欧宝娱乐

Sometimes choosing a star rating can be difficult. To avoid falling trap to such uncertainty, I try to stick as formally to the description as possible (ie: 1= 鈥渄idn鈥檛 like,鈥� 2= 鈥渋t was ok,鈥� 3=鈥漧iked it,鈥� etc.). What gets really hairy, though, is when I have to reconcile 鈥渓iked鈥� with 鈥渁ppreciated,鈥� which can be at odds and which happens occasionally with 鈥渓iterature.鈥� This is made all the tougher when I already have it in my head that I should 鈥渓ike,鈥� or at the very least 鈥渁ppreciate,鈥� a book because people whose opinions I respect think highly of it. That should really does get me and make me second guess my own opinion. I feel like 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how much of it I understood, but it was as if I were being solemnly promised that at some time I would understand it all鈥� (150).

Thank goodness goodreads allows so much space for someone to move beyond a simplistic star rating and to give lengthy descriptions of the different aspects of the books that reached him (as well as provide rambling prefatory notes).
*
I didn鈥檛 like reading this. I never found myself anxiously awaiting the next time I could find time to pick it up and read more about Malte鈥檚 childhood reminiscences. I waded through his obscure historical asides, couldn鈥檛 keep any of the names straight, and just didn鈥檛 care. I actually cringed at certain passages which I thought were striving so hard to achieve profundity and reached odd at best. For example, when Malte 鈥渉it upon the idea of offering [the neighbor on the other side of the wall] my will. For one day I understood that his was at an end. And after that, whenever I felt it coming on, I stood on my side of the wall and begged him to make use of it. And as far as my expenditure of will was concerned, I began to feel it鈥� (132). To me this reeks of a would-be poet attempting to emphasize how he feels things more deeply than the common man, when, in reality, he鈥檚 nuts and it makes no sense. Plus, that page is followed by a page of meditation on a box lid, 鈥渁 lid [that] could have no other longing than to find itself on its box鈥he fulfillment of its desires鈥� (134). He even decides 鈥渢his box lid has it in for me.鈥�
*
Then there are his ruminations on love, death, and God. All fodder for some very profound revelations. However, again I just couldn鈥檛 get into them鈥攊t鈥檚 the same problem I鈥檝e always had with the Transcendentalists, and some of this sounded pretty transcendentalist-ish: 鈥淚n the garden, there is one chief thing; everything is everywhere, and one would have to be in everything in order not to miss anything鈥� (149). Malte is definitely trying to live deep and suck out the marrow of life, to separate himself from the mass of men who lead lives of quiet desperation.
*
HOWEVER, there were many passages that I did find profound, especially towards the beginning. (Maybe this just isn鈥檛 the type of book one can read a few pages at a time in ten minute bursts). In the beginning, I understand that Malte does represent the true Modern man: he is 鈥渓earning to see鈥� (3), discovering that 鈥渢he main thing was that one was alive鈥� (2), wondering 鈥淚s it possible that the whole history of the world has been misunderstood? Is it possible that the past is false because one has always spoken of its masses鈥︹€� (16), understanding that 鈥渟omething is going on in me as well, something that is beginning to distance and separate me from everything鈥� (37). Talk about embodying the disillusionment, isolation, and true severing of ties with the past of the modernist movement (just read page 38 in its entirety and you鈥檝e got a summary of said movement). There is sooo much talk about 鈥渕asks鈥� in the book, and I see that as a metaphor for Malte鈥檚 goal. He seeks to reveal the Truth to all of those around him, to rip away the false masks under which they live. Unfortunately, he is too awkward (especially around girls) and self-conscious and insecure. There were countless time throughout the text that I wrote in the margins 鈥淧rufrock!鈥� In fact, as I read I had planned for this review to be a comparison between this book and the poem. Now I realize that I would have had to copy nearly the entire poem because comparisons/connections can be drawn to nearly every line of it (鈥淣ow one accidentally emerges among accidental things and almost takes fright at not being invited鈥� (97)鈥 mean, come on!). Malte鈥檚 鈥渙verwhelming question鈥� is 鈥淢y God, if it were possible to impart something of it. But would it exist then, would it exist?鈥� (54)鈥︹€滱nd will they, in any event see what I am saying here鈥� (111).

A Favorite Quotation:鈥淔lowers and fruits are ripe when they fall; animals feel themselves and find one another and are satisfied. But we, who have made God for ourselves, we can not find satisfaction鈥� (174).

A Favorite Scene: When his dog reproaches him for letting death in. Touching. (121).

A Quotation That, Perhaps, Sums Up My Reading Experience: 鈥淢any things came into my hands that, so to speak, ought to have been read already, for other things it was much too soon; nothing at that time was just right for the present. But nevertheless I read鈥� (148).