{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/61",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "sflovers",
  "thread": {
    "id": 61,
    "subject": "Free Live Free",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1987-01-09T00:57:05+00:00",
    "last": "1987-01-09T00:57:05+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<sflovers-v12-12-7@digest.sf-lovers>",
      "from": {
        "name": "fernando gouvea",
        "address": "gouvea at husc4.harvard.edu"
      },
      "date": "1987-01-09T00:57:05+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: Free Live Free",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "matt at inuxg.UUCP writes:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "Now, does anyone want to discuss [...] why\nit's so difficult trying to get through \"Free Live Free\" even\nthough it's written in the most accessible language Gene Wolfe has\never produced?"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "Funny you should mention this.  I bought Free Live Free a couple of\nweeks ago and after four nights of struggle set it aside.  And this\nis from someone who LOVED TBOTNS series (I have read it four\ntimes).  Wolfe seems to draw up an interesting bunch of characters\nin FLF but they (the characters) don't go anywhere, and they are\ngoing nowhere _very_ slowly.\n\nMaybe I was expecting something more like Soldier of the Mist in\nthat not only are the characters interesting but the situations\nthemselves are interesting and layered in complexity."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I guess I'm strange, but I liked it quite a bit.  I really liked the\nway Wolfe took these character stereotypes (all four main characters\nare types we've all seen before) and brought them to life.  I found\nthe book funny, and light, and pleasant to read.  The first time\nthrough, I was a little frustrated by the convoluted ending, but the\nsecond time, when I was no longer worried about figuring out what\nwas going on, I enjoyed the book a lot.\n\nTo be sure, this is minor Wolfe, but I found it quite readable.  I\nagree that Soldier of the Mist is something far more substantial,\nbut I'm surprised people are having trouble finishing Free Live\nFree.  Maybe it's just that I like Wolfe and his writing so much\nthat I don't see the problems you all see.  Those out there reading\nthis, I vote you give FLF a try.\n\nFernando"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}