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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
“I don't miss anything," I said, pressing the point home. "I think this is marvellous. I don't like your gardens with their high walls, I don't like your pretty little orchards and your well-cultivated-fields. I like this …" and I pointed outdoors to the dusty road on which a sorely-laden donkey was plodding along dejectedly.”
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A truly poignant recollection of Miller’s trip to Greece, detailing the places he visited, the people he met, the conversations he had, the food he ate all against the backdrop of a world war. The image he paints of the country im so familiar with is so immensely intimate but also multilayered. His prose and observations ring true today more than ever, and it always surprises me how much the world of today resembles the world of that past encapsulated in this book. How the world goes around in circles even sociopolitally. Such a masterpiece and true relic of a great writer visiting a larger than life (it sometimes seems as such) country.
Apparently I read torrent of bullshit back in my early 20s; the book is littered with my underlinings and exclamations. That said, i had no recollection of the book, more precisely, there isn't anything to distinguish it from the other open sewers of Miller's ouevre. The entire second section of the book should be purged by the Miller estate. I only (re)read this as it was selected by my friend Roger.
"I have always felt that the art of telling a story consists in so stimulating the listener's imagination that he drowns himself in his own reveries long before the end. The best stories I have heard were pointless, the best books those whose plot I can never remember, the best individuals those whom I never get anywhere with. Though it has been practiced on me time and again I never cease to marvel how it happens that, with certain individuals whom I know, within a few minutes after greeting them we are embarked on an endless voyage comparable in feeling and trajectory only to the deep middle dream which the practiced dreamer slips into like a bone into its socket." The Collosus of Maroussi - Henry Miller
A very opinionated man...often with a high opinion of himself, his friends and the idealized 'Greek'. Then a low opinion of his fellow Americans and the English. Obviously written before the word 'racism' was used..but surely he knew the word stereotype? If he had been 22 when he wrote then it would not have been so bad..but for a man in his forties!
He wanders about, preaching to poor people about the joys of poverty and then uses his money to upgrade to First Class as soon as life becomes uncomfortable. There are some useful reflections in parts but stuff he probably took from Alan Watts.
Having said that, there are some very fine passages. His observations on man's humanity are heartfelt yet controlled. They were written at the onset of the second world war and were just as valid today.
Overall, though, I was disappointed after the reviews it received.
He wanders about, preaching to poor people about the joys of poverty and then uses his money to upgrade to First Class as soon as life becomes uncomfortable. There are some useful reflections in parts but stuff he probably took from Alan Watts.
Having said that, there are some very fine passages. His observations on man's humanity are heartfelt yet controlled. They were written at the onset of the second world war and were just as valid today.
Overall, though, I was disappointed after the reviews it received.
Another winner, pulled from my shelf at random. Amazing writing. Unusually for him, no sex! Thank goodness, just a nice relatively brief, accessible project. Loved the descriptions of Greece, plus the references to Classical history.
It took me a while to write a review about this work. Let it be noted that this was the first travelogue I read. I enjoyed this book like no other.
The writing style was as extravagant, lengthy, and as descriptive as I like to read. The humor of Miller jumps out of the page and had me constantly chuckling. The societal critique and, at most times, romanticism is evident throughout. I do not care about it being romantic and not fully realistic, I am fully aware that I am reading literature; not non-fiction or a newspaper.
I found it to be a beautifully written tribute to a long-standing peoples of all sorts; of crooks but also of grand generosity even from the poorest humans. I love how he talks about the intellectuals of Greece, whether they be known poets or artists, or unknown every-day wise people he met in his travels; and how we meet those same individuals from a third person point of view, a non-Greek point of view.
I know that what Miller felt in Greece, many others have felt. He touches upon something that we all know exists but cannot put it into words or grasp it.
Miller traveled me in the lands, mountains, sea, in the sun and sky of my beloved homeland. He made me appreciate every inch of my and my ancestors' being, and the land that we are lucky to call home.
Every Greek should read this book and be open to its illusion. Just enjoy thinking about the Greece that this man presents to us, without letting our own prejudices get in the way. Maybe, the Greece he writes about does not have to be so far from the truth. Maybe we just haven't learned how to see her yet.
The writing style was as extravagant, lengthy, and as descriptive as I like to read. The humor of Miller jumps out of the page and had me constantly chuckling. The societal critique and, at most times, romanticism is evident throughout. I do not care about it being romantic and not fully realistic, I am fully aware that I am reading literature; not non-fiction or a newspaper.
I found it to be a beautifully written tribute to a long-standing peoples of all sorts; of crooks but also of grand generosity even from the poorest humans. I love how he talks about the intellectuals of Greece, whether they be known poets or artists, or unknown every-day wise people he met in his travels; and how we meet those same individuals from a third person point of view, a non-Greek point of view.
I know that what Miller felt in Greece, many others have felt. He touches upon something that we all know exists but cannot put it into words or grasp it.
Miller traveled me in the lands, mountains, sea, in the sun and sky of my beloved homeland. He made me appreciate every inch of my and my ancestors' being, and the land that we are lucky to call home.
Every Greek should read this book and be open to its illusion. Just enjoy thinking about the Greece that this man presents to us, without letting our own prejudices get in the way. Maybe, the Greece he writes about does not have to be so far from the truth. Maybe we just haven't learned how to see her yet.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This book, read once, has instilled weekly dreams of Greece since I read it. I love this man, I truly, truly do.
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced