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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Om de sfeer van dit boek goed te begrijpen moet je New York en vooral Los Angeles op je duimpje kennen. En dat zal zelfs een amerikaan niet meevallen, want het Los Angeles van de jaren vijftig, waar het verhaal speelt, is voortvarend door de mens gesloopt waarna de aardbeving het werk afmaakte.
Het verhaal, of prozagedicht, verbindt het sloopgeweld met het geweld van de tweede wereldoorlog. Zoals een van de romanpersonen zegt: we hebben de oorlog gewonnen, maar dat is hier niet te merken. Dan zitten we tussen de daklozen onder wie veel zwarten en veteranen.
De hoofdpersoon kan niet terugkeren naar zijn geboorteplaats. Eerst denk je dat dat aan de verschrikkingen ligt die hij heeft meegemaakt bij de landing op D-day. Aan het eind van het boek blijkt het net iets subtieler te liggen.
Het boek maakt indruk, maar de stijl was voor mij ontoegankelijk.
Het verhaal, of prozagedicht, verbindt het sloopgeweld met het geweld van de tweede wereldoorlog. Zoals een van de romanpersonen zegt: we hebben de oorlog gewonnen, maar dat is hier niet te merken. Dan zitten we tussen de daklozen onder wie veel zwarten en veteranen.
De hoofdpersoon kan niet terugkeren naar zijn geboorteplaats. Eerst denk je dat dat aan de verschrikkingen ligt die hij heeft meegemaakt bij de landing op D-day. Aan het eind van het boek blijkt het net iets subtieler te liggen.
Het boek maakt indruk, maar de stijl was voor mij ontoegankelijk.
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really liked this. A very strong and powerful novel in verse, exploring the aftermath of WWII. The form was unique and clever and the examination of that time in American history fascinating.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Long Take is surprisingly accessible for something that is basically a poem of 200+ pages. As a reader, you follow a Canadian man who goes simply by "Walker" from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco in the years after the Second World War in which he fought. It's hard to pin down what kind of book The Long Take actually is.
It's a trauma narrative of a former soldier suffering from PTSD who feels like he can't go back home. It's also a tale of a flâneur, an explorer of cities by foot, but definitely without the glamour that that word evokes. And then it's also a portrait of the USA as a country rapidly changing because of the wildfire of urbanisation. Moreover, there's the connection with cinema: The Long Take is basically a long take: there are no chapters, only paragraphs, and the images that the text evokes stand on their own. There is no narrator weaving everything together, making sense of it for you. It's a text that moves before your eyes. The Long Take is like reading a movie or seeing a book.
So yes, it's a special book and I admired and enjoyed it (in that order). I think I could have got more out of it if I had paid a bit more attention in the beginning to which side character is which. But even though I was a bit of a sloppy reader during this one, it was still very nice to read something so original and I think it was as interesting as it was moving.
It's a trauma narrative of a former soldier suffering from PTSD who feels like he can't go back home. It's also a tale of a flâneur, an explorer of cities by foot, but definitely without the glamour that that word evokes. And then it's also a portrait of the USA as a country rapidly changing because of the wildfire of urbanisation. Moreover, there's the connection with cinema: The Long Take is basically a long take: there are no chapters, only paragraphs, and the images that the text evokes stand on their own. There is no narrator weaving everything together, making sense of it for you. It's a text that moves before your eyes. The Long Take is like reading a movie or seeing a book.
So yes, it's a special book and I admired and enjoyed it (in that order). I think I could have got more out of it if I had paid a bit more attention in the beginning to which side character is which. But even though I was a bit of a sloppy reader during this one, it was still very nice to read something so original and I think it was as interesting as it was moving.
There would have to be some book to beat "The Long Take" for the Booker.
Very bold, very interesting, very relevant. It starts off slow. The New York chapter feels like too long of an overture. Then it kicks off nicely.
Really glad I've bought this one in hardback.
Very bold, very interesting, very relevant. It starts off slow. The New York chapter feels like too long of an overture. Then it kicks off nicely.
Really glad I've bought this one in hardback.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
This was the Book Chooks' (berk berk yo) read for October 2024.
Took me forever to finish because I had to keep taking breaks between reading sessions. I acknowledge that there is a high level of poetic quality and I enjoy a noir story set in postwar LA... but damn this was impenetrable. The worst things happen and the world feels bleak and unchangeable.
Here is a sample of the poetry that moved me, made me understand why this book won awards...
Took me forever to finish because I had to keep taking breaks between reading sessions. I acknowledge that there is a high level of poetic quality and I enjoy a noir story set in postwar LA... but damn this was impenetrable. The worst things happen and the world feels bleak and unchangeable.
Here is a sample of the poetry that moved me, made me understand why this book won awards...
The way the dark
looked like it was being worked at
with multiple blades of light,
carving out pieces of the frame to silhouettes
off scalpel, cleaver, scythe, then
clicked off
and started again
with a splash of white
across a brick of a wall,
a skewer, or torn through the land darkness
and it's moving down, sudden, under him
and he can make out the light of a side opening:
a false floor, scaffold hatch, a dead drop
falling away.