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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
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
crime & punishment x law & order x pynchongaddiswallace. too long, too talky, too good.
Plowing through this book feels as if one is headed towards the naked singularity De La Pava warns about. The reader gets a front row seat to the freak show as Casi flies head first through his job as a somewhat newly minted public defender, surrounded by burnouts, quacks, incompetents and (alleged) criminals.
Casi comes of as one of those individuals who a kind-hearted mother would describe as "too bright for this world." His meticulous perception for social phenomenon, coupled with an unwillingness to take it all too seriously, provides a rich commentary on the quarter life crises - as viewed by a youndg public defender in New York.
A fun, high paced read that drives forward with all the force of the perfect crime set into motion. Well timed and appreciated as I am finishing my first summer interning in public defense and wondering if I too enter this world, will I end up either as a fleeting character in Casi's life, or, alternatively, as Casi himself - with a jaded sense of justice, a distorted set of demands and a will to wonder so easily destroyed by a single negative verdict. . .
Makes ya' wonder.
Casi comes of as one of those individuals who a kind-hearted mother would describe as "too bright for this world." His meticulous perception for social phenomenon, coupled with an unwillingness to take it all too seriously, provides a rich commentary on the quarter life crises - as viewed by a youndg public defender in New York.
A fun, high paced read that drives forward with all the force of the perfect crime set into motion. Well timed and appreciated as I am finishing my first summer interning in public defense and wondering if I too enter this world, will I end up either as a fleeting character in Casi's life, or, alternatively, as Casi himself - with a jaded sense of justice, a distorted set of demands and a will to wonder so easily destroyed by a single negative verdict. . .
Makes ya' wonder.
What a bizarre and enthralling book. Moby Dick if it was written by a lawyer. So much natural and observational comedy in this book that it almost makes you forget how serious and how high the stakes of the plot often are.
As the author himself states, this book shows a reality that most people aren't privy to. Our protagonist, Casi, aligns himself with the type of characters who most readers would cross the street to avoid or try to get away from. Ironically these characters are much more compelling and evoke far more sympathy than other members of the cast that Casi is "supposed" to like, such as the doctor who he went on a date with, or the people that keep repeating the lines you might expect a public defender to get barraged with: "Why become a public defender instead of a lawyer which gets better pay" or "You must be stressed out" or "How can you defend people who are criminals and deserve to be locked up" etc. Even his fellow public defender/lawyer friends will not understand Casi's idealism and why he tries so hard to represent his clients. But how could you not feel sympathetic for Jalen Kingg, or topple over laughing from any number of hilarious circumstances that occur because of one of the clients behavior? They bring so many memorable moments and bring this book to life. The author himself having many years of experience as a public defender is probably a good part of the reason why this novel is so convincing and believable in the first couple hundred pages.
There are some points where the book felt very over the top and on the nose about things, but it all felt like it coincided with the unbelievable nature of the plot so I'm not knocking it for that, just saying. I liked the character Dane but from the very first moment he was introduced I thought he was an absolute idiot. Like you couldn't write a more flawed character, I felt like he was on the wrong side of every issue in the book the entire time. And there's probably some point being made there, I guess. Or just establishing him as the Mephistopheles in the Faustian bargain arc of the book. His takes on psychology just seem so wrong, I remember he said something like "What you are perceived by others to be is what you are." And Casi, an otherwise smart guy, lets this dude get in his head constantly, which for the life of me I cannot fathom why.
I was also quite fascinated by the parallels the author drew between Casi and Wilfred Benitez, the young world champion hall of fame boxer of the 1980's. I've read other novels that try to do this type of thing and it doesn't always work, but I think it allowed really interesting story telling and was a useful narrative device here. I'm sure Casi feels like he's defending a world champion belt when he gets a case like the guy who got caught breaking into the van. The ironic thing is that while the rules for a boxing match usually serves to level the playing field between the fighters, it seems like the opposite is true in the courtroom, at least in this novel. Casi always seems to be fighting an uphill battle against the rules and what gets accepted as evidence. Since I'm not a big boxing fan I hadn't heard of Wilfred Benitez prior, makes me wonder if De La Pava could write a whole novel about boxing, I'd probably still be enthralled.
You'll like this if you like long monologues/tangents, obsessive characters, sub-plots, large casts of characters, interest in law from a public defender's perspective, stream of consciousness writing and plot/writing that becomes increasingly entropic.
As the author himself states, this book shows a reality that most people aren't privy to. Our protagonist, Casi, aligns himself with the type of characters who most readers would cross the street to avoid or try to get away from. Ironically these characters are much more compelling and evoke far more sympathy than other members of the cast that Casi is "supposed" to like, such as the doctor who he went on a date with, or the people that keep repeating the lines you might expect a public defender to get barraged with: "Why become a public defender instead of a lawyer which gets better pay" or "You must be stressed out" or "How can you defend people who are criminals and deserve to be locked up" etc. Even his fellow public defender/lawyer friends will not understand Casi's idealism and why he tries so hard to represent his clients. But how could you not feel sympathetic for Jalen Kingg, or topple over laughing from any number of hilarious circumstances that occur because of one of the clients behavior? They bring so many memorable moments and bring this book to life. The author himself having many years of experience as a public defender is probably a good part of the reason why this novel is so convincing and believable in the first couple hundred pages.
There are some points where the book felt very over the top and on the nose about things, but it all felt like it coincided with the unbelievable nature of the plot so I'm not knocking it for that, just saying. I liked the character Dane but from the very first moment he was introduced I thought he was an absolute idiot. Like you couldn't write a more flawed character, I felt like he was on the wrong side of every issue in the book the entire time. And there's probably some point being made there, I guess. Or just establishing him as the Mephistopheles in the Faustian bargain arc of the book. His takes on psychology just seem so wrong, I remember he said something like "What you are perceived by others to be is what you are." And Casi, an otherwise smart guy, lets this dude get in his head constantly, which for the life of me I cannot fathom why.
I was also quite fascinated by the parallels the author drew between Casi and Wilfred Benitez, the young world champion hall of fame boxer of the 1980's. I've read other novels that try to do this type of thing and it doesn't always work, but I think it allowed really interesting story telling and was a useful narrative device here. I'm sure Casi feels like he's defending a world champion belt when he gets a case like the guy who got caught breaking into the van. The ironic thing is that while the rules for a boxing match usually serves to level the playing field between the fighters, it seems like the opposite is true in the courtroom, at least in this novel. Casi always seems to be fighting an uphill battle against the rules and what gets accepted as evidence. Since I'm not a big boxing fan I hadn't heard of Wilfred Benitez prior, makes me wonder if De La Pava could write a whole novel about boxing, I'd probably still be enthralled.
You'll like this if you like long monologues/tangents, obsessive characters, sub-plots, large casts of characters, interest in law from a public defender's perspective, stream of consciousness writing and plot/writing that becomes increasingly entropic.
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm giving up. A Naked Singularity is like a slightly more legible Infinite Jest, what with all the nasty digressions (which I actually appreciated in the beginning though they slowly became more and more overwhelming in their irrelevance and underwhelming in their literary merits) and infinite, somewhat-entertaining theorization and larger-than-life (and so fucking irritating) characters, all of whom speak like philosophy pHDs.
There's a point at which I clearly lost momentum, and the digressions had stopped doing it for me, and I started flipping past them to get to the next chunk of likable literature. That's when I knew I had to quit. Also, it's hard not to get annoyed at all the Wallacian ticks that de la Pava is so into, being all clever and ironic and shit. At some point past the 400th page, all of it got on my nerves, and I started being completely turned off even by the good parts.
I especially wanted to burn that weird boxing digression.
I can't give it one star, though, because I really liked the first two or so hundred pages, especially the legal dialogue, which rang true and punched right into my gut. Other than that... fuck man. Literature needs to get over DFW and start sounding authentic.
There's a point at which I clearly lost momentum, and the digressions had stopped doing it for me, and I started flipping past them to get to the next chunk of likable literature. That's when I knew I had to quit. Also, it's hard not to get annoyed at all the Wallacian ticks that de la Pava is so into, being all clever and ironic and shit. At some point past the 400th page, all of it got on my nerves, and I started being completely turned off even by the good parts.
I especially wanted to burn that weird boxing digression.
I can't give it one star, though, because I really liked the first two or so hundred pages, especially the legal dialogue, which rang true and punched right into my gut. Other than that... fuck man. Literature needs to get over DFW and start sounding authentic.
adventurous
challenging
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.
They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one.
-Psalm 14: 2, 3
Casi works as a public defender in the Manhattan courts. Though he carries a heavy case load, he remains diligent in his work and feels compassion for the people seeking representation. His biggest obstacles, he feels, continues to be the US judicial system and the American citizens who, in general, have little empathy for his clients. In addition to the accounts of his days in court and work appealing a death penalty verdict, there are the stories of his loving family, the antics of the other residents in his apartment building, the rise and fall of the boxer Wilfred Benítez, the interactions with his coworkers, and his involvement in a scheme to steal money from a drug deal involving one of his clients. As the novel concludes, Casi seems to be undergoing a change or possibly experiencing an altered state.
“When I looked up from the floor I found I could see Everything. I saw the fundaments of the universe; quarks and neutrinos in visible ubiquity, jittering and bouncing, off each other and onto me. I saw Time itself, the fourth dimension, naked and enormous in its full horror, neither flowing nor frozen, and beside it the relativistic Elsewhere, lifeless and defunct. I saw Music, not the notes or the sounds but what it verily was. I saw incomplete but beautiful Math, its integers and the rules they obeyed, and I understood it all. I saw minds. I saw thoughts, disembodied but clear. I stared at consciousness itself, saw what it looked like, and became frightened. Concepts were visible; I saw Justice and Cowardice, Enmity and Envy….I heard Fear lick the face of Hate accompanied by a final whispered scream. Then I heard, felt, and saw the world begin to crack open to admit, little by little, the return of Light. The light dispersed everything else as I watched it grow and fill the room.”
When a high mass star goes supernova or explodes, gravitational forces compress the remnants of the star into the astronomical object called a black hole. The singularity at the center of the black hole allows no objects to escape and the laws of physics, including concepts such as space and time, ceases to operate. Casi has passed the event horizon, the theoretical boundary of a black hole, and has traveled to the center of the singularity.
“At that instant in Time, from that location in Space, I heard the beginnings of a menacing noise off to the margins of where we stood, like scores of cosmic locomotives loosed and gathering in the distance, a low rumble that swelled with the passing seconds but otherwise remained the same, and the sky managed to darken with the sun lit brighter than ever; I saw the horizons rise as if to merge directly above us while the ground beneath our feet began to sink; jagged swaths of earth along with the structures and people atop were disappearing concentrically as if into a drain and countless humans whistled by making sounds that were either pleas for mercy or yelps of celebration; I saw events and deeds displaced from their proper setting and from notions like past or future and I stared, through regret, at all the ill I'd wrought. There I stood, rooted, waiting for the disordered wave to arrive. The wave sped in approach and would either carry stellar material from the farthest reaches of the universe and bury it violently into our very bodies or else take what was already within us, that which was central to our core, and from it form new stars.”
When a low to medium mass star goes supernova or explodes, gravitational forces compress the remaining fragments into a high density mass and a new star forms. This new star rises from the vestiges of the now dead old star. This reforming represents a rebirth. Casi appears to have undergone a metamorphosis by the conclusion of the novel.