Can you write an awesome book without swearing or sexual content? I sure think so.
Though bad words and taboo thingies like sex and drugs can add to a story in my opinion, I'm fine without them, as are many other folks in Canada and Amurica. Some books like SH5 have been banned because of swearing and sex. I don't think that any book should be banned for any reason. If you happen to get offended by it, then DON'T READ IT. And don't try to get it banned...what's that gonna do, besides deny people a unique reading experience? It's not like anyone hasn't sworn or talked about sex before, why is it so different when you see it in print?
Regarding Vonnie's seemingly anti-Amurican-ness...I don't really have an opinion on that. He had freedom of speech, eh? Like I said, if someone gets 0ffended...put the gosh-darned book down!!!
Friday 11 March 2011
Wednesday 9 March 2011
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen. I am the Pilgrim, Kookoo-Kachoo!
I've done it, I've come up with something to compare this book to: I am the Walrus, very old and famous song by the Beatles. Each verse is just a tangle of very far-fetched and weird ideas. For example,
"Semolina Pilchard, climbing up the eiffel tower. Elementary penguins, singing Hare Krishna. Man, you shouldda seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe. I am the eggman, they are the eggman. I am the walrus!"
Billy is in bed with his wife for a page or two, then he's in a garden with giraffes, then he's back in the war for about a paragraph, then he's getting sniped in Chicago before going to some alien world to impregnate Montana Wildhack.
At first, this non-linear story really confused and annoyed me. Now that all the broken-up little sub-stories are concluding and tying together, I'm starting to enjoy and understand this story more!
"Semolina Pilchard, climbing up the eiffel tower. Elementary penguins, singing Hare Krishna. Man, you shouldda seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe. I am the eggman, they are the eggman. I am the walrus!"
Billy is in bed with his wife for a page or two, then he's in a garden with giraffes, then he's back in the war for about a paragraph, then he's getting sniped in Chicago before going to some alien world to impregnate Montana Wildhack.
At first, this non-linear story really confused and annoyed me. Now that all the broken-up little sub-stories are concluding and tying together, I'm starting to enjoy and understand this story more!
Tuesday 8 March 2011
Huh!? Vonnie's got some nuggets o' wisdom, you say?
I'm not gonna lie, a lot of those quotes were pretty over my head, and few of them just seem like him putting some big words together to try and make himself sound smart. But maybe that's just me not being as deep of a thinker as the rest of the wonderful, creative, and intelligent folks in the class.
ANYWAYS...one of the quotes that I do understand is the first one. "Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae." A little connection I could make to the book would be an angry Roland Weary picking on an ill-equipped, semi-clueless, cold and tired Billy Pilgrim. Weary was all at someone who didn't do anything wrong to him. He is mad about some terrible things going on in his life and he needs a handy little target to take his anger out on.
I've had times in my life where I put on my armor and attacked a few defenseless hot fudge sundaes. The names of a few notable sundaes I've attacked are The Mayor of Casterbridge, Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I've realized over the last year that attacking books doesn't do me or anybody else much good. It might feel so good and fun to vent about how far over my head those books are and how messed up their plots (or lack of plots) are and how weird and obscure the symbolism and themes and ideas is in those books are, but pleasure and anger release seems to be the only benefit. And that seems to be the only benefit for Roland attacking Billy. And that seems to be the only benefit for a dude in armor beating on a stupid little sundae!
ANYWAYS...one of the quotes that I do understand is the first one. "Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae." A little connection I could make to the book would be an angry Roland Weary picking on an ill-equipped, semi-clueless, cold and tired Billy Pilgrim. Weary was all at someone who didn't do anything wrong to him. He is mad about some terrible things going on in his life and he needs a handy little target to take his anger out on.
I've had times in my life where I put on my armor and attacked a few defenseless hot fudge sundaes. The names of a few notable sundaes I've attacked are The Mayor of Casterbridge, Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I've realized over the last year that attacking books doesn't do me or anybody else much good. It might feel so good and fun to vent about how far over my head those books are and how messed up their plots (or lack of plots) are and how weird and obscure the symbolism and themes and ideas is in those books are, but pleasure and anger release seems to be the only benefit. And that seems to be the only benefit for Roland attacking Billy. And that seems to be the only benefit for a dude in armor beating on a stupid little sundae!
Thursday 3 March 2011
This book be gettin' pretty darn trippy
I'm halfway through chapter 6 in SH5, and this book is getting pretty trippy. All this business regarding time travel and aliens and war and giraffe-gardens and morphine nights is kinda messing with my brain. Vonnie jumps all around to different weird scenes, and only spends a paragraph or two on each scene. Not only is it hard to follow, but its hard to remember and understand the little details when I'm getting bombarded with all kinds of information that is unrelated to the paragraphs that precede and follow! It reminds me of like, when someone hasn't cleaned their room in a long time. There's stuff over here, junk over there...
I started off strongly disliking this non-linear trippiness but I'm warming up to it.
I wonder if Vonnie was into drugs? Yes, the brain is not meant to be perfectly organised, but I wonder if he got some of that disorganised creativity from drug use? Huxley was all into LSD, maybe Vonnie was too?
I started off strongly disliking this non-linear trippiness but I'm warming up to it.
I wonder if Vonnie was into drugs? Yes, the brain is not meant to be perfectly organised, but I wonder if he got some of that disorganised creativity from drug use? Huxley was all into LSD, maybe Vonnie was too?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)