“The future stands still, dear Mr. Kappus, but we move in infinite space” Franz Xaver Kappus was a young man dreaming of becoming a poet in the early 1903. A great admirer of the already accomplished poet R.M. Rilke, he wrote a letter asking for advice on how to become a poet. This book is 10 letters out of 6 years of correspondence. We read only Rilke’s answers to Mr. Kappus, but the answers are so universal and thorough that we do not need the […]
Which world would you choose?
“All it takes,” said Crake, “is the elimination of one generation. One generation of anything. Beetles, trees, microbes, scientists, speakers of French, whatever. Break the link in time between one generation and the next, and it’s game over forever.” We meet Snowman as he wakes up in a strange dystopian future. He sleeps in a tree, but he is not designed to live in this environment. The Crakers are. The crakers with their green eyes and their naked skin run up to Snowman and they […]
I paid attention to the hype
This book was the newest to me of all the books I have read. It’s just Jack and Ma in Room and they take vitamins and water plant and do phys ed. Jack talked like this and the book made it hard to read but good. We don’t know why Jack an Ma are in Room and in the beginning it doesn’t even matter. Slowly we learn of the world as Jack sees it, but being Outside (and grownup) we intepret and understand the things […]
In which I call the Giver a d*ck
Jonas lives in a world that is perfectly organised. And yet he is apprehensive because in December the Appointment Ceremony will take place. This is his 13th year and thus he will be appointed training for the task he will perform for the rest of his adulthood. But as Jonas’ friends receive regularly jobs he is passed over until, at last, he is given the task of “The Receiver”. The Receiver carries all memory from back and back and back. It is told that this is […]
And I don’t even like thrillers.
I often read books solely for the journey; to discover the landscape and follow the language that swirls characters to life before my eyes. So when I only give this book 3 stars it is because the language was severely lacking for me. It was pragmatic – often deftly switching in tone, but always in order to illustrate points about the various characters in the book; admitted it was well done, but also felt very conscious to me. This book I read for the plot. […]
The cat ran away.
I feel unsure what to say of this book. Toru Okada’s cat runs away and then he meets a bunch of people. That’s it. We cook spaghetti and we listen to his phone calls and lots and lots of people tell stories to him that we are subjected to listen to, never knowing whether this story will tie into the overall arch of finding the cat. His wife leaves him, but Toru Okada does little more than take the train and sit on a bench. […]