Caitlin "Sparkie"’s answer to “Why do people rate this book so high? Surely I am missing something.” > Likes and Comments
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If someone doesn’t like a book you like, it’s easy to insinuate they’re too thick to “get it.” I suggest at least to consider the possibility that their standards for a good book might be higher rather than lower. I do get the metaphors and symbols, thank you very much. I find them ham-fisted and banal. Okay, the birdie sings just to please itself, okay, he’s scared his spine might snap, okay, he used to play Snakes & Ladders etc. Oh, and the paper weight is sooo symbolic. And as an extra bonus, Orwell throws in some fiddling with nursery rhymes that would have made Miss Marple proud. So what? In my opinion, a symbol shouldn’t sit on a page and scream, “Look at me, I’m a symbol!” I don’t think the book is at all deep. It contains some interesting and provocative ideas that are comprehensively explained in the extract from the Goldstein book. The rest is just illustration and doesn’t add anything. The plot and characters are one-dimensional and offer nothing of the multi-facetted ambiguity I usually enjoy in literature. Orwell’s other books I’ve read are just as clumsy.
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Virtuella
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Dec 28, 2014 07:30AM
If someone doesn’t like a book you like, it’s easy to insinuate they’re too thick to “get it.” I suggest at least to consider the possibility that their standards for a good book might be higher rather than lower. I do get the metaphors and symbols, thank you very much. I find them ham-fisted and banal. Okay, the birdie sings just to please itself, okay, he’s scared his spine might snap, okay, he used to play Snakes & Ladders etc. Oh, and the paper weight is sooo symbolic. And as an extra bonus, Orwell throws in some fiddling with nursery rhymes that would have made Miss Marple proud. So what? In my opinion, a symbol shouldn’t sit on a page and scream, “Look at me, I’m a symbol!” I don’t think the book is at all deep. It contains some interesting and provocative ideas that are comprehensively explained in the extract from the Goldstein book. The rest is just illustration and doesn’t add anything. The plot and characters are one-dimensional and offer nothing of the multi-facetted ambiguity I usually enjoy in literature. Orwell’s other books I’ve read are just as clumsy.
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