Books I Loathed discussion
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The Dogs of Babel
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Diane
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 11:51AM)
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Aug 04, 2007 08:45PM
I was so excited to read this book, and even more excited when I was able to get a First/First edition on line from Stand Bookstore in NY. It had been a bestseller, I heard lots of great stuff about it....UGH I loathed it, and in addition, there were dogs being used for research....as if it weren't bad enough before that!
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Hi Sarah, please don't get disheartened by comment. Like so many things, it's up the the individual whether you like something or not, and I'd hate to think my comments may keep you from reading a book that you might really enjoy!
TDOB is a perfect example of a book that involves a subject some people may be loath to handle. I can see how that would immediately turn someone off. I had a similar reaction to Piers Anthony's _Firefly_ (which involves child abuse); I couldn't finish that book because it repulsed me. Admittedly in retrospect it was probably not a very good book anyhow.As for TDOB, the story - that is, the parts about the main character's wife - moved me to tears and broke my heart.
Yes, I haven't read TDOB, but it's on my 'to-read' list so I look at these comments as useful...As for books that have controversial subjects - I don't mind that, with two notable exceptions.
Someone mentioned the Lovely Bones above - graphic rape, abuse and murder of children in any book is very hard for me to swallow. I did like the Lovely Bones, but it was hard for me to get through that.
And any book that deals with abuse of the mentally ill, the elderly and animals. I guess I'm just an old softie.
I mentioned before, one of the books I could never finish was American Psycho. I had read The Stranger Beside Me, stories of Jack the Ripper, and I still felt Bret Easton Ellis may have gone just a tad too far.
hey Sarah - I loved Angela's Ashes too!
This book now goes on Jammies' List of Books Never To Be Read. I don't care how phenomenal the writing, if you kill the dog, I don't read your stuff any more.The only exemption to that is Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad (?) series, because I was already caught up in them when I read the first one.
Brilliantly put, Sherri. :)
I agree, which is why I would never presume to tell anyone how they arrived at the conclusion that a book was either good or bad was wrong. It's clearly subjective and a matter of taste.I love the Cup-A-Soup metaphor! :)
My mother just asked me about Middlesex the other day...I am waiting for it to come through my queue at the library...Sarah, I take your Kerouac and raise you a Ginsberg. I don't care for him. Though, people have said that I haven't really tried. I mean, honestly, who's to say? (Someone once said that to me about Warhol and in the intervening years nothing has changed - lol)
Things change over the years. There was a time when I gobbled up any halfway decent horror or occult book out there, but now I don't tend to spend much time on them and am half embarrassed at some of the ones I did read. Our experiences mold us and how we view things - so I am always willing to give a piece of literature another chance unless the author is a repeat offender.
I like your thinking about the dogs, Jammies. In addition to that, I just didn't think the book lived up to it's hype. If you like cats as well as dogs, you may want to try to dig up the classic "The Cat Who Came for Christmas" by Cleveland Amory, but now we are getting away from Books I Loathed....
I bet Polar Bear would have loathed TDOB--how's that for back on topic? ;)
Mod
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To be strictly accurate, the dog is not killed, and ends up safe...
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***END OF SPOILER
To me, one of the great things about GOOD books that deal with the mortality of beloved pets, e.g., Old Yeller and A Dog Called Kitty, is that they make us so aware of both our power as the most highly evolved animals, and simultaneously of our emotional complexity. I can watch horror movies without blinking, but I sob at the IAMS commercials because dogs have such loyalty, such unquestioning obediance and love for us that it kills me. I want to protect them and make them happy. Books in which they are hurt have traumatized me but also stuck with me in a deep emotional place. I would never want to read about such things in a context where it is unnecessary for the plot or, god forbid, celebrated, but I have (luckily) never actually encountered such a book. I think many writers have very sensitively tackled this topic for the purpose of hitting that nerve that makes us look deeply at humanity and our place on earth as animals.
Sorry, hope that wasn't too cheesy!
*SPOILER ALERT**** Ok, Kate, so technically the "main character" dog wasn't killed, rather saved, at the end, but what about the other dogs used for research? UGH.
Good ole' Polar Bear - not only loathed would have, but would have asked Cleveland to Throw it Against the Wall!
Mod
I know, I was kind of fudging there.. :)
I just want to make it clear that there is no truth to the rumor that Diane and I are the same person, despite what our pictures might suggest :)For one thing, we appear to differ in our views on "Angela's Ashes".
absurdly frivolous post>
Hey David, too funny!
I agree. No killing the dog. This was one of the worst books I ever read, though. Lives of the Monster Dogs was much, much better.
You're not a nut, it's just that our brain cell agrees with me on fuzzy critter death.
Sherri - first off, your photo is awfully cute...I am a sucker for black and white kitties, and obviously tabbies, but I can't get the two of them together to snap a photo. regarding DOB, there were dogs used for research....the main character discovers this later in the book, so although it is not the entire topic, I was disliking the book anyway, and then when I got to that part towards the end, that was enough to send me over the edge to loathing. And can animals used for research ever be handled with particular care and grace?
I'd call this book more "over-rated" than hated (it).
I didn't hate it, but the wife should have been the surviving spouse. It can be tricky to write a novel from the opposite sex's point of view, and Parkhurst couldn't quite pull it off.
It wasn't my favorite book of all time and I did suffer a lot for the dog and the perils the dude puts her through, but the redeeming quality I found on it was the exploration of bipolar disorder, or how it must look to a spouse who had no medical background.
Spoilers belowI liked this book. I don't think it's destined to become classic literature but it had more substance than some other best sellers. I felt the characters seemed believable. Humans can be capable of great madness when railing against the loss of a loved one. I enjoyed the attention to descriptive detail. Cubed boiled eggs, anyone? Also, Lorena makes a valid point about the layperson's close up view of of a major mental illness. That could be easy to sensationalize, but it was well done here.
Andrew, I didn't have any problems with the voice not striking me as male. I have noticed that with other writing though. (Lahiri's Namesake is an example.) Can you relate specifically what you found that missed the mark?
I read Lost & Found as well and liked that too.
Hmm. It's been a while since I read it, so I'm afraid I can't remember specific examples. When the husband was alone, everything was fine. I think the problem was mostly in scenes when the couple was talking, and it occurred to me more than once that it sounded like their dialog should be switched.
