Veronica’s Reviews > The Education of Robert Nifkin: A 1950s Chicago Beatnik's Journey from High School to Bohemian Private School > Status Update

More fun than the Algren, maybe? :)

David wrote: "More fun than the Algren, maybe? :)"

quite a bit more, although the last 30 pages of Algren could be considered "fun?" maybe...

I liked the finish, after so not much going on... though I did think the structure of it was kind of interesting... The beginning and end are action and maybe 3/4 of it are like this close look at a whore house and a jail.... and I was interested in those sections, though there was no plot in most of the book! Then to finish with a fight thriller to resolve the Steffi-Barber-Bruno triangle...

David wrote: "I liked the finish, after so not much going on... though I did think the structure of it was kind of interesting... The beginning and end are action and maybe 3/4 of it are like this close look at ..."

I agree the ending was superb, and I also enjoyed the jail scenes with the use of reality and dreamworld interplay. I found most of the beginning of the novel and much of the brothel scenes to be slow, though necessary in a character based novel such as this, however their lack of movement made them near unreadable. If it weren't for Algren's superb action and descriptions elsewhere, I would have rated the book much lower.

Well, I like character based books typically more than action ones, but it's this weird jumping from action to character to action... but Iiked the fantasy/dream sequences quite a bit, too. What Algren says his characters are doing: "kidding themselves," what people do when they are down and out, fantasizing impossible futures.... Kris said he didn't like the language in the book, but his poetic descriptions, his attention to the ways people talk, that is a real strength of the book (though hard to read at times, admittedly).

David wrote: "Well, I like character based books typically more than action ones, but it's this weird jumping from action to character to action... but Iiked the fantasy/dream sequences quite a bit, too. What Al..."

I think that this is a great book to read aloud, to really get the rhythm of the words and to sound out the weird phonetics of the vernacular. I really think that this is one of the best, style wise, authors I have read. I just wish that the book was smooth throughout with its "purpose," for lack of a better term, so that I could consider it more readable. In retrospect that may be the only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars. Although, all in all, I am really glad I read the book, because it is not the sort of book I would usually pick it up on my own.

I like the idea of reading some of it aloud, it is a very oral, aural book, to catch the language of underclass Polish depression Chicago.