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millennial_dandy's review against another edition
3.0
The Broken Wings
"The sensitive boy who feels much and knows little is the most unfortunate creature under the sun because he is torn by two forces. The first force elevates him and shows him the beauty of existence through a cloud of dreams; the second ties him down to the earth and fills his eyes with dust and overpowers him with fears and darkness." (p.19)
After reading 'The Prophet' I was curious to know more about the mind such a ubiquitous, oft-quoted text came from. A quick peruse through his Wikipedia page yielded fruit: he was, in fact, an interesting guy. In addition to producing much more than just 'The Prophet," he was also a visual artist and you can see a large collection of his work at the Telfair Museum in Savannah, Georgia. He was also involved in promoting Syrian independence from the Ottomans, though he seemed to have been more involved in writers' circles than political ones.
In any case, there's a lot of material for anyone out there wondering 'I wonder what else 'The Prophet' guy ever did.'
'The Broken Wings' predates 'The Prophet' by about a decade, and that does somewhat show in the writing, which is much less polished, but that lavish lyricism is still there. This is a straightforward novella rather than, essentially, a very pretty self-help guide, and follows our narrator as he tells us of his tragic first romance with a young woman named Selma.
We learn from the very first page that their story is an unhappy one and that at the time of narration, Selma is dead. What follows is your sort of typical star-crossed lovers romance: the protagonist and Selma are in love, but they can't be together because she is promised to a richer man, a particularly cruel individual (this is all we know about him: he's cruel and mean and womanizing and he sucks).
Not an earth-shattering plot by any means. Indeed, the plot itself is very basic and paint by number. However, lest we forget who our author is, it is written very beautifully, although, this being an earlier piece, there was definitely a proclivity to overuse certain images and words (everything either caused sorrow, was sorrowful, or in some other way full of sorrow).
What was actually pretty interesting was his characterization of Selma, and the understanding of the tragedy of their love story he imbues her with. She speaks often in the narrative of the powerlessness imposed on her by virtue of her being a woman. She chastises her lover at one point as he's lamenting how sorrowful their situation is, saying:
This is a point she brings up a number of times to explain the context of her own grief at being married off and how it extends beyond just a broken heart. At one point the narrator even points out directly that Selma is a victim of having been a woman born too soon for society to have caught up to her desire to be as free as he was.
I wonder since, per the Wikipedia article, many of Gibran's close relationships were with women some of that insight doesn't stem from listening to them talk about their experiences of womanhood. And good for him if that was the case, because this was published in 1912 at a time where the women he would have been hanging around wouldn't even have the right to vote for another nearly another decade, and certainly most of them wouldn't have been out and about traveling the world writing their names on the face of life.
I'm not sure I liked 'Broken Wings' enough to plow through the rest of the stories in this collection, but I imagine there's something in it for anyone who enjoyed 'The Prophet' enough to want more of that.
"The sensitive boy who feels much and knows little is the most unfortunate creature under the sun because he is torn by two forces. The first force elevates him and shows him the beauty of existence through a cloud of dreams; the second ties him down to the earth and fills his eyes with dust and overpowers him with fears and darkness." (p.19)
After reading 'The Prophet' I was curious to know more about the mind such a ubiquitous, oft-quoted text came from. A quick peruse through his Wikipedia page yielded fruit: he was, in fact, an interesting guy. In addition to producing much more than just 'The Prophet," he was also a visual artist and you can see a large collection of his work at the Telfair Museum in Savannah, Georgia. He was also involved in promoting Syrian independence from the Ottomans, though he seemed to have been more involved in writers' circles than political ones.
In any case, there's a lot of material for anyone out there wondering 'I wonder what else 'The Prophet' guy ever did.'
'The Broken Wings' predates 'The Prophet' by about a decade, and that does somewhat show in the writing, which is much less polished, but that lavish lyricism is still there. This is a straightforward novella rather than, essentially, a very pretty self-help guide, and follows our narrator as he tells us of his tragic first romance with a young woman named Selma.
We learn from the very first page that their story is an unhappy one and that at the time of narration, Selma is dead. What follows is your sort of typical star-crossed lovers romance: the protagonist and Selma are in love, but they can't be together because she is promised to a richer man, a particularly cruel individual (this is all we know about him: he's cruel and mean and womanizing and he sucks).
Not an earth-shattering plot by any means. Indeed, the plot itself is very basic and paint by number. However, lest we forget who our author is, it is written very beautifully, although, this being an earlier piece, there was definitely a proclivity to overuse certain images and words (everything either caused sorrow, was sorrowful, or in some other way full of sorrow).
What was actually pretty interesting was his characterization of Selma, and the understanding of the tragedy of their love story he imbues her with. She speaks often in the narrative of the powerlessness imposed on her by virtue of her being a woman. She chastises her lover at one point as he's lamenting how sorrowful their situation is, saying:
"You can walk freely upon life's spacious path, carpeted with flowers. You are free to traverse the world, making of your heart a torch to light your way. You can think, talk, and act freely; you can write your name on the face of life because you are a man." (p.69-70)
This is a point she brings up a number of times to explain the context of her own grief at being married off and how it extends beyond just a broken heart. At one point the narrator even points out directly that Selma is a victim of having been a woman born too soon for society to have caught up to her desire to be as free as he was.
I wonder since, per the Wikipedia article, many of Gibran's close relationships were with women some of that insight doesn't stem from listening to them talk about their experiences of womanhood. And good for him if that was the case, because this was published in 1912 at a time where the women he would have been hanging around wouldn't even have the right to vote for another nearly another decade, and certainly most of them wouldn't have been out and about traveling the world writing their names on the face of life.
I'm not sure I liked 'Broken Wings' enough to plow through the rest of the stories in this collection, but I imagine there's something in it for anyone who enjoyed 'The Prophet' enough to want more of that.
kandicez's review against another edition
4.0
Some of the things he writes are so topical, no matter when and where they are set. Other ideas...pretty Utopian and unrealistic. I think that most of the people that really "grooved" on hsi writings in the 60's, 70's were probably a little high on more than life, but it was still nice to listen to.
moreilly1917's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
jojodoesntread's review against another edition
so the thing is i despise long books
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