I loved Dallas on a Saturday night! Had a real blast-from-the-past moment at this. But also a pang of sorrow for Janet. That terrifying feeling that your teenage offspring are walking away, becoming someone you didn’t foresee. I want to hug Janet and tell her it’s all good; it’ll be alright. That Bridget has a conscience and is doing the Life Lesson thing in the best way possible….
I’d have done exactly that.. and it is incredibly satisfying, slightly terrifying that times passes so quickly 🙈
This book is giving me similar vibes to Jennie Godfrey’s ‘The List of Suspicious Things’. While the content is totally different, it’s that study of recent history from a young person’s POV while negotiating the flawed adults who surround them. Moments of humour woven through dark times and lessons to be learned that we must never forget.
The whole time I'm thinking this ages and ages ago. Then you do make references to Reagan and Thatcher but it wasn't until Dallas is mentioned and it hits home. Though I never watched Dallas I remember the time everyone else was. It really bugs me the relationship breakdown between mum and Bridget. It's heartbreaking.
"The headmaster didn’t recognise her even though she served him his lunch every day." Before she's dismissed by the soldiers, Janet is shown to be beneath the attention of her liberal head master. So deftly done.
“American soldiers whose eyes flicked over her as if she was just another one of the dirty women who crowded round the fire, whose camp washed up against them like so much muck on a beach.” ❤️ This says it all. Women aren’t human. Reading these chapters, I’m excited to witness the unfolding of a remarkable work of art. 👏🙏
This is so damn amazing Eleanor! Sorry to fangirl, but the comedy is perfect balanced against pathos of Janet and the plight of the other mother. This should be a streaming series.
1982: The Who's album “It's Hard” taps into early 1980s nuclear anxiety. The song “Why Did I Fall for That?” mentions the Doomsday Clock specifically: “Four minutes to midnight on a sunny day maybe if we smile the clock'll fade away maybe we can force the hands to just reverse.” Another song, “I've Known No War,” also expresses the fears and hopes for peace of those who came of age during the Cold War decades. Meanwhile the board game Trivial Pursuit becomes a cultural phenomenon. Later editions include this question: “What clock was created to adorn The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists?”
That clock was at four minutes to midnight back in 1983, it now is at ninety seconds. Reading Fallout I feel my outrage rising with each chapter. We haven't been this close ever....like Bridget's mum I feel about to burst, to join, to loose my head in favour of my heart.
Outrage Rising is my star sign, Bertus, and no more so than during the writing of this novel. I’m glad it’s having that effect. The facts of then and now should cause outrage. Thanks for your support.
We've lost much of our fear of nuclear weapons even as they have spread over the past 40 years. That nuclear weapons have not been used in war since 1945 has made us complacent.
If NATO provides Ukraine with increasingly deadly and longer range conventional weapons to use against Russian targets, then we are relying on Putin to show restraint. That situation in particularly s worrisome to me.
I loved Dallas on a Saturday night! Had a real blast-from-the-past moment at this. But also a pang of sorrow for Janet. That terrifying feeling that your teenage offspring are walking away, becoming someone you didn’t foresee. I want to hug Janet and tell her it’s all good; it’ll be alright. That Bridget has a conscience and is doing the Life Lesson thing in the best way possible….
You'll be pleased to know that I researched exact times and dates of all the tv shows so that I got them right. It pleased me, anyway.
I’d have done exactly that.. and it is incredibly satisfying, slightly terrifying that times passes so quickly 🙈
This book is giving me similar vibes to Jennie Godfrey’s ‘The List of Suspicious Things’. While the content is totally different, it’s that study of recent history from a young person’s POV while negotiating the flawed adults who surround them. Moments of humour woven through dark times and lessons to be learned that we must never forget.
The whole time I'm thinking this ages and ages ago. Then you do make references to Reagan and Thatcher but it wasn't until Dallas is mentioned and it hits home. Though I never watched Dallas I remember the time everyone else was. It really bugs me the relationship breakdown between mum and Bridget. It's heartbreaking.
Tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine before Christmas
"The headmaster didn’t recognise her even though she served him his lunch every day." Before she's dismissed by the soldiers, Janet is shown to be beneath the attention of her liberal head master. So deftly done.
“American soldiers whose eyes flicked over her as if she was just another one of the dirty women who crowded round the fire, whose camp washed up against them like so much muck on a beach.” ❤️ This says it all. Women aren’t human. Reading these chapters, I’m excited to witness the unfolding of a remarkable work of art. 👏🙏
❤️
“Greenham was like a drug she couldn’t take.” Ohhhh. This is how it happens. The power of place.
This is so damn amazing Eleanor! Sorry to fangirl, but the comedy is perfect balanced against pathos of Janet and the plight of the other mother. This should be a streaming series.
❤️❤️❤️
Poor Janet.
God, this one must have been fun to write, Eleanor.
It’s so damn good.
1982: The Who's album “It's Hard” taps into early 1980s nuclear anxiety. The song “Why Did I Fall for That?” mentions the Doomsday Clock specifically: “Four minutes to midnight on a sunny day maybe if we smile the clock'll fade away maybe we can force the hands to just reverse.” Another song, “I've Known No War,” also expresses the fears and hopes for peace of those who came of age during the Cold War decades. Meanwhile the board game Trivial Pursuit becomes a cultural phenomenon. Later editions include this question: “What clock was created to adorn The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists?”
That clock was at four minutes to midnight back in 1983, it now is at ninety seconds. Reading Fallout I feel my outrage rising with each chapter. We haven't been this close ever....like Bridget's mum I feel about to burst, to join, to loose my head in favour of my heart.
Outrage Rising is my star sign, Bertus, and no more so than during the writing of this novel. I’m glad it’s having that effect. The facts of then and now should cause outrage. Thanks for your support.
We've lost much of our fear of nuclear weapons even as they have spread over the past 40 years. That nuclear weapons have not been used in war since 1945 has made us complacent.
If NATO provides Ukraine with increasingly deadly and longer range conventional weapons to use against Russian targets, then we are relying on Putin to show restraint. That situation in particularly s worrisome to me.