Book Review
Rating 6 out of 10
I have read a part of The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir. The version I am reading is in 3 parts, and I read the first part which has the subtitle: Anne. The Mandarins is a roman-à-clef which describes the intellectual left-wing millieu in post WW2 Paris. The central character of the account is "Henri" which is considered to be Albert Camus. It's interesting to see the left-wing movement at this place and time. All the people in the millieu continously suffer bad conscience because many of their political friends died in the resistance and in concentration camps inflicted by the Nazis and Fascists during WW2, so they feel somehow guilty about still being alive. Henri is the editor of a small newspaper L'espoir (The Hope), but it's difficult for him to stay independent, he needs money for the newspaper to survive. They are several parties who are willing to support him, like the communists or SRL (a liberal, non-Communist political group), but they all want to suppress the independance of L'espoir. Also American agents contact Henri offering him support, but on the condition that he must not write critical about the Portuguese dictator Salazar, because the Americans are negotiating army bases on the Azores with Portugal. Henri is a person asking questions and as he says himself in the novel: That if you continue asking questions the meaningnessless of life eventually stares you in the head. So the great void is lurking all the time in Henri's life. The book somewhat describes a male chauvinsistic millieau. The womans in the book mostly play the role of lovers to often infidel men. Often a young womans insight into the political intellectual affairs of the men goes through the bed. One gets a sense of a young Simone de Beauvoir sitting on the lap of these older intellectual men taking notes for her novel. It's quite interesting to witness the intellectual left-wing at this place and time. The people are quite earnest about their political aims, they see it as a struggle for life and death about the future of the world. The men also feel insulted in their France national pride. During WW2 they had envisioned themselves in a postwar world forming the new world, but then they come to learn that France is just a little part of Europe having little to say to the greater powers of the world like USA and USSR. It's intesting to see the development of movements in history. The socialism somewhat started with philosophers like Marx in the mid 19th century. In the mid 20th century people are still very earnest about their cause. And then you look at left-wing today in Europe, which is a middle-class phenomena, using some of the same phraseology but actually only feeling contempt towards the lower classes of society.
Friday, January 22, 2010
The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
Book Review
Rating 7 out of 10
This is a great book. It tells the story about the bi-sexual Karim who is the son of an immigrant Indian man and British mother in the UK. That being said Hanif Kureishi is not a new Kafka, Proust, Joyce or Blixen. The genre of the book must be described as daring mainstream. But I dare say this is as good as mainstream can get. Like the clever dicks have said about Shakespeare: There is something for both the peasant and the king. The book describes life in the 70's and 80's London. Seen from the perspective of a guy with immigrant background but at the same time deeply involved with the current trends in art, theatre, music and litterature. There is some unforgettable moments where Hanif describes his meetings with drugs, sex and the new trends in culture. Especially the arival of punk with the Sex Pistols in the late 70's scene with love and peace/political left wing culture, Hanif describes staggering. It's great with this precise account of British culture, yet having this ethnic twist. The one drawback of the book is perhaps that it draws a too rosery image of the moslem immigants in Europe. There is no mention of moslem violence and crime in the book, the moslems are described as victims of white British racism, skinheads and neo-fasiscm. Also the rising islamism, which I guess was already going on in the 70's and 80's is not mentioned at all. In the book an islamic man is forcing his daughter to marry an unkown Indian man who arrives straight from Bombay, this is treated in a very light hearted fashion, like all is well. Honour killings of women in many Europe countries commited by islamic men has later shown that all is not well. Also the percentage of violent crime commited by people with moslem background in Europe today is far higher, in proportion, than violent crime commited by people of native European origin. So the discription of the immigrant with moslem background in the book seems somewhat biased. Well properly the situation was different in the 60's, 70's when the writer grew up. Otherwise it's a really great book. I dare say a modern classic. I was impressed.
Rating 7 out of 10
This is a great book. It tells the story about the bi-sexual Karim who is the son of an immigrant Indian man and British mother in the UK. That being said Hanif Kureishi is not a new Kafka, Proust, Joyce or Blixen. The genre of the book must be described as daring mainstream. But I dare say this is as good as mainstream can get. Like the clever dicks have said about Shakespeare: There is something for both the peasant and the king. The book describes life in the 70's and 80's London. Seen from the perspective of a guy with immigrant background but at the same time deeply involved with the current trends in art, theatre, music and litterature. There is some unforgettable moments where Hanif describes his meetings with drugs, sex and the new trends in culture. Especially the arival of punk with the Sex Pistols in the late 70's scene with love and peace/political left wing culture, Hanif describes staggering. It's great with this precise account of British culture, yet having this ethnic twist. The one drawback of the book is perhaps that it draws a too rosery image of the moslem immigants in Europe. There is no mention of moslem violence and crime in the book, the moslems are described as victims of white British racism, skinheads and neo-fasiscm. Also the rising islamism, which I guess was already going on in the 70's and 80's is not mentioned at all. In the book an islamic man is forcing his daughter to marry an unkown Indian man who arrives straight from Bombay, this is treated in a very light hearted fashion, like all is well. Honour killings of women in many Europe countries commited by islamic men has later shown that all is not well. Also the percentage of violent crime commited by people with moslem background in Europe today is far higher, in proportion, than violent crime commited by people of native European origin. So the discription of the immigrant with moslem background in the book seems somewhat biased. Well properly the situation was different in the 60's, 70's when the writer grew up. Otherwise it's a really great book. I dare say a modern classic. I was impressed.
That Yew Tree's Shade by Cyril Hare
Book Review
Rating 2 out of 10
Well I finnished "That Yew Tree's Shade" by Cyril Hare (US title: Death Walks the Woods) Apparently this author is one of the classics in the crime/mystery genre. The novel is centered about the investigator Francis Pettigrew. Well I must admit that I was not too caught by this book. To me it's greatest charm was the naïvity and innoscence of it's setting in rural England in the first part of the 20th. century. Things we would normally expect from a crime/mystery book like suspence, thrill, fear, I didn't encounter much of in this book. Honestly the invesitigator Francis Pettigrew seemed a little stupid and laid back to me, certainly no Sherlock Holmes! Also the plot of the murderer was in no way impressive! It's interesting where in the lifecycle of a genre the classics become born. Well this is one of the founders of the English crime novel, but it seemed quite dull to me.
Rating 2 out of 10
Well I finnished "That Yew Tree's Shade" by Cyril Hare (US title: Death Walks the Woods) Apparently this author is one of the classics in the crime/mystery genre. The novel is centered about the investigator Francis Pettigrew. Well I must admit that I was not too caught by this book. To me it's greatest charm was the naïvity and innoscence of it's setting in rural England in the first part of the 20th. century. Things we would normally expect from a crime/mystery book like suspence, thrill, fear, I didn't encounter much of in this book. Honestly the invesitigator Francis Pettigrew seemed a little stupid and laid back to me, certainly no Sherlock Holmes! Also the plot of the murderer was in no way impressive! It's interesting where in the lifecycle of a genre the classics become born. Well this is one of the founders of the English crime novel, but it seemed quite dull to me.
Herzog by Saul Bellow
Book Review
Rating 7 out of 10
So I finnished "Herzog" by Saul Bellow. It was good. It's a strange book about a guy Herzog who is maybe mad, maybe wise, all the time you think he is going to collapse. Herzog is a very clever, perceptive guy, a university professor who has written a book about the Romantics and Christianity. "Herzog" describes among other things Herzog's thought processes, often Nietzsche is mentioned. The meaninglessness of the world is all the time threatening to make his world collapse all together. I came to think about the chapter in the bible:
"Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." (The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Ecclesiastes 1:1 ) Also the book reminded me about Nietzsches collapse, reading the book is perhaps a little bit like being inside Nietzsches head when he was growing mad. The book is also about an American who seems still very attached to his Jewish identity, a bit puzzling for me. Because I think he was born in America, so I should think his identification as an American would have been stronger. Another reference comming to mind concerning this book is good old Franz Kafka, although not stylistically, but something about the authors alianation from his surroundings made me think of Kafka. I guess you could say that this book is a modern classic in American litterature?
Rating 7 out of 10
So I finnished "Herzog" by Saul Bellow. It was good. It's a strange book about a guy Herzog who is maybe mad, maybe wise, all the time you think he is going to collapse. Herzog is a very clever, perceptive guy, a university professor who has written a book about the Romantics and Christianity. "Herzog" describes among other things Herzog's thought processes, often Nietzsche is mentioned. The meaninglessness of the world is all the time threatening to make his world collapse all together. I came to think about the chapter in the bible:
"Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." (The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Ecclesiastes 1:1 ) Also the book reminded me about Nietzsches collapse, reading the book is perhaps a little bit like being inside Nietzsches head when he was growing mad. The book is also about an American who seems still very attached to his Jewish identity, a bit puzzling for me. Because I think he was born in America, so I should think his identification as an American would have been stronger. Another reference comming to mind concerning this book is good old Franz Kafka, although not stylistically, but something about the authors alianation from his surroundings made me think of Kafka. I guess you could say that this book is a modern classic in American litterature?
Another World by Pat Barker
Book review
Rating 2 out of 10
This is a funny book, not that it is funny though! But reading it I was wondering - What kind of book is this? There is a ghost in it, so I thought maybe it is ghost story? But not really. Then there is also a story about a boy, Gareth, who is jealous upon the smaller boy in the family, Jasper, which is the shared child of his mothers new husband, Gareth's own father has broken the connection. So Gareth feels left out of the family and exerts pretty serious violent actions upon Jasper, so I thought then is then a psycho drama? But not really either. Then there is an old 1WW veteran who are dying Geordie. The book takes place in the 1990. What strikes me about the book is that the author is not afraid of decribing some of the tabuised areas of physical life. Things like the gentials, shit and she even describes an intercourse with a highly pregnant woman. What disappointed me though was the authors decription of a socially troubled neighborhood, where the youth put things on fire and then throw stones of the fire squad and the police when the arive. Everybody knows that such a situation in the 1990's Europe means angry young people of immigrant origin from Africa or moslem countries, but the author mentions nothing about this in the book, which is so weak and political correct! This book is an sort of ok read, but I am afraid it will be utterly forgotten in 200 years time!!!!
Rating 2 out of 10
This is a funny book, not that it is funny though! But reading it I was wondering - What kind of book is this? There is a ghost in it, so I thought maybe it is ghost story? But not really. Then there is also a story about a boy, Gareth, who is jealous upon the smaller boy in the family, Jasper, which is the shared child of his mothers new husband, Gareth's own father has broken the connection. So Gareth feels left out of the family and exerts pretty serious violent actions upon Jasper, so I thought then is then a psycho drama? But not really either. Then there is an old 1WW veteran who are dying Geordie. The book takes place in the 1990. What strikes me about the book is that the author is not afraid of decribing some of the tabuised areas of physical life. Things like the gentials, shit and she even describes an intercourse with a highly pregnant woman. What disappointed me though was the authors decription of a socially troubled neighborhood, where the youth put things on fire and then throw stones of the fire squad and the police when the arive. Everybody knows that such a situation in the 1990's Europe means angry young people of immigrant origin from Africa or moslem countries, but the author mentions nothing about this in the book, which is so weak and political correct! This book is an sort of ok read, but I am afraid it will be utterly forgotten in 200 years time!!!!
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