Tag Archives: contradiction

Agualusa, The Society of Reluctant Dreamers

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Well this was definitely an interesting novel to end on. The Society of Reluctant Dreamers of all the novels really had a unique style/flow/feel and I felt like I never really knew where the novel was headed. Often just as I thought I understood the gist of a certain scene or passage a final line or action flipped my understanding on its head. And honestly that was a really enjoyable experience as a reader. I will say for all the looseness with time and topic I still felt like not only was the story but the point or meaning was building and changing as well, yet always going somewhere. Possibly it’s all down to this being a more modern book with a modern flow but either way the overall reading experience definitely felt more familiar compared to the older books. Furthermore there are a lot of short impactful sentences at the end of chapters or sections that i’m not quite sure I know what they mean, but have an impact anyway. Whether it be conversation between Hossi and Daniel or any of their own personal thoughts these short sentences carry a lot of weight. The other thing that I think really adds to the overall atmosphere/quality of the book is the frank yet real approach towards the portrayal of violence, it’s neither gratuitous or unnecessary which is always good. This frankness with the traumas of these lives combined with the fantastical element of the dreams, that connects the main characters, gives a real yet at the same time ethereal character to the work. There is a large cast of characters that add a lot of flair to the entire novel. The interviews and conversations that Daniel has throughout are really interesting but often leave me more confused than at the beginning of them. These characters are full of contradiction, both within themselves and with their actions, such as Hussi or Paulo/Jean. Hussi is a seemingly nice man who has forgotten his past, due to fantastical lighting strikes, yet can switch to violence and brutality in an instant. He is a torturer and has a violent past yet through Daniel’s friendship we are given the likeable human side of this man. Like Hussi says himself it is difficult to deal with the multiple facets of a man so at ease with violent pragmatism. It is hard to see one side and accept the other. As for my question, Which of the books you read was your favourite and why?

Week 7, The Passion According to G.H

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This book was my personal Hindenburg. At the beginning of this novel I was really intrigued Lispector’s use of language and I through exploring the contradictory nature of feelings in the modern world was really cool. Just like the Hindenburg there was a sense of majesty and aw that came along with this book. But very quickly things started taking a turn for the worse. We are faced with an author crippled by an existential dread and fear of everything. Which in itself is not bad subject matter, the world and existence is an inherently terrifying proposition in my experience. Especially in the modern age of man made horrors beyond our comprehension, but that is beside the point. The further and further I got into this novel the more I started to really dislike this writing style. I felt that the repetition and use of paradoxical phrasing really started to chafe about halfway through. A lot of it just felt unnecessary and almost started to get bland by the end of the novel. Like by the 100th page I knew that there was going to be some discussion of her fears of just existing full of contradicting statements and sentences that just in my mind diluted her work to the point where it feels almost “teenage angsty”. Like it felt like she was playing the world’s most complicated Mad Lib in which the entire message boils down to the stereotypical 9th grader that thinks nihilism makes him cool, its very much a “we live on a giant rock floating through space nothing matters” narrative. I mean maybe there is something to be said about her points but just due to the writing style I want to ridicule this book. I think this style could have worked a lot better in a much shorter novel or even in a short story with a more concise prose. All of that is not even to mention the class element of this novel. This woman’s main problem in life is that she is so well off in her penthouse that she has nothing to do. I don’t want to invalidate any mental health issues that the narrator or author might be having but for an entire novel based around a spiral of self reflection it makes it really hard to sympathize with this character. A little bit of self awareness would be cool.