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Shakespeare or Not?
brought to you by Anonymous
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player"
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Surprisingly lovely. I'd heard so much about this novel's experiments with time and pacing and a ballsy chapter made up entirely of powerpoint slides that I was wary of cheap gimmicks in lieu of good storytelling, but A Visit From the Goon Squad mana...more
Surprisingly lovely. I'd heard so much about this novel's experiments with time and pacing and a ballsy chapter made up entirely of powerpoint slides that I was wary of cheap gimmicks in lieu of good storytelling, but A Visit From the Goon Squad manages to be inventive, absorbing, and quietly powerful. The prose is delightful and, crucially, the characters are well-rounded and deftly drawn.
And what a cast of characters they are! This is not a traditional novel that follows a protagonist or several protagonists through a story arc (from inciting action to climax to resolution). This is a novel that introduces many tangentially related characters (like the film Crash) whose lives are explored in one chapter and variously woven or hinted at throughout the narrative. "Time's a goon," says one character, and the novel shows us how true that is. Relationships, seemingly life-changing incidents or moments of quiet, disaster or safety are upended in a season, in a handful of years, in a week.
Does time make fools of us all? In many cases, yes. Several characters, seen at the top of their game, end up destroyed, faded, humiliated, coping. Some begin confused but find a light and pursue it home. But time waits for no one, and so the novel chugs along, dipping into characters' lives for a few moments, observing them from an angle, and then moving on, until we meet them again several chapters later, at a dinner party, where ten years have passed and we learn that, in that time, they left their wonderful wife, their children have grown, they were fired from their company, and they're hatching a last-ditch effort at relevancy. A Visit From the Goon Squad treats its characters the way life treats us - as tiny players with transitory problems and triumphs, not all documented or even realized, but always moving and marching towards its beat.
The genius of Jennifer Egan's rendering is her ability to capture a flesh and blood character in a small amount of time and space, and to draw out their life in a way that shows emotional depth and growth. Not all of her characters are sympathetic (there's a celebrity journalist who tries to rape his subject; a glamorous PR executive who, after a career-ending mistake, must work to humanize a genocidal dictator; a predatory, emotionally confused record executive), but in her hands, she makes them human and humble, and in the process, makes us feel like a god in transcending the normal bounds of time and surveying the bits and pieces that make up a life.(less)
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Davina Busted
is now following Jennifer Egan's reviews
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The worst drivel I've ever had the displeasure of reading. A good friend lent it to me, raving about enlightenment and altered worldviews, and even though the cover was off-putting, I didn't have the heart to turn her down. I read 45 pages and couldn...more
The worst drivel I've ever had the displeasure of reading. A good friend lent it to me, raving about enlightenment and altered worldviews, and even though the cover was off-putting, I didn't have the heart to turn her down. I read 45 pages and couldn't read a page more. I simply could not. The book is self-indulgent, ridiculous, egocentric, and transparently striving for (and failing at) profundity. It luxuriates in feel-good spirituality that amounts to simply this: You are a star. Now shine! This is self-esteem inflation gone mad. Hate.
If Elizabeth Gilbert's voice was at all believable or honest, I could forgive the never-ending navel-gazing, lame platitudes, and abrupt prayer quotes in italics, but Gilbert's prose is so self-aware, so calculated and contrived, so self-satisfied, that I distrust the entire endeavor. As a memoir, this is problematic.
Eat, Pray, Love is the single worst book I've read this year. Its continued popularity is mystifying.(less)
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I First heard of Dan Ariely through his TED talk, and was impressed by his clever social experiments and charmed by his demeanor. Predictably Irrational brings more of that intrigue, revelation, and charm to real world situations, and the results are...more
I First heard of Dan Ariely through his TED talk, and was impressed by his clever social experiments and charmed by his demeanor. Predictably Irrational brings more of that intrigue, revelation, and charm to real world situations, and the results are no less surprising. The book is convincing and immensely readable.
Ariely is a behavioural economist who studies how people actually behave rather than how they should behave. After years of studying, he's come up with a rather dismal conclusion: humans are not only irrational in their decision making, but predictably irrational, which is to say that we are consistently irrational in the face of particular factors. His many studies, which start with an innocuous question, then move to the experiment itself and its surprising results, back up this claim. Some questions he considers: do we get more relief from expensive drugs (if we know they're expensive) than cheaper drugs? Why do cautious people make bad decisions about sex when they're aroused? Why are most people okay with stealing office supplies, but not money?
With rigorous studies, clear, friendly prose, and a surprising amount of warmth, Ariely brings to life what would normally be a pretty dry read. Most importantly, he explodes the standard economic theory that market forces are rational because humans are rational (the "market knows best" approach). With his studies he shows that we often work against our own self-interest, are shockingly susceptible to the unconscious mind, and frequently underestimate our own limitations.(less)
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