bookshelves: classics, currently-reading, own
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by Philip Roth
I liked it okay. The alternate history was interesting. However, I felt that the last 8 to 10 pages were kind of a cop-out. Talk about a deus ex machina.
There were a few plot points that were a bit too fantastic for me to swallow. Such as, Hitler and his cronies kidnapping the Lindberg baby, replacing it with a decomposed look-alike, framing Hauptmann, raising the child as a nazi, masterminding the election of Lindberg as president, Lindberg flying from town to town, while he is president, in the spirit of St. Louis with no protection, Lindberg disappearing ala Amelia Earhart, Lindberg being a Republican, and vp Burton K. Wheeler being a Democrat, and last, but not least, the very cryptic and almost non-existant explanation of how Roosevelt became president again. Oh yes, and Pearl Harbor happening years after the actual Pearl Harbor. Wouldn't the Japanese plan been entirely different, since the entire history of WWII was different?
I tried to figure it out, but I got the same short circuit in the brain feeling that I get whenever I watch one of those "Back to the Future", or "Bill and Ted" movies. It all goes slightly past the line of demarcation of the suspension of disbelief.
It was very entertaining, though. ]]>
bookshelves: currently-reading, own
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bookshelves: own
So, I liked it the way that I like John Cage. Just like anything else, some people get it and some people don't. I didn't notice the scarce apostrophes and other artistic literary tricks until I was about 50 pages into the book.
I got a little iritated with the
Okay.
Okay.
dialog at the end of every father/son conversation.
I got the impression that this kid was born into this dystopia. What was puzzling was why he was afraid of everything. It seems that he would be inured to his way of living. It was all he ever knew.
I liked the minimilist feel, though.
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bookshelves: own
I didn't get bored with it, but...the whole wind and sun thing kind of spoiled it for me. Even though other events in the book had that element of cosmic magical realism, they weren't quite as totally unbelievable as that.
Okay, so the book is a parable and allegorical. It's supposed to teach a lesson. I guess I'm just a bit jaded. I'm not as catholic as the book was.
Character development was a bit lax. Granted, character development isn't needed for inspiration, but, I could have cared less that he loved Fatima... and love is an important factor in the search for the truth. Otherwise, it's selfishness, and totally defeats the purpose of the lesson.
It did, however, teach me something. That I'm a little bit more existential than I had realized.
I should have read it without trying to analyze it. ]]>
Bob
read and liked
Maggie's
review of The Alchemist:
"A little hokie. A nice light read, though. Don't expect a life-changing experience. "
"A little hokie. A nice light read, though. Don't expect a life-changing experience. "
Bob
read and liked
Clint's
review of The Alchemist:
"I fucking hate this book and this writer so much. I used to work at a hippie vegetarian restaurant where everyone raved about it, so I should have known what a disaster it would be. Writing in the style of a fable does not convince me that what the...more "
"I fucking hate this book and this writer so much. I used to work at a hippie vegetarian restaurant where everyone raved about it, so I should have known what a disaster it would be. Writing in the style of a fable does not convince me that what the...more "
bookshelves: classics, own
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