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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Maybe everything in this book is wrong but it's fun to believe in it. It doesn't matter either way and that's just fine. I would recommend this story to anyone who feels bogged down by the supposed limitations of their life.
The values in this book are very similar to Johnathan Livingston Seagull mixed with the Buddhist ideals. Although the ending was a little disturbing, overall, the lessons throughout the book make for good food for thought. This is definitely a book to keep around and read several times in your life.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a joyous read full of delightful humor. There is so much wisdom and whimsy in between these pages. Definitely worth a read.
I read this for 2 reasons. One of them is going to SUPER color my review, for sure. 1) I borrowed it from the husband of a friend, initially because I wanted to bond more with my close friend's husband, and then said friend and I entered into an, uh, even closer relationship, and I had still had this book from summer and needed to finish it and give it back. 2) It was very short and I was trying to read/finish a lot of SHORT books before the end of the year.
I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull in like, high school because my parents had a copy (of course, they were in college in the early '70s) and I was in a kick for reading all the books in our house. I thought it inspirational and sweet, if maybe saccharine. I didn't get all the "The Secret - but from the 70's" mumbo jumbo - it kinda went over my head. Plus in that same year or so I had also read Siddhartha which has a lot of the same messages, but without the Uberman Nietzschean influence, and is way less smug.
So. Illusions is all - more of the same. Here are some notes, below, that I took as I was reading:
***
This runs a FINE LINE between like, Ayn Rand objectivism and bootstrap mentality and... smug svengali enlightened "men explain things to me" 70's bullshit.
The job the narrator has sounds like one of the bullshit impossible jobs from International House Hunters akin to "I write travel articles solely about underwater basket-weaving competitions, and she is a lace artist selling doilies on Etsy and at Coachella, and we have a budget of 3 million" - here's the description: "I've never found another pilot in the line of work I do: flying with the wind from town to town, selling rides in an old biplane, three dollars for ten minutes in the air."
I know gas - and maybe engine fuel? - was cheaper in the '70s but like ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How did he BUY the plane? OK, whatever. The implication here is "I live the life I want and I and am TOTALLY FREE and I do JUST FINE and YOU SHOULD TO (just like the weirdo metaphor at the beginning of the book and just like Jonathan Livingston Seagull) but sure. Let's move on.
By page 32 the crux of this WHOLE book is revealed. "People didn't learn to fly until they believed they could fly, so what else are we limiting ourselves to not doing by not believing we can? Walking through walls?" (This is LITERALLY in that Marlie Maitlin weirdo The Secret bullshit pseudo-physics movie.) Then, "The only learning that's mattered is what I got on my own, doing what I want to do." - that's total BOOTSTRAPS bullshit.
So we have 2 delusions at work here. This book could maybe be renamed or re-subtitled as, "Delusions"
Then some weird svengali chicken or egg bullshit about like, do I need a teacher, will I be led to one, will the universe lead me to one while making me think I don't need one, will it just come to me - is there fate or free will, basically.
There's a whole weird mystical thing where the guy's plane doesn't get dirty flying (not a single bug on the propeller blade) and how he performs low-key "miracles" like selling someone previously afraid of heights one of his 10-minute rides and suddenly they're cured.
Casual references to the minutiae of planes and things like the "Swiss Army Escape and Evasion Knife" make me think this guy author might be a Libertarian now in the Michigan Militia somewhere.
***
I was writing notes (see above) along AS I was reading this until about... whatever page I was on when I stopped because I realized I might be treating this book extra harshly out of some kind of... secondary partner jealousy/resentment, because of who had loaned it to me. So I finished it in a sulky silence, no more shit-post/note-taking other than what I had already written above.
I still think it's BS though.
I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull in like, high school because my parents had a copy (of course, they were in college in the early '70s) and I was in a kick for reading all the books in our house. I thought it inspirational and sweet, if maybe saccharine. I didn't get all the "The Secret - but from the 70's" mumbo jumbo - it kinda went over my head. Plus in that same year or so I had also read Siddhartha which has a lot of the same messages, but without the Uberman Nietzschean influence, and is way less smug.
So. Illusions is all - more of the same. Here are some notes, below, that I took as I was reading:
***
This runs a FINE LINE between like, Ayn Rand objectivism and bootstrap mentality and... smug svengali enlightened "men explain things to me" 70's bullshit.
The job the narrator has sounds like one of the bullshit impossible jobs from International House Hunters akin to "I write travel articles solely about underwater basket-weaving competitions, and she is a lace artist selling doilies on Etsy and at Coachella, and we have a budget of 3 million" - here's the description: "I've never found another pilot in the line of work I do: flying with the wind from town to town, selling rides in an old biplane, three dollars for ten minutes in the air."
I know gas - and maybe engine fuel? - was cheaper in the '70s but like ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How did he BUY the plane? OK, whatever. The implication here is "I live the life I want and I and am TOTALLY FREE and I do JUST FINE and YOU SHOULD TO (just like the weirdo metaphor at the beginning of the book and just like Jonathan Livingston Seagull) but sure. Let's move on.
By page 32 the crux of this WHOLE book is revealed. "People didn't learn to fly until they believed they could fly, so what else are we limiting ourselves to not doing by not believing we can? Walking through walls?" (This is LITERALLY in that Marlie Maitlin weirdo The Secret bullshit pseudo-physics movie.) Then, "The only learning that's mattered is what I got on my own, doing what I want to do." - that's total BOOTSTRAPS bullshit.
So we have 2 delusions at work here. This book could maybe be renamed or re-subtitled as, "Delusions"
Then some weird svengali chicken or egg bullshit about like, do I need a teacher, will I be led to one, will the universe lead me to one while making me think I don't need one, will it just come to me - is there fate or free will, basically.
There's a whole weird mystical thing where the guy's plane doesn't get dirty flying (not a single bug on the propeller blade) and how he performs low-key "miracles" like selling someone previously afraid of heights one of his 10-minute rides and suddenly they're cured.
Casual references to the minutiae of planes and things like the "Swiss Army Escape and Evasion Knife" make me think this guy author might be a Libertarian now in the Michigan Militia somewhere.
***
I was writing notes (see above) along AS I was reading this until about... whatever page I was on when I stopped because I realized I might be treating this book extra harshly out of some kind of... secondary partner jealousy/resentment, because of who had loaned it to me. So I finished it in a sulky silence, no more shit-post/note-taking other than what I had already written above.
I still think it's BS though.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
inspiring
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated