/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.3641961]

Go to Amazon and find one star reviews.

[Anonymous No.3641971]

American Southwest vs. Vietnam War

Part 1 of 2

How do you review a book that you didn't like when others far more intelligent than you consider it a literary masterpiece? "Blood Meridian" is one of two books that I've had to force myself to finish, the other being "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. While Cormac McCarthy is obviously a legitimate and gifted writer, his painstakingly extensive descriptions and use of run-on sentences (often 100 plus words long) become overbearing with repetition. The attempt to reconstruct (or invent) unfamiliar words and phrasing intended to be 'period correct' for the southwest 150 years ago constantly throws off the reader's rhythm, causing the reader to go back for rereads to verify the author's intent. The author's continued use of Spanish requires the unschooled reader to continually refer to a Spanish dictionary in order to follow conversations.

Many critics have described this work as a great horror story. It does tell of horrific events caused by evil men in an unforgiving environment. However it does so by repetitively slapping the reader in the face with these events, kind of like a modern splatterpunk novel. It doesn't take the reader long to accept the activities and environment as a 'new normal', thus lessening the psychological impact and the shock value. A horror story typically is a cohesive tale that follows a (sometimes) wandering path to its ultimate and impactful conclusion. True horror novels include "The Exorcist" and Jack Ketchum's "The Girl Next Door".

[Anonymous No.3641977]

American Southwest vs. Vietnam War

Part 2 of 2

Readers need to acknowledge that the atrocities and brutality of the old American southwest 150 years ago were no different than events that unfolded in Vietnam. Tom Berenger's character in Platoon could easily take the place of Judge Holden, and Charlie Sheen's character is similar to 'the kid'. Bad men will always sink to the same level and use their evil actions to justify their own sense of self worth. There will always be a king of these men who wallows around in the mud with them but still manages to emerge unscathed. And there will always be the relative innocent who will play in the mud but doesn't really want to get dirty.

Hopefully this review will give you a different perspective on "Blood Meridian". Take on this 'masterpiece' at your own risk. I sincerely hope that you enjoy it more than I did.

[Anonymous No.3641984]

>Tom Berenger's character in Platoon could easily take the place of Judge Holden, and Charlie Sheen's character is similar to 'the kid'.

[Anonymous No.3641999]

Wow. Sorry OP, now I'm too busy reading all of the one star reviews of Blood Meridian.

[Anonymous No.3642016]

I've never written a review here but I feel it's my civic duty to warn people off this book.

I picked this book up because I liked the movie "No Country for Old Men" and it was recommended for people who, as I do, like the game "Red Dead Redemption". But I feel cheated out of hours of my life after having slogged through this purple prose.

Perhaps some would be turned off by the graphic description of violence and gore, or the lack of a hero in the story. Quite the opposite for me, I was looking forward to that. What I wasn't expecting was the horrible diction. It seems like the author wrote this with a thesaurus in one hand. And for all the description of the bleaching bones and scenery it would have been nice to have a little character development, other than, "He looked like a giant baby." Michael Crichton does better character development.

And it's interesting how I think he used every adjective and noun for things gory, fecal and putrid, and went into elaborate detail, yet when it came to any sort of violence against women it was mentioned as an aside. Probably more a commentary on taboos in our society and what we will tolerate in our books.

The weird outlook of one of the characters is interesting, but the interesting bits in this could be distilled into a pamphlet. Half the novel is beating the reader to death with the red blood/sunset analogy - alright, we get it!

And it's a pain to read as the author has something against quotation marks so you are nauseated trying to figure out who said what. Maybe we are meant to be nauseated to add to the effect. ee cummings can play fast and loose with the punctuation, but this guy is no ee cummings.

It's a great idea for a movie, someone should take it and put in some character development and make a decent screenplay.

[Anonymous No.3642027]

did not finish this book. I gave it, like, 200 pages but man. This book makes me hate writers.

...

Right now, I'm finding this book virtually unreadable and it seems the author is trying way too hard to be relevant and hip.

...

feel like this book is the litmus test of hipsterism, sort of like Ulysses. Of the 3% of people who honestly DID complete the book, most will have convinced themselves of some sort of greater genius and meaning to stave off the regret of having spent several months of their life on something that could potentially be a big joke by the author. The characters/writing in the book all have a sort of neuroticism and tortuous addiction to whatever their vice, and so too the readers would require the same if they are ever to get past the first 100 pages.

[Anonymous No.3642031]

> infinite jest

did not finish this book. I gave it, like, 200 pages but man. This book makes me hate writers.

...

Right now, I'm finding this book virtually unreadable and it seems the author is trying way too hard to be relevant and hip.

...

feel like this book is the litmus test of hipsterism, sort of like Ulysses. Of the 3% of people who honestly DID complete the book, most will have convinced themselves of some sort of greater genius and meaning to stave off the regret of having spent several months of their life on something that could potentially be a big joke by the author. The characters/writing in the book all have a sort of neuroticism and tortuous addiction to whatever their vice, and so too the readers would require the same if they are ever to get past the first 100 pages.

[Anonymous No.3642040]

2 of 2 wont post, fucking spam filter.

[Anonymous No.3642055]

This review is from: The Adventures of Augie March (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics) (Hardcover)
After the intellectual Left killed off God, they found themselves staring into the abyss; absent God what is the meaning of life? There have been many, mostly feeble, attempts to answer this question. The most disastrous have, of course, been Darwinism--we exist to propagate the species, Hegelianism/Marxism--there are World Historical forces in control and Existentialism--existence is it's own point. Saul Bellow seems to fall into a loose grouping with the Existentialists and The Adventures of Augie March is essentially an existentialist tract. In a return to the style of the picaresque novels (i.e., Tom Jones), Augie March bobs along from Chicago to Mexico to Europe to an open boat in the Atlantic, experiencing life and meeting a variety of characters--observing without judging, experiencing without changing, seeking without finding. Critics claim that this is a life affirming book; but life does not need to be affirmed, it simply is. One recalls Dr. Johnson's response to the argument that the material world does not exist: he kicked a rock and said, "I refute it thus!" The task before us as human beings is to find or bring meaning to life. Great literature illuminates the human condition and reveals truths which help us discern this meaning. Bellow fails in this basic task and does so at mindnumbing length.

GRADE: F

[sewslow !!jtTqSsN+V0O No.3642057]

>>3642031
shit. i have looked up tons of reviews like this for film/lit on amazon, and they never cease to irritate me.

[Anonymous No.3642067]

In the absence of Part 2, here's another Blood Meridian gem, this time from "chef daniel". It's a bit of a cudgel compared to OP's well chosen scalpels, but it is pretty spectacular.

this is the most demented Violante book wore than than Rap music had to read it for school makes my head hurt when i try to read it

[Anonymous No.3642074]

This review is from: Lolita, 50th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)
It was an interesting read at age 15. Having picked it up again at the age of 35 (like Catcher in the Rye) I realize it's overrated and pretentious. Overly flowery language encapsulating an uninteresting and overdone plot. Older man and pre-adolescent hypersexual woman - please let's not exaggerate the originality of that concept, it has existed for millennia now. In fact, you'll find similar stories in every chapter of the Bible, i.e., in the patriarchy preceding all patriarchies. The moral backdrop to this (not so) novel was only pretense to earn this author praise for broaching what has always existed as an ethical struggle for some humans. It is ridiculous that men of this era were unable to sell books to the illiterati without overt oppression of women as the tour de force.