Not Understanding by Mihangel

[Nigel Gordon]

In case some of you missed it, and I suspect as nothing has been posted so far about it most of you have, Mihangel has posted another completed novel and it has gone directly into the newest completed novel section. Please Mike, any chance you could put them up a chapter at a time? I now have to face the torment of knowing that there is some writing by one of the best authors around, not just on AD, and not being about finish it as I have other commitments.

To Hell with the other commitments, I have just finished the first two chapters and (as normal with Mihangel's work) I'm hooked. Don't see why I should suffer alone, so go off and read it. You can find it here:

http://awesomedude.com/mihangel/not-understood/index.htm

It is well worth reading, then anything by Mihangel is worth reading.

Nigel

[Mihangel]

Many thanks, Nigel. But not Mike's fault. Mine. In this case some of the chapters are so short that they could hardly go up only one at a time. But in any event I have deep difficulties over serials. I'm never happy at having to wait weeks or months to see the whole thing, and my own stories have always been written to be posted and read at one go. Call me weird (and Mike no doubt calls me something worse), but that's the way it is. At least the next one to go up (which will be the last of those transferred) will be a compromise, broken down into bunches of chapters.

[Merkin]

Has it been nearly ten years since I read this wonderful story for the first time? It has stuck in my mind ever since. It led me to the song lyrics and the poetry of Robert Hunter, where you can lose yourself for days, and that's without the music. It almost led me to want to study the history of Wales, but I caught myself in time at the edge of that precipice, knowing I was ill-suited to understanding without a lifetime of immersion. Not least, It led me to a deep appreciation for a writer who makes the effort to lead gently and explain clearly along the way, so that someone like myself can accept and embrace the bittersweet circumstances of this insightful story.

[Nigel Gordon]

Many thanks, Nigel. But not Mike's fault. Mine. In this case some of the chapters are so short that they could hardly go up only one at a time. But in any event I have deep difficulties over serials. I'm never happy at having to wait weeks or months to see the whole thing, and my own stories have always been written to be posted and read at one go. Call me weird (and Mike no doubt calls me something worse), but that's the way it is. At least the next one to go up (which will be the last of those transferred) will be a compromise, broken down into bunches of chapters.

There is no way I would call you weird but last night I ended up calling you many other things as I found myself trapped reading this remarkably well written tale. Yesterday I visited Avebury and touched the Goddess stone, aski9ng in my pray, amongst other things, for delight and entertainment, I see she answered my pray. I must remember the gifts of the gods can also be curses, I know have a pile of work to do which I should have been doing last night, whilst I was reading your story and will no doubt end up having to miss the Canadian Grand Prix. The thing is I'm not sure who to blame, you for writing such excellent material or Mike for not forcing you to break it down into part? In the end probably only myself for not having the will power to turn aside from my decadent enjoyment of terrific writing and get on with my work. It was just too good to miss.

[Gee Whillickers]

I saw this yesterday as well, and then stayed up way too late until I finished the entire thing. Believe me, it was worth it. Well done!

[Lugnutz]

I couldn't understand some parts, but the rest is pretty universal. I like it.

[Nick Deverill]

I've now re-read it and it is a very worthy tale telling as it does tell of a condition that gets scant coverage.

[colinian]

I've avoided Mihangel's Not Understanding because I'm loaded with other things to do like a project I brought home from work because my developers can't figure out why it doesn't work. But I needed a short break and decided to explain why I haven't commented on his story.

Sometimes it's not good to be able to resist temptation.

Colin

[The Pecman]

Sometimes it's not good to be able to resist temptation.

Remember what Oscar Wilde said: "Sometimes, the only way to deal with temptation is to yield to it."

[colinian]

A smart man, that Oscar Wilde.

Colin

[gwilym.pocock]

This story really got me thinking about the issues. Could I do what Kenneth did? I don't think i could. I suppose because I haven't experienced love that strong yet.

The novel was amazingly written, with excellent grammar and sentence structure. You have an epic vocabulary.

One problem I had was not realising that the viewpoint changes characters, which confused me until the third chapter. It is pretty obvouis, in hindsight. There are massive titles at the top saying the character. Some books use different fonts to denote different characters.

[Nick Deverill]

I think the changes in chapter first person (the bloke wot's telling the tale) is correctly handled. I don't like the practise of writing "Eric's P.O.V." then Joe's "P.O.V." as it looks messy, often a reflection of the author's inadequacies and usually breaks the rule on the use of T.L.A.s (three letter abbreviations).