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Journey to the End of the Night
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Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
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Poor Ferdinand's life seems to be haunted by a man Robinson who keeps turning up and whose arrival on the scene is always a harbinger of new unpleasantness. Every time things seem to be going too well, Robinson appears again. The story is semi-autobiographical, and the author's voice in this novel is a huge part of what kept me interested. The story is a bit absurd after a while, almost funny, and I could imagine this novel inspiring an entertaining miniseries, maybe starring someone like Andrew Scott in the role of Ferdinand.I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads. It probably ranks closer to 4.7, but I enjoyed it enough to grant it the 5th star.
Jamie wrote: "and I could imagine this novel inspiring an entertaining miniseries, maybe starring someone like Andrew Scott in the role of Ferdinand..."Well now that you've said it I can imagine it too: Andrew Scott just does "miserable disheveled guy" too well lol.
I also really got into this book, far more than I expected after reading the blurb, and ultimately gave it 4 stars.
While I don't endorse the protagonist's view of the world and the fundamental nature of people, I think it worked really well when you just accept that he is awful and that is a main point of it. His cynicism and beliefs about the awfulness of people often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in the ways he cultivates dysfunctional relationships, uses people, and seems to seek out the most low-life and dangerous circumstances.
He also decries the oppressive nature of society when he is a French soldier in WWI and is the smallest cog in the machine, and yet never really ponders at all the role he plays as oppressor and the way colonial society repressive Black Africans when he works in Togo. He is a complete hypocrite, but in a believable way that people really are, how we invoke cognitive dissonance to exonerate our role in oppressive systems. It also shows the completion of his cynicism and nihilism- so unbelieving in change and betterment that he has no empathy left for people still referred to as slaves even in this era.
On the other hand, some of his viewpoints are fully understandable and justified considering his experiences with WWI and the colonial occupation of Western Africa. Does the author share the protagonists viewpoint and sees it as fully legitimate? I don't really care, the book left me with a lot to consider regardless, and was fascinated with the journey.
The ending was fantastically done, with the chilling end note of "what is bigger than death"?
This is mostly a cynical and depressing book, sometimes vicious and obscene, but it's also astonishingly vivid. Amazing for its day, and I think there is a humanity at its heart that isn’t always present in the many disillusioned books by post-WW2 male authors. But I could be overly hopeful about that.I wondered if Robinson was Bardamu's alter ego in some way. He certainly seems to keep turning up, and Bardamu seems ambivalent, trying to escape him but also inviting him home.
After having read the two most available Celine books, Henry Miller's two "Tropic" books, and spatterings of Charles Bukowski, I see them as all a part of a sort of post-modernist recognition of how poorly the instinctive common man fits into modern society.All three are really bitterly disappointed idealists, in some sense, embittered and reacting narcissistically, simply to get thru life.
I think that Celine really influenced Houellebecq, but Houellebecq has cynically adapted much better to modern life. He is *using* modern life, while the others mentioned are used by life.
This epic semi-autobiographical book is a loose collection of stories that follows the main character to the front during WWI, to colonial Africa, the capitalist New York City, Ford's Detroit and then back to the poverty stricken suburbs of Paris where our main character is a complete failure of a doctor. All along the way Bardamu displays a deep cynicism and a overwhelming depression regarding the state of man in modern society. He also has a parallel alter ego Leon Richardson who manages to be in all the places Bardamu visits and does an even better job of completely botching things up for himself because he more than Bardamu, sees no redeeming value in life. The language was noted to be vulgar and raw when this book was first published but as I read it in translation I probably missed most of that. However, the poetics of despair is certainly completely on display even though Bardamu falters on occasion and thinks well of Molly, his good hearted prostitute and once in awhile glimpses a moment of life being worth something more than just stairs leading up to death. Powerful if depressing.
read Aug. 2024Well, that was something. I particularly liked this book, but it is one of those ones that is hard to recommend to others. It is surprisingly readable, has humor, some interesting events occur (vividly described), and the language is colloquial. I particularly liked his view of war. However, the middle drags when he returns to France. Then, the narrator’s inherent nihilism coupled with his poverty and lack of ambition make that section of the novel hard to read. This is also a book that you read in small doses rather than speeding through. I can see that this would have been shocking when it was first published, even now there are uncomfortable parts. 4.5*
I read this in 2018 and this is the review I posted then, which was probably before I joined this group. It seems my review was rather similar to Valerie's:Two GRs I follow rated this 5 stars and I'm tempted to, esp as the last couple chapters were so good, but I remember that a lot of the mid and early part dragged somewhat for me, so a strong 4 overall.
I do encourage my friends to read it, though it has a very bleak tone throughout, the main character constantly struggling to get by and complaining how awful life is- you would think he was Russian instead of French ;). He did persevere though.
I liked the style of mostly short sentences and phrases, kind of Hemingway-like. When you read it I advise you to read another book (or two) at the same time so the bleak mood doesn't tire you, and take your time.
I am surprised that there are no reviews for this book. I hope I didn't miss one. This is a semi-autobiographical modernist/existentialist book that offers a rather cynical and pessimistic view of the human condition. The book is set in France during the period of time surrounding WWI. Ferdinand Bardamu, the main character is a medical student who eventually completes his studies to become a doctor, although he takes on a motley variety of roles along the way. Each turn his life takes is met with disillusionment. Bardamu repeatedly meets up again with a misfortunate character named Robinson.
I enjoyed the black humor in this book, although the book often bordered on being too negative. The first-person narration is superb and vividly descriptive, although the narrator wasn't always reliable, in my opinion. There is a lot of symbolism and double meaning in this book, so the reader needs to be focused. I had to slow down from my normal pace to take in the intricacies of the story.