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bookepiphanies 's review for:
Pond
by Claire-Louise Bennett
Even though there were moments of brilliance that stopped me on my tracks and made reflect, too much of it were ponderings about dull subjects, which I could not care less about. Who cares about the fact that the guy who invented the fountain pen had a German name, but was actually American? Or the endless rambling about her oven? Or about cleaning the leaves outside her cottage? For such a short book, it is surprising that these were the thoughts she decided to include.
I love stream of consciousness, so that was not the issue for me. However, there are authors who do it imo way more competently (Lispector, Bachmann, Woolf, Quin, etc.. I’m looking at you!).
Now, the writting is excellent and very aesthetically pleasing, almost lyrical sometimes. In fact there is even some short poetry pieces interspersed. That said, some of the pointless dialogues included really annoyed me, since they mostly were made of almost monosyllabic phrases that added nothing of relevance.
Still, here are some beautiful passages scattered throughout:
“I only wish you could spend just five minutes beneath my skin and feel what it’s like. Feel the savage swarming magic I feel.”
“Everybody knows deep down that life is as much about the things that do not happen as the things that do and that's not something that ought to be glossed over or denied because without frustration there would hardly be any need to daydream. And daydreams return me to my original sense of things and I luxuriate in these fervid primary visions until I am entirely my unalloyed self again. So even though it sometimes feels as if one could just about die from disappointment I must concede that in fact in a rather perverse way it is precisely those things I did not get that are keeping me alive.”
“I haven't yet discovered what my first language is so for the time being I use English words in order to say things: I expect I will always have to do it that way; regrettably I don't think my first language can be written down at all.”
I love stream of consciousness, so that was not the issue for me. However, there are authors who do it imo way more competently (Lispector, Bachmann, Woolf, Quin, etc.. I’m looking at you!).
Now, the writting is excellent and very aesthetically pleasing, almost lyrical sometimes. In fact there is even some short poetry pieces interspersed. That said, some of the pointless dialogues included really annoyed me, since they mostly were made of almost monosyllabic phrases that added nothing of relevance.
Still, here are some beautiful passages scattered throughout:
“I only wish you could spend just five minutes beneath my skin and feel what it’s like. Feel the savage swarming magic I feel.”
“Everybody knows deep down that life is as much about the things that do not happen as the things that do and that's not something that ought to be glossed over or denied because without frustration there would hardly be any need to daydream. And daydreams return me to my original sense of things and I luxuriate in these fervid primary visions until I am entirely my unalloyed self again. So even though it sometimes feels as if one could just about die from disappointment I must concede that in fact in a rather perverse way it is precisely those things I did not get that are keeping me alive.”
“I haven't yet discovered what my first language is so for the time being I use English words in order to say things: I expect I will always have to do it that way; regrettably I don't think my first language can be written down at all.”