Still can't get my head around an 11 year-old military leader, but because both the writing and the characters kicked so much ass, I just went with it. Loved the shifting point of view too. On the fence whether I'll continue the others in this series. Really enjoyed this book though.
I read this in the 8th grade and for the next several years I was convinced that someone could/would drop acid in my food. Never happened, but it did happen to two friends of mine--one of whom is now my wife. So my fears clearly had some basis. Is this book good? I still remember it vividly 30 years later if that counts.
I just loved this book. So strange, so funny. If only I had realized while reading it that most of the major story lines were culled from Poitier movies... I'm eager to read more of Everett's many novels. FIVE HUGE STARS.
File under Coffee Table Books for Lit Geeks. My one complaint is the choice of celebrities: most seem to be culled from the author's friends at Harvard, while the non-literary types include a heavy dose of '90s-era rockers and chefs. I guess it would have been nice to see more variety in those picked. That said, I love the concept, the drawings, and through reading it, I was introduced to several great books (hello, Jesus' Son!) In all, thumbs up.
The techniques of an art forger--who knew??-- wrapped in a fast-paced tale of revenge and morality. I enjoyed The Art Forger immensely.
If you have this new edition, the Afterword is definitely worth reading. Palahniuk discusses the book, his life, the movie, fame, Brad Pitt, all of it.
A collection of photographs and interviews deftly spliced together, documentary style, to create a narrative about Houston's historic rap music scene. I didn't read Houston Rap as much as I studied it. I spent a lot of time researching these artists, listening to their music, reading further about the neighborhoods. Houston has an amazing music scene.
Best story: Vanilla Ice (foolishly) challenging Willie D (Geto Boys) to an after-hours rap battle at the Rhinestone Wrangler. It did not go well for Mr. Ice. Willie D tells great stories.
Best story: Vanilla Ice (foolishly) challenging Willie D (Geto Boys) to an after-hours rap battle at the Rhinestone Wrangler. It did not go well for Mr. Ice. Willie D tells great stories.
Ghost story? No problem. Fun, even. Ridiculous medically implausible twist? You lost me.
HFS borrows from the 19th century playbook of young girls falling for much older men, which in today's world is a tad creepy. I failed to be charmed. This book felt like a chore.
HFS borrows from the 19th century playbook of young girls falling for much older men, which in today's world is a tad creepy. I failed to be charmed. This book felt like a chore.
The Bell Jar was initially rejected by a publisher who described it as "disappointing, juvenile, and overwrought." I have to agree with that assessment. The novel is a tedious riff on suicide and self image loaded with the racist attitudes of the times ('50s). Asian becomes a synonym for ugly. As does Peruvian. The ward "negro" speaks in caricature. Yet, the language is given a pass because, like Flannery O'Connor, the author is revered by so many.
It's the literary equivalent of a "mirror selfie."
In a word: Blech.
It's the literary equivalent of a "mirror selfie."
In a word: Blech.
This is the funniest book in the universe, for a moment, then a page later it's unbearably sad. The story of drug addict told in electrifying prose. Short and powerful, highly recommended
A recent Everett book reading reviewed in the context of this book: http://fauxmat.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/percival-thelonious-ellison-everett/
Carver, some of the best short story writing ever. Powerful, simple, and rich. I found them to be so rich in fact, that I didn't want to read more than a few at a time. Too much to ponder in each one.
Cathedral, Where I'm Calling From, Nobody Said Anything, and Are These Actual Miles are particularly amazing and should be read by everyone. Find them online if you don't have access to the book.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Cathedral, Where I'm Calling From, Nobody Said Anything, and Are These Actual Miles are particularly amazing and should be read by everyone. Find them online if you don't have access to the book.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
I read The Plague with interest but not with awe, which is to say, I enjoyed it immensely without loving it. Camus is methodical and even-tempered and his so-called Absurdist views of the human condition are anything but. A lot of rats in this one though, so be prepared.
I read this as part of an online literature class I'm "taking," American Literature Since 1945, part of the Open Yale program. This is one of the books on the syllabus and is covered in two lectures.
Wise Blood is considered a story on the Catholic faith, but also a novel steeped in the lore of 50's-era southern gothic. Having already read O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find, I knew what I was in for, writing-wise: eerie, sometimes repulsive characters and settings, memorable scenarios, and classic southern dialogue. This novel amplifies those themes with characters like Haze, Enoch and Sabbath. The last chapter alone, with the landlady, provides a wonderful coda to this strange tale.
**** 1/2
Wise Blood is considered a story on the Catholic faith, but also a novel steeped in the lore of 50's-era southern gothic. Having already read O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find, I knew what I was in for, writing-wise: eerie, sometimes repulsive characters and settings, memorable scenarios, and classic southern dialogue. This novel amplifies those themes with characters like Haze, Enoch and Sabbath. The last chapter alone, with the landlady, provides a wonderful coda to this strange tale.
**** 1/2
Part I: Southern Nights blew me away. Mind blown. Inhaled it. Absolutely vital and incendiary writing. Everyone should read it, etc, etc.
Part II: The Horror and the Glory, which chronicles his experiences in Chicago with the local communist party, felt more a recounting of office politics. While interesting at times, a lot of it dragged. Still, I learned a lot reading it. It just wasn't the edge-of-seat material found in part I.
The story on how this book got published is quite interesting too. They cover this in the back of the book. They also include the alternate ending for part I, when that part alone was released as the original version of this novel in 1945.
Part II: The Horror and the Glory, which chronicles his experiences in Chicago with the local communist party, felt more a recounting of office politics. While interesting at times, a lot of it dragged. Still, I learned a lot reading it. It just wasn't the edge-of-seat material found in part I.
The story on how this book got published is quite interesting too. They cover this in the back of the book. They also include the alternate ending for part I, when that part alone was released as the original version of this novel in 1945.
3.5 stars
This is one of those 100-pages-at-a-time barnburners. And to think I was about to give it away. I was amazed at how many characters Follett introduced in such a short novel and how he was able to keep it all afloat throughout. Of course the content is nothing new: scary virus, bad guys, family drama, unrequited love, even a strange car chase. And it all wraps up in a nice bow at the end. But, if you want fast-paced entertainment, this fits the bill quite nicely.
This is one of those 100-pages-at-a-time barnburners. And to think I was about to give it away. I was amazed at how many characters Follett introduced in such a short novel and how he was able to keep it all afloat throughout. Of course the content is nothing new: scary virus, bad guys, family drama, unrequited love, even a strange car chase. And it all wraps up in a nice bow at the end. But, if you want fast-paced entertainment, this fits the bill quite nicely.
I was lied to in my youth (MTV, Reagan) by a young man named Gordon who, while prancing about in a British school teacher's robe, bemoaned a certain situation with a young student:
"just LIKE that
old MAN in
that BOOK by
NAB-o-kov"
The lie was in the pronunciation. But then, had he shifted the sylLABles to the correct "naBOKov," he would have destroyed the meter, and as we know Gordon likes his meter. Still, I have forever pronounced the author's name incorrectly because of it.
It took me two weeks to get through this novel. Part of it was the initial horror of the subject matter ("am I really reading this?"). Then, there's the writing itself. NaBOKov's controversial work is, above all else, a jungle of literary tricks. Realizing this (or being advised as such), I switched to the Annotated edition when I reached Part II. Doing so consolidated that which I had been Googling anyway: definitions, translations, parodies. There's the obvious, the "Lo and Behold" jokes, and there's the arcane (James Joyce, James Joyce, James Joyce). When you see the full range of riddles and references enumerated as they are in the Annotated Lolita, you appreciated the depth of NaBOKov's writing. "Lolita" is not for the casual reader. It proved a tremendous challenge for someone like me--not a literary scholar. But with guidance of the notes and Yale online sessions (three!), it was quite rewarding.
5 stars for the writing, the genius of it. -1 for the subject matter. 4 overall.
Now about those show more butterflies.... show less
"just LIKE that
old MAN in
that BOOK by
NAB-o-kov"
The lie was in the pronunciation. But then, had he shifted the sylLABles to the correct "naBOKov," he would have destroyed the meter, and as we know Gordon likes his meter. Still, I have forever pronounced the author's name incorrectly because of it.
It took me two weeks to get through this novel. Part of it was the initial horror of the subject matter ("am I really reading this?"). Then, there's the writing itself. NaBOKov's controversial work is, above all else, a jungle of literary tricks. Realizing this (or being advised as such), I switched to the Annotated edition when I reached Part II. Doing so consolidated that which I had been Googling anyway: definitions, translations, parodies. There's the obvious, the "Lo and Behold" jokes, and there's the arcane (James Joyce, James Joyce, James Joyce). When you see the full range of riddles and references enumerated as they are in the Annotated Lolita, you appreciated the depth of NaBOKov's writing. "Lolita" is not for the casual reader. It proved a tremendous challenge for someone like me--not a literary scholar. But with guidance of the notes and Yale online sessions (three!), it was quite rewarding.
5 stars for the writing, the genius of it. -1 for the subject matter. 4 overall.
Now about those show more butterflies.... show less
Kerouac misspelled Thelonious in this novel. Page 228: "..and meeting mad Thelonius [sic.] Monk."
This bothers me. And it bothers me that no one bothered to fix it, especially in this "Great Book of the 20th Century" edition. Kerouac also references a non-existent drummer named Max West (p.208) in the context of Dizzy. Pretty sure he meant Max Roach.
And finally on page 155 there's this: "Fort Lowell Road, out where Hingham lived, would [sic.] along lovely riverbed trees in the flat desert."
I think that was supposed to be "wound along lovely..."
Copy editors?
This bothers me. And it bothers me that no one bothered to fix it, especially in this "Great Book of the 20th Century" edition. Kerouac also references a non-existent drummer named Max West (p.208) in the context of Dizzy. Pretty sure he meant Max Roach.
And finally on page 155 there's this: "Fort Lowell Road, out where Hingham lived, would [sic.] along lovely riverbed trees in the flat desert."
I think that was supposed to be "wound along lovely..."
Copy editors?
I read four stories from this collection as part of the OY291 class. And I just heard footsteps upstairs. The first story, "Night Journey," is a first person narrative told by a sperm "en route" to an egg. Yes, a sperm and a smart one at that. Then there was "Ambrose, His Mark," an absolutely wonderful story about the boy who came from that sperm and his grandfather, and bees. Not sure if I should worry about this sound, or even get up and look around. The third was the title story, which relied on the metafiction technique of discussing the story as its being written. Indeed the story's trajectory AS a story changed throughout. Let's call it self-conscious writing. I could ignore it, the sound that is. It's probably a cat. The final tale we read was "Menelaiaid," a nested "frame story" based on Menelaus and Helen set in their post-Odyssey days. The framing here is achieved by the narrator, whose identity is in question, telling a story, which in turn has sub-stories, which in turn have sub-stories, which in turn have sub-stories. Barth takes this seven levels deep, using nested quotes to distinguish the place in the story. The cat just walked down the stairs. Probably okay. For example, a quote from Menelaiaid:
”"”"This is frustrating!”"”" he said, she recounted, he told me, I say.
And note the quoting.
As a software developer, keeping track of nesting is a speciality. Not a joy, but a skill I possess. "Menelaiaid" was quite possibly the closest thing I've ever show more read to code. I loved it and Barth is a genius. Yet, these techniques, as trendy as they may have been, are balanced by a superior talent with language and storytelling. So, check it out if what I describe appeals to you. Hello, kitty. It probably won't though. show less
”"”"This is frustrating!”"”" he said, she recounted, he told me, I say.
And note the quoting.
As a software developer, keeping track of nesting is a speciality. Not a joy, but a skill I possess. "Menelaiaid" was quite possibly the closest thing I've ever show more read to code. I loved it and Barth is a genius. Yet, these techniques, as trendy as they may have been, are balanced by a superior talent with language and storytelling. So, check it out if what I describe appeals to you. Hello, kitty. It probably won't though. show less
Brilliant dialogue. No chapters. So many cigarettes, so much smoking. Can you get secondhand smoke from a book? I think I need a shower. Speaking of which, that conversation in the bathroom goes on forEVER. I kept wanting one of them to LEAVE THE ROOM.
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
Short, choppy sentences which at first seemed interesting, eventually grew tiresome. Plus more racist language. What is it with these white literary types? Sick of all the n-bombs. I gave up after 50 pages.
Life's too short for morose love stories. Tossed it aside after the fifth such story in the collection. He writes well, just not about anything I care to read.
A lake and metaphors and trains and a family. In a nutshell.
