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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
"Per noi, la storia è più importante della persona."
Per noialtri invece una storia e il suo protagonista sono un tutt'uno, ed ecco quindi che vi consiglio il racconto delle gesta di quest'Ulisse moderno e nordcoreano, senza però una casa a cui tornare, di questo Superman senza poteri, ma anche senza kryptonite. È dunque di questo che si parla, di un eroe e di come supererà gli ostacoli che gli si presenteranno davanti nel suo cammino. E si cantano le sue gesta. E come ogni storia di eroi, ci sono i buoni e ci sono i cattivi, e qua si arriva un po' al nocciolo della questione: il libro mi è piaciuto, e molto, ma per essere un premio Pulitzer forse avrei preteso un pochino di più, forse avrei preferito una realtà con più sfumature di grigio, rispetto a un film in bianco e nero (ma è anche vero che Casablanca è un classico intramontabile, "dicono sia il migliore di tutti"). Il nostro protagonista, il figlio del Signore degli Orfani (ogni altro nome è superfluo, perchè "un nome non è una persona") sembra un eroe più incredibile dello stesso Superman: sarei meno sorpresa di veder svolazzare per i cieli quest'ultimo piuttosto che veder camminare sulla terra un tale essere umano (e che nessuno mi venga a parlare delle sue azioni di dubbia moralità, perchè non sto parlando di un santo, sto parlando di un uomo, per quanto io lo ritenga "sovrumano"). Ma forse va bene così: il mondo della Corea del Nord è lontano anni luce dal nostro, e se un nostro pensiero lo sorvolasse, sarebbe un pensiero triste o di rabbia, è un bene dunque che per una volta ci si possa immergere in tutto quel fango dove ristagnano falsità, ipocrisia e tanta, tanta ignoranza, per potervi veder crescere al centro un piccolo fiore. Non sarà facile da vedere: è stato calpestato, non curato, spogliato della maggior parte dei suoi petali, ma chi ha occhi per vederlo, lo vedrà. E allora forse è vero che la storia è più importante della persona: il figlio del Signore degli Orfani non è nessuno, ma ciò che rappresenta è tutto.
«E cosa sarei riuscito a fare?» chiese.
Il Compagno Buc indicò l’auto e la casa. «Questo» disse. «Ciò che stai facendo.»
«E cosa starei facendo?»
«È qualcosa che non ha nome» disse Buc. «Non ha un nome perché nessuno l’ha mai fatto prima.»"
Per noialtri invece una storia e il suo protagonista sono un tutt'uno, ed ecco quindi che vi consiglio il racconto delle gesta di quest'Ulisse moderno e nordcoreano, senza però una casa a cui tornare, di questo Superman senza poteri, ma anche senza kryptonite. È dunque di questo che si parla, di un eroe e di come supererà gli ostacoli che gli si presenteranno davanti nel suo cammino. E si cantano le sue gesta. E come ogni storia di eroi, ci sono i buoni e ci sono i cattivi, e qua si arriva un po' al nocciolo della questione: il libro mi è piaciuto, e molto, ma per essere un premio Pulitzer forse avrei preteso un pochino di più, forse avrei preferito una realtà con più sfumature di grigio, rispetto a un film in bianco e nero (ma è anche vero che Casablanca è un classico intramontabile, "dicono sia il migliore di tutti"). Il nostro protagonista, il figlio del Signore degli Orfani (ogni altro nome è superfluo, perchè "un nome non è una persona") sembra un eroe più incredibile dello stesso Superman: sarei meno sorpresa di veder svolazzare per i cieli quest'ultimo piuttosto che veder camminare sulla terra un tale essere umano (e che nessuno mi venga a parlare delle sue azioni di dubbia moralità, perchè non sto parlando di un santo, sto parlando di un uomo, per quanto io lo ritenga "sovrumano"). Ma forse va bene così: il mondo della Corea del Nord è lontano anni luce dal nostro, e se un nostro pensiero lo sorvolasse, sarebbe un pensiero triste o di rabbia, è un bene dunque che per una volta ci si possa immergere in tutto quel fango dove ristagnano falsità, ipocrisia e tanta, tanta ignoranza, per potervi veder crescere al centro un piccolo fiore. Non sarà facile da vedere: è stato calpestato, non curato, spogliato della maggior parte dei suoi petali, ma chi ha occhi per vederlo, lo vedrà. E allora forse è vero che la storia è più importante della persona: il figlio del Signore degli Orfani non è nessuno, ma ciò che rappresenta è tutto.
«E cosa sarei riuscito a fare?» chiese.
Il Compagno Buc indicò l’auto e la casa. «Questo» disse. «Ciò che stai facendo.»
«E cosa starei facendo?»
«È qualcosa che non ha nome» disse Buc. «Non ha un nome perché nessuno l’ha mai fatto prima.»"
I definitely didn't love this book--it took a LONG time for me to get into it--but I appreciated it a lot when I finished it. Set in North Korea, which is cool, it follows one "orphan" through a life of deception and trying to survive. I think that a lot of the things that made this difficult to read and identify with, like the shifts in tone, general ambiguity, dishonest narrators, disorienting time line and not knowing what was "actually" happening were all intentional. It's neat that he created an uncomfortable book to fit this uncomfortable, disconcerting subject matter; however, that also meant that it wasn't that pleasurable to read, at least for me. Reading the author's notes, it sounds like many of the difficult-to-believe aspects of the book were taken from accounts of defectors, so maybe another problem I had was that I just don't want to think that North Korea exists.
2.5 rounded up
This was a unique book, largely experimental and heavily symbolic. I can see this as an English class favorite, since it's perfect for dissection regarding political commentary and speculative fiction with nonlinear storylines.
(Now for the rest of my thoughts... Sorry - this is going to be a long one.)
*Deep breath here*
That said, I really did not enjoy reading the first 60-70% of this book. At. all.
I commend the author for taking the risks that he did. Every risk Johnson took was done skillfully, but it didn't save the reading experience for me for the majority of the story.
No. 1
Most books have a lure in the beginning. That's where an author convinces a reader from the start that their book is worth reading. A large part of that is instilling trust in the reader, by way of answering interesting questions in a timely manner (as an example).
That lure often takes the form of a conflict, whether internal to a character or external, as part of the character's world. I, unfortunately, found that lure missing completely.
I learned that the main character grew up in an orphanage but wasn't really an orphan, that he was trained to see in the dark, that death and pain was always around him, that he grew up and became a kidnapper, that he encountered Americans on a ship... etc.
But I didn't learn *why* I should care about him until waaaay down the line. In the beginning half of the book, his goals were unclear. I didn't know what he wanted. He was just an unlucky character in an unlucky world, and I had no idea what he wanted to do about it.
No. 2
All emotion was subdued.
I didn't find the lack of emotional depth here to be... immersive or enticing. Now I suspect that the characters' subdued emotions was intentional, because I think the author was trying to paint a picture of a gray world, filled with so much pain that eventually people go numb, but it didn't make me like the story.
No. 3
Overkill with the nasty
In addition to a plodding storyline and lack of emotional depth (in the beginning, because I'm still just talking about the first 60-70%), there was a lot of unpleasantness. Rape, kidnapping, gory torture, *drinking bull semen.* It was hard for me to continue pushing through this by the 50% mark. That's not to say I'll DNF a book due to gore or perversity, but if it's there and I have to read it, I want it to be worth it. Even by the time I finished this book... I can't honestly say it was worth the reward.
No. 4
The sudden shift in perspectives (1st person v. 3rd person, past versus present, character to character)
Halfway through this book, the main character switches from Jun Do to Jun Do's life as Commander Ga. That's one perspective jump in 3rd person.
The second half of this book is filled with 'announcements' over the loudspeaker to the citizens of North Korea. That's another perspective jump in 2nd person.
There is a character in here whose job it is to torture information out of Jun Do (who is now 'Commander Ga.') That's another perspective jump and in 1st person.
In general, I think this was pretty cool, and the marriage of these perspective shifts worked out beautifully in the end. *But* after trudging through the first 50% of this book, I was not excited about encountering all this jumping around when I first encountered it. I'd also note here that the 'announcement' sections were so incredibly boring until I understood what purpose they served.
So why did I give this a 2.5 if I disliked it so much?
No. 1
Johnson can *write.* He's clearly very talented, and I appreciate the risks he took in creating such an unconventional story. The atmosphere he created was palpable - unpleasant but very effective. And once he got to the point of the story, I couldn't put this book down.
No. 2
The ending was masterfully done. Everything in this book led to a final act that really took the show. It was like watching a bunch of random, super-depressing patterns drifting around for 70% of a show FINALLY take a recognizable form at the end.
Closing thoughts
I would recommend this to people that want something very unconventional. This book only gets 'thrilling' around the 80% mark. If you accept that the book will be slow, dark, and unpleasant at the start, but you think it's worth seeing something unexpected at the end, then go for it. And if you're thinking about skipping through sections to get to the end, I'd advise against it.
This was a very clever book. I only wish I had enjoyed it more.
This was a unique book, largely experimental and heavily symbolic. I can see this as an English class favorite, since it's perfect for dissection regarding political commentary and speculative fiction with nonlinear storylines.
(Now for the rest of my thoughts... Sorry - this is going to be a long one.)
*Deep breath here*
That said, I really did not enjoy reading the first 60-70% of this book. At. all.
I commend the author for taking the risks that he did. Every risk Johnson took was done skillfully, but it didn't save the reading experience for me for the majority of the story.
No. 1
Most books have a lure in the beginning. That's where an author convinces a reader from the start that their book is worth reading. A large part of that is instilling trust in the reader, by way of answering interesting questions in a timely manner (as an example).
That lure often takes the form of a conflict, whether internal to a character or external, as part of the character's world. I, unfortunately, found that lure missing completely.
I learned that the main character grew up in an orphanage but wasn't really an orphan, that he was trained to see in the dark, that death and pain was always around him, that he grew up and became a kidnapper, that he encountered Americans on a ship... etc.
But I didn't learn *why* I should care about him until waaaay down the line. In the beginning half of the book, his goals were unclear. I didn't know what he wanted. He was just an unlucky character in an unlucky world, and I had no idea what he wanted to do about it.
No. 2
All emotion was subdued.
I didn't find the lack of emotional depth here to be... immersive or enticing. Now I suspect that the characters' subdued emotions was intentional, because I think the author was trying to paint a picture of a gray world, filled with so much pain that eventually people go numb, but it didn't make me like the story.
No. 3
Overkill with the nasty
In addition to a plodding storyline and lack of emotional depth (in the beginning, because I'm still just talking about the first 60-70%), there was a lot of unpleasantness. Rape, kidnapping, gory torture, *drinking bull semen.* It was hard for me to continue pushing through this by the 50% mark. That's not to say I'll DNF a book due to gore or perversity, but if it's there and I have to read it, I want it to be worth it. Even by the time I finished this book... I can't honestly say it was worth the reward.
No. 4
The sudden shift in perspectives (1st person v. 3rd person, past versus present, character to character)
Halfway through this book, the main character switches from Jun Do to Jun Do's life as Commander Ga. That's one perspective jump in 3rd person.
The second half of this book is filled with 'announcements' over the loudspeaker to the citizens of North Korea. That's another perspective jump in 2nd person.
There is a character in here whose job it is to torture information out of Jun Do (who is now 'Commander Ga.') That's another perspective jump and in 1st person.
In general, I think this was pretty cool, and the marriage of these perspective shifts worked out beautifully in the end. *But* after trudging through the first 50% of this book, I was not excited about encountering all this jumping around when I first encountered it. I'd also note here that the 'announcement' sections were so incredibly boring until I understood what purpose they served.
So why did I give this a 2.5 if I disliked it so much?
No. 1
Johnson can *write.* He's clearly very talented, and I appreciate the risks he took in creating such an unconventional story. The atmosphere he created was palpable - unpleasant but very effective. And once he got to the point of the story, I couldn't put this book down.
No. 2
The ending was masterfully done. Everything in this book led to a final act that really took the show. It was like watching a bunch of random, super-depressing patterns drifting around for 70% of a show FINALLY take a recognizable form at the end.
Closing thoughts
I would recommend this to people that want something very unconventional. This book only gets 'thrilling' around the 80% mark. If you accept that the book will be slow, dark, and unpleasant at the start, but you think it's worth seeing something unexpected at the end, then go for it. And if you're thinking about skipping through sections to get to the end, I'd advise against it.
This was a very clever book. I only wish I had enjoyed it more.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't really know what to say -- it's a beautifully written book, but heartbreaking. I don't know a lot about North Korea, and it's a hard thing to know about.
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've read a lot of books, but never anything like this. Instantly a new all-time favorite, Sun Moon and Commander Ga have all but been tattooed onto my heart by this story. Its brutal and magnificent, like that delicate, lovely white flower at the peak of an ice-cold mountain.