When I was reading about Botch Town in the Shadow Year, I couldn't help but get these little flashbacks to when I was a kid - my older brother and I did something pretty similar. Our Botch Town was built out of legos, though, and we just called it "the pretend world". It had most of the major landmarks of our neighborhood, although mostly they were just piles of legos we decided would be so-and-so's house or the school, or stuff like that. I guess we weren't quite as creative as the boys in the book.
Anyway, since my brother and I did something similar, it really struck a chord with me when Jim starts to spend more time out with his new friends, and Botch Town started just gathering dust in the basement. My brother is four years older than me, so when he was starting to grow out of his "pretend world" phase, I was still young enough to believe in it. So that image, of Botch Town being neglected and gathering dust, is a really strong image for me.
I noticed, though, that when the mom started drinking pretty heavily again, Jim started up with Botch Town again. I guess it was the way he coped with his mother drinking so much.
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Your last point is very interesting. I viewed Botch Town as a hobby that then became a useful tool for predicting the locations of the real town's inhabitants, but it does seem to be an escape.
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