Warning, the following is a long rant/vent and may contain spoilers to pretentious art books we only read in college or if you're a loon.
((If you read said literature, please take no offense, all coments are made by a rather annoyed and frustrated 18 year old who has managed to worry deeper meaning out of everything from pulp fiction to South Park))
OKAY! so, I've been given FOUR books, that's right, Four books to read for college. Yay!
The first, the Strange, I shall not go into because I need to think on it more and decide whether its sexist, racist, and pointlessly nihilistic...or something else.
As for my other three, I have to Read...
The Kin of Ata are Waiting For you, by Dorothy Bryant. Okay, to quote
my good friend Yhatzee (an obscure Zero Punctuation reference), this was the point where my eyes were in
danger of rolling out of my skull. Not only does this book feature one
of the most abusive and unlikable FIRST PERSON narrators ever ever,
but it also *contradicts its own message a grand total of TWICE.* Yes,
you hear me! The story is initially gripping/sickening, as it involves
a man who KILLS his girlfriend for. No. REASON. They never explain
why, they never explore the mentality behind his random act of murder.
He just does.
Kay.
Then he drives his car off a cliff and ends up on a mysterious Island
called Ata. Now, the book is good for...a bit. In the description of
Ata and its culture, the book shines...till it contrives to go potty
on itself. Firstly, the message of the book that the aboriginal
society structure, complete with "dreams" which tell you how to live
your life (A.E, traditional values, yadda yadda, bla bla). That if you
live this way, you'll be at peace with yourself and everyone else, and
everything will be happy and flowers.
Never mindthe actual aboriginals, tribes of Africa and Native
Americans were happily killing one another long before white people
showed up and made things even worse...
But, yeah, I can go with that till the book tries to shoe-horn in a
half hearted "drugs are bad, mmmkay" moment near the end...which is
where my eyes actually did roll out of my head. Tribal society and
quite a few other old religions, like those of the Greeks and Romans,
used hallucinogenics of some kind to induce enlightenment. Okay, so,
not only does this novel ignore the fact that the societies its trying
to enshrine can be as violent and corrupt as modern life...though, yes, on a
smaller scale because, shock and awe, they ARE smaller! Not that I think modern life is all that violent and corrupt...it can be, but not everywhere. Just the same as with the original tribes: Goods and evils mix in human society.
Oh, and in the end it turns out to be a dream.
Yay.
Aaand the main character gets the electric chair at the end. Awesome,
I was waiting for him to die forever. Ah, also, the touted "journey of
redemption" in his story...dose NOT happen. He rapes someone, kills
someone, then tries to screw up the society he's in a grand total of 5
times. And then, with almost no build up, he switches from asshole to
guru and then he doesn't go anywhere. He doesn't commit any good deeds
or seek to aid people, no, the instant he goes back home, the only
"good" deed he does is give himself over to the police and let them
kill him.
Okay, so where the redemption? You know what, screw it...on to the
next book!
The Arrival by Shaun Tan.
Dear god, this book is...AMAZING! Ha, I bet you didn't expect that.
But, seriously, I was blown away by this book. Firstly, it conveys its
message with nothing but still images. I.E, its a comic book. But it
has no dialog. Jam packed with awesome images, a charming and NOT
depressing story of an immigrant coming to a strange and different
country filled with other immigrants much like him, who have all come
from other lands beset by fantastic problems that are all symbols
representing plague, oppression, war, and so on.
And in the end, it wraps up with a very nice ending that makes you sit
back and smile, thinking, "Yeah, thats what this country was based on."
This country being America at the turn of the century.
And as for the last book I need to read...
Well...
Uh, aside from having a title that is fairly awesome (The Observations
of the Observer Being Observed), it looks to be pretentious and hard
to read just for the heck of it. Firstly, it describes itself as "A
great literary event", and secondly every chapter is a single sentence.
A single *fifty page* long sentence. Uhg...
If I drank beer, which I don't, I bet I'd do so to get through THAT book.
Ah well, this has really just been a place for me to vent. Venting is fun!
Anyone else ever read these things, or things like em? Anyone else find them as mindnumbling absurd? I mean, shouldn't you be able to convey a message WITHOUT resorting to cheap gimics or dull prose? If anything, getting across a message WITH a compelling story and fascinating characters is even more of a test of skill.
There seems to be an element in the world of reading that thinks "if a book is easy to read, it can't have anything deeper in it"
Bunk, I say! BUNK!
((If you read said literature, please take no offense, all coments are made by a rather annoyed and frustrated 18 year old who has managed to worry deeper meaning out of everything from pulp fiction to South Park))
OKAY! so, I've been given FOUR books, that's right, Four books to read for college. Yay!
The first, the Strange, I shall not go into because I need to think on it more and decide whether its sexist, racist, and pointlessly nihilistic...or something else.
As for my other three, I have to Read...
The Kin of Ata are Waiting For you, by Dorothy Bryant. Okay, to quote
my good friend Yhatzee (an obscure Zero Punctuation reference), this was the point where my eyes were in
danger of rolling out of my skull. Not only does this book feature one
of the most abusive and unlikable FIRST PERSON narrators ever ever,
but it also *contradicts its own message a grand total of TWICE.* Yes,
you hear me! The story is initially gripping/sickening, as it involves
a man who KILLS his girlfriend for. No. REASON. They never explain
why, they never explore the mentality behind his random act of murder.
He just does.
Kay.
Then he drives his car off a cliff and ends up on a mysterious Island
called Ata. Now, the book is good for...a bit. In the description of
Ata and its culture, the book shines...till it contrives to go potty
on itself. Firstly, the message of the book that the aboriginal
society structure, complete with "dreams" which tell you how to live
your life (A.E, traditional values, yadda yadda, bla bla). That if you
live this way, you'll be at peace with yourself and everyone else, and
everything will be happy and flowers.
Never mindthe actual aboriginals, tribes of Africa and Native
Americans were happily killing one another long before white people
showed up and made things even worse...
But, yeah, I can go with that till the book tries to shoe-horn in a
half hearted "drugs are bad, mmmkay" moment near the end...which is
where my eyes actually did roll out of my head. Tribal society and
quite a few other old religions, like those of the Greeks and Romans,
used hallucinogenics of some kind to induce enlightenment. Okay, so,
not only does this novel ignore the fact that the societies its trying
to enshrine can be as violent and corrupt as modern life...though, yes, on a
smaller scale because, shock and awe, they ARE smaller! Not that I think modern life is all that violent and corrupt...it can be, but not everywhere. Just the same as with the original tribes: Goods and evils mix in human society.
Oh, and in the end it turns out to be a dream.
Yay.
Aaand the main character gets the electric chair at the end. Awesome,
I was waiting for him to die forever. Ah, also, the touted "journey of
redemption" in his story...dose NOT happen. He rapes someone, kills
someone, then tries to screw up the society he's in a grand total of 5
times. And then, with almost no build up, he switches from asshole to
guru and then he doesn't go anywhere. He doesn't commit any good deeds
or seek to aid people, no, the instant he goes back home, the only
"good" deed he does is give himself over to the police and let them
kill him.
Okay, so where the redemption? You know what, screw it...on to the
next book!
The Arrival by Shaun Tan.
Dear god, this book is...AMAZING! Ha, I bet you didn't expect that.
But, seriously, I was blown away by this book. Firstly, it conveys its
message with nothing but still images. I.E, its a comic book. But it
has no dialog. Jam packed with awesome images, a charming and NOT
depressing story of an immigrant coming to a strange and different
country filled with other immigrants much like him, who have all come
from other lands beset by fantastic problems that are all symbols
representing plague, oppression, war, and so on.
And in the end, it wraps up with a very nice ending that makes you sit
back and smile, thinking, "Yeah, thats what this country was based on."
This country being America at the turn of the century.
And as for the last book I need to read...
Well...
Uh, aside from having a title that is fairly awesome (The Observations
of the Observer Being Observed), it looks to be pretentious and hard
to read just for the heck of it. Firstly, it describes itself as "A
great literary event", and secondly every chapter is a single sentence.
A single *fifty page* long sentence. Uhg...
If I drank beer, which I don't, I bet I'd do so to get through THAT book.
Ah well, this has really just been a place for me to vent. Venting is fun!
Anyone else ever read these things, or things like em? Anyone else find them as mindnumbling absurd? I mean, shouldn't you be able to convey a message WITHOUT resorting to cheap gimics or dull prose? If anything, getting across a message WITH a compelling story and fascinating characters is even more of a test of skill.
There seems to be an element in the world of reading that thinks "if a book is easy to read, it can't have anything deeper in it"
Bunk, I say! BUNK!
