Status Updates From In Memory of Memory

Life is too short to read this! I kept hoping that it would turn into a proper narrative but so far it hasn’t so I’m not reading any more I don’t usually give up but it’s n this case….

'the present is so certain that it owns the past, just as once 'both th'Indias' were owned. the present knows as much about the past, as Donne did 'th'India', and barely notices the ghosts that float back and forth, ignoring state boundaries.'

'only trauma makes individuals - singly and unambiguously us - from the mass product. and yes, finally, the way in which i am the little boy, the product of mass manufacturing and also of the collective catastrophe of the last century, the survivor and unwitting beneficiary, here by some miracle.'

Don’t think it’s hyperbole to say at this point that this book is stunning although it certainly takes time to reveal itself—and I often feel like I’m missing about 30% of what Stepanova is doing here, given my ignorance of Russian history.

I'm not going to finish this before the Booker International Prize is awarded but I press on....

Interesting

A slow burner this one, I’m dipping into it now and again.

So good, really.

"I asked my mother one of those questions you only ask at that age: 'What are you most scared of?' I don’t know what kind of response I expected...She said: 'I’m afraid of the violence that can destroy a person.' Years passed, decades. Now I am the one who fears this same violence that can destroy a person."

"The presence of terror even seems to invigorate. It forces its way into the reality of the scurrying a very particular jittery sensation, bubbling like seltzer, a fresh breeze over the river, the morning lightness of those who survived the night..."

"... I was traveling over the turbid dark waters of a lake in a flimsy little vessel, leaning down to the lip of the water, and the waxen rounds of heads were rising up from the depths...floating up like pelmeni do, bobbing at the edges of the pan of boiling water...I had to pull those closest to me with a heavy boat hook...Their lips moved, but they made no sound, and none of mine were among them."

"...people find each other through loss and damage: holes, rents in the fabric, participants in a common fate."

I’m going to take a different approach to finishing this. Reading straight through it is difficult. You want to take in everything she says, for her prose are rich in deep thought with a beautiful use of language and curious ideas. But it’s a hard read. The the glue that binds each chapter and development of ideas is often elusive and deeply buried. I love the book, but will take time to read and re-read.

Interesting -- but too hard to read for me right now.

Dużo Sebalda, dużo pozaliterackich metodologicznych odniesień, dużo "już-przez-kogoś-przepracowanych-kwestii" oraz, dziwnie zabrzmi, dużo historycznego dystansu z nie-nazywaniem rzeczy po imieniu, co kontrastuje z ogólną intencją tekstu (jeżeli na 246 stronie taką można zobaczyć).

Niemniej jednak wciągający język.

Can’t decide how I feel about this yet. At some points I’m loving it and at some points I find myself very confused and honestly a bit lost. I’ve reached part two and am hoping to enjoy it a little more throughout the rest of the novel

“I put it off for my older, better self to complete, or I made tiny, painless, and deliberately inadequate sacrifices: jotting notes on scraps of paper or on my mobile while on the train or on the phone, a little like notching a stick” // “this chartered land of tenderness: a memorial to my own self.”

kinda feeling like ive been ripped open

I’ll be honest, I’m finding this book a bit difficult to get into. I haven’t had one single day off from work in the last two weeks, so I’m hoping on Wednesday I can really sit down with this and take a deep dive into it. I’m loving the concept, just having trouble finding time to read something as dense as this right now 😞

Jau pradeda pabosti :))

Zachwyt nie słabnie.

..::Reading the International Booker Prize Shortlist 4 of 6::..

To jedna z tych książek, w której można by zamieszkać - niespieszna, subtelna, mądra, przytulna. Objętość nie przytłacza.

Greu, foarte greu de parcurs. Am impresia că pierd detalii și când clipesc. Sper ca autoarea să aibă ceva important de spus, dacă tot trebuie să trec prin labirintul ăsta de idei.

I have gotten to a/the part of this book that I do not like, which is upsetting

Not matter what I do, I cannot read this book quickly. It takes all my energy just to absorb a handful of pages. It is a book worthy of that time taken.

За тази книга знаех единствено, че съществува. Докато вчера някак се сетих за нея и реших, че е много важно да я имам и да я прочета.
В книжарницата беше останало едно-единствено копие с леко наранено гръбче и одрана задна корица.
Не очаквах, не очаквах такава мощ...

so many quotes i want to post, but won’t because i’d wind up posting the whole book. this is simply one of the most vital literary works of the 21st century.

I’m in heaven

it’s a lot of different things

This immortality is terrifying, but even more terrifying is the fact that it is imposed on you. What photography now registers is nothing other than the body of death: the part of me that has no personal will or choice, which anyone can claim, which is fixed and preserved without effort. It is the part that dies, and not the part that remains.