One of the greatest poets I've ever read. Nelly Sachs is a Swedish immigrant and a German Jewish survivor of the Holocaust whose poetry deals with theOne of the greatest poets I've ever read. Nelly Sachs is a Swedish immigrant and a German Jewish survivor of the Holocaust whose poetry deals with the collective trauma of immense suffering and her Jewish identity. Her poems are stunning and leave the reader speechless in their sublimity. It's hard to think of a poet who can rise to the occasion and write poetry that's appropriate to the gravity of the subject matter, but Sachs does so. Poem after poem paints an apocalyptic picture of the cosmos with sombre, brilliant, and moving images, deeply grieving but also steadfastly dignified. ...more
Before I started reading this book, I thought to myself, if Octavio Paz is not a good poet, I'll come up with a pun: I'll say, he should have been calBefore I started reading this book, I thought to myself, if Octavio Paz is not a good poet, I'll come up with a pun: I'll say, he should have been called Octavio Pause instead and paused writing poetry. I can’t use this pun now because he's not a bad poet, but actually a great one, and he's so attuned to my taste in poetry that he is one of my absolute favorites. In my mind, he's comparable to giants like W. B. Yeats and T. S. Eliot, maybe only a single tier below them.
I would say that his poetry has three characteristics that makes me love him so much: (1) innovative and individualistic imagery which provoke in the reader alien emotions that were never felt before, (2) a universal language that transcends the locality of the poet, and (3) a philosophical depth. The poems are extremely evocative, erotic, and sentimental, yet also contemplative and thought provoking. In the end poetry, even moreso than all other arts maybe except music, is a matter of subjective taste, and I can simply say that it seems Paz was developed in a lab to match mine as perfectly as possible. ...more
**spoiler alert** Despite having a reputation of being Han Kang's least impressive work among the literary intelligentsia, I really loved this novel a**spoiler alert** Despite having a reputation of being Han Kang's least impressive work among the literary intelligentsia, I really loved this novel and I honestly kinda think that it's a monumental masterpiece. I think the novel approaches the reader in three layers, and each layer is accompanied by a section. I want to say that the three sections represent three manifestations of understanding.
In the first section, we see Yeong-hye through the eyes of her husband, who is completely unsympathetic to her. But in this section we're meant to understand how her inanity has been exasperated by the emotional neglect and later abuse of her husband and the misogynistic aspects of the Korean society. In this section we only see brief glances into the world of Yeong-hye and her madness but we as readers see them as incomprehensible vignettes. In this section our understanding is merely academic and sociological. We might feel bad for her, but we don't really see her as anything but a product of society.
In the second section we see Yeong-hye as an object of desire, from the point of view of her brother-in-law, who lusts after her madness, is trapped in a self-destructive spiral of his own insanity and obsession. We don't get to glimpse inside Yeong-hye in this section either. However, this time we don't understand her as a sociological entity but as an object of desire, of admiration and maybe even prayer. While we might intellectually understand why the brother-in-law is irrational we still accompany him as he turns his gaze on her. This is the second form of understanding.
Thirdly, we understand Yeong-hye through the eyes of her sister, and the shocking reveal is that she shares her predilection for this madness. It's through her sister, sane, responsible, and in control of herself that we reach the closest to Yeong-hye and finally manage to see her through her own eyes as well in an incomplete fashion. This third manifestation is empathy, which the sister has for her. The sister doesn't repeat Yeong-hye's decision in giving in to madness, she maybe can't afford it, but she knows why one must. She knows the temptation of letting go.
Of course, we don't reach full understanding. We can’t. As close as we get to Yeong-hye's troubled mind we remain outsiders. But I don't think that the book is about this lack of understanding. I think the book is about the different ways of understanding, and each of these understanding are reflected in the style and narration structure. Each part is evocative in its own way. The first part evokes the horror of society. The second part evokes the horror of going mad, although in its poetic subtlety we can't help but appreciate the aesthetic and erotic beauty of madness as captured in the imagery painted on naked bodies. The third part is not horrific. It's sad and exasperating but ultimately now madness makes sense. Again Han doesn't allow us to forget reality as she keeps describing the tolls not eating has taken on Yeong-hye's body (it's a stroke of pure genius, in my mind, how symmetrically opposite the depictions of the body are in both sections, and serve to complicate the role of the mind in both). But ultimately the third part is poetic, beautiful among all the descriptions of blood and bodily horror. Yeong-hye complains that her sister doesn't understand her, but I believe in the very last scene, the very final note, she realizes that there is some level of understanding. And we do too. We see the appeal. Is it really so bad to die? Maybe not.
It's a magnificent construct. A product of great craftsmanship. And I'm honestly in awe. This novel is a cathedral and I can only gaze upon its magnificent architecture, how every brick is placed masterfully....more
Among the novels of Anatole France that I've this is his greatest masterpiece in my opinion. A novel is about Évariste Gamelin, a painter and an extreAmong the novels of Anatole France that I've this is his greatest masterpiece in my opinion. A novel is about Évariste Gamelin, a painter and an extremist Jacobin who is in a position of power after the French revolution and responsible for the horrors of the Reign of Terror, who participates in facilitating show trials ending in serial executions as a juror. The novel shows how slowly the extremism chips away at his humanity, eroding his artistic integrity, and his romantic relationship as well. One of the most viscerally impactful portrayals of what extremism does to a person in literature....more
Doctor Zhivago is a kind of novel that precisely hits the spot for my literary taste. A classical style dealing with a modern subject matter, with a lDoctor Zhivago is a kind of novel that precisely hits the spot for my literary taste. A classical style dealing with a modern subject matter, with a large rotating cast of very interesting characters whose lives are impacted and intertwined with the history and politics of their era, characters who are allowed by the author to be human enough to have their own philosophies and outlooks and are eloquent enough to express it, impossible tragic romances that are impacted by the world around them, all elements that ultimately culminate in a novel which captures an entire era and community in all its complexity. The greatest examples of this kind of novel are War and Peace and Middlemarch, and Doctor Zhivago really does feel like something that Tolstoy would write if he had survived to witness Stalin's USSR. It’s the tragic tale of a group of idealistic characters who are smaller than the authoritarianism of the times, and it's a monumental masterpiece. ...more
There is no pleasure in the world, for me, greater than reading Cormac McCarthy. The way that he elevates the English language to the apex of its liteThere is no pleasure in the world, for me, greater than reading Cormac McCarthy. The way that he elevates the English language to the apex of its literary potential, the way that he uses extremely complex metaphors to convey thoughts and emotions that one finds simultaneously universal and novel, and how his prose is both biblical and colloquial, archaic and modern, poetic in a way completely unique to him. To continuously struggle with his bizarre vocabulary and specialized knowledge required to understanding him, but then when you do understand, the experience of the art and the discovery makes it worth it. And while I feel that The Passenger is not as dense and complicated and difficult as some of his other masterpieces (Blood Meridian for example), it still has this kind of passages enough to satisfy a McCarthy enthusiast.
The Passenger is definitely a McCarthy novel, in many ways. The prose, and the fact that an unsuspecting reader might be fooled into thinking that it's going to be a simple story within a genre framework for the writer to completely abandon the genre elements. But it's also completely different from his previous novels and provides a very new experience. I wouldn't call any of McCarthy's previous novels "psychological", but this one certainly is. It chiefly deals with grief, and personal guilt. At its heart it's the story of Bobby Western, a salvage diver who has a closer relationship with the ghosts of those he mourns rather than those who live, unable to form real relationships. These ghosts include his father, one of the inventors of the atomic bomb, and his sister, for whom he still harbors incestuous yet innocent feelings. Interspersed through the novel are short sections from the POV of the sister, as she deals with horrific hallucinations that simultaneously torment her and keep her company. We're accustomed to read McCarthy as he deals with epic, universal, and deeply philosophical subject matter, with characters like The Judge or Anton Chigurh, figures that seem to represent the devil or maybe evil gods of universe, poetic indictments of history and human nature. And while this book approaches that, including many contemplations on history and universe, it's still primarily a personal story, more about the characters' psyche in which the history and the universe are reflected. This is why this novel is so precious: not only we have a new McCarthy, we have an aspect of McCarthy we have not experienced before.
This novel is a stunning, breathtaking masterpiece. I know it has faced some negative criticism, but you have to approach it as it is rather than the expectation of what it should be. It's not really a whodunnit or a suspenseful thriller. It's not about a plot. It doesn't try to go anywhere. The long philosophical discussions and monologs are there because the novel is about a man stuck in his past, and you should focus on characterization and emotional richness rather than the plot.
Merged review:
There is no pleasure in the world, for me, greater than reading Cormac McCarthy. The way that he elevates the English language to the apex of its literary potential, the way that he uses extremely complex metaphors to convey thoughts and emotions that one finds simultaneously universal and novel, and how his prose is both biblical and colloquial, archaic and modern, poetic in a way completely unique to him. To continuously struggle with his bizarre vocabulary and specialized knowledge required to understanding him, but then when you do understand, the experience of the art and the discovery makes it worth it. And while I feel that The Passenger is not as dense and complicated and difficult as some of his other masterpieces (Blood Meridian for example), it still has this kind of passages enough to satisfy a McCarthy enthusiast.
The Passenger is definitely a McCarthy novel, in many ways. The prose, and the fact that an unsuspecting reader might be fooled into thinking that it's going to be a simple story within a genre framework for the writer to completely abandon the genre elements. But it's also completely different from his previous novels and provides a very new experience. I wouldn't call any of McCarthy's previous novels "psychological", but this one certainly is. It chiefly deals with grief, and personal guilt. At its heart it's the story of Bobby Western, a salvage diver who has a closer relationship with the ghosts of those he mourns rather than those who live, unable to form real relationships. These ghosts include his father, one of the inventors of the atomic bomb, and his sister, for whom he still harbors incestuous yet innocent feelings. Interspersed through the novel are short sections from the POV of the sister, as she deals with horrific hallucinations that simultaneously torment her and keep her company. We're accustomed to read McCarthy as he deals with epic, universal, and deeply philosophical subject matter, with characters like The Judge or Anton Chigurh, figures that seem to represent the devil or maybe evil gods of universe, poetic indictments of history and human nature. And while this book approaches that, including many contemplations on history and universe, it's still primarily a personal story, more about the characters' psyche in which the history and the universe are reflected. This is why this novel is so precious: not only we have a new McCarthy, we have an aspect of McCarthy we have not experienced before.
This novel is a stunning, breathtaking masterpiece. I know it has faced some negative criticism, but you have to approach it as it is rather than the expectation of what it should be. It's not really a whodunnit or a suspenseful thriller. It's not about a plot. It doesn't try to go anywhere. The long philosophical discussions and monologs are there because the novel is about a man stuck in his past, and you should focus on characterization and emotional richness rather than the plot.
Merged review:
There is no pleasure in the world, for me, greater than reading Cormac McCarthy. The way that he elevates the English language to the apex of its literary potential, the way that he uses extremely complex metaphors to convey thoughts and emotions that one finds simultaneously universal and novel, and how his prose is both biblical and colloquial, archaic and modern, poetic in a way completely unique to him. To continuously struggle with his bizarre vocabulary and specialized knowledge required to understanding him, but then when you do understand, the experience of the art and the discovery makes it worth it. And while I feel that The Passenger is not as dense and complicated and difficult as some of his other masterpieces (Blood Meridian for example), it still has this kind of passages enough to satisfy a McCarthy enthusiast.
The Passenger is definitely a McCarthy novel, in many ways. The prose, and the fact that an unsuspecting reader might be fooled into thinking that it's going to be a simple story within a genre framework for the writer to completely abandon the genre elements. But it's also completely different from his previous novels and provides a very new experience. I wouldn't call any of McCarthy's previous novels "psychological", but this one certainly is. It chiefly deals with grief, and personal guilt. At its heart it's the story of Bobby Western, a salvage diver who has a closer relationship with the ghosts of those he mourns rather than those who live, unable to form real relationships. These ghosts include his father, one of the inventors of the atomic bomb, and his sister, for whom he still harbors incestuous yet innocent feelings. Interspersed through the novel are short sections from the POV of the sister, as she deals with horrific hallucinations that simultaneously torment her and keep her company. We're accustomed to read McCarthy as he deals with epic, universal, and deeply philosophical subject matter, with characters like The Judge or Anton Chigurh, figures that seem to represent the devil or maybe evil gods of universe, poetic indictments of history and human nature. And while this book approaches that, including many contemplations on history and universe, it's still primarily a personal story, more about the characters' psyche in which the history and the universe are reflected. This is why this novel is so precious: not only we have a new McCarthy, we have an aspect of McCarthy we have not experienced before.
This novel is a stunning, breathtaking masterpiece. I know it has faced some negative criticism, but you have to approach it as it is rather than the expectation of what it should be. It's not really a whodunnit or a suspenseful thriller. It's not about a plot. It doesn't try to go anywhere. The long philosophical discussions and monologs are there because the novel is about a man stuck in his past, and you should focus on characterization and emotional richness rather than the plot....more
Stella Maris is a companion piece to The Passenger, but while The Passenger might be McCarthy's most accessible novel, Stella Maris might be the leastStella Maris is a companion piece to The Passenger, but while The Passenger might be McCarthy's most accessible novel, Stella Maris might be the least. The entire novel is a series of conversations between a patient and her therapist, and the conversations are incredibly dense and unwelcoming, dealing with topics like science, philosophy, and mathematics in very granular and difficult details and of course there is no plot connecting these disjointed discussions together. Not only that, the novel even retroactively makes The Passenger even more difficult, casting doubt and uncertainty about the events of that book, and creating far more questions than answers. However, if a reader is not deterred by any of this, I believe that Alicia Western is interesting enough of a character to stick with, with her incredibly intriguing thoughts and tragic personality, and I was very glad to get to know her better. This is character study at its purest and most effective form, and for those of us who love little more for characters, it's simply one of the best. Together with The Passenger, these two novels are an incredible swan song to cap off the career of one of the greatest literary giants of all time....more
Buddenbrooks is a story of one great family of bourgeois merchants through four generations as it declines into complete ruin, and I feel like it's asBuddenbrooks is a story of one great family of bourgeois merchants through four generations as it declines into complete ruin, and I feel like it's as useful in understanding the bourgeois class as the sociology of Max Weber. The novel portrays a group of characters who are firm believers in the philosophy of the Protestant work ethics, but like in a Greek tragedy, they cannot struggle against fate: and fate here seems to be history, and the birth of a new Germany and a new historical era.
It seems that Mann himself was not opposed to the specific kind of traditionalist capitalism depicted in this book at the time of writing, but I found it impossible to not see the characters as victims of a restrictive ideology that destroys individuals and one can't fathom how they would fare in a more modern time: from Thomas who had to sacrifice his love and gain nothing, to Christian and Hanno who might have flourished as artists, and most of all to Toni who showed so much promise and one cannot blame her for her naivete and childishness at all. Whether Mann intended it or not, this is a radical novel, where the only real villain is the conservative ideology of its characters (apart from Grünlich, who would have been recognized, at least by some, as an abusive manipulator in more modern times).
This novel is a triumph of realism. I don't think that any other novel has frustrated and irritated me as much as this one, but that's only a testament to blow great it is, how utterly human and real its characters are. At the same time, it can be painfully and stunningly poetic at times. A novel which can easily be placed alongside Middlemarch and War and Peace, a towering masterpiece of the ages....more
This novel is ostensibly about patients undergoing cancer treatment during the USSR years, but soon, it becomes clear that it's actually a polyphonic This novel is ostensibly about patients undergoing cancer treatment during the USSR years, but soon, it becomes clear that it's actually a polyphonic gathering of characters reacting to the politics of their own era -- right after Stalin's death. Patients include an exiled dissident, a bureaucrat true believer in the regime, indifferent people, a cynical dissident, and all other kinds of people plus doctors and nurses. At its heart, the novel is about collective political trauma, and the difficulty of moving on from the psychological effects of authoritarianism and oppression. It's a unique concept dealt with in a unique manner, and with much depth and nuance. A great novel....more
Another masterpiece by the writer who has written probably the greatest novel of all time -- Middlemarch. Like in Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda is an inAnother masterpiece by the writer who has written probably the greatest novel of all time -- Middlemarch. Like in Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda is an instance of a novel where personal and political, contemporary and historical, and the community and individual are intertwined in a very complex tapestry where incredibly rich societies are reflected in the personal lives of incredibly rich characters. Here, Eliot deals with very modern concepts, such as racial identity and overcoming bigotry, surviving abusive relationships, a relationship that's built on intellectual kinship as much as emotional connection, and realizing that an unreciprocated love is not necessarily tragic if it has helped you mature and become a better person. It is astonishing hown far ahead of her time she was. Which only makes it more tragic that she had to take a man's pseudonym and chose to name her novel after the supporting male character rather than the real protagonist: Gwendolyn Harleth, one of the best characters in the history of literature....more
This book is another masterpiece and another irrefutable proof that Henry James was the ultimate master of the craft of writing a novel. The BostonianThis book is another masterpiece and another irrefutable proof that Henry James was the ultimate master of the craft of writing a novel. The Bostonians is not, in my opinion, a political novel, or a "satire of the women's movement", or anything like it. It's a tale of an incredibly sad and tragic love triangle involving three incredibly flawed people whose politics is merely an extension of their personalities. Olive Chancellor is a passionate, possessive, and insecure woman who happens to also be a radical feminist, Basil Ransom is an arrogant, equally possessive, and equally possessive misogynist and reactionary, and Verena Tarrant is a dilettante who's talented and sweet but not really committed to politics as much as the other two. Olive and Basil begin a toxic competition over winning her heart. The story is about this human dynamic, the rest is just spice. And it's a masterpiece because James, like always, manages to create this incredibly complex and fascinating interweb of human psychology.
This is not an anti-feminist novel. Nor is necessarily it a pro-feminist one. But the greatest disservice to it would be to call people like Olive a caricature or a satire or whatever. Olive is an incredibly complex and human character. And Basil is not portrayed any better. I don't know what James's ideas were in real life. Maybe he was a reactionary. But the text of a great writer who prioritizes creating compelling fiction over moralistic lessons often goes beyond what they personally thought, and creates a space for the reader to create their own reading. My reading of this novel is -- and it is a valid one rooted in the text -- that The Bostonians is a story of a brilliant young woman whose talent remains unfulfilled and we are explicitly told would never be happy, and this cannot be read as a victory for the anti-suffrage ideology. ...more
This is probably the scariest book that I have ever read. The back cover informs me that Yukio Mishima has called this novel an "esoteric masterpiece"This is probably the scariest book that I have ever read. The back cover informs me that Yukio Mishima has called this novel an "esoteric masterpiece", and that's the most apt description I can think of. A truly avant-garde and revolutionary masterpiece, the book combines slight supernatural elements, romance, intertwining viewpoints, and extremely in-depth characterization to create the most horrifying story of manipulation and gaslighting that I have ever read. Not the most innovative aspect is how the novel uses the very act of reading as a narrative technique. The novel revolves around Noh theater and an interpretation of "The Tale of Genji", going so far as to reproduce an entire critical essay on the work. But that essay is in fact the monster manual of this horror novel. The characters reveal themselves through the act of reading, through the act of interpreting, and this is a very unique and effective storytelling device: hermeneutics as character development. ...more
Wives and Daughters is correctly often called the most underrated novel in English, and I agree, because while appreciation for this masterpiece has gWives and Daughters is correctly often called the most underrated novel in English, and I agree, because while appreciation for this masterpiece has grown over the years, it still hasn't fermented in place among the greatest novels ever written, those omnipresent classics. People often compare Gaskell to Jane Austen and George Eliot, and I can understand why. Gaskell has Austen's sharp wit and like her she finds the sublime and artistic in the affairs of domestic life, and like Eliot, her novel captures the life of not only her characters but the society they inhabit, and her novel has a cast of characters that are masterfully written and whose psychology is top-notch, a group of people who might be flawed but none are hard to sympathize with. That said, I do feel that in the end Gaskell's voice is completely hers, and her magnum opus stands on its own legs. ...more
A great book, which I'm sure will be historically significant. Obama's powers of self-reflection are extremely valuable, and elevate this book to someA great book, which I'm sure will be historically significant. Obama's powers of self-reflection are extremely valuable, and elevate this book to something as educational as a masters in political science. With his touch of nuance, he tackles how idealism and pragmatism clash, and how the consequences weigh on a statesman. It succeeds in capturing the political decision making process with a deft accuracy that no theoretical book will be able to muster, never forgetting the human element.
I don't know if the history will remember Obama as a great president or not. He certainly has achieved great things, but he might lack the single eye-catching achievement that many of the great presidents have which might merit history's attention in the long-run (e.g. Lincoln and the Civil War, FDR and the New Deal, LBJ and civil rights, etc.). However, he has canonized himself as a great American writer already, and he will be the US's greatest narrator of presidency....more
One of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. Combining a deep understanding of individual with collective and social psychology, focusing on a One of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. Combining a deep understanding of individual with collective and social psychology, focusing on a polyphonic range of survivors and perpetrators, giving voice to narratives of people from different views into a disaster -- close and far --, in the end creating a complex and all-encompassing view of national trauma. Murakami's presence is minuscule, but you could feel his incredible empathy as the common thread that elevates all these disparate testimonials into a cohesive organic whole....more
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