RIMBAUD - LES ILLUMINATIONS
"These metaphysical wet dreams will delight sulky teenagers and juveniles of all ages, but adults will agree with Rimbaud's own judgement: 'It's all slop.' ... I found these pieces supremely boring. Perhaps if I cared about the Rimbaud myth I would read these with different eyes-- but I don't, and therefore what I find is faux passion and histrionic hormones ... Not recommended."
KUHN - THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS
"I fear Kuhn and his readers have never tried to do a scientific experiment. They are really very difficult to do and producing accurate measurements often seems impossible. This is why it has taken years for science to develop."
"Kuhn started down this path by looking at Aristotle's physics and asked why something that was so 'obviously' wrong could have been conceived by such a brilliant man and not be questioned for such a long time. The obvious answer to anyone with a grasp of history would be that Aristotle wasn't all that smart"
MELVILLE - MOBY-DICK
"Moby Ick
Moby Ick's more like it. A PIECE-O-TRASH! SENSELESS!"
FREUD - THE EGO AND THE ID
"HONEY,,I THINK,,FREUD,,WAS A NASTY LITTLE MAN,,,N BACK IN HIS DAY WOMEN,,WERE CONCIDERED,,,TO BE SLAVES TO THERE HUBBYS,,AND IF THEY SHOWED,,,ANY BRAINS,,THEY WERE BEAT FOR IT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,PEACE"
KIERKEGAARD - REPETITION
"Philosophers are people who like to make life seem more meaningful than it is. We live. We die. End of transaction."
NABOKOV - BEND SINISTER
"Pubescent girls have all the features that heterosexual men normally find attractive, including an extra dose of youthfulness. Show me a man, white gentile or otherwise, who does not find them attractive and I will show you a probable homosexual."
BRONTE - WUTHERING HEIGHTS
"Urgh!
Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Urgh! Urgh! Urgh! Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Urghhhhh! Urghhhhhh!, Urgh!. Urgh! Urgh! Urgh!, Urgh! Urgh! Urghhhhhhh! Urhhhhhhh! Urghhhhhhhh! Urghhhhhhhhhhh! Urgh, urgh, urgh!"
SOPHOCLES - OEDIPUS AT COLONUS
"too simplistic for me ... I expected to be challenged when reading Sophocles. I'm guessing that this was written at a middle school reading level."
FEYERABEND - AGAINST METHOD
"Philosophers of science nowadays tend to be folk who wanted to be scientists when they were a kid, but then discovered that it's hard work that makes your brain hurt. Scientific relativism is balm to their wounded intellectual pride."
JAMES - THE TURN OF THE SCREW
"Many people will say: 'you can't judge a 19th-century book according to our 21th century standards'. Good point, but yes, I can."
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Henry James - The Turn of the Screw II
"I only decided to read this book because there was a brief reference to it in an episode of 'LOST'. Similar to watching 'LOST', I was often confused at what the hell was exactly going on in this book ... I would recommend Nicole Kidman's 'The Others' as an acceptable alternative to reading this book."
"I felt no connection with any of the characters, and the narrator (a governess who is flat to the point of wafer thin and who is obviously so disposable James didn't even bother gracing her with a name) just left me feeling hollow."
"I have never read a story with so many commas before !"
"even being an avid literature fan myself, i had to sit with a dictionary and look up every second word."
"This book is mostly nonsense about evil dead people trying to lure children to their ways. I won't even comment on the story. What interests me though is the mind of Henry James. He was a committed anglophile. In fact, he seems to have believed all the claptrap of England's aristocratic society. It seems to shine most brightly in this book. The children in question are aristocrats. The boy, a beautiful, young gentleman, was tossed out of school for reasons unknown, and James has his heroine make the case that it must be wrong since, indeed, the boy was a beautiful, young gentleman. (The ghosts in the story are, of course, common and vulgar.) I thought this sort of class nonsense was why we fought the redcoats in the first place, but James seems to accept it as the true way. If he were alive today, he'd be a Randian. Like all good converts, he seems to hold his class prejiduces more strongly than the natives. Of course the little snot could steal and cheat and cavort with ghosts! Anyway, I didn't think much of this book. And I was just beginning to think I sort of liked James."
"Many people will say: 'you can't judge a 19th-century book according to our 21th century standards'. Good point, but yes, I can."
"Would someone who has read this please explain to me what in the h e double heck it is supposed to be about? Ghost story? Moral tale? Nothing?"
"The Wikipedia page listed controversies about the book: is the main narrator imagining things? Are her interpretations of what she sees true? Are the children complicit in The Evil involved in consorting with the dead?
Meh. What all those controversies mean to me is that even people who read PROFESSIONALLY don't have any idea why the hell James wrote this.
It really reads like it was a children's fairy story... only duller than that. Much MUCH duller. So children couldn't be expected to finish it. I am NOT a child, and I had a hard slog, which is quite something for as short as it is.
Here's the point of the book: 'WOO, SCARY! if you come from a family that isn't careful, your children will be followed by pedophiles from BEYOND THE GRAVE! Ones who are so evil and debased that they'll make your children LIKE THEM! Woo!!'
Yeah, not too likely."
"Often whole pages are chock-filled with relentless text."
WHOLE PAGES OF TEXT! WHAT IN THE HEHECKHECK IS ALL THIS TEXT DOING IN MY BOOK
"I felt no connection with any of the characters, and the narrator (a governess who is flat to the point of wafer thin and who is obviously so disposable James didn't even bother gracing her with a name) just left me feeling hollow."
"I have never read a story with so many commas before !"
"even being an avid literature fan myself, i had to sit with a dictionary and look up every second word."
"This book is mostly nonsense about evil dead people trying to lure children to their ways. I won't even comment on the story. What interests me though is the mind of Henry James. He was a committed anglophile. In fact, he seems to have believed all the claptrap of England's aristocratic society. It seems to shine most brightly in this book. The children in question are aristocrats. The boy, a beautiful, young gentleman, was tossed out of school for reasons unknown, and James has his heroine make the case that it must be wrong since, indeed, the boy was a beautiful, young gentleman. (The ghosts in the story are, of course, common and vulgar.) I thought this sort of class nonsense was why we fought the redcoats in the first place, but James seems to accept it as the true way. If he were alive today, he'd be a Randian. Like all good converts, he seems to hold his class prejiduces more strongly than the natives. Of course the little snot could steal and cheat and cavort with ghosts! Anyway, I didn't think much of this book. And I was just beginning to think I sort of liked James."
"Many people will say: 'you can't judge a 19th-century book according to our 21th century standards'. Good point, but yes, I can."
"Would someone who has read this please explain to me what in the h e double heck it is supposed to be about? Ghost story? Moral tale? Nothing?"
"The Wikipedia page listed controversies about the book: is the main narrator imagining things? Are her interpretations of what she sees true? Are the children complicit in The Evil involved in consorting with the dead?
Meh. What all those controversies mean to me is that even people who read PROFESSIONALLY don't have any idea why the hell James wrote this.
It really reads like it was a children's fairy story... only duller than that. Much MUCH duller. So children couldn't be expected to finish it. I am NOT a child, and I had a hard slog, which is quite something for as short as it is.
Here's the point of the book: 'WOO, SCARY! if you come from a family that isn't careful, your children will be followed by pedophiles from BEYOND THE GRAVE! Ones who are so evil and debased that they'll make your children LIKE THEM! Woo!!'
Yeah, not too likely."
"Often whole pages are chock-filled with relentless text."
WHOLE PAGES OF TEXT! WHAT IN THE HEHECKHECK IS ALL THIS TEXT DOING IN MY BOOK
Monday, March 26, 2012
Paul Feyerabend - Against Method
"I have not read the book yet, but I have heared a summary of it."
ONE STAR
"Wasn't all that impressed. It seemed like he was arguing against method just for the sake of taking up an irrational argument."
"Philosophers of science nowadays tend to be folk who wanted to be scientists when they were a kid, but then discovered that it's hard work that makes your brain hurt. Scientific relativism is balm to their wounded intellectual pride."
ONE STAR
"Wasn't all that impressed. It seemed like he was arguing against method just for the sake of taking up an irrational argument."
"Philosophers of science nowadays tend to be folk who wanted to be scientists when they were a kid, but then discovered that it's hard work that makes your brain hurt. Scientific relativism is balm to their wounded intellectual pride."
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sophocles - Oedipus at Colonus
"I did not like how Oedipus was treated ... Oedipus was treated bad making his life miserable. I was against this idea of fate controlling a person's life; the play was basically about acknowledging the god and the kingdom. The entire play used the oricle as a foreshawod and irony which I found interesting."
"I began the Theban plays with Antigone in 1998 as a freshman in high school and now, 13 years later, I have finally finished them all."
"difficult to understand because os the elevated style of writing and the old-english language. The book also has very taboo themes."
"too simplistic for me ... I expected to be challenged when reading Sophocles. I'm guessing that this was written at a middle school reading level."
"I began the Theban plays with Antigone in 1998 as a freshman in high school and now, 13 years later, I have finally finished them all."
"difficult to understand because os the elevated style of writing and the old-english language. The book also has very taboo themes."
"too simplistic for me ... I expected to be challenged when reading Sophocles. I'm guessing that this was written at a middle school reading level."
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights VI
"I didn't expect much from this book. Really, I didn't. The jacket blurb is stupid; any book that claims to be 'a pinnacle of literature' but also discusses 'wreaking revenge' is not going to be especially good. But I was unpleasantly shocked to discover what an unforgivable travesty of a novel 'Wuthering Heights' actually is.
...
He gets sick, lies in bed moaning and, to shut him up and to listen to her own voice, the housekeeper (Ellen or Nelly or whatever) starts telling him about the events of twenty years ago which took place in the nearby house. (Heathcliff House? Melodrama Manor? Can't remember that either.)"
"This book is unworthy of my time."
"These kinds of novels are not my cup of tea. I do not like tea anyway.
I prefer novels which are related to reality"
"not uplifting and has no point."
"I'm not a Bronte fan. I think they are terrible writers and in this case, there isnt a single redeamable character in this perposterously long book. The story has potential but she is too bad a writer with zero feeling. I suffered through it. I literally willed myself to continue with this book."
"There are two stylistic aspects of the book that I do not care for. One is to use two different narrators to tell the story rather than the God narrator device that modern authors use."
"Urgh!
Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Urgh! Urgh! Urgh! Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Urghhhhh! Urghhhhhh!, Urgh!. Urgh! Urgh! Urgh!, Urgh! Urgh! Urghhhhhhh! Urhhhhhhh! Urghhhhhhhh! Urghhhhhhhhhhh! Urgh, urgh, urgh!"
"Much of the interaction between the characters is abusive, both verbally and physically. There is also animal cruelty, and most of the characters die off at an early age."
"Who on earth would think of cruelty to animals as romantic? I think this book would get vastly different reviews if it was a modern novel, and not considered as 'literature'"
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My stupid teacher made me read this horrible book . To all future teachers considering making this book required reading: well, don't do it! My teacher has made the list. The list of death that is, ha ha ha haaaa."
...
He gets sick, lies in bed moaning and, to shut him up and to listen to her own voice, the housekeeper (Ellen or Nelly or whatever) starts telling him about the events of twenty years ago which took place in the nearby house. (Heathcliff House? Melodrama Manor? Can't remember that either.)"
"This book is unworthy of my time."
"These kinds of novels are not my cup of tea. I do not like tea anyway.
I prefer novels which are related to reality"
"not uplifting and has no point."
"I'm not a Bronte fan. I think they are terrible writers and in this case, there isnt a single redeamable character in this perposterously long book. The story has potential but she is too bad a writer with zero feeling. I suffered through it. I literally willed myself to continue with this book."
"There are two stylistic aspects of the book that I do not care for. One is to use two different narrators to tell the story rather than the God narrator device that modern authors use."
"Urgh!
Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Urgh! Urgh! Urgh! Urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Urghhhhh! Urghhhhhh!, Urgh!. Urgh! Urgh! Urgh!, Urgh! Urgh! Urghhhhhhh! Urhhhhhhh! Urghhhhhhhh! Urghhhhhhhhhhh! Urgh, urgh, urgh!"
"Much of the interaction between the characters is abusive, both verbally and physically. There is also animal cruelty, and most of the characters die off at an early age."
"Who on earth would think of cruelty to animals as romantic? I think this book would get vastly different reviews if it was a modern novel, and not considered as 'literature'"
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My stupid teacher made me read this horrible book . To all future teachers considering making this book required reading: well, don't do it! My teacher has made the list. The list of death that is, ha ha ha haaaa."
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Geoffrey Hill - Mercian Hymns
"A very difficult reading, considering I had to do it all in one week."
"The low rating I give this book is mainly attributed to the fact that it went WAY over my head."
"Reading a few pages of this book should be enough to discourage even a half-literate reader."
AGREED
"Unbelievably Bad
I can't believe anyone is taking this rubbish seriously. This just has to be the product of vanity publishing."
"The low rating I give this book is mainly attributed to the fact that it went WAY over my head."
"Reading a few pages of this book should be enough to discourage even a half-literate reader."
AGREED
"Unbelievably Bad
I can't believe anyone is taking this rubbish seriously. This just has to be the product of vanity publishing."
Monday, March 19, 2012
Vladimir Nabokov - Bend Sinister
"What self-serving crap. The man was nothing but an egotist who wanted to spread his thoughts on the state of the world and literature in a loose narrative."
"Can't explain how much I HATE Nabokov. Not enough words. FCK HIM!"
"Of course jews like Freud, Nabokov and Kubrik wanted to belive, and more importantly, wanted to make us believe, that it was their dysfunctional homes and traumas that made them into perverts, not their bad blood."
"Jew - pervert- who cares, both groups has an interest to justify their pervertions by saying that the real reason they behave this way, is that they had been subjected to some trauma in the past, and nothing to do with normal genetical or cultural inheritance."
"Pubescent girls have all the features that heterosexual men normally find attractive, including an extra dose of youthfulness. Show me a man, white gentile or otherwise, who does not find them attractive and I will show you a probable homosexual."
"Show me someone who like Nabokov was a pedophile, enjoys raping and murdering children, was married to a jew, and was a zionist, and I will show you a kikopedophile."
"Can't explain how much I HATE Nabokov. Not enough words. FCK HIM!"
"Of course jews like Freud, Nabokov and Kubrik wanted to belive, and more importantly, wanted to make us believe, that it was their dysfunctional homes and traumas that made them into perverts, not their bad blood."
"Jew - pervert- who cares, both groups has an interest to justify their pervertions by saying that the real reason they behave this way, is that they had been subjected to some trauma in the past, and nothing to do with normal genetical or cultural inheritance."
"Pubescent girls have all the features that heterosexual men normally find attractive, including an extra dose of youthfulness. Show me a man, white gentile or otherwise, who does not find them attractive and I will show you a probable homosexual."
"Show me someone who like Nabokov was a pedophile, enjoys raping and murdering children, was married to a jew, and was a zionist, and I will show you a kikopedophile."
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Soren Kierkegaard - Repetition
"Man I hate Kierkegaard."
"Philosophers are people who like to make life seem more meaningful than it is. We live. We die. End of transaction."
"I HATE KIERKEGAARD!! And I doubt I will ever need to know all these philospher's info! :P"
"Kierkegaard was one of the worst!!!
Why do we even have to learn about them anyway??"
"Kierkegaard is an asshole with machismo delusions and pretensions towards being a master of philosophy."
"Kierkegaard was a fag."
"God I hate Kierkegaard."
"Philosophers are people who like to make life seem more meaningful than it is. We live. We die. End of transaction."
"I HATE KIERKEGAARD!! And I doubt I will ever need to know all these philospher's info! :P"
"Kierkegaard was one of the worst!!!
Why do we even have to learn about them anyway??"
"Kierkegaard is an asshole with machismo delusions and pretensions towards being a master of philosophy."
"Kierkegaard was a fag."
"God I hate Kierkegaard."
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Sigmund Freud - The Ego and the Id
"I think Freud was a little bit of a whackadoodle. Just putting that out there."
"I can call him nothing less than a monster. The man's ideals make me sick, thoroughly sick. I will exercise restraint and leave things here, while there is no limit to my disgust."
"I think Freud had a disturbed mind, rather than dirty, because of his abuse (only my own theory)."
"He was probably just bitter because his mom wouldn't sleep with him. I'm chalking the whole thing up to dealing badly with rejection."
"Freud did not have a dirty mind , if fact I doubt he had one at all . To him everything revolves around your not loving your mother or loving her in the wrong way . Freud was constantly rationalizing things that he knew little if anything about . He was crazy and believed only his theories which made no sense at all ."
"Who gives a rats - i cant be bothered to worry about the crapping on of silly old men who were intimidated by females and most probably couldnt get a shag because of it."
"the Freud's are buffoons."
"Sigmund said many things which are , plainly, wrong. You might like to consider that the next time you are intimate with your wife/girfriend/partner Oedipus."
"Freud was an idiot, I cant understand why his theories and works were ever given so much credence."
"HONEY,,I THINK,,FREUD,,WAS A NASTY LITTLE MAN,,,N BACK IN HIS DAY WOMEN,,WERE CONCIDERED,,,TO BE SLAVES TO THERE HUBBYS,,AND IF THEY SHOWED,,,ANY BRAINS,,THEY WERE BEAT FOR IT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,PEACE"
"I think he was a social reject and women found him repulsive, so he invented reasons why."
"these kinds of insecure hedonists are idealistic, have no sense of history or human nature, and they think that what they're doing will somehow improve the world when you least expect it. In reality, of course, he who pays the piper calls the tune. With that in mind, It turns out that it comes primarily from bad-tempered, harebrained spoilsports, noisome, stroppy publishers of hate literature, and—you guessed it—hypocritical slubberdegullions. This explains why I assert that the communicative efficacy of connection with lewd exponents of radicalism will cause meretricious stumblebums to dominate the whole earth and take possession of all its riches before long. My views, of course, are not the issue here. The issue is that I've repeatedly pointed out to the etablisment that its birdbrained, shallow taradiddles are an exemplification of why we must perform noble deeds. That apparently didn't register with them though. Oh, well; I guess we must reach out to people with the message that has become increasingly amoral ever since childhood. We must alert people of that. We must educate them. We must inspire them. And we must encourage them to acknowledge that there conduct can be described as less than perfect.
Like a verbal magician, the sexuality of humans-beings knows how to lie without appearing to be lying, how to bury secrets in mountains of garbage-speak. Unsettling as that is, the more infuriating fact is that the worst sorts of macabre yobbos there are are often found at dark corners .or in plain sight This suggests to me that I used to suspect that there was a combative, egocentric energumen. However, after seeing how it wants to pursue a twofold credo of hedonism and snobbism,( just like the series made in chelsea).. I now have an even lower opinion of it. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that it seems to be involved in a number of illegal or borderline-illegal activities. For it and its agents provocateurs, tax evasion and financial chicanery are scarcely outside the norm. 'Even financial fraud and thievery seem to be okay in todays politcal cimate'. What's next? Scrapping the notion of national sovereignty? I can say only that they want to operate on a criminal—as opposed to a civil disobedience—basis. You know what groups have historically wanted to do the same thing? Fascists and Nazis.
In theory, harangues have a crippling effect on science and technology. But in reality, the suggestion that all literature that opposes oligarchism was forged by malignant barmpots is wrong, absurd, and offensive. Nevertheless, there accomplices like to suggest such things to distract attention from the truth, which is that you may be worried that they will bad-mouth worthy causes before you know it. If so, then I share your misgivings. But let's not worry about that now. Instead, let's discuss my observation and lamentations that have caused widespread social alienation, and from this alienation a thousand social pathologies have sprung. The only way out of this fantasy's rat maze is to treat the blows with circumstance. It's that simple."
"I can call him nothing less than a monster. The man's ideals make me sick, thoroughly sick. I will exercise restraint and leave things here, while there is no limit to my disgust."
"I think Freud had a disturbed mind, rather than dirty, because of his abuse (only my own theory)."
"He was probably just bitter because his mom wouldn't sleep with him. I'm chalking the whole thing up to dealing badly with rejection."
"Freud did not have a dirty mind , if fact I doubt he had one at all . To him everything revolves around your not loving your mother or loving her in the wrong way . Freud was constantly rationalizing things that he knew little if anything about . He was crazy and believed only his theories which made no sense at all ."
"Who gives a rats - i cant be bothered to worry about the crapping on of silly old men who were intimidated by females and most probably couldnt get a shag because of it."
"the Freud's are buffoons."
"Sigmund said many things which are , plainly, wrong. You might like to consider that the next time you are intimate with your wife/girfriend/partner Oedipus."
"Freud was an idiot, I cant understand why his theories and works were ever given so much credence."
"HONEY,,I THINK,,FREUD,,WAS A NASTY LITTLE MAN,,,N BACK IN HIS DAY WOMEN,,WERE CONCIDERED,,,TO BE SLAVES TO THERE HUBBYS,,AND IF THEY SHOWED,,,ANY BRAINS,,THEY WERE BEAT FOR IT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,PEACE"
"I think he was a social reject and women found him repulsive, so he invented reasons why."
"these kinds of insecure hedonists are idealistic, have no sense of history or human nature, and they think that what they're doing will somehow improve the world when you least expect it. In reality, of course, he who pays the piper calls the tune. With that in mind, It turns out that it comes primarily from bad-tempered, harebrained spoilsports, noisome, stroppy publishers of hate literature, and—you guessed it—hypocritical slubberdegullions. This explains why I assert that the communicative efficacy of connection with lewd exponents of radicalism will cause meretricious stumblebums to dominate the whole earth and take possession of all its riches before long. My views, of course, are not the issue here. The issue is that I've repeatedly pointed out to the etablisment that its birdbrained, shallow taradiddles are an exemplification of why we must perform noble deeds. That apparently didn't register with them though. Oh, well; I guess we must reach out to people with the message that has become increasingly amoral ever since childhood. We must alert people of that. We must educate them. We must inspire them. And we must encourage them to acknowledge that there conduct can be described as less than perfect.
Like a verbal magician, the sexuality of humans-beings knows how to lie without appearing to be lying, how to bury secrets in mountains of garbage-speak. Unsettling as that is, the more infuriating fact is that the worst sorts of macabre yobbos there are are often found at dark corners .or in plain sight This suggests to me that I used to suspect that there was a combative, egocentric energumen. However, after seeing how it wants to pursue a twofold credo of hedonism and snobbism,( just like the series made in chelsea).. I now have an even lower opinion of it. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that it seems to be involved in a number of illegal or borderline-illegal activities. For it and its agents provocateurs, tax evasion and financial chicanery are scarcely outside the norm. 'Even financial fraud and thievery seem to be okay in todays politcal cimate'. What's next? Scrapping the notion of national sovereignty? I can say only that they want to operate on a criminal—as opposed to a civil disobedience—basis. You know what groups have historically wanted to do the same thing? Fascists and Nazis.
In theory, harangues have a crippling effect on science and technology. But in reality, the suggestion that all literature that opposes oligarchism was forged by malignant barmpots is wrong, absurd, and offensive. Nevertheless, there accomplices like to suggest such things to distract attention from the truth, which is that you may be worried that they will bad-mouth worthy causes before you know it. If so, then I share your misgivings. But let's not worry about that now. Instead, let's discuss my observation and lamentations that have caused widespread social alienation, and from this alienation a thousand social pathologies have sprung. The only way out of this fantasy's rat maze is to treat the blows with circumstance. It's that simple."
Monday, March 12, 2012
Herman Melville - Moby-Dick IV
"What can I possibly say about Moby Dick that hasn't been said before? Especially since I didn't read the full novel but only a graphic retelling of the tale."
"This book was way overated, even for its' time. Melville doesn't seem to know when to stop talking about one specific thought. That's about it. The book was terrible. Oh, yeah. GO TIGERS!"
"I found myself having mini emotional break downs trying to comprehend how any could possible enjoy such a terrible book."
"Like choking down a week old doughnut"
"I sat down to read this book after it was published on a list of must-read classics. I for one, do not agree with it's must-read status."
"'Call me Ishmael.' It's undoubtedly one of the most widely recognized opening lines of any classical novel. Unfortunately, it's also the best line in the book."
"it seemed that Melville could not come up with any new material, so expanded on the mental processes of Ishmael"
FORCED TO RESORT TO CHEAP TRICKS LIKE DEVELOPING HIS CHARACTERS
"If you will take some advice from a fellow bibliophile, don't bother to read this 'book to end all books.' It's not worth your time."
"I think Melville was a genius, yes, but the structure in which he wrote the book did not make sense. Don't read this book if you don't have to"
"For boring people who couldn't get any more boring
What a waste of time! This book is very, very boring. I've said it & I'll say it again: this book is very, very, extremely, boring."
"Maybe one day I'll be really ill after learning the entire English language of the last 200 years and have nothing else to do but lie in bed reading. But I would still think I could find something that will hold my interest for a lot longer than this."
"Presumably they didn't have editors in those days, or this would be a very much shorter and better book."
"I find it very hard to believe that a modern reader can find anything inspiring in this massive, overrated, terrible piece of literature. I have read many ‘classics’ which are hardly worthy of the name but this has to come top of the list so far, if there is a worse classic out there I am yet to find it (and hope I never will). It seems to be another of those massive tomes such as ‘War and Peace’ or ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ that the reader convinces themselves to be a ‘masterpiece’ on completion, simply because they cannot bear to admit that they have been duped into wasting such a massive amount of time and energy.
From the lengthy zoological descriptions of marine mammals, through to the tedious descriptions of the minutiae of sea life, one keeps wondering why Melville didn’t just write a series of textbooks and save us all from his woeful attempts at storytelling. I urge you not to buy this book and perpetuate any further the myth that this is either a great novel or that it is in any way still relevant today."
"Why must we all be forced to read this?
It's so badly written that I want to scream."
"I can vaguely see why some of the writing in this book may have been considered entertaining when there was less competition on the market"
"Moby Dick is the most BORING book I have ever read! I think if you made it into a short comic strip, you would have liked it. But this 550 page account called a novel? No way, man. I implore you, do NOT read this book."
"The language is hard to read and is in my opinion only good for academic study of how not to write a novel."
"Doesn't even deserve one star, it's that bad
The author seems to think it far more appropriate to let us all know what a well-educated fellow he is by the use of overblown pompous classical waffling, than to tell the story. Avoid this awful book."
"Moby Ick
Moby Ick's more like it. A PIECE-O-TRASH! SENSELESS!"
"This book was way overated, even for its' time. Melville doesn't seem to know when to stop talking about one specific thought. That's about it. The book was terrible. Oh, yeah. GO TIGERS!"
"I found myself having mini emotional break downs trying to comprehend how any could possible enjoy such a terrible book."
"Like choking down a week old doughnut"
"I sat down to read this book after it was published on a list of must-read classics. I for one, do not agree with it's must-read status."
"'Call me Ishmael.' It's undoubtedly one of the most widely recognized opening lines of any classical novel. Unfortunately, it's also the best line in the book."
"it seemed that Melville could not come up with any new material, so expanded on the mental processes of Ishmael"
FORCED TO RESORT TO CHEAP TRICKS LIKE DEVELOPING HIS CHARACTERS
"If you will take some advice from a fellow bibliophile, don't bother to read this 'book to end all books.' It's not worth your time."
"I think Melville was a genius, yes, but the structure in which he wrote the book did not make sense. Don't read this book if you don't have to"
"For boring people who couldn't get any more boring
What a waste of time! This book is very, very boring. I've said it & I'll say it again: this book is very, very, extremely, boring."
"Maybe one day I'll be really ill after learning the entire English language of the last 200 years and have nothing else to do but lie in bed reading. But I would still think I could find something that will hold my interest for a lot longer than this."
"Presumably they didn't have editors in those days, or this would be a very much shorter and better book."
"I find it very hard to believe that a modern reader can find anything inspiring in this massive, overrated, terrible piece of literature. I have read many ‘classics’ which are hardly worthy of the name but this has to come top of the list so far, if there is a worse classic out there I am yet to find it (and hope I never will). It seems to be another of those massive tomes such as ‘War and Peace’ or ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ that the reader convinces themselves to be a ‘masterpiece’ on completion, simply because they cannot bear to admit that they have been duped into wasting such a massive amount of time and energy.
From the lengthy zoological descriptions of marine mammals, through to the tedious descriptions of the minutiae of sea life, one keeps wondering why Melville didn’t just write a series of textbooks and save us all from his woeful attempts at storytelling. I urge you not to buy this book and perpetuate any further the myth that this is either a great novel or that it is in any way still relevant today."
"Why must we all be forced to read this?
It's so badly written that I want to scream."
"I can vaguely see why some of the writing in this book may have been considered entertaining when there was less competition on the market"
"Moby Dick is the most BORING book I have ever read! I think if you made it into a short comic strip, you would have liked it. But this 550 page account called a novel? No way, man. I implore you, do NOT read this book."
"The language is hard to read and is in my opinion only good for academic study of how not to write a novel."
"Doesn't even deserve one star, it's that bad
The author seems to think it far more appropriate to let us all know what a well-educated fellow he is by the use of overblown pompous classical waffling, than to tell the story. Avoid this awful book."
"Moby Ick
Moby Ick's more like it. A PIECE-O-TRASH! SENSELESS!"
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Thomas S. Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
"No. Just no."
"A rebellion against science is running rampant in the West, causing such oddities as the cult of Global Warming."
"BORING! I don't remember whether I even finished it."
"I receieved my lowest mark in my degree for criticising this book. I hold Kuhn personally responsible."
"This book is unbelievably wordy, self contradictory, pompous, and obscure. I absolutely hated it. I am a practicing 'normal' scientist, and I can say that this book has no impact what so ever in science."
"God awful writing. Seriously the most dull and dense thing I've read in years. Actual scientific papers are more akin to 'page-turners' than this."
"Science is hard; that's why so many people fill the skies with supernatural entities in order to have an explanation for why we're here. Kuhn does the same: saying that prevailing views of science change from time to time, then coming up with some blatant kablooie that explains it in accordance with his particular worldview. He pays no attention to the fact that science is a search for the truths of nature, not a search for fresh paradigms, and that paradigms only shift when there's reasonable evidence that theories are moving closer to the truth."
(BOTH IN FACT MAJOR PREMISES OF KUHN'S SYSTEM)
"by an absolute bitch"
"It is difficult to read. His sentences are way too long and complex, making speed-reading difficult."
"I fear Kuhn and his readers have never tried to do a scientific experiment. They are really very difficult to do and producing accurate measurements often seems impossible. This is why it has taken years for science to develop."
"The author prefers lengthy half page paragraphs and sentences that will typically take up multiple lines of text."
"Just WRONG. The world does go around the sun: this is NOT a paradigm, it is what sensible people refer to as TRUE. As for pre-Copernican's; they were WRONG."
"For a much better analysis of truth and epistemology, I'd highly recommend Ayn Rand's 'Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology'."
"Thomas Kuhn's basic idea is not a bad one, and probably not an entirely untrue one. Science progresses with the addition of ideas; nobody would argue with that."
"Kuhn was a scholar, lost in his own little world, and too detached to make a connection with the rest of us."
"The Kuhnian notion of the 'paradigm' as a critique of traditional ideas about science and scientific progress is ironically descriptive of postmodernity's hidden predicament: would left academics/intellectuals be willing to admit that their own 'paradigms' (from Darwinism to multiculturalism to critical race theory) are in fact mere products of power relations, not rooted in a transcendent reality?
Nothing drove this home to me more when the comments of molecular biologist James D. Watson about links between race and intelligence sent a shudder through the left-liberal cognoscenti. He had disturbed the settled 'paradigm' through which we view race in the West."
"Kuhn started down this path by looking at Aristotle's physics and asked why something that was so 'obviously' wrong could have been conceived by such a brilliant man and not be questioned for such a long time. The obvious answer to anyone with a grasp of history would be that Aristotle wasn't all that smart, an incompetent scientist and that his theories were questioned"
"A rebellion against science is running rampant in the West, causing such oddities as the cult of Global Warming."
"BORING! I don't remember whether I even finished it."
"I receieved my lowest mark in my degree for criticising this book. I hold Kuhn personally responsible."
"This book is unbelievably wordy, self contradictory, pompous, and obscure. I absolutely hated it. I am a practicing 'normal' scientist, and I can say that this book has no impact what so ever in science."
"God awful writing. Seriously the most dull and dense thing I've read in years. Actual scientific papers are more akin to 'page-turners' than this."
"Science is hard; that's why so many people fill the skies with supernatural entities in order to have an explanation for why we're here. Kuhn does the same: saying that prevailing views of science change from time to time, then coming up with some blatant kablooie that explains it in accordance with his particular worldview. He pays no attention to the fact that science is a search for the truths of nature, not a search for fresh paradigms, and that paradigms only shift when there's reasonable evidence that theories are moving closer to the truth."
(BOTH IN FACT MAJOR PREMISES OF KUHN'S SYSTEM)
"by an absolute bitch"
"It is difficult to read. His sentences are way too long and complex, making speed-reading difficult."
"I fear Kuhn and his readers have never tried to do a scientific experiment. They are really very difficult to do and producing accurate measurements often seems impossible. This is why it has taken years for science to develop."
"The author prefers lengthy half page paragraphs and sentences that will typically take up multiple lines of text."
"Just WRONG. The world does go around the sun: this is NOT a paradigm, it is what sensible people refer to as TRUE. As for pre-Copernican's; they were WRONG."
"For a much better analysis of truth and epistemology, I'd highly recommend Ayn Rand's 'Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology'."
"Thomas Kuhn's basic idea is not a bad one, and probably not an entirely untrue one. Science progresses with the addition of ideas; nobody would argue with that."
"Kuhn was a scholar, lost in his own little world, and too detached to make a connection with the rest of us."
"The Kuhnian notion of the 'paradigm' as a critique of traditional ideas about science and scientific progress is ironically descriptive of postmodernity's hidden predicament: would left academics/intellectuals be willing to admit that their own 'paradigms' (from Darwinism to multiculturalism to critical race theory) are in fact mere products of power relations, not rooted in a transcendent reality?
Nothing drove this home to me more when the comments of molecular biologist James D. Watson about links between race and intelligence sent a shudder through the left-liberal cognoscenti. He had disturbed the settled 'paradigm' through which we view race in the West."
"Kuhn started down this path by looking at Aristotle's physics and asked why something that was so 'obviously' wrong could have been conceived by such a brilliant man and not be questioned for such a long time. The obvious answer to anyone with a grasp of history would be that Aristotle wasn't all that smart, an incompetent scientist and that his theories were questioned"
Friday, March 9, 2012
Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway IV
"I have been trying to read this book for the last 6 years..."
"I would not recommend this to a young woman excited by life and the future - Clarissa's melancholy manages to instil negativity in almost everything"
"I did found a good thing about the book and that is the description of different parts of London during the day , the ding dong of the Big Ben and so on, but I'm afraid , that's about it ..."
"Reading should not be such hard work
Initially I feared I was just not intellectual enough to appreciate this work, but after finding that all our book club members had the same opinion of it I came to the conclusion that the pain and grief Virginia Woolf apparently went through in writing this book was hardly any less than I felt in reading it, and didn't justify the results."
"Appaling
Mrs. Dalloway is one of the worst books I have read. It is not, in fact, about anything, particularly. It is instead a loosely linked ramble throught the minds of a large number of people in London. Every single one of them is dysfunctional or insane. Their reactions are like those of a manic depressive - one moment they are full of the joy of life, the next, they start to feel homesick and plunge into almost suicidal depression. If you think I'm exaggerating, take a flick through a copy of it ... Also, I'm fairly suspicious of symbolism. The problem is that it can mean anything, and when you start to say that something is symbolic, where do you stop? Mrs. Dalloway is like that. It is considered to be so deeply symbolic that I suspect it isn't.
It's just a bad, bad book."
"This books is not particularly difficult to read as there are no complicated ideas or challenging concepts in it. It is just a long, tedious collection of gibberish prose. As I read the book I deliberately forced myself to try and see what the big fuss about it is but once I put it down I admitted to myself that I had just read a really bad book and felt somewhat tricked. Don't let yourself be fooled by wasting your time reading this shamefully overrated book."
"I would not recommend this to a young woman excited by life and the future - Clarissa's melancholy manages to instil negativity in almost everything"
"I did found a good thing about the book and that is the description of different parts of London during the day , the ding dong of the Big Ben and so on, but I'm afraid , that's about it ..."
"Reading should not be such hard work
Initially I feared I was just not intellectual enough to appreciate this work, but after finding that all our book club members had the same opinion of it I came to the conclusion that the pain and grief Virginia Woolf apparently went through in writing this book was hardly any less than I felt in reading it, and didn't justify the results."
"Appaling
Mrs. Dalloway is one of the worst books I have read. It is not, in fact, about anything, particularly. It is instead a loosely linked ramble throught the minds of a large number of people in London. Every single one of them is dysfunctional or insane. Their reactions are like those of a manic depressive - one moment they are full of the joy of life, the next, they start to feel homesick and plunge into almost suicidal depression. If you think I'm exaggerating, take a flick through a copy of it ... Also, I'm fairly suspicious of symbolism. The problem is that it can mean anything, and when you start to say that something is symbolic, where do you stop? Mrs. Dalloway is like that. It is considered to be so deeply symbolic that I suspect it isn't.
It's just a bad, bad book."
"This books is not particularly difficult to read as there are no complicated ideas or challenging concepts in it. It is just a long, tedious collection of gibberish prose. As I read the book I deliberately forced myself to try and see what the big fuss about it is but once I put it down I admitted to myself that I had just read a really bad book and felt somewhat tricked. Don't let yourself be fooled by wasting your time reading this shamefully overrated book."
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Philip Larkin - The Whitsun Weddings
"I hate Philip Larkin.
I hate Emily Bronte.
I hate creative writing.
I hate sitting still for 2 hours at a time."
"Philip Larkin is one of the most pathetic writers ever.
He's an emo...and a loser. He is very lame."
"Philip Larkin sucks tho. That's not opinion, it's objective fact."
"ur jus seyin philip larkn is a loser!!!
i cudnt agree mor!!!!!!!!!
mysoginistic freak!"
"Oh my God, I HATE Philip Larkin. If I wanted to be depressed, I would listen to The Used."
"I hate Philip Larkin with a passion. Creepy old man, lurking outside the dance hall watching the pretty young girls.."
"This poetry has no redemption or beauty. It is dry, sarcastic, dismal, and plain out unhealthy to the mind. It's not worth it."
"I hate Philip Larkin and his ridiculous collection of poems"
"Larkin's portrayal of life is painfully depressing. There is no sense of positivity, but rather melancholy, doom and gloom, sadness, depression, failure, misgivings, misfortune, darkness. It is not what a 17-year-old reader wishes to read about what he will endure over the coming years ... This collection is not a pick-me-up ... It is not the quality of his poems that make this colection an unwelcome read; it is the subject, the general feeling exuded. This is not a warm, cheerful book.
So whilst the poet is evidently vastly talented and whilst his talent is impressive, this book does not justify its purchase. There is adequate sadness in the world, without one paying one's money to read Larkin's arduously depressing perception of life in further detail. I regret having taken English Literature, largely because of this text - it is not a worthwhile read."
I hate Emily Bronte.
I hate creative writing.
I hate sitting still for 2 hours at a time."
"Philip Larkin is one of the most pathetic writers ever.
He's an emo...and a loser. He is very lame."
"Philip Larkin sucks tho. That's not opinion, it's objective fact."
"ur jus seyin philip larkn is a loser!!!
i cudnt agree mor!!!!!!!!!
mysoginistic freak!"
"Oh my God, I HATE Philip Larkin. If I wanted to be depressed, I would listen to The Used."
"I hate Philip Larkin with a passion. Creepy old man, lurking outside the dance hall watching the pretty young girls.."
"This poetry has no redemption or beauty. It is dry, sarcastic, dismal, and plain out unhealthy to the mind. It's not worth it."
"I hate Philip Larkin and his ridiculous collection of poems"
"Larkin's portrayal of life is painfully depressing. There is no sense of positivity, but rather melancholy, doom and gloom, sadness, depression, failure, misgivings, misfortune, darkness. It is not what a 17-year-old reader wishes to read about what he will endure over the coming years ... This collection is not a pick-me-up ... It is not the quality of his poems that make this colection an unwelcome read; it is the subject, the general feeling exuded. This is not a warm, cheerful book.
So whilst the poet is evidently vastly talented and whilst his talent is impressive, this book does not justify its purchase. There is adequate sadness in the world, without one paying one's money to read Larkin's arduously depressing perception of life in further detail. I regret having taken English Literature, largely because of this text - it is not a worthwhile read."
Monday, March 5, 2012
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby V
"Love it brilliant truths! One of my favorite gatsby stories."
"I felt that the author was trying to impress me with his prose rather than tell a story or describe his characters. Although his writing received great rave reviews from most people the old song about the 'King's New Clothes' comes to my mind."
"This is supposed to be an American classic? Personally, I've read better children's books then this."
"Truly, I know this is a American novel. This book to me, got boring really fast. The book didn't describe all of the characters enough, and I feel that if a book wants to be a good one, it should describe the characters."
"Supposedly a classic I couldnt agree any less. This is one of those things in life that pretentious people rave about when actually if you look at it without the rose tinted glasses its just average. The pretentious people rave on about it being an insight into that time in American history and blah blah blah!"
"This book totally confuses me i'm supposed to do an art project on it and i have no idea what to do. The book had so many drags, why did the author use his symbols. What happened really at the end? And can some one give me an art project to do/"
"This book was very difficult to get into. After the first few chapters it is probably an okay book but I didn't get that far. That is all I have to say since I only read the first few pages of this not-so-interesting book. My advice to you is if you have a short attention span then don't read this book, but if you like to be bored then this is the book for you."
"horrible
no understanding"
"As far as I am concerned the storyline is as deep as the hairs on my father's bald spot are long and about as interesting as watching paint dry in the rain."
"My main complaint is about the writing style: it is written in a way that excites English teachers, and bores the rest of us (everyone I know [rather inteligent high school students with a slant twards math and science)"
"I know the secret behind this book
The secret is: the author was a drunk. Had I not been forced to read this book in school, I would never have finished it, and I've read a lot of dull books. I've read a lot of classics, but this is probably the only one I think is not worth the effort. Frankly, I'm still wondering why it's a classic; there's nothing to it. So Gatsby's not what he seems, so he gets shot, so Nick's a homosexual, so what? Is there anything worthy in this book? Anything at all?"
"It's sad when a good author can't write well"
"Once upon a time there was a brilliant little boy named Swixer.
Swixer loved books, he'd read them all the time.
But as he grew older, his taste in books matured too and so, the brilliant little boy discovered classic literature.
He read Of Mice and Men, A Clockwork Orange and 1984! He read Othello and A Streetcar Named Desire and Brave New World!
But the book he loved most of all was The Great Gatsby.
He read the book and admired it, taking it wherever he went, talking about it to friends.
But then he met another little boy who was called Hassan
Hassan loved Gatsby also and talked about it with Swixer all the time.
He talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked
Eventually, Swixer tired of his incessant ramblings and requested that he take a break.
Hassan did not like this.
He did not like it.
Hassan killed Swixer later that night with his own copy of the Great Gatsby, using the sharp edged paper to slit his throat.
And, from that day forward, Swixer would be doomed to wander the Earth, seeking a way get revenge on Hassan and finally rest.
He is SPAWN."
"I felt that the author was trying to impress me with his prose rather than tell a story or describe his characters. Although his writing received great rave reviews from most people the old song about the 'King's New Clothes' comes to my mind."
"This is supposed to be an American classic? Personally, I've read better children's books then this."
"Truly, I know this is a American novel. This book to me, got boring really fast. The book didn't describe all of the characters enough, and I feel that if a book wants to be a good one, it should describe the characters."
"Supposedly a classic I couldnt agree any less. This is one of those things in life that pretentious people rave about when actually if you look at it without the rose tinted glasses its just average. The pretentious people rave on about it being an insight into that time in American history and blah blah blah!"
"This book totally confuses me i'm supposed to do an art project on it and i have no idea what to do. The book had so many drags, why did the author use his symbols. What happened really at the end? And can some one give me an art project to do/"
"This book was very difficult to get into. After the first few chapters it is probably an okay book but I didn't get that far. That is all I have to say since I only read the first few pages of this not-so-interesting book. My advice to you is if you have a short attention span then don't read this book, but if you like to be bored then this is the book for you."
"horrible
no understanding"
"As far as I am concerned the storyline is as deep as the hairs on my father's bald spot are long and about as interesting as watching paint dry in the rain."
"My main complaint is about the writing style: it is written in a way that excites English teachers, and bores the rest of us (everyone I know [rather inteligent high school students with a slant twards math and science)"
"I know the secret behind this book
The secret is: the author was a drunk. Had I not been forced to read this book in school, I would never have finished it, and I've read a lot of dull books. I've read a lot of classics, but this is probably the only one I think is not worth the effort. Frankly, I'm still wondering why it's a classic; there's nothing to it. So Gatsby's not what he seems, so he gets shot, so Nick's a homosexual, so what? Is there anything worthy in this book? Anything at all?"
"It's sad when a good author can't write well"
"Once upon a time there was a brilliant little boy named Swixer.
Swixer loved books, he'd read them all the time.
But as he grew older, his taste in books matured too and so, the brilliant little boy discovered classic literature.
He read Of Mice and Men, A Clockwork Orange and 1984! He read Othello and A Streetcar Named Desire and Brave New World!
But the book he loved most of all was The Great Gatsby.
He read the book and admired it, taking it wherever he went, talking about it to friends.
But then he met another little boy who was called Hassan
Hassan loved Gatsby also and talked about it with Swixer all the time.
He talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked
Eventually, Swixer tired of his incessant ramblings and requested that he take a break.
Hassan did not like this.
He did not like it.
Hassan killed Swixer later that night with his own copy of the Great Gatsby, using the sharp edged paper to slit his throat.
And, from that day forward, Swixer would be doomed to wander the Earth, seeking a way get revenge on Hassan and finally rest.
He is SPAWN."
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Arthur Rimbaud - Les Illuminations
"incoherent rant"
"A curiosity at best."
"a rel good book
oh what a good book thes is. i rekomind it tgo all of my frinds. if you are smart you wil read this book."
"Reading these two poems in English, quickly, I wasn't much impressed."
"Exactly the kind of poetry you would expect from a guy who stopped writing by the time he turned twenty. Picture an angry hipster drinking absinthe. If he looks French, then it's probably Rimbaud ... Best read by someone not old enough to know better."
"Yuck!"
"These metaphysical wet dreams will delight sulky teenagers and juveniles of all ages, but adults will agree with Rimbaud's own judgement: 'It's all slop.' ... I found these pieces supremely boring. Perhaps if I cared about the Rimbaud myth I would read these with different eyes-- but I don't, and therefore what I find is faux passion and histrionic hormones ... Not recommended."
"A curiosity at best."
"a rel good book
oh what a good book thes is. i rekomind it tgo all of my frinds. if you are smart you wil read this book."
"Reading these two poems in English, quickly, I wasn't much impressed."
"Exactly the kind of poetry you would expect from a guy who stopped writing by the time he turned twenty. Picture an angry hipster drinking absinthe. If he looks French, then it's probably Rimbaud ... Best read by someone not old enough to know better."
"Yuck!"
"These metaphysical wet dreams will delight sulky teenagers and juveniles of all ages, but adults will agree with Rimbaud's own judgement: 'It's all slop.' ... I found these pieces supremely boring. Perhaps if I cared about the Rimbaud myth I would read these with different eyes-- but I don't, and therefore what I find is faux passion and histrionic hormones ... Not recommended."
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude III
"A lot has been said about this book, from how great it is to how bad it is. Well for what it's worth, I didn't think much of it."
"Truly an epoch novel."
"The whole time I was reading this I was trying to figure out what everyone loves about it. I love language--M.F.K. Fisher's sensual descriptions of oysters, the magical visions Truman Capote evokes--but Marquez's writing just didn't speak to me. It didn't seem fresh and I didn't have any of those 'oh, how perfect' moments when a writer describes something exactly as it should be described. I also love the characters I come to know through literature--Anne of Green Gables, Isabel Archer in Portrait of a Lady--but his were hollow forms--merely pieces in a plot, not personalities to get attached to or angry with. In the years to come, I won't remember their pleasures and their struggles because Marquez never let me in. I had such high hopes that this would be a novel I could love, but I guess it just wasn't my style"
THE GOOD OLD 'I'VE READ THREE OTHER BOOKS EVER' REVIEW
"More like A Hundred Years of Torture. I read this partly in a misguided attempt to expand my literary horizons ... The whole time I read it I thought, 'This must be what it’s like to be stoned.'"
"I just can't fathom what everyone sees in this book. The writing style is not engaging, it's more childlike in its 'first he did this, then he did that' way. The barrage of characters all interbreeding and using the same names; the unfathomable storyline (where is all this leading?); the mix of fantasy and normality; all these things combined to constantly annoy me.
So why does it get such great press? Are people too embarrassed to say they didn't like? Am I just unable to appreciate art? I don't know and frankly, I don't care."
"Having being told that 100 Years of Solitude is one of the best Spanish language books ever written I was so disappointed when I found out that this was a complete and utter lie. Or if it is the truth, it really sets a low standard for Hispanic literature!"
"There is nothing good about One Hundred Years of Solitude. In fact reading it felt like Three Hundred Years of Suck."
"First the style of writing is terrible. It's like a history of a multi-generation family told in a hurry. An account of things that happened. There's so many characters introduced one after another that are shallow (no psychology) that you loose track who's who along the way especially that they all have the same names (Jose Arcadio, Jose, Arcadio, Arcadio Jose...). Another thing is the unfortunate addition of fantasy to a novel that seems to be historical fiction (although not based on any country or events in particular). The gypsies on flying carpets and heavenly ascension are totally out of place. Surprisingly this book was even praised for the interweaving of reality and fantasy. I say it was very awkward. I recommend Haruki Murakami to see how it's done skilfully. In addition incest seems to be one of the main themes of this book. Marquez must have been on some serious drug rampage while writing it and trying to come on terms with his Edip complex."
"Why do the characters have the same names? How can we maintain an interest when we keep having to refer to the family tree and even then it doesn't seem right?"
"Marquez has chosen ... to make all the characters share impossibly similar names throughout the generations."
"If you have a taste for weird books then this might be for you. Unfortunately I interpret the author's bizarre decadency into people living for 150 years, ascending to the sky, being born with pig-tails etc. etc. as being poor writing."
"you can just read what happens at the end without reading the rest of the book and it wouldn't make any difference."
"Hugely overhyped pile of turgid dross ... Forget this drivel, and find someone who can actually write a novel."
"Truly an epoch novel."
"The whole time I was reading this I was trying to figure out what everyone loves about it. I love language--M.F.K. Fisher's sensual descriptions of oysters, the magical visions Truman Capote evokes--but Marquez's writing just didn't speak to me. It didn't seem fresh and I didn't have any of those 'oh, how perfect' moments when a writer describes something exactly as it should be described. I also love the characters I come to know through literature--Anne of Green Gables, Isabel Archer in Portrait of a Lady--but his were hollow forms--merely pieces in a plot, not personalities to get attached to or angry with. In the years to come, I won't remember their pleasures and their struggles because Marquez never let me in. I had such high hopes that this would be a novel I could love, but I guess it just wasn't my style"
THE GOOD OLD 'I'VE READ THREE OTHER BOOKS EVER' REVIEW
"More like A Hundred Years of Torture. I read this partly in a misguided attempt to expand my literary horizons ... The whole time I read it I thought, 'This must be what it’s like to be stoned.'"
"I just can't fathom what everyone sees in this book. The writing style is not engaging, it's more childlike in its 'first he did this, then he did that' way. The barrage of characters all interbreeding and using the same names; the unfathomable storyline (where is all this leading?); the mix of fantasy and normality; all these things combined to constantly annoy me.
So why does it get such great press? Are people too embarrassed to say they didn't like? Am I just unable to appreciate art? I don't know and frankly, I don't care."
"Having being told that 100 Years of Solitude is one of the best Spanish language books ever written I was so disappointed when I found out that this was a complete and utter lie. Or if it is the truth, it really sets a low standard for Hispanic literature!"
"There is nothing good about One Hundred Years of Solitude. In fact reading it felt like Three Hundred Years of Suck."
"First the style of writing is terrible. It's like a history of a multi-generation family told in a hurry. An account of things that happened. There's so many characters introduced one after another that are shallow (no psychology) that you loose track who's who along the way especially that they all have the same names (Jose Arcadio, Jose, Arcadio, Arcadio Jose...). Another thing is the unfortunate addition of fantasy to a novel that seems to be historical fiction (although not based on any country or events in particular). The gypsies on flying carpets and heavenly ascension are totally out of place. Surprisingly this book was even praised for the interweaving of reality and fantasy. I say it was very awkward. I recommend Haruki Murakami to see how it's done skilfully. In addition incest seems to be one of the main themes of this book. Marquez must have been on some serious drug rampage while writing it and trying to come on terms with his Edip complex."
"Why do the characters have the same names? How can we maintain an interest when we keep having to refer to the family tree and even then it doesn't seem right?"
"Marquez has chosen ... to make all the characters share impossibly similar names throughout the generations."
"If you have a taste for weird books then this might be for you. Unfortunately I interpret the author's bizarre decadency into people living for 150 years, ascending to the sky, being born with pig-tails etc. etc. as being poor writing."
"you can just read what happens at the end without reading the rest of the book and it wouldn't make any difference."
"Hugely overhyped pile of turgid dross ... Forget this drivel, and find someone who can actually write a novel."
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