I can't stand this novel.
Before you all jump down my throat, allow me to explain my reasoning behind it.
Let's begin with the basic structure of the book. While it moved along (albeit sluggishly) at an okay pace, the writing was absolutely atrocious. His sentences were long run-ons punctuated by commas in the wrong places and incomplete sentences. While run-ons and incomplete sentences are good in moderation (in the correct places, they add flavor to one's writing), all it did in this case was start and stop the book like a funky car clunking along on the wrong kind of fuel. Maybe part of the point was to make the narrative seem like a stream of consciousness. These are as difficult to understand as a language you only know a few words in: a writer's conscious stream is completely his/her own. Unless there's context, there is no way to understand it. And no, it wasn't even saved in the end by the explanation that Tyler and the narrator were halves of the same person. Even towards the end, it seemed like the author had dropped a bomb in the middle of his words, leaving them scattered in chaos.
Speaking of chaos, what is up with the message of the book? Is there even a message? I hate feeling so judgemental, but come on: the message I got out of the whole thing was that life is pointless unless you chase death. Through chaos comes clarity. Through sin comes salvation.
Uh, can you say depressing? How counterproductive is it to self-destruct in the hopes that your life will make more sense? How is it that ruining your life - or ruining the life of others - makes it that much more precious and meaningful? The world is not meant to be seen that way. People aren't meant to see the world that way. Such negative thoughts make the journey each of us must go on pointless in nature.
I agree with Gandhi on this one: Everything you do in your life will be meaningless. But it's very important that you do it.
So there.
Friday, April 2, 2010
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A fun rant! I look forward to the discussion of this book that will follow after break. Don't apologize for your opinions (especially when they seem so grounded in the text itself!).
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