Finished The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith yesterday.
A tense, taut thriller. I had seen the film, so knew the outcome of the novel, but really, seeing the film didn't make the novel any less suspenseful or colorful or enjoyable.
Tom Ripley is a great anti-hero - insecure, malevolent, conniving, clever. His distaste for boring, rich, inane and vapid society people leads him to commit the acts that he does. I didn't condone his actions, but I did not feel an anger or disgust for what he did either.
Tom survives by fooling others to the best of his ability, and it is this ability to deceive that keeps him alive, or at least one step ahead of the others.
There is a constant air of menace throughout the entire novel...the reader doesn't know from page to page if Tom will be caught for his crimes. I felt as if I was along for the wild ride that Tom takes throughout Europe, with the knowledge of what he had done, and secretly hoping that he would get away with it. For what's the fun in getting caught?
A great book - I look forward to more of Highsmith's work.
Next up: Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Sunday, 13 September 2009
On "Atoning"
Just finished Atonement by Ian McEwan about an hour ago. Felt compelled to write about it asap.
A beautifully crafted and achingly sad novel...and if I hadn't seen the film adaptation, I would never have guessed the ending (I won't "spoil" it for anyone who hasn't read it yet).
I think it is the idea that McEwan introduces of a lie corrupting and destroying whole lives that resonated with me most. Speaking personally, lies have undone my life in certain ways. I could see how a childish and rash decision to lie can affect not just one life, but many.
The limpid beauty of the Tallis family home is breathtakingly realized by McEwan...the reader can feel the heat, literal and metaphorical. The love between Cecilia and Robbie is touching, tender, sensual and real - their first sexual liaison is all of these and one of the most provocative things I've ever read - and in a good way.
Briony (the Tallis sister whose horrific lie sets the main story in motion) realizes her mistake and tries to "atone" for her transgression. It comes to pass that she has been "atoning" her entire life. To know that she has done wrong and tries to right that wrong doesn't excuse her appalling behavior - and it made it hard for me to sympathize with her. Cecilia and Robbie's stories are much more deserving of mention.
Gorgeous book.
Next up: The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith.
A beautifully crafted and achingly sad novel...and if I hadn't seen the film adaptation, I would never have guessed the ending (I won't "spoil" it for anyone who hasn't read it yet).
I think it is the idea that McEwan introduces of a lie corrupting and destroying whole lives that resonated with me most. Speaking personally, lies have undone my life in certain ways. I could see how a childish and rash decision to lie can affect not just one life, but many.
The limpid beauty of the Tallis family home is breathtakingly realized by McEwan...the reader can feel the heat, literal and metaphorical. The love between Cecilia and Robbie is touching, tender, sensual and real - their first sexual liaison is all of these and one of the most provocative things I've ever read - and in a good way.
Briony (the Tallis sister whose horrific lie sets the main story in motion) realizes her mistake and tries to "atone" for her transgression. It comes to pass that she has been "atoning" her entire life. To know that she has done wrong and tries to right that wrong doesn't excuse her appalling behavior - and it made it hard for me to sympathize with her. Cecilia and Robbie's stories are much more deserving of mention.
Gorgeous book.
Next up: The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith.
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
That's Not Sexy
Finished Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller a couple of days ago.
Sorry it's taken a bit of time to write, but had to get to the library first to get my next round of books.
Ok...back to the novel. Did NOT enjoy this book. The sheer amount of sex, references to sex, talking about sex....I'm no prude, but it grew rather tiresome.
I realise that at the time it was written, it was quite a groundbreaking and titillating read. The liberation expressed by the author in early 1930s Paris (post WWI, pre WWII) was seen to be scandalous, but just what a staid and reserved society needed. Miller's incessant references to sex, types of sex, the women he has sex with was most likely PERCEIVED as sexy, but to my cynical, 21st-century eyes, it all seems a bit dated and quite misogynistic.
I will say that Miller's descriptions of his friends, girlfriends, colleagues and Paris itself are worthy of a read - faded glamour, seedy bars, volatile moods, strange behaviours. Interesting.
However, Miller himself (and I am sure this was on purpose) comes across as a self-loathing, manipulative, downtrodden, selfish dilettante. His own self-descrption didn't make me admire him, or want to live in that city at that time with him and his equally disagreeable mates.
Hmmm.
Next up: Atonement by Ian McEwan.
Sorry it's taken a bit of time to write, but had to get to the library first to get my next round of books.
Ok...back to the novel. Did NOT enjoy this book. The sheer amount of sex, references to sex, talking about sex....I'm no prude, but it grew rather tiresome.
I realise that at the time it was written, it was quite a groundbreaking and titillating read. The liberation expressed by the author in early 1930s Paris (post WWI, pre WWII) was seen to be scandalous, but just what a staid and reserved society needed. Miller's incessant references to sex, types of sex, the women he has sex with was most likely PERCEIVED as sexy, but to my cynical, 21st-century eyes, it all seems a bit dated and quite misogynistic.
I will say that Miller's descriptions of his friends, girlfriends, colleagues and Paris itself are worthy of a read - faded glamour, seedy bars, volatile moods, strange behaviours. Interesting.
However, Miller himself (and I am sure this was on purpose) comes across as a self-loathing, manipulative, downtrodden, selfish dilettante. His own self-descrption didn't make me admire him, or want to live in that city at that time with him and his equally disagreeable mates.
Hmmm.
Next up: Atonement by Ian McEwan.
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Family Ties
Finished The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy yesterday.
I don't know what it was about this novel, but it just left me cold. I understand the underlying thematic elements - race, family, prejudice, love, etc etc etc...but I really did not connect with any of the characters.
Ammu (the mother of Estha and Rahel, the two main characters) was probably the most sympathetic - marginalized by her parents and brother (and indeed her husband) and forced to give up her only son when family pride is at stake, when all she was guilty of was falling in love. I felt for her plight.
However, the character and attitudes of her two children made me resent them, in a way. I found Estha's voluntary muteness selfish and unnecessary, and Rahel's remote and distant nature inexplicable.
Perhaps I need to know more about Keralan history and their way of life, but I am familiar enough of caste systems and family hierarchies to know that this book was slightly ambiguous in its treatment of the aforementioned way of life.
A "meh" novel for me then. Even the descriptions of the houses, atmosphere, and characters were limpid.
Ah well.
Next up: Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller.
I don't know what it was about this novel, but it just left me cold. I understand the underlying thematic elements - race, family, prejudice, love, etc etc etc...but I really did not connect with any of the characters.
Ammu (the mother of Estha and Rahel, the two main characters) was probably the most sympathetic - marginalized by her parents and brother (and indeed her husband) and forced to give up her only son when family pride is at stake, when all she was guilty of was falling in love. I felt for her plight.
However, the character and attitudes of her two children made me resent them, in a way. I found Estha's voluntary muteness selfish and unnecessary, and Rahel's remote and distant nature inexplicable.
Perhaps I need to know more about Keralan history and their way of life, but I am familiar enough of caste systems and family hierarchies to know that this book was slightly ambiguous in its treatment of the aforementioned way of life.
A "meh" novel for me then. Even the descriptions of the houses, atmosphere, and characters were limpid.
Ah well.
Next up: Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller.
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Terrible Beauty
Finished The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison this morning.
In her afterword, Morrison tells the reader that, like the character of Pecola, this novel was dismissed, ignored and unloved - until its rediscovery. How shameful that a book of this significance and importance in the American literary landscape was passed over for so long.
This book, for me, was all about the concept of beauty and the modern obsession with it - and what the idea of beauty is to one person as opposed to another.
Pecola believes herself to be ugly - she has never been told otherwise. She is neglected, or rather, treated as if she doesn't exist by her family, neighbors, schoolmates, etc. Her belief that she could be beautiful if only she had blue eyes, just like the little girl whose family her mother works for, is both profound and tragic in its simplicity.
The novel is told from the perspective of several characters - Pecola (in the third person), Pecola's schoolmate Claudia, Pauline and Cholly (Pecola's parents), and Whitcomb - a disturbed elderly healer who "gives" Pecola her blue eyes. Each character struggles with the concept of his/her identity in the smalltown terrain of 1940s Ohio. The reader learns of Pecola's tragedy - and possibly how it could have been avoided, if only Pecola had been valued, cherished and loved.
In these characters' eyes, beauty IS only skin deep - and therein lies the real sadness of this novel.
Up next: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.
In her afterword, Morrison tells the reader that, like the character of Pecola, this novel was dismissed, ignored and unloved - until its rediscovery. How shameful that a book of this significance and importance in the American literary landscape was passed over for so long.
This book, for me, was all about the concept of beauty and the modern obsession with it - and what the idea of beauty is to one person as opposed to another.
Pecola believes herself to be ugly - she has never been told otherwise. She is neglected, or rather, treated as if she doesn't exist by her family, neighbors, schoolmates, etc. Her belief that she could be beautiful if only she had blue eyes, just like the little girl whose family her mother works for, is both profound and tragic in its simplicity.
The novel is told from the perspective of several characters - Pecola (in the third person), Pecola's schoolmate Claudia, Pauline and Cholly (Pecola's parents), and Whitcomb - a disturbed elderly healer who "gives" Pecola her blue eyes. Each character struggles with the concept of his/her identity in the smalltown terrain of 1940s Ohio. The reader learns of Pecola's tragedy - and possibly how it could have been avoided, if only Pecola had been valued, cherished and loved.
In these characters' eyes, beauty IS only skin deep - and therein lies the real sadness of this novel.
Up next: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.
Thursday, 20 August 2009
More Than Words
Finished The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx yesterday.
Beautiful novel. Achingly so.
The emotions experienced by the characters in this novel are so vibrant and heartfelt, yet they are so difficult for the characters to express. It seems to be the Newfoundland way to hide one's feelings behind simple and stark language.
Love, betrayal, death, abuse - all of these are experienced by Quoyle and his fellow townsmen and women, one way or the other, but they find it very difficult to communicate how they deal with these trials and tribulations.
Emotions are handled by gesture and looks, not words. This makes the expression by words all the more profound when they are eventually expressed.
The rough beauty and harsh nature of the Newfoundland coast is a perfect backdrop to this restrained and touching story. The relentless weather and unforgiving coastline has made its residents resolute and determined, but emotional and passionate as well.
I loved a particular line from the novel - it is in the context of Billy Pretty's (a lonely and elderly Newfoundland bachelor) thoughts - "All he knew was that women were shaped like leaves and men fell." Sigh.
Up next: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
Beautiful novel. Achingly so.
The emotions experienced by the characters in this novel are so vibrant and heartfelt, yet they are so difficult for the characters to express. It seems to be the Newfoundland way to hide one's feelings behind simple and stark language.
Love, betrayal, death, abuse - all of these are experienced by Quoyle and his fellow townsmen and women, one way or the other, but they find it very difficult to communicate how they deal with these trials and tribulations.
Emotions are handled by gesture and looks, not words. This makes the expression by words all the more profound when they are eventually expressed.
The rough beauty and harsh nature of the Newfoundland coast is a perfect backdrop to this restrained and touching story. The relentless weather and unforgiving coastline has made its residents resolute and determined, but emotional and passionate as well.
I loved a particular line from the novel - it is in the context of Billy Pretty's (a lonely and elderly Newfoundland bachelor) thoughts - "All he knew was that women were shaped like leaves and men fell." Sigh.
Up next: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
So It Goes
Finished Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. yesterday.
What a book. I confess that I have not read much Vonnegut (only this and Breakfast of Champions), but am very ready to read more.
Humour, sadness, profundity, poignancy. Each chapter of this novel is imbued with these things. Billy Pilgrim's (self-professed) journeys through time and space connect him to the us, the readers, as a simple man with profound beliefs.
The Guardian list classifies this as an anti-war novel - I agree with this, but would also class it as an anti-ignorance novel as well. The idea that if we ignore something, it will disappear is a dangerous and irresponsible one. We must face what is before us and not be afraid. Billy is not afraid of anything, even death, which makes him an unusual character.
Vonnegut also tackles the subject of fate...we cannot change our fates, but can live our lives to the best of our capability nonetheless. I feel that this is an important idea, especially for me right now.
There is nothing to be afraid of - so it goes.
Up next: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx...I am also reading a non-list book (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle), so might be a bit delayed in posting. Somehow, I doubt that, though. :)
What a book. I confess that I have not read much Vonnegut (only this and Breakfast of Champions), but am very ready to read more.
Humour, sadness, profundity, poignancy. Each chapter of this novel is imbued with these things. Billy Pilgrim's (self-professed) journeys through time and space connect him to the us, the readers, as a simple man with profound beliefs.
The Guardian list classifies this as an anti-war novel - I agree with this, but would also class it as an anti-ignorance novel as well. The idea that if we ignore something, it will disappear is a dangerous and irresponsible one. We must face what is before us and not be afraid. Billy is not afraid of anything, even death, which makes him an unusual character.
Vonnegut also tackles the subject of fate...we cannot change our fates, but can live our lives to the best of our capability nonetheless. I feel that this is an important idea, especially for me right now.
There is nothing to be afraid of - so it goes.
Up next: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx...I am also reading a non-list book (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle), so might be a bit delayed in posting. Somehow, I doubt that, though. :)
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