#fellow travelers book

[kjaerestemin]

for a lot of scenes between lucy and hawk there is a parallel scene between tim and hawk that shows how surface level the relationship between lucy and hawk is. a few examples:

lucy was gifted a tiffany bracelet by hawk for christmas while a few scenes before we saw that tim was gifted hawks cufflinks with the initials h.f. on them. hawk gives tim something personal, a part of him while he gives lucy, while expensive and beautiful, something materialistic with no personality attached to it whatsoever.

episode six was full of these parallels. we see lucy and hawk having sex. they're both fully clothed, it's quick and unpersonal. hawk seems to have sex with her that night for two reasons: one, he wants to prove to her that he is, in fact, aroused by her. that he can be the man she needs. he wants to prove to her that he can be that man because he saw her flirting with Chet Stover. he saw them coming out of the house together during the firework scene. hawk is, after all, a jealous man that likes to claim his property. he does not want to be ridiculed by his friends and least of all by his wife.

if we compare that to the several scenes where we see tim and hawk being intimate, we can see a very big difference. first of all they're never fully clothed, this symbolizes that they're open with one another. there are no secrets between them, no barriers holding them back when it's just the two of them. secondly, they don't just "have sex" they're intimate. they play with their kinks, they tease each other; it's about pleasure between them, not about performance, like it is for hawk with lucy.

in episode six we also see lucy and hawk struggling with raising jackson. neither of them know how to talk to him, which results in frustrations on both sides. then we're shown jackson interacting with tim. tim understands jackson, he knows what the boy is going through (because he's been through the same; not feeling loved by hawk the way he wanted to feel loved by him). we get a glimpse of how happy a family tim, hawk and a child (jackson in this case) could have been. how great a team they would make if given the chance. the way hawk shows up differently for his son after his talk with tim, the way jackson opens up to tim and feels understood by him.

lastly, another lovely detail to show the personal relationship between hawk & tim vs the impersonal one between hawk & lucy. hawk gives tim the nickname "skippy" after 0.001 seconds of knowing him, while he keeps referring to lucy as "lucy smith".

i love how fellow travelers shows the hardships queer people had to face in the past. especially because it doesn't show just one story but different one's and includes poc voices!!

[19emma75]

fellow travelers book quotes that make me cry

[deputy-buck]

Tim, thinking he's winning the Catholicism Championship by never having an impure or immodest thought about a woman: man, why are all the other boys struggling with this? It's so easy!

Tim, upon seeing a detailed depiction of Jesus crucified: oh, oh no-

[judehatesmaths]

SPOILERS FOR ig future episodes (idk if 4th?) Of Fellow Travelers

OKAY SO I've just watched like the insider look of the show (ikik) BUT in one part they show a bit from a scene where it's like Christmas and Tim is helping setting the table, and a woman (maybe his sister like in the book) notices HIS CUFFLINKS

AND OFC THE CUFFLINKS SAY H.F BC THEY'RE HAWK'S

So that means we are getting that scene BUT ALSO this one probably much later

THAT ONE I think (if we're going by the book) if of them either:

1. in the red brick building where Hawk takes Tim to the second floor and there Tim says I love you and Hawk DOES reply I love you too.

2. The bell tower (belfry) where they "break up?" And Tim asks Hawk to hold him over the ledge so he can throw the empty milk bottle he still kept and then start getting over Hawkins

[mrsrobertfloyd5]

I was mid-writing a paper and then thought of Tim "skippy" Laughlin and now I'm crying and can't focus on my paper this story is RUINING ME

[slayerchick303]

I finished reading Fellow Travelers. I was fine until the last few paragraphs. I am unwell now.

It looks like the show is going in a vastly different direction than the novel. I'm not super concerned by that because I feel like the changes the show has made have, in large part, been for the better.

I highly recommend both the book and the show.

[bluebelle88]

A comment on Fellow Travelers. Book vs Miniseries. When the credits say based on they mean inspired by.

The book follows a single timeline set entirely in the 1950s it is much more political. I will say the Skippy nickname is actually explained, though. I prefer the political alignments of the book. Its open narrative follows multiple storylines using multiple narrators.

The series is more sexual. Jumps through time and follows Tim and Hawk with the politics as a concern around them. It feels like it is using Tim, Hawk, Marcus and Frankie to tell a story of the socio-political situation of the times.

The one thing both have in common is a potential interpretation of Hawk's behaviour. He is very easy to dislike and requires thought to understand.

I did DNF the book because I wasn't fully grasping the politics or interpersonal connections. I'm stopping the show after episode 3 because I'm just not enjoying it. And there is so much conflict between the series and the book.

[lovedeathalice]

Book Tim makes me want to rip my fucking hair out oh my fucking god BOY STAND THE FUCK UP

[winged-fool]

Okay episode two! I'm liking Lucy's character so far, she wasn't really fleshed out in the book and served very much as the foil to Hawk and Tim's relationship.

[lunasinfuego]

Hello new book

[alorchik]

[the sun hit the sharp lines of Hawk’s chest and collarbone, illuminating him like something sacred, like something Tim had only seen in his dreams. It was gorgeous.]

[Hawk looked wrecked, he looked ruined, so full of bliss that it hurt.]

[and it was the most breathtaking thing Tim had seen.]

[deputy-buck]

"He was buried wearing your cufflinks."

FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU

[judehatesmaths]

Wait, nothing happens to his son in the book?? Wow. That's a super odd change to make. I guess I can see that they needed a catalyst since they extended their physical relationship but what a heartbreaking change.

He actually doesn't have a son in the books!

In the books we only get that he has a daughter and tim knows that Hawk is having a kid before she's born. After he finds out the birth, he goes to the hospital but finds that Hawk and Lucy and the baby already left by one nurse who tells him and he's actually relieved that Hawk had a daughter and not a son, bc he wouldn't be able to bear if there was like a mini Hawk to put it in words xd

[slayerchick303]

In the series, Lucy obviously knows about Hawk and Skippy's history.

How do you think she finds out about them? In the show as well as book, Hawk and Tim are careful not to leave evidence of their relationship (in the show, even more so). The series makes a point of depicting that they don't meet at the office, don't write each other letters, try not to be seen together without beards present, etc.

I don't see Hawk telling Lucy of his own volition. The show is obviously changing a lot from the book. Do you think it's something there? Like, could circumstances possibly force Hawk into revealing it (I don't think it would be the event in the book)? Does someone else out them? I can see his assistant, Jean, doing that.

I, personally, am leaning towards Lucy catching them fucking. I hope that's not the case because that would be freakin' heartbreaking for Lucy. Thoughts?

I guess we'll see what happens after episode 5 until the end of the series. If they don't address how Lucy discovered Hawk and Skippy's relationship, I'll be kind of pissed.

[woofety]

"I should have been more careful. It's all this pretending, I... You think I'd be good at it, I've been doing it my whole life." "Well, hiding a part of yourself and killing it are two different things." "Maybe it is better to kill it and be finished with it. It's better than... constantly yearning for something you can't have."

[cupiiid]

im so sorry but fellow travelers is literally just a screen adaptation of the classic 2012 destiel fanfiction twist and shout