaming of the day when she and Clive can be alone there.
I also think that when she was just a girl, she got pregnant and her family sent he to a nunnery to bring the baby to term. She was forced to give the child up for adoption and return home to her friends and family and pretend like she was "away at camp." Clive was the father, though even he never knew that she really wasn't at camp. What?
That would explain why she's got that odd maternal streak towards the Radium Babies. Damn it, man, you should be writing the next one! Or at least doing "Mrs Cholmondeley: The Album". That said, I have a mixtape somewhere I made for the novel. Mrs Cholmondeley's song is Ginger Geezer by Vivian Stanshall — a great, overblown, eccentric bombast of a song. Perfect.