Goose the Blog 2.0

"Oh, ha! Sarcasm: The last refuge of sons of bitches!"

revenge of the 30 second book reviews

by John at 6/01/2006 08:08:00 PM

Here it is June already, and I have barely read a page in all of May. I am currently mired in the muck of Walden Pond. Was Thoreau really such a curmudgeonly misanthrope at the ripe old age of thirty? Walden has the approximate tone of a cynical, world-weary college senior who has done- and seen-it-all. Undoubtedly Thoreau was a genius, and I just don't understand him yet. Hopefully, I will be able to wade back to shore soon, and I'll let you know what I really think about the book when I'm back on dry ground. (How's that for an extended metaphor?) Until then, however, I'll review the four books I managed to finish before I forget all about them.

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Feersum Endjinn - Iain M. Banks
Is it a Culture novel? It might be, but it takes place on Earth eons in the future, where humans inhabit nanoengineered megastructures created by their ancient forbears and live in a world of technology they no longer understand. Powerful factions on Earth are feuding over a tool that may or may not save humanity from The Encroachment, a cloud of interstellar dust that promises to cause the ultimate destruction of the planet. It's a wonderful story. I really enjoyed the character of Bascule, a young man with an unusual brain who is capable of writing only in phonetic English (hence the title). This takes some getting used to, but by the end you'll be steaming along without any problems.

Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka (1912)
Gregor, a traveling salesman who has been supporting his family since his father failed in business, wakes up one morning and discovers he has turned into a giant bug! In lieu of a review, I will just link to this Franz Kafka Rock Opera from the "Director's Cut" episode of Home Movies. Actually, that has very little to do with the actual story. Anyway, Gregor horrifies his family and himself, but eventually gets more or less used to being a bug, even though his life is depressing and lonely. The ending of the novel seems prophetic once you also know a little bit about the end of Kafka's life. A classic, and short so you should give it a shot.

The Trial - Franz Kafka (1925)
Everyone is probably familiar with the concept of The Trial: A man ("K."), much to his surprise, is "arrested" one morning before breakfast and informed that he will be tried for certain unstated crimes in a secret court with secret laws. He is allowed no official legal representation, and (as far as anyone can say) everyone who is tried is found guilty. Naturally, this mysterious trial becomes his obsession and his work and social life suffer. K. seems to unwittingly make his situation worse at every step. As a reader, it is a little hard to feel sorry for K. - he is not a very sympathetic character - but then again he is thrust into a difficult situation not of his making. I'm going to go out on a limb here, and use my literary analysis skills. This is not a story about the liberal and humanist failings of secretive authoritarian governments. Rather, the trial itself is a metaphor for life, in which we are all being judged for failings we are not aware of using rules we cannot comprehend. We are all going to be found guilty, and eventually we all face punishment. Deep. This story is a little difficult to read because, I think, it was never really finished. It has an ending, but it just doesn't seem polished. You should read it, however, just so that when you refer to the Bush administration's policy of indefinite detention of enemy combatants, secret laws, secret courts, and secret trials, you can call them Kafkaesque without pretension (as previously noted).

A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick
Fred is an undercover narcotics cop. He is so deep undercover that even his superiors don't know who he really is, and they have him surveilling his alter ego, superdrug Substance D user and abuser, Bob Arctor. The drugs invariably cause brain damage after too much use, and give Fred/Bob a split personality. Pretty soon it's not clear who is who or who is doing what to whom. It's another interesting set up by Dick, although there aren't as many layers to this reality as in some of his other stories. It never was my scene, but supposedly this novel captures many of the textures of an addict's life exceedingly well. This summer Keanu Reeves is starring in the film version of this story, rotoscopicly animated by Richard Linklater, so maybe you should read it now.
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