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3.11 AVERAGE
3.11 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Violence
Super ambiguous ending, so if that's not your jam, avoid this. Also it's really racist. Like really racist
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
I didn’t like it
Well worth reading. A disturbing and fascinating tale.
Full review:
http://jayrothermel.blogspot.com.jayrothermel.com/2019/09/poe-pym.html
Full review:
http://jayrothermel.blogspot.com.jayrothermel.com/2019/09/poe-pym.html
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Mă numesc Arthur Gordon Pym. Tatăl meu era un negustor respectabil al docurilor din Nantucket, unde m-am născut. Bunicul din partea mamei fusese un avocat cu multă experienţă. Avusese noroc în toate şi câştigase destul de bine cu pachetele de acţiuni de la Edgarton New Bank, cum i se spunea odinioară. Mulţumită acestora, dar şi prin alte mijloace, reuşise să intre în posesia unei sume de bani frumuşele. Cred că mă îndrăgea mai mult decât pe oricine altcineva pe lumea asta şi mă aşteptam să-i moştenesc, la moartea sa, cea mai mare parte din avere. Când am împlinit vârsta de şase ani, el m-a trimis la şcoala bătrânului domn Ricketts – un gentleman care avea numai o mână şi multe alte ciudăţenii – bine cunoscut aproape oricui a vizitat vreodată New Bradford. Am rămas la şcoala sa până am împlinit şaisprezece ani, când am părăsit-o pentru a intra la institutul domnului E. Ronald, situat sus, pe deal. Aici m-am împrietenit cu fiul domnului Barnard, un căpitan de vas care, de obicei, făcea curse pentru Lloyd and Vredenburgh – domnul Barnard era, de asemenea, foarte bine cunoscut în New Bredford şi avea, fără îndoială, multe rubedenii în Edgarton. Fiul său se numea Augustus şi era cu aproape doi ani mai mare decât mine. Fusese o dată la vânătoare de balene cu tatăl său, pe vasul John Donaldson, şi îmi vorbea necontenit despre aventurile sale din Pacificul de Sud. Când ieşeam de la şcoală, obişnuiam să trec pe la el, unde rămâneam toată ziua, uneori şi peste noapte. Dormeam în acelaşi pat, iar el avea darul să mă ţină treaz până se crăpa de ziuă, povestindu-mi întruna despre băştinaşii de pe Insula Tinian şi de prin alte locuri pe care le vizitase în călătoriile sale. În cele din urmă, fireşte că am prins gust pentru povestirile sale şi, încetul cu încetul, o arzătoare dorinţă de a călători pe mare a pus stăpânire pe mine. Am închiriat, pentru vreo şaptezeci şi cinci de dolari, o barcă cu pânze, pe nume Ariel. Aceasta avea o semipunte sau teugă şi velatură de cuter – i-am uitat tonajul, dar ştiu sigur că putea să ducă lesne zece persoane. Cu barca aceasta porneam, de regulă, în cele mai nesăbuite incursiuni cu putinţă – acum, când mă gândesc la ele, mi se pare minunea minunilor că mai sunt astăzi în viaţă.
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
A very strange book, of perhaps only historical interest. Certainly not entertaining. Unless you are the sort who is entertained by questions such as "Is this a subtle exercise in literary technique or a piece of trivial hackwork that acquires any literary merit it may have via Poe's later reputation?"
The only part I liked were the authorial games Poe plays with as a sort of framing device. Reminded me of Borges. But whereas Borges clearly does those sorts of things on purpose, Poe may (or may not) have stumbled upon them through a semi-fortuitous combination of commercial expediency and drunkenness.
Unless you are already a Poe fan, figuring out which would likely hold little interest.
(PS A perplexing side note: reading Poe seems to have had a rather desultory and enervating effect on my syntax and diction, which has quite inexplicably become rather vainglorious. Quite perplexing indeed....)
The only part I liked were the authorial games Poe plays with as a sort of framing device. Reminded me of Borges. But whereas Borges clearly does those sorts of things on purpose, Poe may (or may not) have stumbled upon them through a semi-fortuitous combination of commercial expediency and drunkenness.
Unless you are already a Poe fan, figuring out which would likely hold little interest.
(PS A perplexing side note: reading Poe seems to have had a rather desultory and enervating effect on my syntax and diction, which has quite inexplicably become rather vainglorious. Quite perplexing indeed....)
This is mildly entertaining in parts, but it is still a disaster. It reads very much like a hurried first draft that's been forcibly kept away from editors.
The biggest problem is that it's essentially two different adventure stories stuck together. The first is the tale of a mutiny and shipwreck, presented somewhat realistically. When the two survivors are picked up by an Antarctic-bound explorer ship, however... there's a boring few chapters that cover existing islands and histories of (again, realistically), and then the ship gets to the Antarctic and, well. There are polar bears and pelicans and woods and a whole society wandering around naked and sans frostbite, and I can live with how wrong it all is because Poe wrote this in the days before real Antarctic exploration and so he was making it all up from a blank slate, essentially, and doing the best he could even if his science was shite. That's not what makes me think of a bad first draft.
It's those two different voices and styles jammed together, and the hand-waving explanation for this at the beginning of the book that is deeply unconvincing. It's the ending that looks like he's sick of the story and given up in the middle of it. It's the fact that the dog just disappears randomly and is never mentioned again. It's that the shipwreck survivors resort to cannibalism before one of them remembers the axe with which they can break down the door behind which are actual provisions. It's the fact that one of said survivors dies from an infected arm and when they go to drop him over board his leg disintegrates.
It is just not well-written. Sorry, Mr. Poe, you are an excellent short story writer. Your novel, however, is a piece of wreckage that belongs at the bottom of the sea.
The biggest problem is that it's essentially two different adventure stories stuck together. The first is the tale of a mutiny and shipwreck, presented somewhat realistically. When the two survivors are picked up by an Antarctic-bound explorer ship, however... there's a boring few chapters that cover existing islands and histories of (again, realistically), and then the ship gets to the Antarctic and, well. There are polar bears and pelicans and woods and a whole society wandering around naked and sans frostbite, and I can live with how wrong it all is because Poe wrote this in the days before real Antarctic exploration and so he was making it all up from a blank slate, essentially, and doing the best he could even if his science was shite. That's not what makes me think of a bad first draft.
It's those two different voices and styles jammed together, and the hand-waving explanation for this at the beginning of the book that is deeply unconvincing. It's the ending that looks like he's sick of the story and given up in the middle of it. It's the fact that the dog just disappears randomly and is never mentioned again. It's that the shipwreck survivors resort to cannibalism before one of them remembers the axe with which they can break down the door behind which are actual provisions. It's the fact that one of said survivors dies from an infected arm and when they go to drop him over board his leg disintegrates.
It is just not well-written. Sorry, Mr. Poe, you are an excellent short story writer. Your novel, however, is a piece of wreckage that belongs at the bottom of the sea.
So weird. Exciting, even thrilling at some points, gruesome, disgusting, informative and just utterly weird in its entirety.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No