/lit/ - Literature

>>16260604

Yeah read that in English

Goethe is a meme, there I said it

fuck you

>>16260624
>A world Depression coming
>Cold War trust fund kiddies are scared of freedom
>Save us uncle Adolph

>>16260604
I actually understand why people like this book. It shows how friends fade and people grow apart, but my fucking god is it dull. Some sections are fantastic, the best part of the whole book is the part with the Roman lawyer who keeps throwing latin phrases into his speech. Everything else is just pedestrian banal wankery: "I studied Political Science at X University. I walked down Calle Y and Calle Z turning onto Calle Q. I had coffee in a cafe and then wrote poems." Too many characters are like this. It would be fine if one character was this bland and pedestrian, but MOST of them are; the result is that the book is essentially so much sawdust that packs around the few outstanding bits. Strong 5 out of ten.

>>16260640
He's a good meme though

I couldn't stand To Kill A Mockingbird in school. That's partly because I hated everything I was told to read, but I just hated everything about this book. I hated that the protagonist was a young girl, I hated that it took place in the south, I hated Atticus Finch and his pompous demeanor of moral superiority. I hated that it was about a black guy falsely accused of raping a white woman. I HATED the boring descriptions of 1950s suburban life, absolutely dead dull back yards, white picket fences, cut grass the only defining feature. I hated it.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

>>16260798
is there a more braindead boomer book?

>>16260968
I hated every pretentious age.

>>16261018
page*

>>16260756
>"I studied Political Science at X University. I walked down Calle Y and Calle Z turning onto Calle Q. I had coffee in a cafe and then wrote poems."

It's kind of interesting if you live in México City

>>16261305
I don't. I've never been. So it's not interesting. Throw in a little bit of visual description for god's sake

>>16260604

The Bell Jar

>>16261412
It used to be funny as shit, but now that we need every joke explained it's not as funny anymore.

>>16261494
Don’t care didn’t ask plus Quixote is a repetitive mess

>>16260604

>>16260705
this but unironically

>>16260756
>I studied Political Science at X University etc
when you reach your 30's you'll realize this is a brutally accurate depiction of how the middle think of and talk about themselves

>>16261553
lmao

>>16260604
legitimately a piece of shit

Pic related. Dull, subpar, unimaginative, uninspired, bland, milquetoast, colorless, indefatigably dreamless, a bore, a snoozer, stupefyingly soporific, a tranquilizer of the intellect, grotesquely American and rustic, second-rate.

>>16260604
Based. Savage Detectives is 75% shit and 2666 is the only good novel Bolano ever wrote.

>>16260640
Goethe is the last author you may call a meme.

I hated Moby Dick, won't finish that shit in this life, definetly

>>16260756
It made me laugh. I think people go in expecting it to be 2666, when it's a sort of anecdote based anti-novel. The conceit of following mysteries that never get resolved also worked for me.

>>16261513
Ali Smith is irredeemable.

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster.
What a hack.

>>16262017
second time I read this opinion here
Youg guys are gonna make me drop it before I start it

Catch 22 is absolute garbage

>>16262098
oh, I recently made a post about it, maybe it was me. I'm genuinely upset.
Anyway, it's an easy read and not that long. But if you've already read meta-fiction is a waste of time. Nothing relevant really. Some parts are almost enjoyable, but that's about it.

>>16262106
Why? I'm planning on reading it soon.

>>16262164
gotcha. thx

>>16261501
>Don’t care didn’t ask
stale

>>16260756
>the best part of the whole book is the part with the Roman lawyer who keeps throwing latin phrases into his speech
I consider the best part to be the one with the war reporter near the end of the book, but the part with the guy who throws latin phrases into his speech is one of the best
The book is a big mixed bag, some stories were really boring and some were top tier

>>16261412
1st part was good, 2nd was shit

>>16262098
I disagree with that guy I think its bretty gud. Its short enough that you can give it a go without too much waste of time in case you hate it

>>16261643
This. Holy fuck it's actual torture to read, and not because it's "disturbing." I get the feeling that Gass largely made up the book as he went along, and by that I mean it feels like he's flying by the seat of his pants a little and not following any plan, hence all the vagueness and roundaboutness, hence him trying to constantly distract the reader from the fact that not even he knows what he's talking about. The writing is so tedious as well. Does every fucking sentence have to be alliterated so heavily? It's annoying as shit and makes the writing worse.

>>16260604
savage detectives is my favorite book, but I thought hopscotch was garbage. and bolano said it was a huge inspiration. also hated tropic of cancer

>>16263295
and all of it to tell us fascists have small dicks

>>16263880
>Savage Detectives is my favorite book
>I thought Hopscotch was garbage
Hello are we in opposite-land? TSD has little to offer even the most patient reader beyond, as I said, sawdust. Hopscotch is the single best novel I've ever read, and I say that with confidence. Cortazar wrote a book so good with characters so real; he wrote such an intelligent and spiritual book that dives deeper into humanity and thought than any other book I've ever read, but no, let's praise Bolano because he wrote about a faggot sucking cocks and writing poetry, indistinguishable from every other character in his book. I disagree with you so hard I'm actually angry. Fuck you. As for Tropic of Cancer, I haven't read it.

>>16264466
yeah i figured it wouldn't be a popular opinion in this thread. maybe i need to revisit hopscotch and read it in the alternate order. just don't remember enjoying anything besides the scene with the bridge between buildings and when the baby dies. savage detectives, meanwhile, is full of memorable and bizarre little stories. yes, all the characters are pretty much the same, but they mostly come from the same pretentious little literary subculture. and i find their bohemian lives romantic even when they live in squalor. as for the cocks, who gives a fuck

>>16262106
Agree.
The author is such a whiny brainlet asshole.

>>16260640
Goethe is God, but that book is just mediocre

I'm baffled at what people see in pic related. It's pretty much Kerouac without decent prose

>borning chapters about how dull working is
>gets drunk
>bangs women
>repeat

Was basically the rambling diary cope of a Roman conservative boomer. Completely dry and lifeless mindset, no different from ads like this
https://youtu.be/xNzXze5Yza8

>>16265638

>>16262890
Like your four hundred year old sitcom

>>16260604
hey... i actually have a painting of the picture on that cover

>>16265647
Nah, I liked this one. A textbook example of an unpretentious book.

>>16260604
savage detectives is absolutely beautiful. perhaps try again after you've lived some.

>>16260604
The Mill on the Floss can swallow my entire genital region.

all the works of all philosophers.

>>16261513
love this book

The book wants me to find this autist to be funny and charming but it just made me want to cure his autism with a gun.

>>16270507
Same here.

it tries too hard to hide that it's just lefty plateaus with a thin layer of irony

What a piece of worthless shite this book was. Kerouac clearly wrote this fucked off his tits.

>>16261646
Cringe. All you did was describe Stoner's life.

>>16262164
Catch-22 is good, don't listen to them fren

Already made a thread stating I hate this fucking book, but might as well reiterate.

>>16271709
quick rundown?

>>16271895
It just has the most frustrating "war bad lmao" message possible. The Mary Sue protagonist is also annoying.

It taught me to never take book recommendations seriously ever again.

>>16261646
That's why it's a good piece.

>>16261656
Distant Star is also good.

>>16271980
War is bad, though. Especially if it was started by a lie like the Iraq War or the Vietnam War.

>>16261646
Ephemeral, puffed-up, means absolutely nothing to me.

>>16273086
The book doesn't state that. The author is clearly some retarded neoliberal fag.

The story is about the post-apocalyptic landscape after a nuclear war and some of the story revolves around some armies that spawned and are fighting for resources. The book ends with one army completely disarming itself and everyone throwing their guns away because KillingIsBad™.

>>16260604
This book should be read when young like 17-22. And then again when you're old like 45-55. Anything else might not work. It also helps if you're Mexican (same with 2666) so you understand the references.

It was a model for the UN.

>>16262474
Lol why the hate anon?

>>16265640
what do you propose as an alternative mindset?

>>16274457
niggerism