The Two Kinds of Freedom

A book about the dystopian future, Handmaid's Tale made me realize that there are so many freedoms that I take for granted.   Gilead is the end-product of an ultra-conservative group's destabilization and call for a new world order.  It tells of a world without choice, especially for women.  Women were stripped of all properties and all rights and were treated as chattels, judged according to their use in society.  We have the Wives, the Marthas, the Handmaids, etc.

"There is more than one kind of freedom...Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it."

 
Given the amount of freedom that I am enjoying today, it haunts me to think that there might come a time where I will only have freedom from choice, instead of the freedom to choose.  I hope it never happens in my lifetime.  I hope it never happens...Period.

"You can wet the rim of a glass and run your finger around the rim and it will make a sound. This is what I feel like: this sound of glass. I feel like the word shatter."

Mao II: A Look on Terrorism and Mass Organization

Don DeLillo's 10th novel, Mao II deals with terrorism and mass media that were also the themes explored in his novel, Falling Man. 

"What terrorists gain, novelists lose.  The degree to which they influence mass consciousness is the extent of our decline as shapers of sensibility and thought."

Considering that the work was published in 1991, the novel is considered to be ahead of its time in foreseeing an age of terror and its effect on America.  One of the main themes explored in the novel is the "psychology of crowds" as seen in the mass cult wedding depicted in the first chapters.  I liked Falling Man more but I think the reason for this is because I will never forget watching on television the actual falling down of the two towers and I saw how this changed the world.

As to the title of the novel...

"Bill had his picture taken not because he wanted to come out of hiding but because he wanted to hide more deeply, he wanted to revise the terms of seclusion, he needed the crisis of exposure to give him a powerful reason to intesify his concealment.  Years ago there were stories that Bill was dead...they were not about Bill so much as people's need to make mysteries and legends.  Now Bill was devising his own cycle of death and resurgence.  It made Scott think of great leaders who regenerate their power by sropping out of sight and then staging messianic returns.  Mao Zedong of course..."

To love life for what it is....

A mark of a truly great book is when it makes you realize something about yourself and/or the world you live in.  The Hours by Michael Cunningham gave me something extraordinary.  It gave me a sense of normalcy.

"We live our lives, do whatever we do, and then we sleep. It's as simple and ordinary as that. A few jump out windows, or drown themselves, or take pills; more die by accident; and most of us are slowly devoured by some disease, or, if we're very fortunate, by time itself. There's just this for consolation: an hour here or there when our lives seem, against all odds & expectations, to burst open & give us everything we've ever imagined, though everyone but children (and perhaps even they) know these hours will inevitably be followed by others, far darker and more difficult. Still, we cherish the city, the morning, we hope, more than anything for more. Heaven only knows why we love it so."
-Laura

The book is simply beautiful. The re-imagining of Virginia's life and its relation to Laura and Clarissa was exquisite

"To look life in the face. Always to look life in the face. And to know it for what it is. At last to know it is. To love it for what it is. And then to put it away. Leonard always the years between us, always the years. Always the love. Always the hours."
-Virginia

Twenty-one: The Age of Innocence

Interesting Factoid?

The Age of Innocence – Although the book also serves as a sort of commentary on the high society with its its use of irony and other literary tools, Edith Wharton considers this novel as an “apology” for how brutal her other book (The House of Mirth) was.

Impressions?

I loved this book.  I loved the way Edith Wharton played with language and the barely veiled contempt for high society.  I can’t wait to read The House of Mirth

Most Memorable Lines?

“In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs…”

“It would presently be his task to take the bandage from this young woman's eyes, and bid her look forth on the world. But how many generations of the women who had gone to her making had descended bandaged to the family vault?”

Twenty-one: The Trial

Interesting Factoid?

The actual novel was never completed by Franz Kafka.  He instructed his friend Max Brod to burn the manuscript upon his death.

Impressions?

Although it is unfinished, the novel is still powerful.  Maybe that is part of the reason why it has made such an impact.  The fact that we would forever wonder what it could have been otherwise

Most Memorable lines?

“It’s sometimes quite astonishing  that a single, average life is enough to encompass so much that it’s at all possible ever to have any success in one’s work here. On the other hand, there are also dark moments, such as everyone has, when you think you’ve achieved nothing at all, when it seems that only the trials to come to a good end are those that were determined to have a good end from the start and would do so without any help, and all the others are lost despite all the running to and fro, all the effort…”

Twenty-one: A Clockwork Orange

Interesting Factoid?

In one of his other works, Anthony Burgess has stated that he is prepared to repudiate this novel because of the danger of it being misunderstood. 

Impressions?

Like the movie, the book was really violent but contrary to what other people might think, the book does not actually promote violence.  For me, it is actually about the concept of good and evil.  If someone does not have a choice but to do good, will it even count?  The concept of a clockwork orange also made a strong impression on me.  Organic on the outside but mechanical on the inside.

Most Memorable Lines?

“When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man”

“Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some ways better than a man who has the good imposed upon him”

“The attempt to impose upon man, a creature of growth and capable of sweetness, to ooze juicily at the last round the bearded lips of God, to attempt to impose, I say, laws and conditions appropriate to a mechanical creation”

Twenty-one: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Interesting Factoid?

This book along with its author Zora Neale-Hurston almost slipped into “oblivion”.  It took the efforts of Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, to renew interest in Neale-Hurston and her works.

Impressions?

I liked how the author used the vernacular of that time to make the story come alive.  I know that there were people who actually criticized the use of the language as mocking but I don’t believe that Zora meant it to be that way.  For me, it gave it color (no pun intended)

Most Memorable lines?

“She found that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed to him, and numerous emotions she had never let Jody know about. Things packed up and put away in her heart where he could never see them.  She was saving up feelings for some man she had never seen”

“…their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His.  They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God”

“…love ain’t somethin’ lak uh grindstone dat’s de same thing tuh everything it touch.  Love is lak de sea.  It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore”

Getting in touch with the "Tookish" side in me

Every once in a while, when you are least expecting it, you stumble upon a book that inadvertently captures you in ways that you can't imagine.  That was the case for me and The Hobbit.  It has been a while since I last posted anything here and as can be expected in such a prolonged absence, I am about five books behind in terms of blog entries.  I know I should really set out in catching up with those entries first but I just finished The Hobbit and I haven't been this excited about a book for a while now.

Simply put, this book took over my imagination and awakened in me a sense of adventure.  I actually lament over the fact that it is only now that I read it.  The book was written by Tolkien for his own children and was the predecessor for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Considered a classic in children's literature, I can attest that this can still be enjoyed by all ages.  I was actually postponing the reading of this book.  Although I have read my share of fantasy fiction, I know that there are books that can be quite daunting.  My own experience with the Lord of the Rings is a proof of that.  The only reason that I started it was because we watched the Fellowship of the Rings last Sunday and after finishing "Falling Man" yesterday, I decided I might as well re-explore the world of Tolkien's Middle-Earth.  And boy, what an experience it was.

I was so immersed in this other world made up of elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs and I found myself rooting for Bilbo and his company.  The experience was amazing.  After finishing the book, I was reluctant to let go and there were moments that I even considered re-reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy but of course this will have to wait given the number of books that I have on my plate right now.  I have to content myself in re-watching the trilogy and rooting for the movie adaptation of this book to be finally made.

I am humbled by this book and the only fitting tribute that I can give it is that I will give my nephews and the other children in my future a copy of the book when they reach the age of twelve.  Hopefully, it fires up their imagination and sense of wonderment as it did mine and instills in them a sense of adventure and boundless opportunities.

Journeying with Stephen Dedalus

James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man is a semi-autobiographical novel that tells of the early life of Stephen Dedalus.  The last name of the protagonist alludes to Greek Mythology's Dedalus.  Like Dedalus, Stephen in the story works on bulding "wings" so that he can do away with the things that he thinks is holding him back like religion, society, and family from his aim of being a true "artist".

"I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use—silence, exile, and cunning."

The book traces Stephen's journey through his formative years.  I was amazed at Joyce's use of language to depict the growth of the character.  As the character matures, the words used for the narrative becomes more complicated.  The thought process also becomes more complex.  Stephen studied in a boarding school when he was young and was heavily influenced by the Catholic faith.  As a teen, he tries to reconcile his physical desires with his faith.  Stephen eventually abandons everything in favor of pursuing his dream of being an artist.


"I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race."

I liked the book because I think it more or less captures the process of self-discovery that we all go through. As Stephen puts it: "I was not myself as I am now, as I had to become."  

Falling in love with A Room with a View

I am not a big believer in coincidences but there are times that life seems to work in mysterious ways.   Last Wednesday, I talked about my experience watching Daniel Day-Lewis in There will be Blood.  At that time, I was reading A Room with a View by E.M. Forster.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that Daniel actually played Cecil Vyse in the movie adaptation of the book.

For me, the book is a love story, first and foremost.  It is the story of Lucy Honeychurch and how she attempts to reconcile her passions against the repressed society and its definition of what is polite and proper.

 Although I don't believe that there is complete freedom in our society compared to that of our ancestors, I am no less thankful that I do not have to deal with the same limitations.
Mr. Emerson accurately describes how archaic society can be:"Do you suppose there's any difference between Spring in nature and Spring in man?  But there we go, praising the one and condemning the other, ashamed that the same work eternally through both"

Making things more complicated for Lucy is her feelings for George, a man frowned upon by the polite society. 
"The contest lay not between love and duty. Perhaps there never is such a contest.  It lay between the real and the pretended, and Lucy's first aim was to defeat herself"

One of the things that I will always remember about the book is how some people can only be associated with "rooms" and some people can be associated with "views".  Rooms represents constraints and the need for structure while views are represented in the book as freedom and spontaneity.  There are also some people who are only made to be acquaintances and can never know anyone intimately.
"He’s only for an acquaintance. He is for society and cultivated talk...He is the sort who are all right so long as they keep to things—books, pictures—but kill when they come to people...Every moment of his life he’s forming you..."

As I said earlier, this book for me is a love story first and foremost so I don't have to expound on what happened in the end.  Besides, I really would recommend that one reads this book for oneself.  That is how much I love this book.  I just wish I can find a copy of the movie.  I want to see if I will be just as in love with the movie as I am with the book.

Catching Up: The Great Gatsby

The novel captures the decadence of post-World War I American society and is considered to be an example of the Great American Novel. It has been included as required text for most high schools and colleges in the US. An interesting tidbit about the book is that there was a time that the author wanted to call the book "Trimalchio in West Egg"

One of the things that struck me was the narrator's description of Gatsby's dream and eventual fate. "...and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night." There are dreams that we hold sacred in our minds, picturing over and over again our moment of attaining it but when you finally achieve that dream, you realize that the dreamer that you were and the person that you are now cannot be reconciled anymore.

So, there, that's 7 down and only 89 more to go (hehehe).

First Brush with Thomas Pynchon

Although I am what others might consider a bookworm, I am relatively an unadventurous reader and I frequently rely on authors that I have previously read (Anne Rice before her Christian series) or books that are in the bestseller list.  I also went through a sort of hiatus from reading and it was only last year that I consciously took steps to rediscover my love for reading.  The result was my "discovery" of authors like Chuck Palahniuk and and Haruki Murakami.  I also made an effort to read the timeless classics like War and Peace, Fountainhead, and Crime and Punishment.
One of the considerable upside with the goal that I have set for myself this year is that it will afford me the opportunity to read authors I normally would not go for.  It shames me to say that I had to google Thomas Pynchon given his notoriety.  I have 4 works of Thomas Pynchon in my list and first up was The Crying Lot of 49. 

 The Crying Lot of 49 is a postmodern fiction that deals with one woman's struggle to prove a theory: the existence of Tristero and the conspiracy behind it.  In her effort to find meaning among all the rambling information and seemingly meaningless events, she struggles between believing that it is real or that it is just an elaborate plan on the part of an ex-lover and that there are two possiblities: "Another mode of meaning behind the obvious or none."

Authors like Haruki Murakami, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, and Kurt Vonnegut have already initiated me in postmodern fiction and I am well acquainted with "magical realism" but what made TCL49 so challenging were the multiple cultural references that were lost to me and would have offered me a more fruitful experience if only I got them.  But given that I was hampered by my own limitations when I read this book, I still found the experience a gratifying one and is a testament to the benefits of stepping out of one's own comfort zones.

"Oedipa wondered whether, whether at the end of this (if it were supposed to end), she too might not be left with only compiled memories of clues, intimations, but never the central truth itself, which must somehow each time be too bright for her memory to hold; which must always blaze out, destroying its own message irreversibly, leaving an overexposed blank when the ordinary world came back"

Re-acquainting myself with Sherlock and Holly

Holly Golightly and Sherlock Holmes are both iconic in their own rights.  Simple black dress, string of pearls,  sunglasses, and holding an oversized cigarette holder, Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly succeeded in creating one of the most memorable images in cinema.

I watched Breakfast at Tifanny's back when I was still in HS and I am rather ashamed of myself to say that it took this list of 1001 books to make me read the novella by Truman Capote.  What can I say, I love the book just as I love the movie.

As expected, the movie has already been given the "Hollywood" treatment as compared to the book.  The book is no love story (although half the characters are in love with Holly just like in the movie).  Instead, the book's ending is more open to interpretation.  The book also focuses on how Holly threw everything away in hopes of finding something akin to home.  One of the most memorable things about the book was Holly's relationship with her cat who she refused to give a name only to realize that they do belong together.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, my first encounter with the Sherlock Holmes was also thanks to Hollywood's Robert Downer Jr.-starrer.  But of course we all know that Sherlock Holmes has already become an archetype for detectives together with his trusty sidekick Watson and for this, I included The Hound of the Baskervilles in my list.

I was kind of let down by the experience.  Part of the reason is that I don't really like reading detective stories.  I have a problem with reading whodunit stories because I find myself constantly distracted with the desire to just skip to the ending and find out what the whole hullabaloo is all about. But another reason why I was disappointed was that I was able to guess the culprit was very early on in the story and I was also spot-on with regards to one of the villain's secret.  But I still consider reading Sherlock Holmes an enjoyable experience and I still plan to read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (it is part of the 1001 books but I did not include it in my 151 books) after I have accomplished my goal for 2012.