THE APARTMENT LADIES by Lee Alon

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kailhofer
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Re: THE APARTMENT LADIES by Lee Alon

Post by kailhofer »

My, there does seem to be a lot of soul-selling this month.<br><br>Reminiscent of the movie Angel Heart in that nothing is what it seems, and it's all really about bringing in souls for the Man Downstairs.<br><br>The language was grittier than most I've seen here. Not out of bounds, but a bit surprising.<br><br>I would have liked more descriptions. I didn't know much about how Raj looked, apart from the fact that she wore skin-tight jeans & carried a prime set of double dees. I don't know if Arrow, Hamper, Barony or any of the others were described.<br><br>Does the main character have a name? I missed it.<br><br>I was a little confused as to why cutting the cable was the big test, instead of blowing away the two women in his apartment. The main character seemed to think that it was already too late at that point, so I didn't understand why he needed to be tested again.<br><br>Since Sebastian tells him the whole town exists to test, is the apartment just some symbol in the struggle, or did it really control "crap" around it? If so, what "crap" is that?<br><br>At the end, I was still waiting for the big, for good or evil internal struggle as a climax, but the story moved on to the hospital. Maybe that battle has yet to be fought.<br><br>It reminded me of a verse I heard somewhere:<br>Once to every man and nation<br>Comes the moment to decide<br>In the strife of truth with falsehood<br>For the good or evil side.<br><br>Nate
Last edited by kailhofer on September 15, 2004, 10:02:27 PM, edited 1 time in total.
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Re:  THE APARTMENT LADIES by Lee Alon

Post by kailhofer »

and Nate, that was a beautiful quote. from where?
<br>It took me a bit to find it.<br><br>I read the portion I quoted in the 1973 Young Adult horror The House with a Clock in it's Walls by John Bellairs and it stuck with me since childhood, but after you asked I went looking on the net and found the complete original source:<br><br>DECIDE<br><br>Words: James Russell Lowell, in the Boston Courier, December 11, 1845.<br><br>Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,<br>In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;<br>Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,<br>And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light.<br><br>Then to side with truth is noble, when we share her wretched crust,<br>Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and ’tis prosperous to be just;<br>Then it is the brave man chooses while the coward stands aside,<br>Till the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.<br><br>By the light of burning martyrs, Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,<br>Toiling up new Calv’ries ever with the cross that turns not back;<br>New occasions teach new duties, ancient values test our youth;<br>They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.<br><br>Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong;<br>Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;<br>Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,<br>Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own. <br><br>Nate
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Re: THE APARTMENT LADIES by Lee Alon

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

Well, color me confused -- but fascinated. The story starts out as a Kafkaesque piece where the protagonist is beset by the actions of unseen authorities that are either incompetent, hostile, or both, then slides sideways into a hallucinatory maze of lies and false fronts -- "The Truman Show" with a body count.<br><br>Am I wrong, or was Winston Smith (the name of the hotel/restaurant where the protagonist meets with Raj) the 'hero' of Orwell's 1984? The connection here, of course, would be that"management" is Big Brother, knowing everything (even their subject's unexpressed thoughts), but they seem to be able to use whole buildings or even whole neighborhoods as their Room whatever-the-hell-it-was to test their subjects to destruction.<br><br>If "management" represents the forces of evil (buying or poisoning souls), who are the Apartment Ladies? They are not angels per se (unless angels carry guns), but would they be agents of 'good'? From the human standpoint, the motivations of the divine and the infernal may seem equally insane and hostile, so maybe it doesn't matter ...<br><br>The abrupt transition to the hospital with the unexplained injuries to the protagonist's hands seems to indicate that the whole story was a flashback experienced after a mission gone wrong -- or a long nightmare. Do the nurse's words mean what they seem to mean -- that Our Hero is an agent of "management", and will be given new missions as soon as he recovers from his injuries? What is real? Why do birds suddenly appear -- oops, old Carpenters song.<br><br>viz. the recent movie Identity for a storyline where really nothing is what it seems; the movie Memento for one where what the hero thinks he knows may be the biggest lie of all; the sequel to this story for the answer to the question -- are the Apartment Ladies 'good', or just a device used by "management" to disrupt and test its prospective agents?<br><br>Robert M.
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Re: THE APARTMENT LADIES by Lee Alon

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

Didn't consider sequels for this one, and you're right again come to think of it: it'll be pretty hard picking up where the plot left off, at least without totally revamping the premise.

Lee
<br>There's another route you could take -- showing the same kind of deal being made with a new lead character. The new protagonist might react to things differently, and might even fail one of his tests -- only to be eliminated by our now-bedridden assassin ...<br><br>Robert M.
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

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