I encountered my first issue on page four. It was intense enmity at first sight.
"He thought the month was October but he wasnt sure. He hadnt kept a c...moreI encountered my first issue on page four. It was intense enmity at first sight.
"He thought the month was October but he wasnt sure. He hadnt kept a calendar for years."
Apostrophes!? What happened to those magical things? Then, on page five...
"The boy turned in the blankets. Then he opened his eyes. Hi, Papa, he said. I'm right here. I know."
Quotation marks? Where art thou? Like they often say, you don't appreciate things until they're gone - and, in this case, I was starting to sincerely appreciate proper grammar.
I'm slightly joking. The concise, spare, and experimental prose served McCarthy's purpose well in this story. It conveyed the themes of the book and touched on many truths of mankind in general. I give props to Cormac McCarthy for some of his more pulchritudinous passages:
"No list of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes. So, he whispered to the sleeping boy. I have you."
The Road has received myriad lauds and a lot of love. Despite this, I didn't effusively enjoy the book. The stilted writing style made it difficult for me to connect with the characters. Near the end of the novel, I remember annotating "this is the scene where I should be crying... but I'm not." I recognize the feat McCarthy has achieved by publishing this heartbreaking post-apocalyptic novel, but, personally, I couldn't bring myself to like it more than any other okay book. Possibly because for every wonderfully-written passage or page, I had to trudge through 25 average ones.
Overall, I would recommend The Road to those who find pleasure in reading about dark, despairing situations as well as those who like experimental, post-apocalyptic fiction. The relationship between the father and his son acts as the best attribute of the book, as it reminds readers of the strength of human connection and how much love can endure and accomplish.
"'How can you tell?' Uncle John demanded. 'What's to keep ever'thing from stoppin'; all the folks from jus' gittin' tired an' layin' down?'
'Hard to sa...more"'How can you tell?' Uncle John demanded. 'What's to keep ever'thing from stoppin'; all the folks from jus' gittin' tired an' layin' down?'
'Hard to say,' she said. 'Ever'thing we do - seems to me is aimed right at goin' on. Seems that way to me. Even gettin' hungry - even bein' sick; some die, but the rest is tougher. Jus' try to live the day, jus' the day.'"
Through his telling of the Okies' struggle to survive the Dust Bowl, John Steinbeck temporarily made me a misanthrope. While I was reading the book I once annotated "why must mankind suck so much". The Grapes of Wrath, for some, may not be an easy book to stomach due to the horrific hardships the Joads had to handle - not only from their environment and their ill-fortune, but also because of the cruelty of their fellow man.
There are other minor issues that may irritate readers (they got to me, occasionally). Some will find the passages pertaining to the setting of the story boring and verbose, while others will dislike Steinbeck's colloquial writing style. For me, this book does not live up to what I deem Steinbeck's masterpiece, East of Eden.
However, The Grapes of Wrath acts as the antithesis of East of Eden - in a good way. While East of Eden focused on the power of the individual, The Grapes of Wrath centered on the interconnection of mankind and how we should all treat each other compassionately. There are myriad other themes that I enjoyed analyzing and learning from, such as the practical uses of anger, the falseness of the just-world phenomenon, and the plight of the common man as well as that of the farmer. Steinbeck's writing shines as always and it is obvious as to why this novel earned the Pulitzer Prize.
But most importantly, Steinbeck shows - especially through the ending - that in the end, humans are capable of altruistic kindness. We do possess the ability to take action for the good side, even when everything is broken and bleak and completely bad. And that's an idea that I would love to live by.
I don't know where to start. It took me exactly two weeks to read this 1,024 page novel, and after all of the heartbreaking loss and squeal-worthy rom...moreI don't know where to start. It took me exactly two weeks to read this 1,024 page novel, and after all of the heartbreaking loss and squeal-worthy romance these characters have experienced, I can only say that there is a reason why this book is a classic. Even if you're not a fan of romance, drama, historical fiction, etc., you need to read this book. You really do.
Above is the tidy little summary of how I feel about Gone With the Wind. Now I'm going to go into further detail about why I loved this book - but even after three hours, a workout session, and a delicious smoothie, I'm not sure it will sound right. My heart shattered three times just reading the last fifty pages.
Scarlett. Oh, I love this girl. I could write a 10,000 word essay about Scarlett O'Hara, with pleasure. I dare say that Margaret Mitchell's greatest accomplishment with Gone With the Wind is the characterization of Scarlett, the headstrong and haughty protagonist. I can't even begin explaining why I adore her so much without divulging plot details or letting loose a rant the size of the typical "terms and conditions" page seen so often (yet ignored, too). It requires serious skill to make the main character of a book selfish, stubborn, and sometimes completely unlikeable - but Mitchell pulls it off effortlessly.
Now, I'm no expert on history or the Civil War, but Mitchell's take on this time period shocked me. She portrayed the South in an entirely different way than I was taught in school, and her grasp of the events that occurred is amazing. How she showed the loving relationships between slaves and their owners, how she cast the KKK as not just a hate group against Negroes, and how she connected Scarlett's moral degradation with the fall of the South - it's simply superb.
Though the sheer size of this book may seem intimidating, don't be scared - it's worth every word.
*Reaction to when I read this as a freshman in high school* After my second read-through of the novel (some parts independently and some parts at schoo...more*Reaction to when I read this as a freshman in high school* After my second read-through of the novel (some parts independently and some parts at school) I've really realized just how amazing this book is. I actually got teary-eyed quite a few times. Lee infuses tremendous writing technique with a story so real, raw, and damaging that it just left me irreversibly changed. There is no question why schools teach lessons with this novel; it's just... amazing. My heart is still aching and rooting for the characters in this novel as well, they will stay with me for a long time.
*A year later, as a sophomore*
Absolutely riveting. One of my favorite classics.(less)
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