Mj Tydd từ Nadozerye, Leningradskaya oblast', Russia

mjtcreative

05/04/2024

Dữ liệu người dùng, đánh giá và đề xuất cho sách

Mj Tydd Sách lại (10)

2019-06-11 10:30

The Heir (Selection) Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn

Sách được viết bởi Bởi: Kiera Cass

** spoiler alert ** The Fermata is a fictional “autobiography” that lacks the content of a conventional autobiography to instead focus on the main character’s unique gift to stop time (Drop, enter the Fold, Fermata, on and on). Written in first person, the narrative spans a considerable amount of time, but the events are temporally handled in the arbitrary hands of the narrator, who, eschewing standard narrative and character development, indulges the reader on various sexcapades (surprisingly not one of the Freudian slips used throughout). There’s even two sections where Nicholson incorporates a bit of metafiction as the narrator presents us with two of his pornographic stories in full. As far as present action narration, we are with the narrator as he writes his book, much of it while in the Fold, the climax of the story, interestingly enough, is the disclosure of this gift to someone in his life – a first for Arnold Strine. This climax is what saves this novel from being 100% self-indulgent. He discloses his gift to a coworker, Joyce, who, after acting shocked and offended, slowly inquires. Arnold suggests and experiment in order to bring Joyce into the fold – his first truly selfless act in the entire novel. What transpires over an episode involving a penis pump and a vibrator is a complete transfer of power from Arnold to Joyce. Until the final few pages, the novel involves itself in one sexual encounter after the other while Arnold attempts to rationalize, justify, and make sense of is action. The ultimate question concerns whether or not Arnold is completely lacking any moral standard as he uses his gift, and how moral standards slide and shift given that such a power is possible. I suppose I could take this book from a few different angles, so to speak. At times it seems that Baker attempts to justify a desire to write erotic and pornographic fiction via his powerful control of language and obvious talent for the craft. In regards to Arnold’s short stories in particular – straight erotica – I found myself constantly questioning its literary merit. A porno flick filmed under a director’s deft skill and good lighting is still, after all, a porno flick. But should we relegate it to a trash heap for its genre. An objective eye would hardly find that fair. Any piece of fiction down with skill and craft deserves a chance. George Orwell wrote science fiction, Poe, horror, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, mystery. Why can’t pornos find that kind of respect? I’m sure there is a great irony found here. Arnold’s fiction aside, the enjoyment of his gift is fundamentally tied to his subject’s lack of consent. There is little to separate his acts from rape or voyeurism. But what then, does that say for the reader who reads the entire book? Guilty of the same voyeurism as well, I suppose. If Baker tries to justify Arnold’s actions, he fails. In the book, Arnold asks several minor characters, including an ex, what they would do if they could stop time. In effect, these characters represent straw man arguments as all of their answers are unarguably more heinous than anything Arnold himself does. Thus elevating his actions to some moral standard. Except that even the most benevolent tyrants are still tyrants. I was worried that Baker had committed an immorality beyond what happens in the book, that he would write something that elevated masturbation above the intimacy involved in real human intercourse. At one point, the main character asks, what else is there to life than masturbation? Looking through my John Gardner eyeglasses, this attempt seemed to divorce sex from it’s fundamental life affirming function, not only to perpetuate the human race, but also to affirm others in the most intimate and emotional ways. This fear is assuaged at the end of the novel when Arnold finds that there is more to life than masturbation when he extends his gift to Joyce and they commence to share in the Fold by being as close and inseparable as two humans could possibly be. Aside from me being morally ambivalent of the nature of this novel, the writing itself is extraordinary. At times it seems that lush language was designed soley for writing erotic and arousing scenarios. His command of language is succulent, even when narrating about things non sexual. A particularly favorite scene involves Arnold, who at this point in the novel, has been unable to engage in the fold for some months now. He attempts to enjoy life in real time, sex free, but finds that his mind can think of nothing else but women in bathing suits. He fears that if he can’t get his mind off sex, he’ll end up going inside, rubbing one off, and calling it a day. He likens the upshot of this inevitability to that of a Saturday when the mail comes early. You retrieve it before lunch, go out, do some errands, and on the way home, anticipate the day’s mail only to realize that you’ve already gotten it.

Người đọc Mj Tydd từ Nadozerye, Leningradskaya oblast', Russia

Người dùng coi những cuốn sách này là thú vị nhất trong năm 2017-2018, ban biên tập của cổng thông tin "Thư viện Sách hướng dẫn" khuyến cáo rằng tất cả các độc giả sẽ làm quen với văn học này.