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3.04 AVERAGE
3.04 AVERAGE
Considerato un precursore del genere distopico fantascientifico sicuramente la nube purpurea è un romanzo che nonostante abbia più di un secolo ha spunti molto interessanti.
La follia del protagonista, la rappresentazione della devastazione e della morte e anche la speranza della rinascita.
Punti a sfavore sicuramente l’introduzione super interessante come avanfatto ma poi non ripresa nel finale e il finale stesso lo ho trovato un pelo stucchevole.
La follia del protagonista, la rappresentazione della devastazione e della morte e anche la speranza della rinascita.
Punti a sfavore sicuramente l’introduzione super interessante come avanfatto ma poi non ripresa nel finale e il finale stesso lo ho trovato un pelo stucchevole.
Interesting concept but it was hard to wade through the overly descriptive writing. (I swear some of the sentences were 90% adjectives!)
The Purple Cloud
While this book had a great premise, the execution was lacking. I really only have one word to describe it and that is: BORING! I just about lost it when almost every ship he encountered while sailing from the north pole, he had to describe, in painful detail, his exploration of it. Thank god by the time he got to Europe, he stopped exploring them, because there was a lot of ships to explore by that time and if he would have continued this book when have been longer than the Bible.
The book continued this way with highly intricate, and detailed—painfully detailed—story telling. We hear about every train he drives, every ship he sees, every flower and plant he sees, every blade of grass he steps on. Okay that last one was a bit hyperbolic, but nonetheless this book should have been about half the length and probably would have been a much better book.
While this book had a great premise, the execution was lacking. I really only have one word to describe it and that is: BORING! I just about lost it when almost every ship he encountered while sailing from the north pole, he had to describe, in painful detail, his exploration of it. Thank god by the time he got to Europe, he stopped exploring them, because there was a lot of ships to explore by that time and if he would have continued this book when have been longer than the Bible.
The book continued this way with highly intricate, and detailed—painfully detailed—story telling. We hear about every train he drives, every ship he sees, every flower and plant he sees, every blade of grass he steps on. Okay that last one was a bit hyperbolic, but nonetheless this book should have been about half the length and probably would have been a much better book.
This review is of the Penguin Classics edition with an introduction and notes by John Sutherland
Last year I read an article in the Guardian Review about the Penguin Classics series. The author of the article selected ten titles – apparently at random – to illustrate the richness and variety of the works available from Penguin. I realised that of the ten works, I had only read one, so I resolved to read the other nine in 2019. This is the seventh of those nine that I’ve read so far. Shiel was one of a number of fin de siècle writers who could most politely be described as “weird” – a couple of others I can think of are Knut Hamsun and Frederick Rolfe. Rolfe dreamed of being Pope but didn’t make it to priest, whereas Shiel really did have an august title as King of Redonda. I’ve had the privilege of working in Montserrat – Shiel’s birthplace – and I could see Redonda from my villa. It’s a rocky outcrop populated by thousands of sea birds and is now claimed by Antigua, though it still has a king, the Spanish writer Javier Marias. Anyway, Shiel claimed that his father crowned him king when he was 15. He also claimed that underage sex was acceptable in Montserrat and he did his best to make it acceptable in Britain as well…..
Anyway, among many other works, Shiel published The Purple Cloud in 1901. As the excellent introduction and notes by John Sutherland made clear, the novel first appeared in a very abridged magazine version, then as a novel, and then in a revised version in 1929. What we have here is the first novel version of 1901. Briefly, the narrator Adam Jeffson manages to join an expedition to the North Pole after his fiancée poisons another member of the expedition. She and Jeffson are tickled by the prospect of winning the prize of (an unbelievable) US$175 million offered to the first person (not team) to reach the North Pole. Of course, after various shenanigans Jeffson is the only member of the expedition to reach the Pole, and it’s a very strange place. On his way back to the expedition’s ship he notices various polar bears and seals lying dead, and then when he reaches the ship, he finds the crew dead and a light coating of purple dust on various surfaces. Eventually he realises that a volcano somewhere in the south Pacific has erupted and spewed out a vast cloud of cyanide gas which has wiped out all breathing life – human and animal – on the planet. The cloud took several weeks or months to travel around the globe, giving millions of people the chance to escape it, but eventually it caught up with them. Jeffson checks this out by going to every mine in Britain and finding that even where people managed to find a refuge deep underground, they then suffocated or died of starvation or thirst. Jeffson then spends years travelling around the world setting fire to various cities from San Francisco to Beijing. After twenty years he finds another survivor, a young woman who has survived from birth on an incredible diet of white wine and dates. Despite Shiel’s predilection for young girls, the relationship doesn’t develop as you might expect…..
This is a fascinating novel. It’s weird, fantastical and probably says a lot about the author’s dreams and obsessions, but worth reading for all that.
Last year I read an article in the Guardian Review about the Penguin Classics series. The author of the article selected ten titles – apparently at random – to illustrate the richness and variety of the works available from Penguin. I realised that of the ten works, I had only read one, so I resolved to read the other nine in 2019. This is the seventh of those nine that I’ve read so far. Shiel was one of a number of fin de siècle writers who could most politely be described as “weird” – a couple of others I can think of are Knut Hamsun and Frederick Rolfe. Rolfe dreamed of being Pope but didn’t make it to priest, whereas Shiel really did have an august title as King of Redonda. I’ve had the privilege of working in Montserrat – Shiel’s birthplace – and I could see Redonda from my villa. It’s a rocky outcrop populated by thousands of sea birds and is now claimed by Antigua, though it still has a king, the Spanish writer Javier Marias. Anyway, Shiel claimed that his father crowned him king when he was 15. He also claimed that underage sex was acceptable in Montserrat and he did his best to make it acceptable in Britain as well…..
Anyway, among many other works, Shiel published The Purple Cloud in 1901. As the excellent introduction and notes by John Sutherland made clear, the novel first appeared in a very abridged magazine version, then as a novel, and then in a revised version in 1929. What we have here is the first novel version of 1901. Briefly, the narrator Adam Jeffson manages to join an expedition to the North Pole after his fiancée poisons another member of the expedition. She and Jeffson are tickled by the prospect of winning the prize of (an unbelievable) US$175 million offered to the first person (not team) to reach the North Pole. Of course, after various shenanigans Jeffson is the only member of the expedition to reach the Pole, and it’s a very strange place. On his way back to the expedition’s ship he notices various polar bears and seals lying dead, and then when he reaches the ship, he finds the crew dead and a light coating of purple dust on various surfaces. Eventually he realises that a volcano somewhere in the south Pacific has erupted and spewed out a vast cloud of cyanide gas which has wiped out all breathing life – human and animal – on the planet. The cloud took several weeks or months to travel around the globe, giving millions of people the chance to escape it, but eventually it caught up with them. Jeffson checks this out by going to every mine in Britain and finding that even where people managed to find a refuge deep underground, they then suffocated or died of starvation or thirst. Jeffson then spends years travelling around the world setting fire to various cities from San Francisco to Beijing. After twenty years he finds another survivor, a young woman who has survived from birth on an incredible diet of white wine and dates. Despite Shiel’s predilection for young girls, the relationship doesn’t develop as you might expect…..
This is a fascinating novel. It’s weird, fantastical and probably says a lot about the author’s dreams and obsessions, but worth reading for all that.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
A turn of the century fable about the sins of mankind and the madness of apocalypse. Quite oddly written with lengthy and detailed descriptions of machines and exotic locations that gives the novel a large distinct lexicon. Although dated the adventure is rich and the twists and turns help maintain interest.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Shiel has a marvelous vocabulary - his sentences are beautiful, but the plot of this story bogs down midway. The descriptions of ship after ship, city after city become tedious, and some of the action seems beyond the means of the characters described. I was reminded of "Frankenstein" and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" in the sense that the flourishing style of the author is sometimes neglectful of the aspects of realism necessary to make fantasy believable. I think it's all well and good to describe fantastic occurrences, but when describing those of human nature, it is important to stay within the bounds of nature. To displace the mechanics of the mundane is to dilute the impact of the bizarre.
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
200 pages of this guy travelling after he realizes he’s the only man left on earth, only to find a young, beautiful woman just waiting for him… I’m done
A man traveling in the Arctic survives a world-encompassing purple cyanide cloud. Upon his return to civilization he realizes that he is the sole survivor, and with no society to restrict him he becomes an all-powerful, insanely destructive wanderer, reveling in his deliberate razing of entire empty cities -- not a character one can particularly sympathize with. The novel is filled with extraneous information about engines, equipment, and clothes that slows the story down. I found it hard to believe that twenty years after the apocalypse, devices such as telephones and motors still worked, and houses were still perfectly preserved. I also found it hard to believe the last man on Earth would in any way reject the last woman on Earth (and I think her lisp of substituting "l" for "r" was somewhat racist). Nonetheless, the novel is an interesting look at what is a shockingly realistic reaction to the metaphorical recasting of the Biblical Flood.