BoB: Snobby Comparison

[Noah]

I'm most of the way finished with the book (no spoilers) and all I keep thinking is how much it reminds me of Voltaire's Candide. The frequent reappearance of characters, hopping all over, so frequently getting into and out of trouble, and the attitude of mortality really remind me of it.

Also, this book is making me feel I am in the matrix. In addition to the fact that I am living in China and the Candide connection, the Candide reference was reinforced with the revelation that there is a book coming out called "The Best of All Possible Worlds." Freaky.

[library_jim]

Is Candide a snobby book? It's just so funny, I didn't know that.

Well I loved Candide, so thanks for that. Makes me look forward to it even more. (Got a face-to-face book club pick to finish first.)

[Adam]

God, I tried to read it, but it did nothing for me. Ol Ox just seemed boring, the pace was agonizing, and there were too many cliches. I know a lot of people loved it. I think it had all 4 and 5 star reviews when I bought it, so I'm not gonna blast it. It's probably just me. But it didn't work for me. I actually LIKED Candide. So I don't see the comparison.

[Dharmakirti]

Jim wrote: "Is Candide a snobby book? It's just so funny, I didn't know that.

It's written by a frenchman, doesn't that automatically make it a snobby book?

I kid.

[P. Aaron]

Like Candide, Bridge of Birds has a picaresque flow, from incident to incident to incident, but I consider Bridge superior on two counts: first, there's a real motive for the characters' wanderings; second, BoB is head-and-shoulders above Candide in terms of the tautness of the narrative structure. One gets the impression Voltaire was just kinda throwing in random encounters at times. Not as bad as, say, Samuel Johnson's 'Rasselas', which is cut from similar cloth, but bad. Hughart, on the other hand, brings back elements, characters, and settings in ways which eventually demonstrate that every apparently throwaway detail is actually vitally important to the story as a whole.

[Serendi]

I read Bridge of Birds maybe three or four years ago, and stalled out a couple of times. But it totally comes together at the end. There's payoff!

[Noah]

Aaron, I totally agree with the random encounters theory for Voltaire. I'm trusting that Hughart has a plan to wrap everything up, but I was just struck by the similarities so far. And maybe snobby isn't the best word, but I almost felt like giving myself a wedgie by bringing up Voltaire, so take that for what you will.

[Timm]

Now that you mention I can definitely see the comparison to Candide. I'll definitely agree with those who say it has a lot more drive and direction; I feel like Candide was a more of a stitched-together social commentary. Kind of how Gulliver's Travels was (I would say) really more about the series of locations which were metaphors for different aspects of society than the journey itself; though I think Voltaire, being a pretty insightful philosopher, dug a lot deeper with his satire. Interestingly enough, the book version of The Wizard of Oz came across this way too.

For some reason I feel like Bridge of Birds reminded me of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Running from dramatic location to dramatic location... Big bad evil guy with a dark history... Unlikely team-up of heroes with different but complementary strengths :) definitely made it a fun read imagining them as adventurers.

[Joe Informatico]

Timm wrote: "Now that you mention I can definitely see the comparison to Candide. I'll definitely agree with those who say it has a lot more drive and direction; I feel like Candide was a more of a stitched-together social commentary."

I haven't read Candide, but that seemed to be the scholarly consensus of it from my philosophy and history classes.

Timm wrote: "For some reason I feel like Bridge of Birds reminded me of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Running from dramatic location to dramatic location... Big bad evil guy with a dark history... Unlikely team-up of heroes with different but complementary strengths :) definitely made it a fun read imagining them as adventurers."

I'm only halfway through, but I'm picking up a similar vibe. Actually it feels a lot like an Eastern version of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, with a bit of Holmes and Watson thrown in. It has a lot of the same wit and physical humour as Leiber, along with his essential humanism.

[Pamela]

Noah wrote: "I'm most of the way finished with the book (no spoilers) and all I keep thinking is how much it reminds me of Voltaire's Candide. The frequent reappearance of characters, hopping all over, so frequ..."

I am glad that I am not the only person who felt this book reminded them of Candide. It has been over a decade since I read Candide, so I cannot give you a rundown of the similarities and differences between the two books. They both have that same type of humor though.

[David Sven]

I'm not familiar with Candide but the humour in the story reminds me more like episodes of Get Smart. Just add Dome of Silence. This is a very funny book. Thoroughly enjoying it.

[Miguel]

I dont really know if anybody else will agree with me on this but basically I'm imagining the whole story as a disney movie.. (think Hercules and his trainer).

[Paul]

Just started reading Bridge of Birds.
Never read Candide, only heard a radio play yonks ago.
It makes me think of a lighter version of Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, sans impenetrable late mediaeval scholastic reference and not as bawdy.

I love the gentle style and wit of the book. The pacing is good for me and a nice change from of the pell mall reading matter of late.

[Kevin]

I would compare it to Alice In Wonderland. Wacky characters, wild encounters, and a matriarchal monarch who shouts "Off with their heads!"

[Paul]

Have read some more and it has a bit of bawdy too.
I'm sticking with Rabelasian.