GeoX

Bracing, Mar 5 2004

Having read Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, I had no idea how impenetrably dark this novel would be: let's just say that every single even mildly sympathetic, likable, or normative character is dead by book's end, while the primary villain, the terrifying Pyotr Stepanovich, gets off scot-free. Ha ha! Fun for the whole family!

Dostoyevksy's politics have little in common with my own, his characterizations of his political enemies are frequently outrageously unfair (although, admittedly, sometimes pretty funny--check the 'With Our People' chapter) and he has no sense of dramatic restraint; all of these characteristics are far more present here than they are in his more… Read more

Utterly ghastly, Feb 6 2004

You know, I've been somewhat critical of Murakami in the past, but even if his writing did tend to become formulaic, I would never have anticipated that he was capable of writing something as bad as this.

It seems to me that he was trying out a more overtly 'Japanese' type of writing than usual for him: there's none of the hyperkinetic jumpiness or gonzo plot twists that we find in much of his work; instead, we lots of vagueness, mystery, and emotional threads not fully explored. I think he was trying to be Kawabata here (with the exception of the sex scenes, which, incongrously, made me think of Bukowski). And I'm all for that, in theory: writers ought to stretch their wings. But the… Read more

I'm so ashamed..., Jan 13 2004

I don't know what to say; I really don't. Ordinarily, I delight in having contrarian opinions (but only when I feel they're warranted, thankyouverymuch), but here...what can I say? I'm a big Cohen fan; I have all his stuff, and his first album may well be my favorite CD ever. But...geez. No matter HOW many times I listen to this, I simply CANNOT get into it. It's my least favorite of his albums, by far. That is not, of course, to say there's nothing I like here; indeed 'Story of Isaac' is very possibly my favorite Cohen song--it's simply an incredible piece of music. "Thought I saw an eagle/but it might have heen a vulture" just sends chills down my spine every time. Along… Read more