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Merill? Merith? Something like that? Rebekah Send a noteboard - 25/02/2016 07:45:18 PM

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View original postHuh. Which passage was that? I don't remember that at all.


View original postIn the first book, Barak is described as being estranged from his wife, seeing as little of her as possible, while she acts extremely formal and cold towards him. A bit later, they have a conversation where she says "My lord was quite insistent about certain rights and duties on the night of his return to Val Alorn. Not even the locked door of my bedchamber was enough to curb his insistence."


View original postTo which Barak then replies "All right, I'm sorry about that. I hoped that things might have changed between us. I was wrong. I won't bother you again."


View original postAnd that, apparently, is that; when she continues with "A good wife is obliged to submit whenever her husband requires it of her - no matter how drunk or brutal he may be when he comes to her bed", Barak and apparently Eddings both feel she's just playing the martyr and making a mountain out of a molehill. Surely it's not just me who finds that disturbing.

It's definitely disturbing. I recall her being written as very bitter and spiteful and I wonder if it was just meant to be a problem in their marriage of miscommunication/misunderstanding. Eddings, IMO, wasn't very good at writing that kind of thing.
View original postOf course, by the end of the series, she has given birth to a son, conceived on the night in question, and suddenly they reconcile because clearly having sons does that to couples and never mind their two elder daughters. Or that rape.

Grim.



View original postWhile we're at it, the preceding chapter has one of the few exceptions to what I said about violent behaviour like in the Elenium, when Barak tries to murder an old woman for making predictions he doesn't like. Charming fellow all-round, really.

But it's ok because it wasn't his fault he basically turned into a bear! (That was him, yes? It has been quite a few years since I read them.) Blame Cherek Bear-Shoulders.

I am going to have to reread them sometime soon with a critical eye and decide whether I want my children to read them as young as I did (10).

*MySmiley*

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
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