It may be in the film as well, but I havn't seen it, but I'm enquiering about a joke early on in the novel. At his father's apparent expense, Jack says something like 'I saw something shocking in the garden today. A flower.' Nobody I've asked understands this joke, does anyone know?
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No, he made a garden and then decided to clear it away (hence at the beginning getting all that cement and starting to clear it). I think the joke was that Jack called it something shocking, and it's just a flower. But I'm probably compleatly off. I remember reading that in the script and laughing myself. I can't recall, but I think in the book, it has a different context...he's telling it to Julie in front of their dad, though I may be wrong.
shareI was confused about that as well. I didn't remember specifically the book saying that the father cleared the flowers, all I remember was that he had tulips and no roses or bushes because they were "confusing" or something like that.
I wish for this nighttime to last for a lifetime...
Of course. Funnily enough I've just re-read the novel recently and picked up on a few things I'd missed before. Julie and Jack have planned this joke for a long time, as they've been the butt of their father's jokes for quite some time. It is staged at the dinner table and receives little reaction. It is aimed at the father, but Jack looks for reassurance in the joke from Julie across the table.
The garden is not made of concrete at this point, but the father chooses the plants precisely and plants them exactly spaced along the garden's edge. The joke refers to the fact that there are no flowers in the garden at this point, as the father has to 'take it easy' since his heart attack and has not tended to it for quite some time. This leads to him being 'fed up' with his garden, ordering the concrete, and attempting to concrete over the entire garden - to which he fails in completing and has a heart attack in the process of trying.
That should give you a clue as to why the joke was made, and as to why it should be funny. I hope. :)
oh! that wasn't in the film...and i missed that. Thanks.
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