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A review by sportesan
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
3.0
I read this at the recommendation of a friend, and have mixed feelings about it.
Quinn is incredibly pretentious and clearly thinks highly of himself. His forward was so self-absorbed that it almost put me off the book entirely (good thing I knew it won a record-setting $500,000 prize…), and the afterward left a sour taste in my mouth after an otherwise fine book. I was so put off by his insufferable self-aggrandizement that I have no desire to read The Story of B or anything else by him.
Fortunately, the book was a bit better. Through Socratic dialogue with a gorilla named Ishmael, the narrator comes to embrace a view of humanity as bifurcated between of Takers (civilized) and Leavers (primitive). Inherent in this is not-even-thinly-veiled commentary on the destructiveness of Takers as they unrelentingly expand their population through agriculture are some strands of environmentalism and lamentations for the foregone indigenous cultures. There’s also some simplified explanations of Adam & Eve (the temptation to have all power) and Cain & Abel (written from the perspective of the Leavers) that I don’t have the theological underpinning to have strong opinions on, but found interesting.
It goes without saying that this entire narrative structure is incredibly didactic. There isn’t much plot development, and the few attempts at characterization fall fairly flat. I was still saddened at the ending, and it provided a small bit of surprise in an otherwise pedestrian “plot” (if you can call a Socratic dialogue that).
I particularly enjoyed the critical discussion of mythology (Mother Culture) and the dismantling of ingrained cultural narratives.
I generally jive with the main themes of this book (environmentalism, being content with having enough, antinatalism as it relates to overpopulation, critiquing society, viewing humans as a part of the greater world as opposed to out of balance with nature, appreciating evolution). While it was thought-provoking and eloquently articulated some of my feelings, I also couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a bit too simplistic and pseudo-intellectual; while it was easy to accept the narrative at face value, I doubt it would hold up to deeper analysis and reflection. The book felt good as I was reading it, but ultimately proved to be saccharine without any real teeth.
Quinn clearly thinks highly of himself, so I don’t know why he feels the need to hide behind a telepathic gorilla; lacking any citations or substantiation, I can’t help but think that he is deliberately avoiding any critique of his simplifications and over generalizations.
I’m giving this three stars, because I hated parts of it (Quinn’s pretentiousness, the poorly developed plot), enjoyed parts of it (an easily-digestible thought exercise in philosophy), and am not sure how to feel about some of it (heavy-handed didacticness and pseudointellectual musings on topics that I generally agree with). There is a lot to consider, and this book achieves its goal of being thought-provoking, even if it isn’t the best writing.
Quinn is incredibly pretentious and clearly thinks highly of himself. His forward was so self-absorbed that it almost put me off the book entirely (good thing I knew it won a record-setting $500,000 prize…), and the afterward left a sour taste in my mouth after an otherwise fine book. I was so put off by his insufferable self-aggrandizement that I have no desire to read The Story of B or anything else by him.
Fortunately, the book was a bit better. Through Socratic dialogue with a gorilla named Ishmael, the narrator comes to embrace a view of humanity as bifurcated between of Takers (civilized) and Leavers (primitive). Inherent in this is not-even-thinly-veiled commentary on the destructiveness of Takers as they unrelentingly expand their population through agriculture are some strands of environmentalism and lamentations for the foregone indigenous cultures. There’s also some simplified explanations of Adam & Eve (the temptation to have all power) and Cain & Abel (written from the perspective of the Leavers) that I don’t have the theological underpinning to have strong opinions on, but found interesting.
It goes without saying that this entire narrative structure is incredibly didactic. There isn’t much plot development, and the few attempts at characterization fall fairly flat. I was still saddened at the ending, and it provided a small bit of surprise in an otherwise pedestrian “plot” (if you can call a Socratic dialogue that).
I particularly enjoyed the critical discussion of mythology (Mother Culture) and the dismantling of ingrained cultural narratives.
I generally jive with the main themes of this book (environmentalism, being content with having enough, antinatalism as it relates to overpopulation, critiquing society, viewing humans as a part of the greater world as opposed to out of balance with nature, appreciating evolution). While it was thought-provoking and eloquently articulated some of my feelings, I also couldn’t shake the feeling that it was a bit too simplistic and pseudo-intellectual; while it was easy to accept the narrative at face value, I doubt it would hold up to deeper analysis and reflection. The book felt good as I was reading it, but ultimately proved to be saccharine without any real teeth.
Quinn clearly thinks highly of himself, so I don’t know why he feels the need to hide behind a telepathic gorilla; lacking any citations or substantiation, I can’t help but think that he is deliberately avoiding any critique of his simplifications and over generalizations.
I’m giving this three stars, because I hated parts of it (Quinn’s pretentiousness, the poorly developed plot), enjoyed parts of it (an easily-digestible thought exercise in philosophy), and am not sure how to feel about some of it (heavy-handed didacticness and pseudointellectual musings on topics that I generally agree with). There is a lot to consider, and this book achieves its goal of being thought-provoking, even if it isn’t the best writing.