Jonathan Xu – Page 2 – Jonathan Literature Corner

Thoughts on Mad Toy

After reading Mad Toy I was left with feelings of awe, like I had been transported to another world, but also a deeper connection of what it means to be human. Unlike many of the stories I have read, Mad Toy did not need grand events or life-changing trauma to evoke a feeling of significance in its story. Through the beautiful yet realistic illustrations of Buenos Aires, I was able to get a true glimpse of what an impoverished life meant for someone with larger ideas and dreams than the world around him could handle.

As someone who has never experienced the life of crime or poverty, I enjoyed the perspective the book gave me from the first-person view of Silvio. The various moments of Silvio’s childhood and later life served a different purpose than those in Combray, and allowed me to understand the main character by experiencing his life rather than just being hit with random moments. I appreciated the smaller details like Silvio’s inability to not steal light fixtures and I feel it was moments like these that allowed me to empathize more with the character and perhaps understand him like a friend would. The story’s pacing of slow then fast then slow again felt like I was truly being swept by life’s unpredictable nature, as I was truly in the mind of Silvio Astier.

I liked reading about the emotional struggle that Silvio went through as someone who always had larger ambitions than his surroundings and circumstances would allow. I think even the fact that he wanted to create a criminal gang as a teenager and emulate those he read in many books was a sign that he wanted more for himself and he wanted to like those in the books. Seeing him journey into many different environments like the army and the bookstore and seeing his different thoughts combat these places and the effect of this conflict on him over time was intriguing as well.

Overall, I feel that this book allowed me to rekindle some of my love for reading like I had hoped from this class and many of its included literature. Unlike Combray, I felt that this book was a much easier read and was much easier to understand and connect to. Many of the elements of this book felt like they had intention and I could understand why the author decided to even include the little moments that do not provide great significance to the plot, it was to allow you to understand Silvio. 4/5.

If you were in an abandoned house, would you first take the lamp, the book, or the watch?

Thoughts on Combray

Being sick and dealing with a headache while reading this book is like trying to make sense of the obscure patterns of a plaster ceiling while you lay in bed unable to sleep. As someone who isn’t usually challenged by works of literature like Combray or Swann’s Way, I often struggled to piece together the overall plot of the novel and what exactly the different images described by Marcel Proust were trying to accomplish or illustrate to me as a reader. I’ll be embarrassed if I’m the only one who struggled with this book, but often times the transitions and the jumping through time and reality were not made clear to me as a reader and I found myself rereading many parts of the work.

Reading Combray often left me with the feeling of slight annoyance along with reverence. I realize that Marcel Proust is indeed a great writer and that his ability to sort of swirl you around with descriptions of different experiences and moments is noteworthy. However I feel that much of his work came off as unplanned and perhaps he wrote Combray as it went and included whatever daydream was in head at the time of writing. I’m not as compelled by his story or the plot of the work, something that I particularly look for in other storytelling mediums such as movies and manga.

As the first book of the course, I feel like it did accomplish part of what I’m looking for in RMST202, which is to be challenged as a reader and grow from those experiences. Although as someone who still considers himself as a “non-reader” I don’t think Combray really helped me to become a reader or one who yearns to flip pages as it was, to me, too confusing.

Overall, when I start a book or any story, I hope that the work can take me on an adventure and out of reality. The book need not to be science fiction or something completely fantastical, but it needs to have adequate imagery and illustration techniques along with a clear direction with its plot and characters. I’ve noticed that truly great stories are rational and are filled with intention, but at the same time invoke intrigue, surprise, and deeper emotions. These kinds of great stories leave me a different person than when I hadn’t yet encountered them, and all I wish for is to be able to stumble upon that story for the first time once more.

When I first picked up Combray, I had little expectations of the book as I wanted to keep it a surprise, being that it was my first book in a while. I noticed that it had many glowing reviews and was widely considered a masterpiece on Goodreads. Perhaps I’m not adequate or skilled enough as a reader to comprehend the elements of Combray, but personally it fell short to these high praises and even made me question how much I can rely on Goodreads for future reference. 1.5/5.

What rating would you give Combray and why?

Introductory Poost

Hi Everyone!

I’m Jonathan, a 3rd-year Combined Business and Computer Science Student from Texas! I think if I was an animal, I would be a bear. I like to do things that take me away from the harsh reality of the world, like playing video games, listening to music, or watching movies. Most recently I had the chance to watch Golden Globes winner Emma Stone’s Poor Things which I thought was a graphic yet beautiful story of one learning what it means to be human and see the world. As someone who likes to give everything a rating, I’d say the movie was a solid 4/5, but don’t come at me for that. I look forward to reading a plethora of literature this semester and also reading everyone’s thoughts on these works.

Coming into this course I knew that it would challenge me as a student but also even beyond as a human being. As a child I remember loving to read books of almost all genres, going as far as even using the dim light of the car to squeeze in more time to read during commutes from school or other activities. I soon lost that love as my parents began to force non-fiction books onto me, banning me from fiction entirely. That along with the introduction of mandatory books for school classes drained any previous notion of reading for me, but I’m ready to revitalize that passion once more, hopefully through the gauntlet of books in this course. I hope that my experience from this course and the interactions I have with other students will allow me to learn a new aspect of reading that will allow me to appreciate it as a crucial part of human life.

I thought it was interesting that this course asks very open-ended questions regarding literature and the books we’re reading rather than requiring students to learn about a certain literary element or style, or forcing us to pull a certain point from the material. This open-ended, “no right answers” style is very appealing to me a highlights the fact that literature can be understood differently based on whoever is reading it. The personal search for patterns between each of these works is intriguing and I’m excited to read others’ thoughts on these books. I also appreciate the diversity of these Romance books that, as stated, are not tied to a distinct geographical region but rather are “mutants” or “offspring” of Latin.

A question to those who read this blog post: If you found out that half the world also found your favourite book to be their favourite, would you change your favourite book? why or why not?