Where do I even begin? I re-read 'Fight club' for the third time this week, and plus the endless pop references to it and the popularity of the movie, I would bet I about know the thing by heart by now. Neither the nihilistic message nor the 'fight' club its self are the invention of the author, Chuck Palahniuk. Fight clubs have existed since the beginning of civilization, and nihilism has its ancient history as well.
Even all the unthinkable anecdotes throughout the story (Tyler splicing pornography into family films, The narrator attending cancer support meetings despite his being cancer free to make himself feel better) Palahniuk has openly admitted are recollections borrowed from his friends and their friends.
However fight club is an incomparable book, its impact and message is incomparable to any other books on its subject, indeed almost any book of the century. This is because of Palahniuk’s ability to discern and translate the feelings of a generation. His mastery of story telling is truly unparalleled in the past half century of writing, and ok, he’s actually really original. I just wanted to point out that it’s his ability to comprehend and communicate through metaphors like "I ran. I ran until my muscles burned and my veins pumped battery acid. Then I ran some more."
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
The Fountainhead
I'm rereading the Fountainhead. This will be a difficult book blog, because 'The Fountainhead' is one of those books that you really want to see the facial expressions of the person your communicating about it with. Truth is, i like the fountainhead a lot. Yes, the constant push of objectionism gets old quick, but i read the book first when i didn't know about Rand or her philosophy, and i appreciated the book as exceptional characters surviving in fifties society. I don't think there is really any need to get up in arms about Ayn Rand, and i don't want to talk about or participate in her philosophy. Her books, on the other hand.
As far fetched as Objectionism is, Ayn is really good at creating passionate indignation in a girl. Some of her speeches are just flat persuasive. This is partly because she is the queen of logical fallacies. Seriously, sometimes she just flat out lies, but since her work is fiction, and its Howard Roark claiming whatever, not Rand. Obligatory Ayn Rand hate fest '09 behind us, i love this book. I love the characters, who are fleshed out so refreshingly, and the speeches, and her descriptions are amazing. Since I'm not about to summarize the fountain heads entire plot, i will just quote my favorite 2 quotes in the first 2 pages. first, in her description of Howard Roark, who stands at the edge of a cliff over a lake which reflects the sky; "a contemptuous mouth, shut tight, the mouth of an executioner or a saint." that description stayed with me throughout the book, and played a huge role in how i perceived Roark. The other quote is this "He stepped to the edge, raised his arms, and dived down into the sky below."
Now that, that is just pretty.
As far fetched as Objectionism is, Ayn is really good at creating passionate indignation in a girl. Some of her speeches are just flat persuasive. This is partly because she is the queen of logical fallacies. Seriously, sometimes she just flat out lies, but since her work is fiction, and its Howard Roark claiming whatever, not Rand. Obligatory Ayn Rand hate fest '09 behind us, i love this book. I love the characters, who are fleshed out so refreshingly, and the speeches, and her descriptions are amazing. Since I'm not about to summarize the fountain heads entire plot, i will just quote my favorite 2 quotes in the first 2 pages. first, in her description of Howard Roark, who stands at the edge of a cliff over a lake which reflects the sky; "a contemptuous mouth, shut tight, the mouth of an executioner or a saint." that description stayed with me throughout the book, and played a huge role in how i perceived Roark. The other quote is this "He stepped to the edge, raised his arms, and dived down into the sky below."
Now that, that is just pretty.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it." Oh Lord Henry. maybe that's the opiates talking. Dorian Gray is one of my favorite books, definitely my favorite classic. I played at reading it for years until sophomore year, and have now read ti completely 3 times. Its a very important book to read at my age. At any age really, but teenagers and moral ambiguity go particularly well together. The first time i read it, it was because i knew a little about Oscar Wilde's philosophy of aestheticism, and i kind of wanted to be convinced that morals were unnecessary, and that evil could be used as means to an end. At first, 'Dorian Gray' seems to do just that. Until he meets Lord Henry, Dorian has never been tempted to justify sin.
His portrait has just been painted, and his is the picture (pardon the pun) of innocence. Then lord Henry introduces his theories; that all the good humans do is done out of fear of repercussions, and that the only way to stop temptation is to give into to it. Dorian is impressionable and he, of course, loves the idea that sin can be excused and even necessary. perhaps Oscar Wilde wrote this book as he himself felt Dorian's struggle between Henry and society's contrasting ideals. Either way, He writes Lord Henry to be a very persuasive man. I was persuaded, and I though Dorian may never be punished for his sins. He is, of course, punished. His own soul ends up destroying up, much like in the tell tale heart by Poe, he eventually condemns himself. He resolves to destroy the painting which has aged and become cruel in appearance for him, and he sets it on fire. And in a perfect metaphor of self destruction, the painting is returned to its original beauty and youth while a horribly burned, old and crooked Dorian lies dead beneath it.
His portrait has just been painted, and his is the picture (pardon the pun) of innocence. Then lord Henry introduces his theories; that all the good humans do is done out of fear of repercussions, and that the only way to stop temptation is to give into to it. Dorian is impressionable and he, of course, loves the idea that sin can be excused and even necessary. perhaps Oscar Wilde wrote this book as he himself felt Dorian's struggle between Henry and society's contrasting ideals. Either way, He writes Lord Henry to be a very persuasive man. I was persuaded, and I though Dorian may never be punished for his sins. He is, of course, punished. His own soul ends up destroying up, much like in the tell tale heart by Poe, he eventually condemns himself. He resolves to destroy the painting which has aged and become cruel in appearance for him, and he sets it on fire. And in a perfect metaphor of self destruction, the painting is returned to its original beauty and youth while a horribly burned, old and crooked Dorian lies dead beneath it.
The Historian
The Historian is a vampire book unlike any other vampire book I have read. One Hint: the vampires don't glitter. For once, the vampires are not the subject of the romance. For once it isn't a romance, its an actual horror story. Unique! Its more of a mystery novel than anything though, the solid fact that vampires exist isnt believed until 1/3 of the way through the novel, the main characters are regularly people with no inclination to believe in the supernatural at all, so when they are confronted with it...its scary. When unromanticised, vampires are actually horrifying. The premis is that all vampires are escendents of Vlad 'The Impaler' Ţepeş, whos very real and grotestque history is explained throughout the book. Halfway through the novel, before any contact had been made with a vampire, simply finding out that Vlad still exists is terrifying.
The characters travel around the world, often a decade or so after each other, to uncover the truth and find the character that connects them all, the historian, who plays granfather to the main character, mentor to her father and father to her mom. The description of their destinations is beautiful, and the charqacterization is realistic.the author created a real portrayal of people would react to learning of the existence of vampires. On the bad side, for me the book really dragged. It seemed to inch along where it should have been flying, and I still have yet to finish it. I am going to, because it does have its hooks in me, but it might take awhile.
The characters travel around the world, often a decade or so after each other, to uncover the truth and find the character that connects them all, the historian, who plays granfather to the main character, mentor to her father and father to her mom. The description of their destinations is beautiful, and the charqacterization is realistic.the author created a real portrayal of people would react to learning of the existence of vampires. On the bad side, for me the book really dragged. It seemed to inch along where it should have been flying, and I still have yet to finish it. I am going to, because it does have its hooks in me, but it might take awhile.
The Death of Ivan Ilych
...and other short stories, by Leo Tolstoy(!). I haven't even finished the first story in this book of shorts by Tolstoy, but I have been thinking about it since I started it. I didn't start reading Tolstoy to expecting to enjoy it. I started it to challenge myself. I have heard a lot of people speak in equal awe of his talent and tediousness. But the book i stumbled upon (on your shelf) is a book of short story's, and i can never resist a book of short stories. I would be willing to bet its a very appropriate median for an author who takes up chapters describing what might have been in the corner of the room, had it not been shadowed. So, the first story revolves around an unlikely romance between a seventeen year old girl and 37 year old man. For the first half whether or not they will even have a romance is left up in the air for the reader, so when they finally, against all odds, are married I thought it was the end. But it wasn't, and I believe that is where my feeling of foreboding began.
“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” Stopping a story at all for Leo Tolstoy is obviously very difficult, and the happy couple were described living contentedly in the country side for so long that the main character, the 17 year old young wife, grew very bored, and insisted they visit 'society'. The rest of the story describes every single moment which contributes to their falling out of love, which the characters are ignorant of until after its happened. I wanted to look away, but I had to keep reading. Tolstoy notices things about human interaction that i doubt anyone else has ever consciously registered. In this case, his endless love for detail makes the story. I still hate him for putting me through the slow motion wrecking of their marriage, but maybe hell make it up to me in the next story.
“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” Stopping a story at all for Leo Tolstoy is obviously very difficult, and the happy couple were described living contentedly in the country side for so long that the main character, the 17 year old young wife, grew very bored, and insisted they visit 'society'. The rest of the story describes every single moment which contributes to their falling out of love, which the characters are ignorant of until after its happened. I wanted to look away, but I had to keep reading. Tolstoy notices things about human interaction that i doubt anyone else has ever consciously registered. In this case, his endless love for detail makes the story. I still hate him for putting me through the slow motion wrecking of their marriage, but maybe hell make it up to me in the next story.
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