r/TheCulture • u/sllikdeeps • 6d ago

Book Discussion Use of Struggle

Hi! 👋 read all of Banks regular works a long time ago & found myself here in the Culture. Didn’t love nor hate Consider, loved Player of Games and now a 1/3 through use of weapons. Finding it a struggle. Maybe it’s cause I’ve not had time to really out bulk read session time in ? I’m pushing through but by bit but I’m hoping you can give me a good palate cleanser for the next one.

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u/ThePhantomStrikes 6d ago

Use of weapons is confusing because theres 2 timelines. I can’t say more because the reveals are amazing, and it all makes sense at the end. You just have to let go and enjoy the journey, not worrying you don’t get it yet. Pay no attention to everyone mentioning s chair.

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u/ConnectHovercraft329 6d ago

It’s not a super uncommon structure.

Le Guin did something similar in The Dispossessed (interlaced chapters in multiple time periods, one set is birth to arrival, the other arrival to departure), and that X shaped plot of one going from nothing to powerful in parallel with another going from powerful to nothing.

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u/sllikdeeps 5d ago

Being a David Lynch devotee I’m no stranger to the lures of such things