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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
Reading this book is like having an intelligent, overbearing person to a dinner party; one who insists on talking volubly on all topics, being a bit of a bore and wearing out the other guests. There was plenty of wit, plenty of clever little ideas - and quite a bit of grotesque violence, whether gay gang rape or brutal dismemberment by the mafia. At one point a Catholic priest sends a Malay man into convulsions after striking him in the head with a heavy crucifix.
It is undeniably colourful, and there are some wonderfully cheeky representations of famous authors like James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway who the protagonist, fictional author Kenneth Toomey, just happens to meet (he also meets many prominent Nazis). The language is rambunctious, the plots of the fiction Toomey writes comically absurd - and let's not forget that wonderful opening line.
But ultimately it is a hateful vision of life. Ostensibly religious conventions are set against homosexuality, but both lead onto suffering and disillusionment. It's a game with no winners.
The gay characters in particular all come across as these awful vainglorious pseudo-intellectuals that lisp through life. Perhaps Toomey just has bad taste in lovers, but it's a portrait of homosexuality that is repulsive and spiteful.
Certainly, it's purposefully subversive, whether jeering at religion, homosexuality or race - another theme depressingly presented. The trouble is it drags on brutally - like that bore of a dinner guest I mentioned earlier.
I'm sorry, I know this is a British classic. I know I'm probably breaking some holy writ about worshipping this book. But I don't, and all I can do is repeat: I'm sorry. Mea culpa.
It is undeniably colourful, and there are some wonderfully cheeky representations of famous authors like James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway who the protagonist, fictional author Kenneth Toomey, just happens to meet (he also meets many prominent Nazis). The language is rambunctious, the plots of the fiction Toomey writes comically absurd - and let's not forget that wonderful opening line.
But ultimately it is a hateful vision of life. Ostensibly religious conventions are set against homosexuality, but both lead onto suffering and disillusionment. It's a game with no winners.
The gay characters in particular all come across as these awful vainglorious pseudo-intellectuals that lisp through life. Perhaps Toomey just has bad taste in lovers, but it's a portrait of homosexuality that is repulsive and spiteful.
Certainly, it's purposefully subversive, whether jeering at religion, homosexuality or race - another theme depressingly presented. The trouble is it drags on brutally - like that bore of a dinner guest I mentioned earlier.
I'm sorry, I know this is a British classic. I know I'm probably breaking some holy writ about worshipping this book. But I don't, and all I can do is repeat: I'm sorry. Mea culpa.
I share the sentiment that this is an underrated book. It's the entire twentieth century wrapped in a massive volume. It's a long read, and it can be a bit tedious at times. I resisted the impulse to skip lines a few times, and overall, I'm glad I did. While I'm not familiar with most of Burgess's work, I can easily see this being the highlight in his writings. Great book, worth a read, just don't try to read it on a bus. It is not light reading.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The best book I read in 2021.
Did not finish. Although I've read other works by Anthony Burgess, and really enjoyed them, this gruelingly long novel, with its assumption that the reader is both a polyglot and a scholar of western civilization, was painfully boring. I got through 300 pages before I finally realized I wasn't feeling any enjoyment from what I was reading and chucked it.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of my favourite books. Every few years I reread it and usually find something that I previously missed.
Burgess has a really neat way of connecting words and he certainly has got a style in writing. Yet this book expanded almost as the Universe during the Big Bang, which at times bored me (toward the end I skipped pages, I admit it). Maybe if I was in the Catholic faith, it would have affected me more, who knows. Yet one can see the vast imagination and life experience of the author. I really liked the main themes in the novel and Kenneth Toomey as well. This is also my first try with male homosexuality as a point of interest and I liked the interplay with Catholicism and state ostracism. Most of all I liked the inevitability of human loneliness, regardless of sex, age and class.