Lets discuss HMMM.

What do you feel is the major theme of the book?

I felt that youth/innocence was paradoxically lost by some characters and gained by others. I felt like many of the adults in the book felt regret about their lost youth and envy Jim and Will for their youth. For example Charles Halloway feels that he is too old to raise a son, and that he and Will have nothing in common, no shared ground where a relationship can be built. For that he feels locked within himself, and his library, and is really a very sad character until the end, where he rediscovers his youth and his joy. I think that this demonstrates a minor theme of the book, that age does not dictate happiness. Other examples of adults pining for their youth include: Mr. Crossetti - he cries when he smells the cotton candy of the approaching carnival and is reminded of his lost youth. Miss Foley is described as lonely and "quickly greying" and generally seems unhappy with who she is. She is distraught by the mirror maze, perhaps because she doesn't care for her repeated aged reflection. Charles Halloway has a similar experience in the mirror maze, where he sees himself as ancient, one step away from death. Miss Foley is apparently drawn to reclaim her youth through the carnivals offerings. Charles halloway also regains his youth, but in a healthier way, he learns to connect with his son, and relive his youth through his son, a trick I think most of us fathers learn at some point.

Jim seems bound to give up his youth throughout the entire novel. This willingness, almost obsession with giving up his youth stands in sharp contrast with the other characters of the book. Jim also has an "experience" with the mirror maze. He tels Will that he wouldn't understand, and we are not told exactly what Jim saw in the mirrors, but he must have seen himself as a vulnerable or otherwise undesirable in his youth. He seems almost determined from that point to ride the carousel.

What are your thoughts about the mirror maze? I felt that it allowed the charactes a moment of "reflection" upon their life. I though this particular symbolism of reflection was absolutely brilliant.

What is your favorite passage?

Any other thoughts?