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kmecholsky 's review for:
Tristram Shandy
by Howard Peter Anderson, Laurence Sterne
This is a ridculously amazing book. But it's probably an acquired taste. Sterne has a very erudite style so it can be off-putting if you're not into that eighteenth-century/Restoration/British verbosity. But if you are....
Sterne's book is considered by many to be the first "modern" novel (by Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and others) for its creative structuring of time and narrative, and the self-consciously narrative style of Tristram Shandy. He moves easily from talking about his birth, to talking of his conception, to relating stories of his mother's midwife's husband's horse - and it all somehow seems to relate. It's a long work, but it's perfect for reading over a long period of time. The fragmentary nature of the writing makes it perfect for reading in spurts. Despite the fact that it took me a long time to read it (school gets in the way), it's a fast read. I just never gave enough time to read it, but when I would, I would read furiously. The short chapters help in how quickly you get through it.
This is in my list of greatest books ever, but I think the style might require some getting used to - similar to how it's difficult to appreciate all Bob Dylan at first.
Sterne's book is considered by many to be the first "modern" novel (by Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and others) for its creative structuring of time and narrative, and the self-consciously narrative style of Tristram Shandy. He moves easily from talking about his birth, to talking of his conception, to relating stories of his mother's midwife's husband's horse - and it all somehow seems to relate. It's a long work, but it's perfect for reading over a long period of time. The fragmentary nature of the writing makes it perfect for reading in spurts. Despite the fact that it took me a long time to read it (school gets in the way), it's a fast read. I just never gave enough time to read it, but when I would, I would read furiously. The short chapters help in how quickly you get through it.
This is in my list of greatest books ever, but I think the style might require some getting used to - similar to how it's difficult to appreciate all Bob Dylan at first.