Chris Gager

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Chris Gager

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Purity

by Jonathan Franzen

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Chris Gager said: " Franzen's "The Corrections" was one of the first books I read when I began reading "seriously" about 20 years ago. No more television... I read "Freedom" not too long after that. Since then, nada. This book is a good illustration of why I "moved on". Franzen's "The Corrections" was one of the first books I read when I began reading "seriously" about 20 years ago. No more television... I read "Freedom" not too long after that. Since then, nada. This book is a good illustration of why I "moved on". Franzen loves creating highly off-putting and neurotic female characters. Male too, for that matter. In the "Corrections" it was "Mom" and Caroline, Mom's eldest son's dreadful wife. By the end of the story Mom was liberated by the death of wacky husband Alfred, but Gary was still stuck with Caroline. Mom's son Chip was as crazy as his mother but at the end he was on the path of correction, aided by a sane girlfriend/new wife, a Jewish doctor.. Har-har!

In "Freedom" the chief wacko is Patty, who wrecks her marriage and comes back begging to be forgiven and re-admitted to her husband's life. After a while Franzen kind of wore me out. I had a hard time pulling for these oh so annoying people. I this book the nutty sad sack is the title character Pip(not another one!)/Purity. She is also gifted by "another" one... her mother. Once again we find ourselves in South America. Why???? Don't know. Read any books set in Bolivia lately?

Franzen's writing is fairly easy on the eyes, but my brain seemed to begging me to stop and find another book to read. So far I'm sticking with this one..

Question... what is the most famous use of the word "purity"?

I just noticed this "thing" today. "The Corrections" focuses tightly on one f'ed up family, while "Freedom" extends the focus to include the environmental movement. This book goes all over the place, physically, historically and culturally. No plot so far and I'm halfway through. Franzen seems to have a "thing" for South America. The writing comes and goes, and there's too much of it. I'll say this for JF - he's consistent with his lead female characters. They're all VERY ANNOYING.

- I just realized today how much this book reminds me of Sue Miller(NOT! a good thing). Can't remember the title of her book about love/friends/relationships. Yadda Yadda Yadda...

- My answer to the trivia question posed above is "Dr. Strangelove" - remember????

Almost "there" now. One GR reviewer complained about the plethora of characters and stories (reader confusion reigns) and I agree. Anabel's story takes up a lot of pages to illuminate what exactly? Meanwhile the title character seems to have disappeared, though I'm sure she'll be back any page now. Is Aberant a stand-in for the author? Denis Johnson's "Tree of Smoke" resembles this book with its overabundance of different locations, characters and stories leading to a murky ending. It's all mostly over my head by now, though there is a lot of interesting "stuff' in there to think about. My aging brain is a bout wore out by now.

SO CLOSE to the end now after the big maguffin/reveal has made its presence known. If I'd been paying better attention I might well have guessed... finish tonight???? ...more "

12 hours, 43 min ago · see review

Chris Gager is currently reading

Welcome to the Universe: An Astrophysical Tour

by Neil deGrasse Tyson (欧宝娱乐 Author)

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Chris Gager said: " Just picked this one off of the local library's sale shelves. A heavy book in more ways than one. ...more "

Dec 12, 2023 12:33PM · see review

Chris Gager is currently reading

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

by Henry Fielding

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Chris Gager said: " Not the correct edition but close enough. My rescued edition is by A. L. Burt of New York with no date(s) given. Looks to be either late-19th or early 20th century. Pretty good condition. Well... this is a long one and won't be finished any time soon Not the correct edition but close enough. My rescued edition is by A. L. Burt of New York with no date(s) given. Looks to be either late-19th or early 20th century. Pretty good condition. Well... this is a long one and won't be finished any time soon, mainly because I'll be reading other books as well. I saw the film when it first came out and liked it a lot, though I might not like it so much now. It was definitely "different" in style from other classics. Apparently I'll be recognizing a diverting from the path of the book. Tough to do justice to a 900-page(plus) book in a couple of hours. Albert Finney says he hated the experience and was bored most of the time. Fielding has already been giving us the tonal "attitude" for which this book is famous. Smart-alecky... irreverent..

I'm done with Narnia so it's back to England. Mr. Fielding breaks from the whimsical/chatty history of the doin's at the Squire's house with some noisy-bloody dust-ups at the schoolteacher's house. SEX! VIOLENCE! That must have been a shock to those 18th c. readers!

Progress here is slow, but progress nonetheless. The most memorable character so far is a religious bore named Thwackum, who loves to beat children. Peter Bull(well-cast) played him in the movie. The author is making a point... get it?

I'll be trudging through this one for quite a while. Speed is not possible. Already I've run into incomprehensible 1750 paragraphs, but not so many as to discourage me. Mostly it's OK, if slow-going. Like Anthony Trollope, writing 100 years later on, HF desires to give us the whole story. Good for him - worked for Tolstoy! It's interesting to compare Trollope to Fielding(100 years apart) and see how the narrative language turns slowly through time. Things go smoother and comprehension comes easier. As for Henry James... fugedaboudit!

- More rural amusement = the grrrl riot outside the church. Tom to the rescue of his dubious maiden/sex pal Molly. Was this scene in the movie? I can't remember.

- "Nolo episcopari" = "I don't want to be a Bishop."

- The unwed mother "thing" reminds of "The Scarlet Letter" - both in the 17th century.

- I'm up to page 166 now and wondering if this edition of the book might have some muddled-up chapter sequence and/or a repetition of chapters. Seems like I ran into that last night. Or... it could be my fault for not sticking with the book for more than 20 or so pages at a time. Maybe I got lost?

- Like Trollope HF comments on the financial challenges of poorly paid clergy. ...more "

Jul 17, 2023 01:41PM · see review

Chris鈥檚 Quotes

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

5742 likes

“What are men to rocks and mountains?”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

tags: men, mountains, rocks

4998 likes

“Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting.”
― Haruki Marukami

tags: expectation

6484 likes

“I would prefer not to.”
― Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

480 likes

“Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp鈥檇 towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

tags: death, life, meaning

735 likes

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