Early in this story, the narrator says that the artwork in the avant-garde gallery where she works is "supposed to be subversive, irreverent, shocking, but was all just canned counterculture crap." That also describes pretty much how I feel about this novel. It is edgy; it is ironic and outrageous; it would seem to have some deep meaning, discernible to the hip and cool, but in the end it seems to me to be just an extremely well-put-together mound of meaningless garbage. If there is a point to this novel, it passed me by. I think it is a literary con job.
The narrator is a recent college graduate, tall, slim, beautiful, and rich, with an inherited income. yet she is devastatingly dissatisfied, alienated, adrift in a drowning sea of existential despair. Her only escape seems to be sleep, so with the help of the world's most irresponsible psychiatrist who is willing to prescribe all the escapist pills available, she spends most of a year in a drugged sleep.
Otessa Moshfegh seems to specialize in stories of people who are beyond the norm. Her previous novel, Eileen, concerned a homely daughter of alcoholics who teetered on the brink of madness. It highly impressed me, particularly in the artistry of its prose and the ability of the author to portray an unsympathetic character in a sympathetic light. I also felt that the novel had a point -- the damage that can be inflicted by alcoholism and just the bad luck to be born poor and ugly. The protagonist of My Year of Rest and Relaxation is seemingly the opposite -- rich and beautiful instead of poor and ugly. Perhaps the author is trying to say that even those from fortunate circumstances can be psychologically damaged. I don't know. I do know that this unsympathetic narrator does not arouse even a drop of my sympathy for her unhappy plight.
I am also skeptical of the propriety of a novel which portrays the uninhibited ingestion of random drugs as a solution to problems, particularly in the midst of a drug epidemic with roots in the misuse of prescription medication. An actual person taking the various combinations and amounts of drugs ingested by this protagonist would undoubtedly not survive.
So while this novel is extremely well written and often darkly humorous, I did not like it very much at all. It reminds me of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I disliked that one, too.
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Sunday, January 20, 2019
A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE by GEORGE R.R. MARTIN -- Five volumes (so far)
While beginning to watch the television series Game of Thrones, based on these books, I decided to read the source material. Five lengthy novels have been published so far, totaling 4,598 pages, and the story is not finished yet.
The first book, Game of Thrones, establishes the pattern for the series. Short, third-person limited chapters acquaint the reader with the central characters and the story line. The book begins as Eddard Stark, Warden of the North in the kingdom of Westeros, welcomes his king, Robert Baratheon, to his castle. Every member of both families will become major players in the unfolding drama. Meanwhile, in the far north, behind the Wall which protects the kingdom, strange creatures haunt the land, and across the seas, the heir of the defeated former king of Westeros plots a return to the throne. Martin provides one startling event after another -- incest, attempted murder, regicide, beheading, a wedding orgy, and the birth of dragons.
The structure of the novel is ideal for introducing a large cast of characters, and the action is generally fast moving and suspenseful. However, Martin has the annoying habit of describing the appearance and apparel of every character at every event and the even more intrusive habit of naming every course of every meal (and they eat very frequently). All this adds to the over-long page count and takes away from the momentum of the action. Some of the grammar and syntax is questionable, but that can mostly be overlooked when the story is moving along.
The second book, A Clash of Kings, is taken up by the efforts of would-be kings for the crown of Westeros, following the death of King Robert Baratheon. Sitting on the throne is Joffrey Baratheon, but his claim is disputed because he is suspected of being the product of incest between his mother and her twin brother, rather than being the son of the former king. Rising against him are both of the former king's brothers, Stannis and Renly; Robb Stark, the son of the beheaded Eddard Stark; Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands; and across the sea, Daenerys Targaryen, who has hatched dragons.
At 728 pages, this is the shortest of the five in the series, in part because fewer court events mean fewer descriptions of clothing and menu items. Martin provides limited description of actual battles, instead concentrating on the behind-the-scenes plotting and machinations, both political and magical. Royal marriages and promises of marriage are made to secure alliances. The sadistic boy king Joffrey emerges as the most despicable villain. Surprisingly, Tyrion Lannister, Joffrey's dwarf uncle, becomes in some respects the most sympathetic character, and certainly one of the most interesting. The pre-teen Arya Stark also proves to be intriguing, as she survives numerous dangers.
I found this to be the least entertaining of the books, although it profits from being more tightly edited than the first volume.
The third book, A Storm of Swords, is filled with betrayals, as factions switch allegiances or go their own way for power and profit. Weddings are particularly perilous. The most shocking event so far occurs, as the bridegroom's entire entourage is slaughtered at the Red Wedding. King Joffrey's wedding to Margaery Tyrell also concludes with a deadly wedding feast. At least the wedding of Sansa Stark, the teenage daughter of the beheaded Eddard Stark, with the dwarf Tyrion Lannister ends with all alive, if not happy. To the previous instances of regicide and fratricide is added the crime of patricide. Meanwhile, across the sea, Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons liberate slave cities, and she delays crossing to Westeros in her quest to regain the crown snatched from her family. Meanwhile, in the north at the Wall, things are getting really creepy. Winter is coming and with it the re-animated dead and the mysterious Others.
These books are written much in the style of soap operas, with switches from one character to the next to portray actions going on at the same time in numerous plot lines. This book adds one of the plot standards of my pet soap opera, Days of Our Lives. People once thought dead prove to be alive and people actually dead are brought back to life. That seems to me to be a bit contrived and almost silly.
This is the longest of the series so far, at 1128 pages, but to me it was the most enjoyable. The chapters are from the viewpoints of only ten characters and I found it easy to remember what was going on and where as the story hopped around from person to person and location to location.
With the fourth book, A Feast of Crows and the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons, Martin's created world begins to get out of hand, with too many characters and too many plots and subplots. The two books cover the same time frame with different characters in each, but the result was too long for one volume, so it was split into these two. Even so, the story has become confusing. A Feast of Crows follows twelve central characters, which might be manageable, but it also follows numerous minor characters, who all tend to blur in the mind with one another.
These are the primary plot points of book four: Stannis Baratheon, the dead king's brother, is in the north to aid in the fight against the Wildings beyond the Wall. Jon Snow, Eddard Stark's bastard son, has been named Commander of the Night Watch, who guard at the Wall. Tommen, the 8-year-old brother of Joffrey, sits on the throne of Westeros, with his mother Cersei as Regent. Religious extremism has arisen on several fronts. The teenager Sansa Stark (daughter to the beheaded Eddard Stark) is in hiding, protected by a sly schemer with plots of his own. Those are just the high points. Much more is going on here.
Book five, A Dance with Dragons, follows 18 characters, with additional subplots. It is just too much. Jon Snow (Eddard Stark's bastard son) is in trouble at the Wall. Bran Stark (Eddard Stark's son) is searching for the "Three-Eyed Crow" who will enable him to fly. Tyrion Lannister (uncle to Tommen Baratheon, now king of Westeros) is on the run after escaping from the dungeon where he had awaited beheading, intending to aid Daenerys Targaryen in regaining the crown. Alya Stark (daughter of Eddard Stark) has become an assassin, and she is still not even a teenager. Queen Regent Cersei is imprisoned and humiliated by the very religious group she tried to manipulate. Daenerys Targaryen is having troubles with the slave cities she liberated and with her dragons, which have become wild and unmanageable. And that's not all that is going on here, by a long shot.
George R.R. Martin has said that he intends to include seven books in this series. I think he is about on overload right now with five, but still I want to know who will succeed in gaining the crown, or if the coming Winter and the Others will make it all in vain, because everyone will be frozen or turned into the walking dead.
Martin has been acclaimed the "American Tolkien" by some, and that couldn't be more wrong. Tolkien produced fantasy Literature, with a capital "L". Martin produces fantasy pulp, albeit pulp of a superior sort. While Tolkien's universe engaged in a stark contrast between good and evil, in Martin's world few characters could be classified as "good" and the most blameless seem to die sooner rather than later. Some of the most interesting characters are guilty of crimes. However, much like a soap opera, Martin's story can become addictive, even as its shortcomings are recognized. So far, I have binge-watched four seasons of the television production, and I believe the televised version to be much superior to the written version. What makes for level B literature can be turned into level A visual entertainment under the right direction with enough money behind it.
The first book, Game of Thrones, establishes the pattern for the series. Short, third-person limited chapters acquaint the reader with the central characters and the story line. The book begins as Eddard Stark, Warden of the North in the kingdom of Westeros, welcomes his king, Robert Baratheon, to his castle. Every member of both families will become major players in the unfolding drama. Meanwhile, in the far north, behind the Wall which protects the kingdom, strange creatures haunt the land, and across the seas, the heir of the defeated former king of Westeros plots a return to the throne. Martin provides one startling event after another -- incest, attempted murder, regicide, beheading, a wedding orgy, and the birth of dragons.
The structure of the novel is ideal for introducing a large cast of characters, and the action is generally fast moving and suspenseful. However, Martin has the annoying habit of describing the appearance and apparel of every character at every event and the even more intrusive habit of naming every course of every meal (and they eat very frequently). All this adds to the over-long page count and takes away from the momentum of the action. Some of the grammar and syntax is questionable, but that can mostly be overlooked when the story is moving along.
The second book, A Clash of Kings, is taken up by the efforts of would-be kings for the crown of Westeros, following the death of King Robert Baratheon. Sitting on the throne is Joffrey Baratheon, but his claim is disputed because he is suspected of being the product of incest between his mother and her twin brother, rather than being the son of the former king. Rising against him are both of the former king's brothers, Stannis and Renly; Robb Stark, the son of the beheaded Eddard Stark; Balon Greyjoy, Lord of the Iron Islands; and across the sea, Daenerys Targaryen, who has hatched dragons.
At 728 pages, this is the shortest of the five in the series, in part because fewer court events mean fewer descriptions of clothing and menu items. Martin provides limited description of actual battles, instead concentrating on the behind-the-scenes plotting and machinations, both political and magical. Royal marriages and promises of marriage are made to secure alliances. The sadistic boy king Joffrey emerges as the most despicable villain. Surprisingly, Tyrion Lannister, Joffrey's dwarf uncle, becomes in some respects the most sympathetic character, and certainly one of the most interesting. The pre-teen Arya Stark also proves to be intriguing, as she survives numerous dangers.
I found this to be the least entertaining of the books, although it profits from being more tightly edited than the first volume.
The third book, A Storm of Swords, is filled with betrayals, as factions switch allegiances or go their own way for power and profit. Weddings are particularly perilous. The most shocking event so far occurs, as the bridegroom's entire entourage is slaughtered at the Red Wedding. King Joffrey's wedding to Margaery Tyrell also concludes with a deadly wedding feast. At least the wedding of Sansa Stark, the teenage daughter of the beheaded Eddard Stark, with the dwarf Tyrion Lannister ends with all alive, if not happy. To the previous instances of regicide and fratricide is added the crime of patricide. Meanwhile, across the sea, Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons liberate slave cities, and she delays crossing to Westeros in her quest to regain the crown snatched from her family. Meanwhile, in the north at the Wall, things are getting really creepy. Winter is coming and with it the re-animated dead and the mysterious Others.
These books are written much in the style of soap operas, with switches from one character to the next to portray actions going on at the same time in numerous plot lines. This book adds one of the plot standards of my pet soap opera, Days of Our Lives. People once thought dead prove to be alive and people actually dead are brought back to life. That seems to me to be a bit contrived and almost silly.
This is the longest of the series so far, at 1128 pages, but to me it was the most enjoyable. The chapters are from the viewpoints of only ten characters and I found it easy to remember what was going on and where as the story hopped around from person to person and location to location.
With the fourth book, A Feast of Crows and the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons, Martin's created world begins to get out of hand, with too many characters and too many plots and subplots. The two books cover the same time frame with different characters in each, but the result was too long for one volume, so it was split into these two. Even so, the story has become confusing. A Feast of Crows follows twelve central characters, which might be manageable, but it also follows numerous minor characters, who all tend to blur in the mind with one another.
These are the primary plot points of book four: Stannis Baratheon, the dead king's brother, is in the north to aid in the fight against the Wildings beyond the Wall. Jon Snow, Eddard Stark's bastard son, has been named Commander of the Night Watch, who guard at the Wall. Tommen, the 8-year-old brother of Joffrey, sits on the throne of Westeros, with his mother Cersei as Regent. Religious extremism has arisen on several fronts. The teenager Sansa Stark (daughter to the beheaded Eddard Stark) is in hiding, protected by a sly schemer with plots of his own. Those are just the high points. Much more is going on here.
Book five, A Dance with Dragons, follows 18 characters, with additional subplots. It is just too much. Jon Snow (Eddard Stark's bastard son) is in trouble at the Wall. Bran Stark (Eddard Stark's son) is searching for the "Three-Eyed Crow" who will enable him to fly. Tyrion Lannister (uncle to Tommen Baratheon, now king of Westeros) is on the run after escaping from the dungeon where he had awaited beheading, intending to aid Daenerys Targaryen in regaining the crown. Alya Stark (daughter of Eddard Stark) has become an assassin, and she is still not even a teenager. Queen Regent Cersei is imprisoned and humiliated by the very religious group she tried to manipulate. Daenerys Targaryen is having troubles with the slave cities she liberated and with her dragons, which have become wild and unmanageable. And that's not all that is going on here, by a long shot.
George R.R. Martin has said that he intends to include seven books in this series. I think he is about on overload right now with five, but still I want to know who will succeed in gaining the crown, or if the coming Winter and the Others will make it all in vain, because everyone will be frozen or turned into the walking dead.
Martin has been acclaimed the "American Tolkien" by some, and that couldn't be more wrong. Tolkien produced fantasy Literature, with a capital "L". Martin produces fantasy pulp, albeit pulp of a superior sort. While Tolkien's universe engaged in a stark contrast between good and evil, in Martin's world few characters could be classified as "good" and the most blameless seem to die sooner rather than later. Some of the most interesting characters are guilty of crimes. However, much like a soap opera, Martin's story can become addictive, even as its shortcomings are recognized. So far, I have binge-watched four seasons of the television production, and I believe the televised version to be much superior to the written version. What makes for level B literature can be turned into level A visual entertainment under the right direction with enough money behind it.
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