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anneliehyatt 's review for:
The Book of Disquiet
by Fernando Pessoa
“My soul is a hidden orchestra; I know not what instruments, what fiddlestrings and harps, drums and tambours I sound and clash inside myself. All I hear is the symphony.”
There should be more books like The Book of Disquiet: texts that contemplate existence, writing, and labor, all in meandering prose that does not so much adhere to a plot as trace the inner intellectual obsessions of the narrator. Written as a diary, this book drips with the sincerity of someone who genuinely does not know how to cope with the limits on their own knowledge of themselves and the world around them, who is frustrated that they cannot escape their subjective experience and see the world objectively.
While I believe this book was a little bit too long and got repetitive at some points, I think that this book exemplifies why it is important to read in the first place: to challenge yourself intellectually and contemplate issues that ordinary life encourages you to ignore. Literature can protect you from complacency.
There should be more books like The Book of Disquiet: texts that contemplate existence, writing, and labor, all in meandering prose that does not so much adhere to a plot as trace the inner intellectual obsessions of the narrator. Written as a diary, this book drips with the sincerity of someone who genuinely does not know how to cope with the limits on their own knowledge of themselves and the world around them, who is frustrated that they cannot escape their subjective experience and see the world objectively.
While I believe this book was a little bit too long and got repetitive at some points, I think that this book exemplifies why it is important to read in the first place: to challenge yourself intellectually and contemplate issues that ordinary life encourages you to ignore. Literature can protect you from complacency.