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clay1st's reviews
57 reviews
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
2.0
I am sure there is a story to be told about how modern society is dehumanizing...
However this book is not, at least on the surface, a poignant or thought provoking masterpiece of social commentary. Mostly, Gregor does bug stuff and the family react with mixed emotions.
The entire premise of this book remains unexplained. We are lead to believe that Gregor's body is now that of a beetle but that his mind remains (largely) unchanged.
One interesting facet of this is story is that Gregor seems unable to appreciate the fact that he is a beetle in many ways and much of what is written is of Gregor very gradually realizing more of his bug characteristics (despite obviously being a bug from page 1) and mostly embracing them.
The fact that Gregor's reaction to discovering his body is hideously transformed and no longer fully functional is to attempt go go to work anyway rather than freak out and try to communicate and seek help from his family feels like a commentary on something...
But rather than becoming more nuanced... this state of affairs persists through the entire book. Gregor never makes any serious attempt to communicate with his family who do not believe he can even understand them. He has human-like thoughts (though somewhat cartoon-ish and lacking crucial intelligent and reflective human elements) but somehow chooses to exhibit no human behaviors and what ensues is a sort of comedy-of-errors where he attempts to behave in a human way but instead behaves exactly like a bug...
Maybe what Kafka is saying is that it is futile try to think and feel like a human if you live like a mindless animal (or are transformed into an insect, as in Gregor's case). So in order to experience our most virtuous or human characteristics we must change the way we live? maybe?
However this book is not, at least on the surface, a poignant or thought provoking masterpiece of social commentary. Mostly, Gregor does bug stuff and the family react with mixed emotions.
The entire premise of this book remains unexplained. We are lead to believe that Gregor's body is now that of a beetle but that his mind remains (largely) unchanged.
One interesting facet of this is story is that Gregor seems unable to appreciate the fact that he is a beetle in many ways and much of what is written is of Gregor very gradually realizing more of his bug characteristics (despite obviously being a bug from page 1) and mostly embracing them.
The fact that Gregor's reaction to discovering his body is hideously transformed and no longer fully functional is to attempt go go to work anyway rather than freak out and try to communicate and seek help from his family feels like a commentary on something...
But rather than becoming more nuanced... this state of affairs persists through the entire book. Gregor never makes any serious attempt to communicate with his family who do not believe he can even understand them. He has human-like thoughts (though somewhat cartoon-ish and lacking crucial intelligent and reflective human elements) but somehow chooses to exhibit no human behaviors and what ensues is a sort of comedy-of-errors where he attempts to behave in a human way but instead behaves exactly like a bug...
Maybe what Kafka is saying is that it is futile try to think and feel like a human if you live like a mindless animal (or are transformed into an insect, as in Gregor's case). So in order to experience our most virtuous or human characteristics we must change the way we live? maybe?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2.0
Something to bear in mind before starting this book is that the narrative almost entirely follows the children in the story. These children are very young (6 and 10 at the start, 9 and 13 by the end) and their behavior and motives feel quite age appropriate, i.e very childish. I was hoping that the narrative would shift towards the adults in the story at some point but it doesn't.
I found reading this quite unenjoyable, it simply felt too childish and the plot doesn't make up for it. I can see how this story would resonate deeply with American and Christian values, Atticus (the father) is somewhat reminiscent of Christ. I might recommend this book to teenagers who want to read something culturally significant but not adults.
I found reading this quite unenjoyable, it simply felt too childish and the plot doesn't make up for it. I can see how this story would resonate deeply with American and Christian values, Atticus (the father) is somewhat reminiscent of Christ. I might recommend this book to teenagers who want to read something culturally significant but not adults.
Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story by Ann Shulgin, Alexander Shulgin
3.0
The first half, written by Shulgin himself I would rate 4 stars.
It's a biography of his life as a chemist, it's interesting and entertaining and definitely worth a read if you're interested in psychopharmacology.
The second half, written by Ann Shulgin I would rate 2 stars or possibly 1 star.
It's a painstaking account of her romantic conquest to woo Shulgin mixed with some accounts of psychedelic experiences. It's totally cringe. I was hoping it would move on from the romance and onto some more adventurous plotting related to Shulgin's renegade-chemist professional work. Instead the painstaking accounts of their unhappy love-triangle go on and on and the psychedelic experience accounts contain nothing profound, other than generic descriptions of the personal profundity of such experiences.
It's a biography of his life as a chemist, it's interesting and entertaining and definitely worth a read if you're interested in psychopharmacology.
The second half, written by Ann Shulgin I would rate 2 stars or possibly 1 star.
It's a painstaking account of her romantic conquest to woo Shulgin mixed with some accounts of psychedelic experiences. It's totally cringe. I was hoping it would move on from the romance and onto some more adventurous plotting related to Shulgin's renegade-chemist professional work. Instead the painstaking accounts of their unhappy love-triangle go on and on and the psychedelic experience accounts contain nothing profound, other than generic descriptions of the personal profundity of such experiences.
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
4.0
I find it hard to understand why I liked this book, but I did. I usually do not like this type of poetic prose with extensive musing on the nature and meaning of existence. The writing is beautiful but also concise, never wordy or over-labored, it felt skillful. I read this a few months ago and now remember nothing on which to comment specifically about the content, nonetheless it has left a pleasant feeling behind.
Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
2.0
Excruciatingly slow.
(disclaimer, I didn't finish - made it around 2/3 of the way through)
(disclaimer, I didn't finish - made it around 2/3 of the way through)
Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
4.0
I loved the first half of the book, particularly the gritty and emotionally charged family scenes between Mr & Ms Morel in their Nottinghamshire mining town home. Mr Morel's speech in dialect captivated me.
The middle portion of the book carries off the momentum of the first third. However, after the death of the elder son the book shifts towards focus on the middle son; his lukewarm romantic life and his relationship with his mother. It's poignant but also dreary. Perhaps poignant in its dreariness, but ultimately it made for an unenjoyable read in large parts. That's the only reason I don't give this book 5 stars, perhaps I ought to anyway but today I feel stingy.
The middle portion of the book carries off the momentum of the first third. However, after the death of the elder son the book shifts towards focus on the middle son; his lukewarm romantic life and his relationship with his mother. It's poignant but also dreary. Perhaps poignant in its dreariness, but ultimately it made for an unenjoyable read in large parts. That's the only reason I don't give this book 5 stars, perhaps I ought to anyway but today I feel stingy.
Lost At Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries by Jon Ronson
4.0
Each chapter is a short story, a retelling of a particular journalistic adventure or a recounting of some other real life experience. Only a couple of the chapters are a little dull (e.g. James bond story) most are entertaining, esoteric, odd-culture, folly and wit and a few fascinating and moving.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
1.0
I picked up this book due to the number of positive reviews written by adults suggesting it's wide (non-age-limited) appeal.
Everything about the writing in this book is childish and adolescent. Probably best read by teenagers due to some adult-ish themes.
The humor was so silly (think name-calling and slapstick) and really slowed things up. Everything about this book is very childish, I'm a fan of weirdness and fantasy but I found Gaiman's variety to be plain boring. It's very reminiscent of Terry Pratchet's writing, which I also do not think are good reads for adults, so if you really like that you might like this.
I gave up after the first half.
(edit: I have met adults who read this book as adults and loved it. I do not get along with them)
Everything about the writing in this book is childish and adolescent. Probably best read by teenagers due to some adult-ish themes.
The humor was so silly (think name-calling and slapstick) and really slowed things up. Everything about this book is very childish, I'm a fan of weirdness and fantasy but I found Gaiman's variety to be plain boring. It's very reminiscent of Terry Pratchet's writing, which I also do not think are good reads for adults, so if you really like that you might like this.
I gave up after the first half.
(edit: I have met adults who read this book as adults and loved it. I do not get along with them)
Man and His Symbols by C.G. Jung
3.0
This book, written jointly by Jung and his colleagues summarizes some of his key ideas about the human psyche.
He makes an effort to delineate his theories from those of Freud, nonetheless the heritage of his ideas is very clear.
Jung theorizes that dreams contain wise and important messages from the subconscious in the form of symbols and metaphors, whose universal function is to provide guidance towards some sort of psychic equilibrium. This is analogous to Freud's theory that dreams contain unconscious desires. Jung (more so than Freud) fails to account for the obvious pitfall of this theory, that waking psychic pathologies are often replicated in sleep (i.e. anxious people have anxiety dreams). Perhaps he does this better in his original works on dream symbology... however it was not for lack of space in this book that this was missed as dreams were discussed extensively.
Another serious criticism of Jung's interpretation of dreams given as examples in this book is that they appear to be needlessly complex and sometimes excessively literal, which is ironic considering the centrality of symbology in his work. In some cases miss what appears to me to be the more obvious symbolic meaning of the dream.
A critical deconstruction of an example Jung's dream interpretation:
Jung dreams about finding a new room in his childhood home containing books with symbols and untold knowledge. he interprets to be a sign from his unconscious that a book he saw recently on Alchemy contains the secret to understanding the subconscious. My interpretation would be that this dream simply reflects Jung (and Freud's) theories that there /is/ a subconscious part of the mind (the new room) and that childhood experiences are important in shaping both the conscious and unconscious mind (the childhood home), Jung and Freud are both proponents of a revolutionary theory the significance of the subconscious in understanding of the human psyche and treatment of psychopathology, so it is natural that within this new room he discovers books containing untold knowledge.
Other times Jung's interpretation is needlessly complex. He extensively analyses the dream of a young girl who dreams about a demon killing all animals and them subsequently being brought back to life. This is clearly an amalgamation of Christian biblical tales including the story of Noah's arc and the resurrection of Christ. That's it.
Jung's idea of the so-called collective unconscious is interesting but poorly explained. From what I understand, Jung is proposing that symbols are readily added to human instinctual drives, which are transmitted (?genetically or spiritually) from generation to generation. The significance of this proposition is not really explained, other than it backing up his theory about symbology within dreams carries secret messages from the subconscious.
He makes an effort to delineate his theories from those of Freud, nonetheless the heritage of his ideas is very clear.
Jung theorizes that dreams contain wise and important messages from the subconscious in the form of symbols and metaphors, whose universal function is to provide guidance towards some sort of psychic equilibrium. This is analogous to Freud's theory that dreams contain unconscious desires. Jung (more so than Freud) fails to account for the obvious pitfall of this theory, that waking psychic pathologies are often replicated in sleep (i.e. anxious people have anxiety dreams). Perhaps he does this better in his original works on dream symbology... however it was not for lack of space in this book that this was missed as dreams were discussed extensively.
Another serious criticism of Jung's interpretation of dreams given as examples in this book is that they appear to be needlessly complex and sometimes excessively literal, which is ironic considering the centrality of symbology in his work. In some cases miss what appears to me to be the more obvious symbolic meaning of the dream.
A critical deconstruction of an example Jung's dream interpretation:
Jung dreams about finding a new room in his childhood home containing books with symbols and untold knowledge. he interprets to be a sign from his unconscious that a book he saw recently on Alchemy contains the secret to understanding the subconscious. My interpretation would be that this dream simply reflects Jung (and Freud's) theories that there /is/ a subconscious part of the mind (the new room) and that childhood experiences are important in shaping both the conscious and unconscious mind (the childhood home), Jung and Freud are both proponents of a revolutionary theory the significance of the subconscious in understanding of the human psyche and treatment of psychopathology, so it is natural that within this new room he discovers books containing untold knowledge.
Other times Jung's interpretation is needlessly complex. He extensively analyses the dream of a young girl who dreams about a demon killing all animals and them subsequently being brought back to life. This is clearly an amalgamation of Christian biblical tales including the story of Noah's arc and the resurrection of Christ. That's it.
Jung's idea of the so-called collective unconscious is interesting but poorly explained. From what I understand, Jung is proposing that symbols are readily added to human instinctual drives, which are transmitted (?genetically or spiritually) from generation to generation. The significance of this proposition is not really explained, other than it backing up his theory about symbology within dreams carries secret messages from the subconscious.