My flatmate from Sicily bought me this as a leaving present, as it was one of her favourite books. She was forever raving on about how good it was: so good, in fact, that she messed up one of her final year literature papers because she was enjoying herself too much writing about Beloved, and she lost track of time completely. My dear ex-flatmate is by no means the only one to promote Toni Morrison, though. Ms Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. So, she came highly recommended.
I started the book when it was given to me all those years ago, but I wasn't grabbed by it, and I gave up after about chapter two. But it would be rude not to read a book that was given to me as a gift, and stupid not to read one that's so critically acclaimed (if only so that I can add a further two cents to any discussion about critically acclaimed literature I might come across...), so I picked it up off my bookcase, and gave it another chance.
Once again, it failed to grab me, but I decided to keep on at it in case I eventually got into the groove. At two hundred pages in (and the book is just over three hundred pages), I still couldn't understand what the big deal was. In one of those beautifully ironic moments, I headed up to Wimbledon Common one evening and jotted down my thoughts on why I didn't particularly like the book.
Perhaps [her style is] too human for my tastes - not metaphysical enough, even though the story seems to be about a supernatural being.
After finishing my mini critique, I embarked on the final hundred or so pages. And, boy, did the girl shift gears! Yes, the final third of the novel proved to be quite something! You should never speak too soon...
It's a book I can appreciate, but I can't say I'll be rushing to read any more of Toni Morrison's work. Even though it will doubtless be recommended to me by many more people.
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I've just leafed through my little black book to see if I wrote any quotes from the novel that I liked. I didn't find any, so here's a quote that's totally unrelated to everything I've just said:
The world is going to have a heart attact, or the economy is at least. Look at how, year after year, things get more stressed. We're constantly pushing things to a new level.
I wrote that on July 14. Just over a week later, the economy certainly did have a heart attack of sorts: $1.3 trillion was wiped off the global equity markets.
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The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
Also while in Sicily, I was given a bookmark publicising The Alchemist with the purchase of some books. I kept this bookmark, as it was rather pretty, and I must've seen it on most days of last year, as I used it as a bookmark at work. I quite liked the quotes on the bookmark, even though they were a touch twee.
Indeed, the ideas behind the story are hardly new, and the story isn't told in a particularly new way either. But it is nonetheless quite a lovely story. It's rather philosophical: the healthy dose of positive mysticism that the book offers is clearly the secret of the book's success. And it's very short, too. I've read plenty of books that explore the same ideas, but I did still very much enjoy this one.
Our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.
Of course, the above quote could be found re-worded in countless other books that deal with the perennial philosophy. But I don't think I'll ever tire of that kind of thing, because I too am an otherworldly mystic.
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Well, maybe I too can understand the language of the world, and maybe I was in tune with something deeper when I came up with my little observation of the world economy. I guess my third eye was open at the time...
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Hunter S Thompson)
This was another book I'd started but not got into. I might even have borrowed it from the library twice, but I never read much. The beginning of the film entertained me greatly, but I don't think I've ever seen the whole film either. Maybe that's because I was always so bombed that I always either ended up sleeping through the film or losing all concentration after the part where the attorney's listening to White Rabbit in the bathtub?!
Whatever, I saw the book on Jimmy's bookshelf on Saturday night, and I grabbed it, knowing full well that I'd absolutely love it. I started it last night, and finished it this evening. Absolutely blinding. The pace is unbelievable, and the story is hilarious.
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What did The Alchemist say? You've got to follow the omens? I pulled Fear and Loathing off the bookshelf when I could barely speak or keep my eyes open, and I absolutely loved that book, so maybe that's an omen?
Shit, I'm getting in touch with a friend and going on a ludicrous drugs bender...
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