The beginning totally took me back to the joys of the college process. I love how well Wallace has college admission people pegged. Their way of talking was spot on, and the absurdity and artificiality of the whole affair seemed all too familiar to me. I really got a kick out of the terrified kid sitting in a chair surrounded by a mob of different adults, all sort of debating and nicely arguing about his future. In a way, it was almost like he's a young king or prince or something (no connection, but suddenly I think of Prince Hal from King Henry IV).
When Hal calls Mario Booboo, I thought about Yogi Bear. At first I figured that Mario was younger…but I think he's older, right? Doesn't the relationship between Hal and Mario seem strange in that case? Does being an athlete somehow make him older or more respected (Hal that is)? What's the deal?
Yeah, I actually thought that Mario was younger for a good section of the reading, but on page 101 (slightly after where we ended, I know) it talks about Hal's eldest brother Orin and Hal's "next oldest brother Mario." We haven't seen much of Mario throughout the narrative so far-- we saw Orin, and certainly Hal, but Mario seems a bit . . . left out. I wonder if there's a specific incident that made Hal's and his relationship atypical (in terms of age relations), or maybe it has to do with Mario's personality, or something. I'm guessing that we're going to learn more about it and see more of Mario, though.