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A review by scottiesandbooks
Lanark: A Life in Four Books by Alasdair Gray
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
“It is bad habits, not bad nature, which makes us repeat the dull shapes of poverty and war. Only greedy people, who profit by these things believe they are natural”
This was “like reading war and peace” more than reading war and peace was!
All novels are a piece of art. A piece of art is exactly how I would describe this novel. And art is subjective. Some people will fall in love with art and want to revisit it again and again, loved each and every time by what it portrays. Others will appreciate it for the art it is, be glad of the experience and move on. Each and every person who experiences art comes away with something different.
And I think that’s true of Lanark. At over 500 pages Lanark is a complicated, dystopianesque Scottish novel set in four “books”. Each reader will experience it differently, skimming over some parts that others felt in their soul, bits that they will think of and revisit a lot over their lives.
I am not an art critiquer. I find it hard to look below the surface to what the artist is really trying to tell us. I appreciate art yes but I don’t want to work hard for the meanings. Don’t get me wrong, if I had time to read some critical essays and then revisit Lanark I’m sure I would get much more out of it. But nobody got time for that! But, that doesn’t mean I didn’t get anything out of it.
I really loved the dragonscale of book one used to show how everyone has a passion that gets them through, keeping them alive. For some it’s music, literature, religion and others it’s human connection. We all need that something.
I enjoyed the look into religion and how religion has been used as a means of power. How the elite use this and media to push certain agendas and messages, making us believe that it was our own good idea.
I enjoyed the look into toxic masculinity and mysogyny which seemed to centre a lot in the book (intentional or not). Thaw being an incel though meant that I was unable to connect to those books as much as I might have liked, and his privileged wanky way of thinking really pissed me off at times ngl.
There is so much more for me to mull over and I’m sure it will take a long time and a lot of discussions for me to fully grasp it. It’s definitely a book only for the select few. And yet somehow I can’t wait to visit more of Grays work….
This was “like reading war and peace” more than reading war and peace was!
All novels are a piece of art. A piece of art is exactly how I would describe this novel. And art is subjective. Some people will fall in love with art and want to revisit it again and again, loved each and every time by what it portrays. Others will appreciate it for the art it is, be glad of the experience and move on. Each and every person who experiences art comes away with something different.
And I think that’s true of Lanark. At over 500 pages Lanark is a complicated, dystopianesque Scottish novel set in four “books”. Each reader will experience it differently, skimming over some parts that others felt in their soul, bits that they will think of and revisit a lot over their lives.
I am not an art critiquer. I find it hard to look below the surface to what the artist is really trying to tell us. I appreciate art yes but I don’t want to work hard for the meanings. Don’t get me wrong, if I had time to read some critical essays and then revisit Lanark I’m sure I would get much more out of it. But nobody got time for that! But, that doesn’t mean I didn’t get anything out of it.
I really loved the dragonscale of book one used to show how everyone has a passion that gets them through, keeping them alive. For some it’s music, literature, religion and others it’s human connection. We all need that something.
I enjoyed the look into religion and how religion has been used as a means of power. How the elite use this and media to push certain agendas and messages, making us believe that it was our own good idea.
I enjoyed the look into toxic masculinity and mysogyny which seemed to centre a lot in the book (intentional or not). Thaw being an incel though meant that I was unable to connect to those books as much as I might have liked, and his privileged wanky way of thinking really pissed me off at times ngl.
There is so much more for me to mull over and I’m sure it will take a long time and a lot of discussions for me to fully grasp it. It’s definitely a book only for the select few. And yet somehow I can’t wait to visit more of Grays work….