Group Read: Arcadia Part 1, Chapters 1-11

Hi and welcome! This thread is for chapters 1-11 and I’ll create new threads for each set of 11 chapters for a total of 6 threads.

I’m so happy a lot of you have decided to join in. I’ve long been a fan of Iain Pears and found this novel charming and a lot of fun so I hope you will, too.

To start things off here’s a handy list of Characters in order of appearance.

Jay - 11 year old boy, belongs in Anterwold

Henry Lytten - 50-something academic in 1960 England, writing fantasy book which creates Anterwold, likes Rosie, the girl who feeds his cat

Thompson - cronie of Henry’s

Persimmon - cronie of Henry’s

Davies - cronie of Henry’s

Rosie Wilson - local girl, 15, feeds Henry’s cat

Professor Jenkins - Henry’s cat, named for horrible teacher in his past

Jack More - low-level security employee of scientific compound in the future

Angela Meerson - researcher and inventor of important and potentially dangerous tech at the scientific compound

Dr. Robert Hanslip - the ultimate bureaucrat and dictator, head of the scientific compound that employs (ed) Angela

Zoffany Oldmanter - rich and powerful head of a business that gobbles up others as investments, etc. Think Berkshire Hathaway but as run by Stalin.

Lucien Grange - sales rep/shill/fixer for Oldmanter

Alex Chang - very low level employee, worked for Angela doing data analysis and finding wayward people sent back in time. Chapter 4 seems to be trapped in the past, Rosie sees him as a beggar or someone in distress and gives him food and some money. He is confused and thinks the sponge cake disgusting.

Gunter - hapless janitor used by Angela to experiment with time travel, went mad in the 1890s and became a monk

Visitor - nameless agent of some government operating in Anterwold

Storyteller aka Scholar Henary - keeper of wisdom, tradition and all that is Objectively So in Anterwold (ha!)

Esilio - mythical figure/god in Anterwold

Callan Perelson - soldier for the Scholars and erstwhile forester/logger

Jaqui - hermit and denouncer of blind following of the Story

Etheran - deceased Scholar in Anterworld, Henary's mentor and Stoic seemingly in the vein of Cato

Portmore - Head of British Intelligence services during WW2

Sam Wind - old friend to Henry, seems to have also been in British Intelligence during WW2 and has come to rope Henry back into action (frenemy?)

Lady Catherine - Mistress of an independent domain in Willdon, Anterwold, widow of Thenald

Pamarchen - former heir of Thenald, now leader of disaffected malcontents, suspected of murdering Thenald

Gontal - Scholar

Volkov - Russian defector

I’ll add to it as new folks appear. Since I’ve read this before and know everything connects, even the most innocuous seeming person might have significance later on. I will also add to their biographies, but hide some things in spoiler tags to keep things neat.

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So as you read chapters 1-11, feel free to chime in with anything - thoughts, ideas, revelations, tangents, speculation - whatever. This is a many-layered book and has plenty of playfulness and terrific writing.

If you want to mark your posts with the chapters you’ve read up to or made your observation/notes from, that will be helpful. That way folks who haven’t read so far won’t have things given away too much. The use of spoiler tags is appreciated.

So I’ll jump right in - I’ve read up to chapter 6.

A weird thing I noticed is how similar the opening scene is to the opening scene in Daniel Martin the book I put aside to read this one. A harvesting scene in rural England where the labor is being done by hand. Kinda strange.

I made note of Rosie meeting the beggar and how bizarrely he reacted to her. Anyone else pick up on that?

Had a laugh about Professor Jenkins because it reminded me of Dr. Henry Metzger who is also a cat and the titular character in Metzger’s Dog.

Why are Angela’s pieces in first person? What does Pears want to accomplish by this? Come to think of it, John Fowles does this same thing in Daniel Martin. Am going to keep an eye out for more similarities to Fowles.

Just a few words from Angela about a vast desert where currently there isn’t one, is enough to set up a terrible feeling about the future and a world that has been wrecked.

Anterworld and Oldmanter are such similar words. Hm.

Poor Alex Chang. Stuck in the filthy past. Reminds me of the guy in Brave New World who goes to the Indian Reservation and gets similarly freaked out.

What does the Anterwold village get for its tithing and taxes? What’s the organization behind the Visitor and the Storyteller. Are those always men? Is Jay’s questioning a sign he will make a good acolyte and so they’ve hauled him off for training or something? I hope my memories of this book come back stronger than they have so far.

>2 Bookmarque: I started to type something and deleted it. I'm too far ahead to know where I discovered something important about an incident you questioned, and I don't even think spoiler tags would be enough. LOL

But yes, I am enjoying it! There is some humor, which I was not expecting at all.

Glad you are, clam. Should I set up the other threads for folks who are farther into the story?

Maybe? I am going to try to wait until I'm done to talk about it, for fear of dropping spoilers.

OK, done with a few more chapters. I'm up to 14, but will only talk up to 11. I hadn't planned on reading so much today, but skiing was a bust because it was too warm.

Anyway. So far not a lot is coming back to me about this book and I think that's terribly disappointing. I remember liking it a lot in 2015.

Think it's funny that Henry makes the Scholars in Anterwold the elites and authority figures. I guess it never hurts to dream.

On page 49 it's clear that he's written Rosie into his book as Jay's fairy apparition, but what of the actual gateway in the basement? How does that intersect with what he writes if it's real, and assumingly, belongs to Andrea?

Chuckling at Jay's attempt to bring scientific method to his studies of the Story. It reminds me a lot of Golden State, the Record and that which is Objectively So. Only those highest up in power, those responsible for setting up this method of control know it's not real and is only a method of control. The Bible, the Story and the Record - all not the word of god, the source of all wisdom or objectively so, but believed to be by everyone not in the know. Ah faith.

Had another giggle about electing an incompetent President with dyed orange hair in 1980. In 2016, too.

There has to be a hidden agenda in Henary's decision to send Jay after Jaqui.

In chapter 11 Angela appears in Henry's timeline. I love that she was storing her contraption in Tolkein's basement until he moved and she had to switch to Henry's. Just how did it influence his books and stories?

Am still unclear on how a power blip of .06 seconds could possibly have disrupted life so totally. 1000s dying. Suicides. Therapy. Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!

Anyway...that's all I have for observations, questions and weirdness through chapter 11.

>6 Bookmarque: Yes, the history was wild. I actually started to wonder if Reagen had orange hair for any of his movies.

Ok so now it's a little clearer why a zillion people in Angela's original timeline had chaos ensue from a .06 seconds disruption of power - they all have implants in their brains to give them knowledge that makes them worth keeping, sort of superpowers in some and mere instructions on how to be normal in others. It's like taking heroin away from an addict. They can't function without these things.

It's clear now that the thing in Henry's basement does belong to Andrea. We even get a MacGuyver-esque monologue of how she made it. Funny.

More connections - yes, Henary sent Jay to find Jaqui in order to see if he could come up with some more papers, probably the document known as The Devil's Handwriting which was some ancient manuscript and almost totally indecipherable because it was written in Tsou notation. Tsou is a sort of zip-file notation to compress information into pictograms which can be un-zipped to find the complete data set. Only trouble is, Tsou notation was written in Angela's original timeline - ostensibly 1000s of years after Jay's time. I love this kind of thing. Does my head in, but in a good way.

>7 clamairy: Hard to tell since so many were in black and white, but I don't think so. He seemed to favor the shoe polish look.

I finished chapter 11 last night, and am well and truly hooked by the many plot strands and characters.

I found it interesting and amusing that Angela's experiment with the two possible timelines from 1960-1980 concluded that "our" one couldn't possibly happen as it relied on too many coincidences and unlikely events.

I'm fascinated by the social structure of Anterwold, with the importance given to storytellers. And I love the casual references to Henry's connections to Tolkien, Lewis and their crowd.

I'm really looking forward to getting further into the book.

>10 Sakerfalcon:
I thought the references to Tolkien & Lewis indicated the group meeting in the pub was the Inklings group that Tolkien & Lewis associated with. Subsequent investigation indicated that they were not, but yes, like yourself, I thought it was a nice little side line. It also helped set the time context of the story.

>10 Sakerfalcon: So glad you're joining us! I hope to finish this weekend.
>11 pgmcc: Well, maybe in this timeline they weren't The Inklings...

Chapter 1

My introductory notes in the non-chapter specific thread, here, describe my reaction to the first page of Chapter 1 and how that convinced me that I was going to enjoy this book. While I thought the first page had done a lot of work in showing the land and its rural community, introducing one of the main Characters, "Jay", and outlining some of his character traits, and also stirring the readers curiosity about what lay outside the valley, I realised realised that th rest of Chapter 1 also did a big job. By page 3 we had been privy to the an apparition that has confused Jay as it contradicts everything he has been told, and also presents him a social dilemma.

We quickly shift to a meeting of some friends on Saturday in a pub and learn they all have certain interests and share these interests at their Saturday get togethers.The purpose of this shift is to inform the reader that the beautiful rural landscape and the apparition are all part of a story one of the friends, Henry Lytten, has been writing for twenty years, and he is reading an extract from his book to his friends.

The chapter switches back to more of his story, and then gives us some details of Lytten's life, and ends up introducing us to Rosie and his cat.

At the end of Chapter 1 I was left with the delight of embarking on a story that was going to have several story lines.

>13 pgmcc: You have perfectly summed up my reaction to chapter 1. I am currently reading chapter 29, nearing the halfway point. Last night I flipped back to the early parts of the book and happened to spy this exchange between Lytten and his pub mates on page 9...

'Very well, gentlemen, if you could put your drinks down and pay attention, then I will explain.'
'About time.'
'In brief. . .'
'Surely not?'
'In brief, I am creating the world.'



A seemingly throw-away line that is much more significant in retrospect. I love these types of books that not only tell an interesting story with nicely developed characters but are also smart about including such little consistencies.

>14 ScoLgo:
A seemingly throw-away line that is much more significant in retrospect.

I hadn't twigged that until you brought it to my attention with your post.

I loved the quote below from page 4.


"Where are the dragons? A whole chapter, and not a single dragon?"
Lytten scowled. "There are no dragons."
"No dragons?" said the other in mock astonishment. "What about wizards?"
"No"
"Trolls?"
"No. Nothing of the sort."
"Thand God for that. Go on."


It reminded me of a post a friend of mine posted a couple of weeks ago. They were describing a conversation they had with a young boy about a book.

Young boy said "Does it contain dragons?"
"No!"
"Well, why bother reading it then?"

Chapter 2

While Chapter 1 ended with a brief reference to Rosie, a teenaged girl who fed Henry Lytten's cat, Proferros Jenkins, Chapter 2 shows us Rosie's circumstances and presents us with incidents that become very significant as we progress through the book. I love books that drop little element in one part of a storyline that then link up with part of another storyline.

In my opening remarks in which I said page one did a lot of work, I think most pages in this book do a lot of work. That is part of the book's charm. Specifically, Chapter 2 used incidents in Rosie's life, presented in a non linear timeline, to show where Lytten got the idea of including a fairy apparition in his book. Rosie asks him about apparitions after her experience in the basement. He decides to use her experience in the basement to create the incident in which Jay witnessed a fairy in Anterworld. This all ties into >14 ScoLgo:'s point about Lytenn creating the world.

Chapter 2 identifies Rosie as a bit of a loner and someone who is bullied by her brother. She comes across as a fairly normal teenager who questions themselves about everything.

This chapter also presents us with an incident in which Rosie encounters a man lying on the ground who could be a drunk or someone who is ill. Her encounter comes across as typical of encounters any of us might have had with a drunk sleeping rough, yet this incident takes on a greater significance later in the story.

This is the chapter where we start to suspect supernatural elements to the book. So far it has been a storyteller telling a story he has written with parts of the storyteller's life being related when he is not telling the story. Next we have a real life supernatural incident happening in his basement which he writes into the story on the basis of second-hand hearsay which he does not believe to be reliable. I believe this is the first major point where Iain Pears's story starts to play with the reader's mind.

ETA I think I should amend my last sentence to read, "I believe this is the first major point where Iain Pears's story starts to overtly play with the reader's mind."

I think Pears was playing with our minds from page one.

>15 pgmcc: I didn't catch it first time through either. Arcadia is the type of book that I enjoy reading in print because it is easier to flip back & forth. There is clearly much foreshadowing that is not readily apparent. I was looking for something else and my eyes just happened to land on that exchange and... surprised pikachu face!

I have finished the first 11 chapters. I’m enjoying the book. I am looking forward to seeing how all the storylines intertwine and come together.

>17 ScoLgo: LOL
(I play Pokémon Go, so I love that mental image.)

One of the first things I noticed was Lytten's name. His written scene, however, seems to be the antithesis of a dark and stormy night.

I anticipated enjoying the need to connect the storylines, and it is fun. I didn't realize that I would enjoy the writing so much. It's been a pleasure to read.

Hypothesis: Jacqui is from Angela's world.

hey Jim! You are going to be proved right!

Did you find Lytten's writing to be very different from Pears, or do you think they are similar? I admit to not analyzing that very closely.

>16 pgmcc: You said - " I love books that drop little element in one part of a storyline that then link up with part of another storyline."

So this thing must have lit up your brain from start to finish!! Pears indeed starts playing with our minds from page one. Kind of like he does in Stone's Fall which is another favorite of mine. I remember him doing it in The Dream of Scipio as well, but I can't remember quite as much since I've only read that one once. S.F. I've read a few times.

>22 Bookmarque:
It certainly did light up my brain from the start. That is why I was so keen to get to discuss it. It is also why I abandoned taking notes and jumped right into enjoying the book.

I am tempted to reread Stone’s Fall. I really enjoyed that book.

I forgot to mention earlier that I loved Lytten's rant about Narnia. Great job of illustrating his character while also having some fun. Especially when he admits having stolen a scene from Lewis.

>24 Jim53: That was hilarious. I believe he had a lot of fun writing this book. The only other book of his I had read was The Portrait and I don't recall there being anything even vaguely amusing in that one. I think that's why I hesitated to pick up another.

>25 clamairy: & >24 Jim53:
I found myself laughing out loud at a few points in the story. Some of Angela's dismissal of things she saw as anachronistic or that she got wrong were very funny. Also, the interactions between many of the characters were very amusing.

Hi, joining the party. I've read up to Chapter 14 (listened to it as an audiobook). As I mentioned to clamairy, I almost stopped reading it after the first couple of chapters, mainly because I didn't care about any of the characters, and the story hadn't grabbed me. Because clam loved it, though, I stuck with it, and I'm so glad I did. I'm getting a lot of insight from some of the above comments, so I'm glad to be here.

The moment I realized I was really going to enjoy this book was when it was revealed that the fairy seen by Jay was really Rosie going through the curtain (the metaphoric wardrobe) in Lytten's cellar. I felt such a sense of satisfaction.

Oh I'm so glad you stuck with us! Pears lays on the fizzy in the brain thing quite a bit with this book and you caught the first one with Rosie doing that and then realizing what it was for Jay. Just wait until you read what happens when she goes back!

Swoon!

I'm up to Chapter 16 and keep having to go back to relisten to things. I'm working with an audio version which is great, but with this sort of book it's sometimes hard to just read on and on when wondering about past occurrences.