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Michael Bailey: Palindrome Hannah

laboi_22 said:
...you kind of lost me a bit with Hannah and her mother. I understood and followed along with each story as it offered me a glimpse of first Juile then Hannah. I know Julie is young and struggles she works at Home Depot. I didn't understand Aeron's attraction to Julie though. I love the tattoo but I'm unsure what it symbolizes---care to enlighten us??
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Hannah
is the product of rape; an unwanted gift, you could say. Julie was fourteen-fifteen when her daughter was born, so she had to grow up rather fast. She went down some dark paths during this process and needed much help to get by, hence the stripping and multi-job lifestyle. The tattoo (self-multilation) of the dragon (symbol for protection in some mythologies / to ward off enemies in others) on her waste / pelvic region (where Julie's trouble began) was Julie's way of protecting both her daughter and herself from furture harm. Basically she got the tattoo to ward off future predators (like the man who had raped her) and as her personal "Scarlett Letter" type mark of shame.

I hope this sheds some light, because there is much in the darkness to discuss.

Keep the questions coming...
 
Thanks for answering my question it did shed some light through the darkness that is --Palindrome Hannah...

One more thing...Was it ever mentioned or were readers ever lead to beleive who may have sexually abused Julie? Was it the guy from the orphanage?
 
laboi_22 said:
One more thing...Was it ever mentioned or were readers ever lead to beleive who may have sexually abused Julie? Was it the guy from the orphanage?
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N'ah...
If it was the guy from the orphanage, he would have been around 120 years old when he raped her (the orphanage tale was set in the late 1920s)

This is actually the number one question asked by readers, number two being "What ever happened with Eddie
(after he missed the train)
?" I have been told countless times, "You should write an entire novel just on Julie and Hannah." I may take up that offer after I finish my next book (which will clarify the Eddie debate).
 
I just finished reading and I gotta say sirmyk, wow. I haven't been this excited about a book for a long time, and I really can't wait til your next one comes out - have to find out what happens to eddie - nothing gruesome i hope.

Reading through this thread I have to agree i'd love to have read more about Julie and Hannah, but I think their story is probably worth an entire novel in itself. Giving just fleeting images of them kinda worked for me - its like in our lives we are centre stage- we come into contact with countless Julies - at supermarkets, schools etc. but we don't stop to consider them. Plus the whole interconnection thing is great - i'm a strong a believer in the whole few degrees of separation thing. Ok i think I've just waffled on and should stop.

Oh, and to me the tattoo acted like a trigger - to take action.
 
Gem said:
...in our lives we are centre stage- we come into contact with countless Julies - at supermarkets, schools etc. but we don't stop to consider them.
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You hit the nail right on the head, Gem.



This next set of questions is aimed to all who have read Palindrome Hannah:

1. How long did it take you to read the book? Some I've talked to read it one part per night, and some spread it out longer (weeks), while others read it straight through.

2. Do you think the stories flow well how they are ordered?

3. Which of the five was your favorite?

4. Is there anything you disliked about the novel, or anything you wish was different, or do you think Palindrome Hannah is just fine and dandy the way she is?

Sorry about all the questions... I'm sure I will have more.
 
to answer your questions sirmyk...

1) ok I just wrote a really long load of waffle, before completely deleting it off, but to put it simply I started the book just before I went to bed and finished it by the next afternoon. I'm reading it again, but this time more slowly. To me the whiteness and finding God where the two that have to be read through in one sitting, whereas Reflections i'm enjoying more the second time as I read it a little at a time.


2) hmmm, i think the stories do flow - i don't know, but perhaps that was because Julie was in each one, so it just felt naturally like everything was following on.

3) hard choice but I guess it would have to be whiteness. I was reading parts of that one with tears in my eyes and one hand over my mouth in horror, i guess it appealed the most to me because of personal experiences.
Finding God was also for me a page turner. Oh and I liked how in Pumpkin Carving, the not so likeable Tayson is an editor ;)

4)hard question, but i think i'm gonna answer no - nothing to be changed - if anything were to be changed then it just wouldn't be Palindrome Hannah.

ok i'm gonna go find some ice cream now.
 
Thank you for the great feedback, Gem. The Whiteness was my sister's favorite; everyone else I've spoken to has said it was their least favorite. My editor hated the fact that Tayson was an editor, although he was able to give me some great pointers.
 
Jay said any book can be ordered from your local shop and they will get it for you. Well, it doesn't always work. I tried to buy Palindrome Hannah in my local branch of Waterstones. The shop assistant could not even spell the title, tried to search by author and failed (probably spelled it wrong too), asked me to write down the title for him, and finally said - 'Oh, but it's an American book and it does not have a UK distributor. Sorry, we cannot order it for you. Try Amazon'.
 
clueless said:
Jay said any book can be ordered from your local shop and they will get it for you. Well, it doesn't always work. I tried to buy Palindrome Hannah in my local branch of Waterstones. The shop assistant could not even spell the title, tried to search by author and failed (probably spelled it wrong too), asked me to write down the title for him, and finally said - 'Oh, but it's an American book and it does not have a UK distributor. Sorry, we cannot order it for you. Try Amazon'.
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I am currently looking for better ways to provide copies internationally; until then my offer still stands for personalized copies directly from me.
 
It's OK, sirmyk. I ordered it from Amazon. I just wanted to try if the 'order any book' from your local shop works. I suppose it does if your local shop is a good one. I have done that before at Blackwell, but there is nothing like that locally. I'll just keep using the internet.
 
Ummm..could we get this thread back on track?....if anyone else has read Palindrome Hannah, then I'd love to discuss it with them...thanks.
 
Gem said:
Ummm..could we get this thread back on track?....if anyone else has read Palindrome Hannah, then I'd love to discuss it with them...thanks.
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Since I have been informed by Darren that it is indeed permissible to discus my work under this thread... sure. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
 
I have just finished Palindrome Hannah and the only way I can desribe it is in a way that Gem has already used - wow! I can't believe that this is only your first novel!

The story is very compelling, and the way that all the different stories inter-link is amazingly clever. I could hardly put it down - this is definately one of the best books I have read this year. I was also very happy that for once the book overshot the hype and I was not left dissapointed - this has not happened in a very long time!

I really can't convey how much I loved this book - brilliant work, sirmyk :)


sirmyk said:
This next set of questions is aimed to all who have read Palindrome Hannah:

1. How long did it take you to read the book? Some I've talked to read it one part per night, and some spread it out longer (weeks), while others read it straight through.

2. Do you think the stories flow well how they are ordered?

3. Which of the five was your favorite?

4. Is there anything you disliked about the novel, or anything you wish was different, or do you think Palindrome Hannah is just fine and dandy the way she is?

Sorry about all the questions... I'm sure I will have more.
Click to expand...

1) Just over two days. I really could not put it down. I read about one story each sitting.

2) I thought that they flowed very nicely .. as Gem has already stated, having Julie appear in each story made it flow even better.

3) Whiteness was my favourite, followed by Finding God.

4) Hannah is definately fine as it is. Wouldn't change a thing :D

Oh, and I have one question. Is there any reason why there were no chapter titles in Finding God?
 
MonkeyCatcher said:
Is there any reason why there were no chapter titles in Finding God?
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Parts 1, 2, a small section of 3 (the rest titled by date), and 5 all contained chapter titles; most of the chapters within were rather long when compared to those in the fourth, and contained relatively few chapters. Part 4 (Finding God), I wanted to read as more of a mystery/suspense tale, so I used short, concise chapters... thirty-something of them, which I grew tired of naming after the first ten, and instead decided to use only chapter numbers. My initial goal was to make each part read as unique as possible.
 
sirmyk said:
Parts 1, 2, a small section of 3 (the rest titled by date), and 5 all contained chapter titles; most of the chapters within were rather long when compared to those in the fourth, and contained relatively few chapters. Part 4 (Finding God), I wanted to read as more of a mystery/suspense tale, so I used short, concise chapters... thirty-something of them, which I grew tired of naming after the first ten, and instead decided to use only chapter numbers. My initial goal was to make each part read as unique as possible.
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Ah, right. I thought that the lack of titles and the short chapters was entirely appropriate, I was just wondering if there was some other reason.

I was also wondering if we will ever find out what happened
to Tayson after the knock came on the door. Or any of the other characters for that matter
 
MonkeyCatcher said:
I was also wondering if we will ever find out what happened...
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Possibly in the next book. I wanted to leave much of what happened to the readers imagination.
 
sirmyk said:
This next set of questions is aimed to all who have read Palindrome Hannah:

1. How long did it take you to read the book? Some I've talked to read it one part per night, and some spread it out longer (weeks), while others read it straight through.
Click to expand...

6 days but it was interrupted by the start of the NHL season and appropriate drinking to celebrate this. It was only 3 or 4 sittings I think.

sirmyk said:
2. Do you think the stories flow well how they are ordered?
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I think the order is appropriate.

sirmyk said:
3. Which of the five was your favorite?
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Finding God was my favourite. It tied the novel together better than any of the others.

sirmyk said:
4. Is there anything you disliked about the novel, or anything you wish was different, or do you think Palindrome Hannah is just fine and dandy the way she is?
Click to expand...

I would have like the stories to have more continuity with each other. Of course there was Aeron and the doc and
kids running into the carver
and some other things but I felt there wasn't quite enough. Of course there is Hannah beneath it all but I would consider her story a seperate thread instead of a binding thread.
 
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