Like her? Hate her?

I guess I pretty much thought she was a bitch at first, getting Shadow into jail and cheating on him while he was there. But almost as soon as she came back I started to like her, and did moreso throughout the course of the book. She clearly really did love Shadow.

Only thing that bugged me was when she told him he wasn't really alive. I think that was a pretty harsh statement, myself...

IMO her personality greatly improved upon death.

"The secret to enlightenment is to lighten up"

Ah -- but we never saw her alive, did we?

But I see your point. She became humble, or something.

quote:

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Originally posted by Libbette:

Only thing that bugged me was when she told him he wasn't really alive. I think that was a pretty harsh statement, myself...

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I guess the dead don't care too much about being tactful, they just speak the truth.

like all the characters in the book, i found myself with mixed emotions. at first i found her beatiful in the eyes of shadow, then i found a terrible hate for her, soon enough i found love for her charecter. well, she did love shadow, and she proved that more than once,
"some times you have to lose it all to know that you have anything in the first place" me

Well, I read the book some time ago and pretty fast, but I got the impression she did what she did in the end not out of pure love, but rather like she owed him something.
i'm not saying Laura didnt love Shadow, but.. At first, through Shadow's eyes, they seemed a perfect couple. But then I got the impression her love was more a kind of "friend" love, she loved him coz he loved her, but she didnt love him in the same way. At least that's what I thought.

can you guys help me out? does anyone remember or know if Laura has a last name in the book? I dont have mine right now, I let someone borrow it and now I cant remember? I hope someone knows! thanks!
phillip

It's Laura Moon. There's speculation that Moon is her married name, thus Shadow's name would be Shadow Moon. However, I don't think there's any firm evidence of this.

=Brian

Her father's last name was McCabe. It was brought up about 2/3's of the way through the book, when she peeked in on her family at Christmas time, I think (too lazy to go look up right now).

Here's everything I gathered about Laura that I posted at another thread that no one responded to.

Ahhh, well done. I am quite impressed. I read over it, but quickly and I didn't link it to this thread.

Of course, her mom could have kept her maiden name, and Laura could have taken that, but I'm just teasing now.

=Brian

Well, that's certainly possible. And Neil does seem willing to complicate things. But I didn't run across anything that counters McCabe as her maiden name, and it is the simplest explaination.

I personally really loved her character by the end of the book (although, I too read it rather quickly).

Laura (her role) reminded me a bit of Samwise (from LotR). She seems like a minor character at first (also considering she dies very early in the book ); but by the end of the story you realize how major of a role she actually plays (although Sam was on a slightly grander scale).

I thought Laura will live again via the Thunderbirds.

Defy Life

I hated her the moment I found out she was cheating on Shadow. Hey, that's the way I was raised. Adultery = no-no

But like a lot of you are saying, by the end of the book it was difficult to feel so harshly about her.

And I never saw the slight paralells between her role and Samwise's in LOTR. That's an interesting theory I'll need more time to mull over, but definitely worthwhile.

I also think her judgement of Shadow's non-liveliness was unfairly harsh. I mean, I had not yet gotten the idea that he was strangely quiet inside. Not at all. If anything, I thought it was the silence of a storm. Slow to anger-type thing, ya know?

Oh well. Anywho, I'm glad she's dead and out of his life, but I don't hate her anymore. He needed to move past her, though.


-Xeno

______________________________

"I did not die, and did not remain alive; now think for thyself, if thou hast any grain of ingenuity what I became, deprived of both death and life." - Dante

At first, I thought Laura seemed like such a nice sweet woman from how Shadow saw and remembered her, then when I found out about her affair with Robbie, I thought much less of her. After she began to talk to Shadow again though, I guess I began to understand her a little more, and I really liked her by the end of the book. I don't think what she said to Shadow about not really being alive was too harsh, at least not to her. She said at one point something to the effect that she didn't really feel emotions too strongly after she died, so she probably didn't think anything of it, especially since, in a way, she was telling the truth. I dunno, maybe I'm just rambling, but I really loved her quiet, dead apathy that just seemed so natural to her. I'm not even sure I would have liked her had she been alive.

<i>"Does the walker choose the path or the path choose the walker?"</i>

Scarlet*Ibis - Yes! That's it!

I don't like Laura alive, but dead she's not so bad.

Wonderfully worded, by the way.

-Xeno

______________________________

"I did not die, and did not remain alive; now think for thyself, if thou hast any grain of ingenuity what I became, deprived of both death and life." - Dante

"We are the Dreamers of the Dream." - Arthur O'Shaughnessy

"What is art? Fuck art! I am Art." - Marilyn Manson

Ooo, go put that in the Who is Shadow thread. The whole Baldur things relates to that.

She wasn't commenting on his ability to love, well, maybe on the surface, but underneath, she was confirming that he was Baldur,and hadn't been brought back from death yet.

man, quit making me think. It makes my head hurt. :P

If you consider the fact that Shadow being put in jail seems like a setup by Wednesday/Loki, then Laura's roll in the action that got him put in jail seems important.

Also, think of her name being slightly mythological (even if it's her married name). "Oh swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, who monthly changes her circled orb" (R&J, Shakespeare).... she's inconstant-- right, so hence her affair and her "changing" in the book. Then wonder if her resurrection might not have something to do with her not being entirely human herself? Maybe?

Just a thought. I might very well be full of it.

I'm not sure if this fits in with everything, but the similarity is striking (and I hadn't seen anyone else mention it ..)

The gold coin shadow gives to Laura that "reanimates" her is called the sun. Later, while in the Chicago apartment, Shadow receives a silver dollar, called the moon. I believe Wednesday says something to the effect of giving him the sun to protect him (shadow) but now only the moon is left. A hazy recollection, as I read AG about 5+ months ago ..

quote:

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I believe Wednesday says something to the effect of giving him the sun to protect him (shadow) but now only the moon is left.

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I seem to remember something like that too, and it makes a lot of sense, since Mad Sweeney said something to the affect that he was in a lot of trouble for giving Shadow 'the wrong coin'. It must have been important for that to happen, and the sun seems fairly important to me.

"Does the walker choose the path or the path choose the walker?"