Scan barcode
saslovesbooks's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
freshkatsu's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book about ordinary people.
This is painting by Van Gogh in 1888 titled Shoes The objects painted are the artist's own processions - they are well used, experienced and passive. Now, instead of a full analysis of Van Gogh's artistic merit (which can be found in any high school art essay), try to picture his thought when he was painting this pair of shoes. Were they chosen with particular intention? Not really, since he did another painting with a black pair of boots in the same manner. Why did he pick shoes of all possible objects? Sunflowers, you can argue, are well, aesthetic naturally. More importantly, these are his own shoes. Remember, Van Gogh was nobody at the time, this would have been even more insignificant then his portraits. The shoes were not accidentally put into the picture, they were its sole occupants. They had to be important. Ok, so maybe Van Gogh really loved his shoes, but why did he paint them so scrubby and worn? Notice how they are positioned slightly off the center and placed on domestic floorboard? This is a composition you would use if you want to degrade a subject and emphasise its feebleness.
In a way Being Dead is similar to Shoes. The novel starts with two zoologists robbed and left dead on a beach. It is not about the violence of the act or the consequences of it. It is completely random and unremarkable, just like the rest of the cast. So why couldn't I put the book down? Van Gogh was one of the first to be so daring - he painted the emotional weight of the object rather than the actual quality of it. He managed to elevate a pair of shoes to a subject worthy of time and effort. Similarly, Crace achieves the same result. The characters and plot themselves are mundane, yet the way he illustrates the process of the cadavers' decay and the little details of their brief existence contribute to the charm of the story. Highly recommended.
This is painting by Van Gogh in 1888 titled Shoes The objects painted are the artist's own processions - they are well used, experienced and passive. Now, instead of a full analysis of Van Gogh's artistic merit (which can be found in any high school art essay), try to picture his thought when he was painting this pair of shoes. Were they chosen with particular intention? Not really, since he did another painting with a black pair of boots in the same manner. Why did he pick shoes of all possible objects? Sunflowers, you can argue, are well, aesthetic naturally. More importantly, these are his own shoes. Remember, Van Gogh was nobody at the time, this would have been even more insignificant then his portraits. The shoes were not accidentally put into the picture, they were its sole occupants. They had to be important. Ok, so maybe Van Gogh really loved his shoes, but why did he paint them so scrubby and worn? Notice how they are positioned slightly off the center and placed on domestic floorboard? This is a composition you would use if you want to degrade a subject and emphasise its feebleness.
In a way Being Dead is similar to Shoes. The novel starts with two zoologists robbed and left dead on a beach. It is not about the violence of the act or the consequences of it. It is completely random and unremarkable, just like the rest of the cast. So why couldn't I put the book down? Van Gogh was one of the first to be so daring - he painted the emotional weight of the object rather than the actual quality of it. He managed to elevate a pair of shoes to a subject worthy of time and effort. Similarly, Crace achieves the same result. The characters and plot themselves are mundane, yet the way he illustrates the process of the cadavers' decay and the little details of their brief existence contribute to the charm of the story. Highly recommended.
k8iedid's review against another edition
Another DNF from deep in the to-read list. Who was the Katie who added this book in 2016, and why? An interesting premise, but just not what I want to read right now.
anneliehyatt's review against another edition
4.0
This book is haunting, thoughtful, and beautifully written.
reasie's review against another edition
3.0
A quiet, reflective unfolding love story between two unremarkable people, told starting with their murder on a beach where they have gone to reenact their first love-making 30 years ago.
I really got a feel for Joeseph and Celice and their daughter Syl. I enjoyed the factual accounts, poetic and detailed, of decomposition and the natural world. Still, it felt rather light on substance, but maybe that's me. It was what it was, and it didn't need to be anything more.
I really got a feel for Joeseph and Celice and their daughter Syl. I enjoyed the factual accounts, poetic and detailed, of decomposition and the natural world. Still, it felt rather light on substance, but maybe that's me. It was what it was, and it didn't need to be anything more.
darylnash's review against another edition
1.0
Tries so hard to be unsentimental that it wraps back around the sentimentality scale again to maudlin. We are meant to think that the characters are ordinary with human flaws, but instead they are simply unlikable--I felt sad not for their deaths but that they had lived such hollow lives. And the omniscient narrator's voice--ye gods! At one point he describes the young couple French-kissing with the metaphor of a mother bird feeding its young a mouthful of worms. More interesting was the daughter Syl, but she doesn't show up till halfway through and of course the bulk of her story here is a cliched difficult relationship with her parents. I did find the descriptions of their bodies decaying fascinating, but I could have done without the bland narrative tacked onto the non-fiction.
nickinko's review against another edition
4.0
This is the second of Crace's novels that I've read (I started with the much more recent but equally impressive Harvest) and I'm starting to think he's a serious writer. The prose is poetic and original, and the themes and form of the novel layered and complex. More of a 9/10 than a 4/5.
mkg97's review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0