Still not sure if anyone frequents these pages but I thought if I had a question about Danny it makes sense to ask it in a forum meant for Danny. It doesn't seem to work as well if I just shout my questions at random people on the street and then curse them for not knowing the book, that can appear psychotic. Anyway here's the question.
There is a story mentioned in Danny by John about something that Ian had once told him (I know that’s a confusing sentence). The story is about a broken mirror and a piece of the mirror getting stuck in a boys heart when it smashes. Is this the story of the snow queen? Also does Ian tell the story in the book at any point, because no matter how many times I read the book when I get to the part John mentions the story I can't remember whether I have read the story in the book or if I'm just remembering the actual story.
It's been really annoying me for ages now because when I ask people I know who have read the book they don't seem to know what I'm talking about. That may be because they haven't heard it and I only remember it because I liked the story so much when I was younger. If anyone knows/thinks that this is the story the book is referring to and if the actually story is told in Danny please put me out of my misery and give me an answer. Thanks
There is a story mentioned in Danny by John about something that Ian had once told him (I know that’s a confusing sentence). The story is about a broken mirror and a piece of the mirror getting stuck in a boys heart when it smashes. Is this the story of the snow queen? Also does Ian tell the story in the book at any point, because no matter how many times I read the book when I get to the part John mentions the story I can't remember whether I have read the story in the book or if I'm just remembering the actual story.
It's been really annoying me for ages now because when I ask people I know who have read the book they don't seem to know what I'm talking about. That may be because they haven't heard it and I only remember it because I liked the story so much when I was younger. If anyone knows/thinks that this is the story the book is referring to and if the actually story is told in Danny please put me out of my misery and give me an answer. Thanks


Comments
While I'm here - my time is brief, I'm working as a trainee manager in Debenhams while I wait for an eleventh hour decision on my post-grad funding - I thought that you might like to hear a quote from my dissertation on "Huxley's Legacy". I made a list of 100 post-Huxley novels that have shaped the form and here's my one-liner on Danny.
"At first glance Danny seems to be a throw-back to the Victorian novel with it's thousand-page length and wealth of character detail but on careful reading it is the definitive product of the twenty-first century. The prose is sparse and word-processed to find and remove all superfluous adverbs and it's real-time narrative is reminiscent of the insomniac watching Big Brother in the small hours, sifting through chance conversations to glean small insights into the motivations of the characters. A classic."
Val
DUMB TWAT.
I know it sound simplified but why don't you all just read another book and slag that one off for a couple of years.
LOOK, I EVEN MADE IT WITH A HAIRY SCOTSMAN ON IT, DRAWN IN ICING. (AND YES, I AM AWARE MOST PIES DO NOT HAVE ICING. BUT I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS PRETTY AND EVEN YOU MUST LIKE PIE!)
At last I can release the truth.
AND YOU NEVER CALL ME WHEN I SEND YOU FLOWERS OR ANYTHING! :( I'M BEGINNING TO THINK OUR ENGAGEMENT WAS FALSE, CHANCERY-BABY.
Jill xxx
Oh, wait a minute I’m preaching to the choir.
Live Journal has this amazing feature where you can reply directly to the person you're speaking to instead of posting a completely new comment. Just hit "reply to this comment", it's so easy!
How come Henderson is your favorite, although I think he is a useful character that moves the plot along, I never really warmed to the character enough to miss him at his demise.
What makes you favor him.
I'm anonymous because I didn't like the way Chancery treated other people who commented on her book and I don't want her to visit my lj or to be linked to her in any way. I do really like Henderson however, and wanted to take the opportunity to say so.
You are completely entitled to any opinion and will not be insulted for it I am also entitled to disagree with it, therefore a debate may occur (yay finally), not an argument.
I disagree that all the other characters are out of touch with reality, its just that there reality differs from everyone else. Their family set up is fucked up and this has bled into the way there interact with everyone else. They are, I agree, not respectable members of society and have very deep problems but that’s what makes them interesting I wouldn’t want to read about people with out any problems.
If the book had been written like you suggest it would have been that Danny slept with some members of his family a few times then found a policeman he wasn't related to, wasn't attracted to, didn't even really like but was an escape from his brother who he has never actually wanted to escape from. Also what’s so moral about Henderson he saw two men getting down to it in a car, got turned on and decided to harass/bribe all of them into sleeping with him because he couldn't get the one he actually wanted. I don't think Henderson even wanted Danny really, so to me that is a terrible couple.
Also, and I know no one will agree with this but, I think John is a much better role model, even though he does terrible and hurtful things he has good points. He never apologizes for something when he thinks its right, he has his own opinion on thing that aren't tainted by society, he thinks that if he wants something he'll have it fuck everyone else and their preconception, he doesn't care what anyone else thinks, which is in my opinion the most important thing you can ever learn.
Obviously on deep down he does get cut up about the things he does but he isn't vulnerable or pathetic so the person he appears to be is someone to admire a lot more than Henderson therefore I think Danny was better off staying put. Henderson was vain and pathetic, a coward, a snob, envious of what others had, always wanted to show he was better than everyone else, he definitely cared what others thought and he had to get pissed to get fucked, this is not a noble man.
In my opinion, Danny does not need a role model, that is not what the book is about, so much has happened to Danny in 20 years that hardly anything is going to change him now anyway. His problems are too rooted in who he now is to ever change. The book is not about Danny finding a way out, because Danny finds it many times in the book but always hangs about long enough to make sure someone else makes sure he doesn’t take it, because in reality he wants to stay where he is.
Is there honestly no one else in the book that you had any interest in?
The book is not about Danny finding a way out, because Danny finds it many times in the book but always hangs about long enough to make sure someone else makes sure he doesn’t take it, because in reality he wants to stay where he is.
You've actually summed up why I'm not interested in the other characters. I'm not putting you down, you can like what you want. Everyone's entitled to their opinions. In my case, I'm supremely uninterested in people who don't want to grow. Danny wanting to stay where he is makes for a boring story because it's just more of the same, day after day. I'm far more interested in the journey (emotional journey, that is). Henderson might not have been perfect but he was on a journey and that made him interesting.
His problems are too rooted in who he now is to ever change.
I have a lot of problems with this way of thinking. Danny's screwed up but thinking that you can't change is just an excuse, you know?
It's been fun and as we fundamentally disagree on the premise of the book, it's time to part. Thanks for the chat!
This is Jodie by the way couldn't get my login to work