The GR description begins Considered the most important work of modern Iranian literature, The Blind Owl is a haunting tale of loss and spiritual degrThe GR description begins Considered the most important work of modern Iranian literature, The Blind Owl is a haunting tale of loss and spiritual degradation. This must have been what attracted me to this novel. It surely wasn't the novel itself which was pretty awful for this reader. It is short, its one redeeming feature.
Told in the first person throughout, the unnamed narrator has fantastical dreams and (probably) apparitions. I say probably because I think what happens with these apparitions could not have truly happened. I noted Whenever I smoked opium my ideas aquired grandeur, subtlety, magic and sublimity and I moved in another sphere beyond boundaries of the ordinary world. I wanted to suggest to him his life might be a bit better if he left off the drugs and alcohol.
At about 1/3 is this:
Ugh! How many stories about love, copulation, marriage and death already exist, not one of which tells the truth! How sick I am of well-constructed plots and brilliant writing!
I can attest that the author must have believed this last sentence 100%. There is no plot and (if the translation is any good) the writing is far from brilliant.
The novel is said to be allegorical. I don't "get" allegory. I should have skipped this, but once started I was too stubborn to abandon it. Because I could finish it, it gets 2-stars from me, but that might be an exaggeration of my true opinion.
First of all, this Kindle edition is poorly formatted, had numerous OCR errors and was difficult to read. It is not paged, but I think it was about thFirst of all, this Kindle edition is poorly formatted, had numerous OCR errors and was difficult to read. It is not paged, but I think it was about the first 80 or so pages before I went to my library and got the Modern Library edition of 1958. I discovered the Kindle edition didn't even have the sub-chapters! I finished the novel reading the Modern Library edition.
Even switching to the print edition, I remain unimpressed. I know this is supposed to be a truly special novel and I expected to be entirely enthralled as I have enjoyed other Russian literature. I found the first and last 100 or so pages to be a struggle. (I skipped the poetry at the end as poetry doesn't speak to me.) The middle 300 pages are a good story and the mental pictures of Russia are excellent. But I never felt connected to Zhivago or Lara as people who found themselves living in the middle of the Revolution and Civil War.
I have never seen the film. Yeah, I know that sounds almost impossible. I have seen a few scenes, and I expected I'd picture Omar Sharif as Zhivago. It never happened, which is probably a good thing, as I prefer to use my own imagination in visualizing characters. It's hard for me to understand how this novel could have been made into a film, though. I guess it probably just focused on the love story. This is a novel of the Revolution and how absolutely horrible socialism and totalitarianism truly is. The love story is sort of incidental. Also Pasternak seemed inclined to philosophize here and there on various subjects, primarily Christianity versus Judaism.
It's almost impossible for me assign my "enjoyment" rating for this. I think it comes in on the 3-/4-star line. As it ends with my struggling to keep reading (!), it will have to come down on the lower side of the line....more
It has long been my habit to start a book by looking at the cover, giving more than a glance at the copyright page, skimming the acknowledgements, andIt has long been my habit to start a book by looking at the cover, giving more than a glance at the copyright page, skimming the acknowledgements, and scanning the table of contents before beginning the actual book. Surprisingly, the copyright page occasionally offers something I might not find elsewhere. This book offered more than the usual fiction disclaimer.
Nothing in this novel has been invented, and the climate, history, and circumstances from which it arises are those of South Africa today. But separate events and people have been recast in the context of a novel, in which they exist as fiction only. It is not the surface reality that is important but the patterns and relationships underneath that surface. Therefore, all resemblance between the characters and incidents in this book and people and situations outside is strictly coincidental.
First published in 1979, this is a story of Apartheid in South Africa. How can one not have known of the systematic racial discrimination of the time? We outsiders knew it was wrong, but did we actually realize its full extent? No. I did not see the movie made from this book.
The novel begins with a foreword by a fictional author. At least I thought it was fictional, but perhaps it was in fact André Brink inserting himself into the novel. He tells how he knew Ben du Toit in school, had not seen him for many years, and then was contacted by du Toit. He says after du Toit was killed in a hit and run accident at 11pm at night. The author is in receipt of du Toit's papers, notes, diaries. There is also a short epilogue, where the fictional author/Brink says he wrote the novel so no one could say he didn't know.
The story itself begins at approximately the time of the Soweto uprising. A young man in whom du Toit had taken a special interest was involved. Jonathan Ngubene goes missing, and though questions are asked of the Special Branch, they say they know nothing. Then rumors begin to surface. I don't see how it is possible for any reader to lay this aside.
This is a compelling story, more especially due to the copyright disclaimer Nothing in this novel has been invented. It is made more compelling by the way Brink tells it, his writing. Normally I would bristle at sentence fragments. There are only two or three instances where Brink inserts them into the prose, and I chose to think of them as impressionism, in the same way a painter does. Constables loitering on the pavement with deliberate idleness. Cypresses and aloes. A hospital atmosphere inside. Stern corridors; open doors revealing men writing at desks in small offices; shut doors; blank walls.
Most of this is written in third person limited from the point of view of Ben du Toit. But there was one place where Brink switches to second person.
It is very quiet in the office. There are steel bars in front of the window. It hits you in the solar plexus. Suddenly you realise that the friendly chap with the curly hair and the safari suit hasn't turned a page in his magazine since you arrived. And you start wondering, your neck itching, about the thin man in the checkered jacket behind your back.
Finally, Brink presents some diary or journal entries written by du Toit. These, of course, are in the first person. In another author's hands, these changes would be annoying, but here it is done masterfully. I could not have been more aligned with du Toit, even though the narrator was male rather than female.
It is possible this is the best of Brink, but a GR member from South Africa has pointed me to others. I look forward to those titles, and perhaps others by this author. I may give 5-star ratings more freely than many and this certainly belongs on my 5-star read shelf. I think it also belongs on my top-10 reads of all time....more
I tried her The Blind Assassin before and couldn't finish it, even though I read about 200 pages. As this was barely over 200 pages, I did manage to fI tried her The Blind Assassin before and couldn't finish it, even though I read about 200 pages. As this was barely over 200 pages, I did manage to finish it. The problems with this are very different than why (I recall) that I couldn't finish the other.
I'll begin with the writing style. Although there seem to be complete sentences, there are also phrases and fragments appended to the sentences. I am not the stickler for good sentence structure as was my mother, but this structure - or lack of it - bothered me. This is written in the first person, which wouldn't bother me. However, it begins in the present tense and first person present tense is annoying at the very least. I settled down again when she changed to writing in the past tense. That lasted for more than 100 pages. Then, inexplicably to me, she returned to writing in the present tense. I couldn't see any reason for this, but I am not a literature scholar. Perhaps someone else understands why she did this.
The story is relatively straight forward and is what I expected from the description. This is on Bloom's Western Canon and I was trying to read with that in mind, wondering what wondrous things he saw to add it to that list. He does say that he was less sure about the 20th Century entries. I would like to think this was one of the ones he was less sure about because as far as I can see there is nothing about it which is fundamental to understanding Western culture. Still, there is the survival aspect. Unfortunately, Atwood chose to go off in some bizarre spiritual way that I didn't like.
My last problem with this is the blatant American hate. I have read some of my GR friends complain about the antisemitism of the 19th Century and how they cringe reading it. Some have even laid it aside not being able to tolerate it. I don't see how this is different. "But then I realized it wasn't the men I hated, it was the Americans, the human beings, men and women both." There were several such sentences. Would it be acceptable if Mexican or German or Japanese were substituted for American? No, it would not. Hating because of an accident of birth - whether it be race or religion or nationality - is unacceptable.
I always knew I would not be reading any of Atwood's dystopian fiction because I don't read dystopian fiction. I had been looking forward to this - and also her Alias Grace. But I think I'll cross that off the list. I can't get to everything anyway....more
In nearly every review I speak to the writing style. In doing so, I'm usually referring to how an author uses vocabulary and sentence structure. In thIn nearly every review I speak to the writing style. In doing so, I'm usually referring to how an author uses vocabulary and sentence structure. In this novel I almost didn't notice the writing and that is only because it is so at one with the novel. Don't get me wrong. I firmly believe that Baldwin wrote what he had to say so perfectly that I could easily have failed to notice how he said it. In fact, I was nearly to the end before I remarked to myself how perfectly and how powerfully is the writing in this novel.
The novel is short and the Goodreads description provides enough detail of what the novel is about. It doesn't reveal what the reader knows by about page 3, so that saying it here cannot be construed as a spoiler. The first person narrator, who we eventually learn is called David, is alone and looking out the window, knowing this is the day Giovanni will meet his fate at the guillotine. The rest of the novel tells us how David came to be looking out that window, heartsick.
Before I finished the novel I remarked to myself how much finding Goodreads changed my reading life for the better. Before February 2009 there was so many books I knew absolutely nothing about! (As if now I know everything. Ha! For all I know, I've just scratched the surface!) I am ever so grateful to the readers at Goodreads who were willing to share. I owe so much to the very existence of Goodreads and its creators and developers who made it possible for me to find those readers and the books that have changed my reading life. I would never have found this novel left to my own devices. I am grateful....more
In this edition is a 2-part introduction by Nadine Gordimer. The first part is about Joseph Roth, how in so much of Roth's novels Roth and his anger cIn this edition is a 2-part introduction by Nadine Gordimer. The first part is about Joseph Roth, how in so much of Roth's novels Roth and his anger comes through. I found this fascinating and think I might like to look at others of his novels. The second part wandered into what I considered spoiler territory about *this* novel and so I stopped reading.
This novel begins with the Battle of Solferino. Yes, I had to look it up. That battle took place in 1859 and, for those of us somewhat geographically challenged, on the border between Italy and Austria. The novel says that Joseph Trotta, then a young lieutenant, saw that Emperor Franz Joseph I was in danger of being fired upon and so Trotta placed his hands on the Emperor's shoulders and forced him to the ground, thereby saving the Emperor's life. As the novel continues, this Trotta, who became the Hero of Solferino, was amply rewarded with promotions and other accolades. This favoritism continued to Trotta's son and grandson. The novel is dominated by the life of Carl Joseph Trotta, the grandson, and his relationship with his father, Franz Trotta.
Franz Trotta, the Hero's son, became a District Captain. Every Sunday morning, a band marched through the streets of his district and played Strauss' Radetzky March. This piece of music came up so often (to say nothing of the title of the novel) that I decided to listen to it. I loved watching and listening to this YouTube video by the Vienna Philharmonic (more than once!). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsoAK...
Of course what I read is a translaton that I hope it is accurate. I loved the writing style. The below has little to do with the story itself, but it had me feeling at one with the characters. Roth does those characterizations very well.
The doctor looked up at the sky. The silent stars offered no counsel; they were colder than the snow all around. The houses were dark, the streets deaf and dumb, the night wind blasted the snow into powder, Trotta’s spurs jingled softly, the doctor’s boot soles crunched next to them.
It should surprise no one that I have found a 5th star for this.
Another case of my friends having a distinctly different opinion of a book. I got to page 45 before I decided to abandon it as being utter trash. OK, Another case of my friends having a distinctly different opinion of a book. I got to page 45 before I decided to abandon it as being utter trash. OK, maybe "utter trash" is an exaggeration. How about "meaningless drivel" about what it means to be a butler on top of a travelogue of Britain. Just completely not interested....more
This was so much better than I expected. And I didn't expect it to be laugh out loud funny in places. Woolf sometimes uses repetition to excess. I thiThis was so much better than I expected. And I didn't expect it to be laugh out loud funny in places. Woolf sometimes uses repetition to excess. I think I object to this when the examples are just 3 or 4, but there are places where Woolf gets downright silly and extends repetitive analogies to a dozen - or more, I didn't actually count. Maybe this says more about my sense of humor because humor in novels will usually have me only smiling, if that. At some point I likened the silliness to a literary Monty Python. Both are brilliant, while in very different ways.
The humor wasn't always repetition, though. ...nature, who has so much to answer for besides the perhaps unwieldy length of this sentence, ... This next quote is later in the novel and the time of Victoria. The "she" is woman in general, not Orlando.
She married at nineteen and had fifteen or eighteen children by the time she was thirty; for twins abounded. Thus the British Empire came into existence; and thus — for there is no stopping damp; it gets into the inkpot as it gets into the woodwork — sentences swelled, adjectives multiplied, lyrics became epics, and little trifles that had been essays a column long were now encyclopaedias in ten or twenty volumes.
Woolf asks some big questions, but doesn't really provide answers. What is love? What is life? I found it interesting that Orlando kept asking these both of these questions. There are two loves, life is just lived. I have not read other reviews. Do others think the characterization of Orlando adequate or fully-fleshed? I did not, but it didn't bother me, despite characterization being so important to me. And there wasn't a plot to carry from beginning to end, rather there were scenes where those individual plots were sufficient.
It is the prose that carries this, that makes it so special. I have read both her The Voyage Out and Mrs. Dalloway. It seems that what you get with Woolf is different from novel to novel. I can compare her to William Faulkner because I think he is so different from novel to novel. Comparing the two might not be quite accurate, but not knowing what you'll get when you open a novel certainly applies.
In any case, I'm pleased this became a 5-star read for me. I left it for last in my women on Bloom's Canon challenge because, well, because I thought maybe I would be dragging myself to reading it to complete that challenge. It was a wonderful suprise! ...more
Elizabeth (Alaska)
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