modeste's review against another edition
2.0
* * Als het al ooit een hoogvlieger was dan heeft het naar mijn mening de tand des tijds niet doorstaan.
ellies_shelf's review against another edition
5.0
This is Carson McCullers at her best, writing about society & prejudice in the American South of the early 1950s. Her wit is incisive enough to pierce through all of her (interestingly male) main characters. The 'clock without hands' in the title is explicitly referenced by JT Malone, one of the four main characters, a pharmacist who is diagnosed with terminal illness and feels as if he is watching a clock without hands as he waits for his own death; however, the symbol can also be applied to the other three men and to the atmosphere of sluggish Milan, Georgia where the novel is set.
The South is on the cusp of major change with the federal government pressuring for desegregation. Fox Clane, an all-but-retired congressman weakened by a stroke and diabetes, essentially wants to turn back the clock by bringing back Confederate currency, demanding reparations for the abolition of slavery and fiercely opposing integration; his schemes are cast in a pathetic light by his grandson, Jester, and met with anger by his young Black 'amanuensis', Sherman Pew. The seventeen-year-old Jester (who states towards the beginning of the novel that he no longer believes in white supremacy) is looking back into the past to try to uncover the secret of his father's suicide & watching the clock until his future takes him out of the town where he has spent his childhood. Sherman is also constantly waiting for something to change his existence: an orphan, he fantasises about his mother being a famous singer & towards the end of the novel feels a nagging urge to do something, do something, do something.
Like a clock without hands, the novel itself has little regard for conventional pacing and chapters skip forward through seasons with scant signposting. The ending leaves questions about whether change is possible in the Southern town - whether the clock is going to tick forward into the future or stay stuck in the present.
The South is on the cusp of major change with the federal government pressuring for desegregation. Fox Clane, an all-but-retired congressman weakened by a stroke and diabetes, essentially wants to turn back the clock by bringing back Confederate currency, demanding reparations for the abolition of slavery and fiercely opposing integration; his schemes are cast in a pathetic light by his grandson, Jester, and met with anger by his young Black 'amanuensis', Sherman Pew. The seventeen-year-old Jester (who states towards the beginning of the novel that he no longer believes in white supremacy) is looking back into the past to try to uncover the secret of his father's suicide & watching the clock until his future takes him out of the town where he has spent his childhood. Sherman is also constantly waiting for something to change his existence: an orphan, he fantasises about his mother being a famous singer & towards the end of the novel feels a nagging urge to do something, do something, do something.
Like a clock without hands, the novel itself has little regard for conventional pacing and chapters skip forward through seasons with scant signposting. The ending leaves questions about whether change is possible in the Southern town - whether the clock is going to tick forward into the future or stay stuck in the present.
bfmermer's review against another edition
4.0
Merkezinde ölüm ve ırkçılık olan ama didaktik olmadan birçok konuya değinen, çok güzel yazılmış bir roman Kadransız Saat.
Hikaye 1950'lerde, Amerika'nın güneyindeki hayali Milan kasabasında geçiyor. Dört ana karakterimiz var: daha kitabın ilk cümlelerinde öleceğini öğrendiğimiz 40 yaşındaki eczacı Malone, vaktiyle Amerikan senatosunda yer almış ama artık 85'ine gelmiş Yargıç Clane, yargıcın 17 yaşındaki torunu Jester ve bir de Jester'la yaşıt olan siyahi Sherman. Hepsi de oldukça iyi yazılmış, tam olarak iyi ya da kötü diyemeyeceğimiz, en önemlisi de iç dünyaları bize çok iyi yansıtılan karakterler.
Kitabın temel meselesi ırkçılık olsa da bu zaten çok fazla okuyup izlediğimiz bir mesele olduğu için yazarın ölümle ilgili söyledikleri daha çok ilgimi çekti benim. Karakterlerden biri ölümcül bir hastalığa sahip, biri çok yaşlı, birinin -torun- babası intihar etmiş ve sonuncu ise ten renginden dolayı zaten ölüme çok yakın yaşamış hep. Bütün karakterlerin ölümle böyle içli dışlı olması ve bu konuda yaptıkları muhakemeleri okumak çok etkileyiciydi. Bir de McCullers'ın muhteşem bir kalemi olunca iyice keyif verdi okuması.
Kitabın ilginç bulduğum bir özelliği de bir kadın yazar tarafından yazılmış "erkekler" romanı olması. Bütün ana karakterler erkek, hatta düzenli olarak bahsedilen iki kadın karakter var galiba -Malone'un karısı ve Yargıcın hizmetçisi-. Bu iki karakter de güçlü kadınlar olarak görünse de kitabın ele aldığı meselelerle ilgili düşüncelerini çok fazla duyamamamız üzücü. Ancak bir kadın yazarın farklı yaşlarda erkek karakterleri bu kadar başarılı yazmış olması ise hayranlık uyandırıcı.
Ben Kadransız Saat'i çok, hatta umduğumdan daha fazla sevdim. Carson McCullers'ın kısa hayatında yazdığı son romanmış bu. Bitirince hemen ilk kitabı Yalnız Bir Avcıdır Yürek'i de aldım, kısa sürede okuyacağım tüm eserlerini.
Hikaye 1950'lerde, Amerika'nın güneyindeki hayali Milan kasabasında geçiyor. Dört ana karakterimiz var: daha kitabın ilk cümlelerinde öleceğini öğrendiğimiz 40 yaşındaki eczacı Malone, vaktiyle Amerikan senatosunda yer almış ama artık 85'ine gelmiş Yargıç Clane, yargıcın 17 yaşındaki torunu Jester ve bir de Jester'la yaşıt olan siyahi Sherman. Hepsi de oldukça iyi yazılmış, tam olarak iyi ya da kötü diyemeyeceğimiz, en önemlisi de iç dünyaları bize çok iyi yansıtılan karakterler.
Kitabın temel meselesi ırkçılık olsa da bu zaten çok fazla okuyup izlediğimiz bir mesele olduğu için yazarın ölümle ilgili söyledikleri daha çok ilgimi çekti benim. Karakterlerden biri ölümcül bir hastalığa sahip, biri çok yaşlı, birinin -torun- babası intihar etmiş ve sonuncu ise ten renginden dolayı zaten ölüme çok yakın yaşamış hep. Bütün karakterlerin ölümle böyle içli dışlı olması ve bu konuda yaptıkları muhakemeleri okumak çok etkileyiciydi. Bir de McCullers'ın muhteşem bir kalemi olunca iyice keyif verdi okuması.
Kitabın ilginç bulduğum bir özelliği de bir kadın yazar tarafından yazılmış "erkekler" romanı olması. Bütün ana karakterler erkek, hatta düzenli olarak bahsedilen iki kadın karakter var galiba -Malone'un karısı ve Yargıcın hizmetçisi-. Bu iki karakter de güçlü kadınlar olarak görünse de kitabın ele aldığı meselelerle ilgili düşüncelerini çok fazla duyamamamız üzücü. Ancak bir kadın yazarın farklı yaşlarda erkek karakterleri bu kadar başarılı yazmış olması ise hayranlık uyandırıcı.
Ben Kadransız Saat'i çok, hatta umduğumdan daha fazla sevdim. Carson McCullers'ın kısa hayatında yazdığı son romanmış bu. Bitirince hemen ilk kitabı Yalnız Bir Avcıdır Yürek'i de aldım, kısa sürede okuyacağım tüm eserlerini.
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
2.0
Set at just before the end of segregation in the American South, this novel follows the interconnecting lives of four men in a small town. JT Malone, a white pharmacist, who is dying of leukemia, The Judge, an elderly racist lawyer and former congressman, his grandson, Jester, a white liberal, and Sherman, an intelligent, disaffected Black orphan. All these characters are unpleasant, unhappy men, the Judge most of all, and throughout I struggled to see what McCullers was trying to do with them. There are moments that remind of what I loved about other novels of hers, but overall I struggled to see what held this book together, and what McCullers was trying to show us. The characterisations are well fleshed out, but the story doesn't work.
mendelbot's review against another edition
5.0
Another great novel by a great writer. She has once again created characters that are at once grotesque and perfectly human in their hopes and failures. Like "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," this novel is tinged with heartbreak that never wallows in sentimentality. The only reservation, and really it's so piddling it hardly warrants mentioning, is that the novel is too short. At times the storytelling feels rushed and some of the incidents are not fully fleshed out. But who cares? It's still a great book.
mxjoebest's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
veronicacanread's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
milesjmoran's review against another edition
5.0
All Sherman's life he had thought that all white men were crazy, and the more prominent their positions the more lunatic were their words and behaviour. In this matter, Sherman considered he had the sober ice-cold truth on his side. The politicians, from governors to congressmen, down to sheriffs and wardens, were alike in their bigotry and violence. Sherman brooded over every lynching, bombing or indignity that his race had suffered. In this Sherman had the vulnerability and sensitivity of an adolescent. Drawn to brooding on atrocities, he felt that every evil was reserved for him personally. So he lived in a stasis of dread and suspense.
I fell in love with Carson McCullers when I read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter a few years ago, and she equally stunned me with her novel The Member of the Wedding. However, I wasn't massively impressed when I read her short story collection The Ballad of the Sad Cafe last year, so I did have a handful of apprehensions when picking this book up.
Clock Without Hands follows four men - Malone, a pharmacist who has just been diagnosed with leukaemia, Fox Clane, an elderly judge, Jester, the Judge's grandson, and Sherman Pew, a young black man with blue eyes who was abandoned as a child in a church pew. The novel looks at how their stories intertwine with one another and how, blighted by ignorance, they inflict harm on one another, be it in the form of cutting words or searing bigotry.
The quote on the back of my edition is from the playwright, Tennessee Williams, who writes: "She (McCullers) has examined the heart of man with an understanding that no other writer can hope to surpass", which encapsulates my feelings perfectly. McCullers understands how people work and she somehow depicts the innermost workings of the human heart and mind in such a truthful, utterly real way. She allows her characters to be ugly, permits them to commit terrible acts and yet you never feel that she is outright condemning them. She lets her readers see the ruin within these people, the way they are battered and bruised, but she never does this in order to cleanse or redeem them. She just writes honestly and it's hard not to give your heart over to her stories.
Carson McCullers reached into my chest and bruised my heart and I am 100% thankful to her for that. She was such a beautiful writer and I don't think anyone can do what she does...McCullers was a true talent.
I fell in love with Carson McCullers when I read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter a few years ago, and she equally stunned me with her novel The Member of the Wedding. However, I wasn't massively impressed when I read her short story collection The Ballad of the Sad Cafe last year, so I did have a handful of apprehensions when picking this book up.
Clock Without Hands follows four men - Malone, a pharmacist who has just been diagnosed with leukaemia, Fox Clane, an elderly judge, Jester, the Judge's grandson, and Sherman Pew, a young black man with blue eyes who was abandoned as a child in a church pew. The novel looks at how their stories intertwine with one another and how, blighted by ignorance, they inflict harm on one another, be it in the form of cutting words or searing bigotry.
The quote on the back of my edition is from the playwright, Tennessee Williams, who writes: "She (McCullers) has examined the heart of man with an understanding that no other writer can hope to surpass", which encapsulates my feelings perfectly. McCullers understands how people work and she somehow depicts the innermost workings of the human heart and mind in such a truthful, utterly real way. She allows her characters to be ugly, permits them to commit terrible acts and yet you never feel that she is outright condemning them. She lets her readers see the ruin within these people, the way they are battered and bruised, but she never does this in order to cleanse or redeem them. She just writes honestly and it's hard not to give your heart over to her stories.
Carson McCullers reached into my chest and bruised my heart and I am 100% thankful to her for that. She was such a beautiful writer and I don't think anyone can do what she does...McCullers was a true talent.
vuch's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75