Hey Feb is here and no blogs.. ?
Oh!! I was busy reading, you see three much acclaimed novels. (Pretentious Literati!)
‘Insanity is contagious’-Catch 22
The back cover of the book reads,”Catch22 is a microcosm of the twentieth century world as it might look to someone dangerously sane”. The novel explores varied themes, sanity vs. insanity, hero vs. antihero, absurdity of bureaucratic set ups, capitalism & its amorality, personal integrity but it is the dark humour that is the unique flavor of the book. Well after an abortive first attempt at the novel, this time my taste buds finally adapted to the tantalizing ramblings and to the tantalizing brevity. The writer has invented people, who are totally unlike real human beings, all appear as a pack of psychos yet their most abstruse ways find resonance in real world people. I agree that the above statement sounds most contradictory! The book is unconventional in more than one ways-the characters, the situations, the rhetoric, the structure of the novel.
“But suppose everyone felt that way.
Then I’d certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn’t I?
‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others ‘-Animal farm
I read this book in one straight read. The symbolism of the characters through different animals, the characterization of different world events kept me hooked to the novel. It was my first attempt at a political novel written in a satirical story telling format. ‘The novel describes how a society’s ideologies can be manipulated and twisted by individuals in positions of social and political power, including how a utopian society is made impossible by the corrupting nature of the very power necessary to create it.’ And the last lines..(man-to-pig) made me sit bolt upright- ‘The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to say which was which’
The third read was, ‘The portrait of Dorian Gray’-Oscar Wilde
The style of the story's narrative is closer to drama than a novel. Conversations that through up ideas, an almost poetic rendition, an intricate tapestry of words which mesmerize you with their beauty. I narrated the story to at least 2 people on the very day I had read some 100 pages. Then came the pithy one liners. I am still reeling under some. I read attentively the portion which dealt with Dorian Grays love for a woman and how he dismisses that whole emotion away. I smiled when I read, ’Young men want to be faithful, and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot . . .’ I smiled nonchalantly as I read the usual chauvinist rant, ‘My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mid, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.’
Recommended the above books to friends & foes, have been recommended to read ‘mrityunjay’, hope I get my hands on that book soon.
Oh!! I was busy reading, you see three much acclaimed novels. (Pretentious Literati!)
‘Insanity is contagious’-Catch 22
The back cover of the book reads,”Catch22 is a microcosm of the twentieth century world as it might look to someone dangerously sane”. The novel explores varied themes, sanity vs. insanity, hero vs. antihero, absurdity of bureaucratic set ups, capitalism & its amorality, personal integrity but it is the dark humour that is the unique flavor of the book. Well after an abortive first attempt at the novel, this time my taste buds finally adapted to the tantalizing ramblings and to the tantalizing brevity. The writer has invented people, who are totally unlike real human beings, all appear as a pack of psychos yet their most abstruse ways find resonance in real world people. I agree that the above statement sounds most contradictory! The book is unconventional in more than one ways-the characters, the situations, the rhetoric, the structure of the novel.
“But suppose everyone felt that way.
Then I’d certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn’t I?
‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others ‘-Animal farm
I read this book in one straight read. The symbolism of the characters through different animals, the characterization of different world events kept me hooked to the novel. It was my first attempt at a political novel written in a satirical story telling format. ‘The novel describes how a society’s ideologies can be manipulated and twisted by individuals in positions of social and political power, including how a utopian society is made impossible by the corrupting nature of the very power necessary to create it.’ And the last lines..(man-to-pig) made me sit bolt upright- ‘The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to say which was which’
The third read was, ‘The portrait of Dorian Gray’-Oscar Wilde
The style of the story's narrative is closer to drama than a novel. Conversations that through up ideas, an almost poetic rendition, an intricate tapestry of words which mesmerize you with their beauty. I narrated the story to at least 2 people on the very day I had read some 100 pages. Then came the pithy one liners. I am still reeling under some. I read attentively the portion which dealt with Dorian Grays love for a woman and how he dismisses that whole emotion away. I smiled when I read, ’Young men want to be faithful, and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot . . .’ I smiled nonchalantly as I read the usual chauvinist rant, ‘My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mid, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.’
Recommended the above books to friends & foes, have been recommended to read ‘mrityunjay’, hope I get my hands on that book soon.
