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2.9 AVERAGE
2.9 AVERAGE
I enjoyed reading this book, although it was admittedly a little difficult to get started and I can completely understand the some of the criticisms. Although the novel is supposedly about the youth of Hitler and he became the person whom history remembers, I really felt that the young Adolf was the least interesting part of the book. Knowing what we know about history, and given modern theories of psychological development, there was nothing particularly new or revelatory about that part of the story. The novel is, however, and excellent story about the strengths, weaknesses, failings, and squabbles of a late 19th/early 20th century german peasant family and this is fascinating reading.
I also enjoyed the narrators various digressions and comments although I thought Mailer was trying to channel CS Lewis here, and I think Lewis's devil was far more disconcerting. This devil shows very a very human tendencies in his need to justify and explain his activities, partly understandable because he was supposedly corporeal during part of the novel, but not completely so as the novel is supposedly dictated well after the fact.
Mailer writes well. He seems to pull off a rather difficult technique built around a difficult premise well. It is not perhaps the best choice for someone seeking a quick read, but it does pay off for anyone willing to put in the time.
I also enjoyed the narrators various digressions and comments although I thought Mailer was trying to channel CS Lewis here, and I think Lewis's devil was far more disconcerting. This devil shows very a very human tendencies in his need to justify and explain his activities, partly understandable because he was supposedly corporeal during part of the novel, but not completely so as the novel is supposedly dictated well after the fact.
Mailer writes well. He seems to pull off a rather difficult technique built around a difficult premise well. It is not perhaps the best choice for someone seeking a quick read, but it does pay off for anyone willing to put in the time.
I wasn't really blown over by this. I do wonder if any of it is true, and if so, it really does give you a mind trip. I really was expecting quite a bit more though.
This was my first Noman Mailer novel. I appreciate his prose, but he is very preoccupied on the psychosexual. While I don't find anything inherently wrong with this, parts of the novel felt... forced? Maybe I missed some of the points he was attempting to make.
I found The Cast in the Forest hard to get into. It started strong, waivered, and finished strong for me. I think part of this was definitely me adjusting to Mailer. By the end, once I got acclimated to the characters, I really enjoyed them. For a book I struggled to stay interested with at times, the last third or so of the novel was a breeze and Alois, Sr. is one of the more memorable characters I've read lately.
I found The Cast in the Forest hard to get into. It started strong, waivered, and finished strong for me. I think part of this was definitely me adjusting to Mailer. By the end, once I got acclimated to the characters, I really enjoyed them. For a book I struggled to stay interested with at times, the last third or so of the novel was a breeze and Alois, Sr. is one of the more memorable characters I've read lately.
I listened to this book...talk about strange and weird. NOT at all what I was expecting, but then again, who expects to read about Hitler's masturbatory style...
This book is an endless list of the incestuous, adulterous, and misogynist sexual experiences, all hypothetical, of Hitler's father as told by a demon with several stories of male urinary incontinence thrown in for fun. It's not good.
This is the worst book I've read since I was subjected to The Road by Cormac McCarthy. When Mailer is bad, he is horrid.
This is the worst book I've read since I was subjected to The Road by Cormac McCarthy. When Mailer is bad, he is horrid.
Creeeeeeepy!
Too bad Mailer didn't live long enough to finish the series. Adolph Hitler as a child... makes your skin crawl. Horrible family, childhood distinguished by its depressing associations and the part about the beekeeper....eeeuw.
Mailer went out with a bang.
Too bad Mailer didn't live long enough to finish the series. Adolph Hitler as a child... makes your skin crawl. Horrible family, childhood distinguished by its depressing associations and the part about the beekeeper....eeeuw.
Mailer went out with a bang.
I've been intrigued by Mailer ever since reading parts of his fascinating essay collection The Spooky Art, but this is the first time I've read one of his novels to the end. I was sometimes during the reading of this novel indirectly reminded of Philip Roth's Plot against America. Apart from any outward similarities (the venerable age of the authors, both novels historical ones and both dealing with Hitler/Nazism to an extent) I also noted that Mailer's sentences, much like P. Roth's, are devoid of clichés and have an impressive rhythm and a sort of musical flow to them. This makes both of them very readable and their readers are carried forward effortlessly to the end.
I don't think it is unfair to say that there is a certain workmanlike aspect to the styles of both of these authors.
As for the story itself I found the whole concept of it to be both courageous and bold and I was amazed at how well NM managed to keep this monster of a novel together.
I don't think it is unfair to say that there is a certain workmanlike aspect to the styles of both of these authors.
As for the story itself I found the whole concept of it to be both courageous and bold and I was amazed at how well NM managed to keep this monster of a novel together.
Couldn't finish it. Demon narrator doesn't work for me.
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes