What makes Toledo a good setting for this story?

What do you know about Toledo, Ohio? What makes Toledo a good setting for this story?

I am from Ohio and think Toledo is a good setting for the story because it is unexpected. Toledo is not the city I would pick for a romance and Irene and George definitely do not have a conventional romance. These two are not your typical Romeo and Juliet and Toledo is not Verona. So it all seems appropriate.

Also this sentence describes the unexpectedness of Toledo. Ch 16 Toledo comes alive at night. It really does. While the city sleeps and dreams a thousand deaths, the young and intelligent people come out to play, like constellations bursting outin the darkness of the black sky.

I know nothing about Toledo, and for me that made it a good setting because I wasn't constantly trying to identify familiar places or find fault with the way the author described parts of the city, and could concentrate on the story.

LOL, I'm from Cleveland and I'm not entirely sure why the author chose Toledo!

I like novels that are set in unexpected locations. Ergo, Toledo makes a good location.

It was refreshing to have the story told in somewhere not usually used as a location for books or movies.

I know nothing of Ohio. Despite my ignorance it seemed to work. Any location would have served well.

Knowing absolutely nothing about Toledo, the setting could be any city in the country.

There is the lovely, historic city of Toledo in Spain and the more mundane yet lively midwestern city in Ohio to create momentary ambiguity. Toledo is home to the Toledo Astronomical Association with the motto: "We Give You the Universe" which seems particularly appropriate for our protagonists. One can imagine future "star parties" hosted by George and Irene.

I have never been near Toledo, so I can't say it is an accurate description of that city or purely fiction with the name of a relatively unknown city as a title. It did seem to note certain aspects of culture there that are different from other minor large cities.

For me personally, it worked because I know nothing about Toledo so there were no distracting thoughts about a city I know.

lindah, I love your response!
[Are we allowed to respond directly to someone's comments?]

Hi BJ

Sure you can - within reason! As a guide I suggest you apply the same "rules" you would if you were meeting in person with a book club. As such, if somebody said something you agreed with you would most likely say so. And in the same light, feel free to do so here.

Having said that, because the discussion is in a written format I encourage people to express their agreement and, when possible, add something in addition - otherwise we could end up with a long list of posts simply saying "I agree" - which wouldn't make for very exciting reading. So, on an occasion when you feel someone has absolutely hit the nail on the head feel free to express your appreciation/enthusiasm as you have here, but I'd discourage somebody from going from topic to topic simply stating that they agree without adding any additional comments - which I know you wouldn't do and in fact I don't think I've ever seen anyone in our forums do this.

I would also discourage the sort of side conversations that I see on some discussion boards - the sort of thing where two people get sidetracked into a conversation that is clearly of huge interest to them but is of little or no interest to anyone else and has no relevance to the book. But this is rather academic as it's never happened in our discussions!

Hope this answers :)

Davina (BB Editor)

I am not sure that this story couldn't have been set in most any city. Of course there is the exclamation 'Holy Toledo' which historically refers to a Christian city state surrounding the area of Toledo in Spain and since 'Black Holes' are of interest in this story seeing them from Toledo may be a play on words either intended to not.

I dont know much about Toledo but I liked it. I have read many stories using Toledo as a backdrop so it made the story a lille more interesting.