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ronanmcd's review against another edition
dark
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
4.0
It's not a book you enjoy. But it's a necessary book, especially in these times of global fearmongering against immigrants and descent into fascism.
I made some notes as I read:
I'm not sure what's going on. These huge paragraphs sprawl over pages, unbroken by dialogue. They traipse from character to character dissociating even in the middle of paragraphs and pinning their colours to another person.
I made some notes as I read:
I'm not sure what's going on. These huge paragraphs sprawl over pages, unbroken by dialogue. They traipse from character to character dissociating even in the middle of paragraphs and pinning their colours to another person.
It reads like set building. Maybe an old black and white movie, as this is a world of watch chains, concierges and hat wearing. A world of overcoats, wool suits and combination safes.
Everything is constructed by workmen who hide the poor foundations. It all has the appearance of function, but doors don't swing, rooms that we are assured will not appear in the narrative are not built. The tram only goes in an endless circle around the town square. A scene is being set.
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Even the cream cake is not real, it's plaster, as on a stage set.
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The world is a simulation, and we all play our parts, as set out in the script.
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The descent into fascism after an economic collapse forces an influx of immigrants. The student puts on a thick belt and forms a revolutionary guard. The baker supplies good for the refugees, finding such a government contract would allow him get rid of worthless flour. A pharmacist tries to get a government contract for medicine, arguing there's likely going to be dangerous disturbances with the immigrants incoming
-
Even the cream cake is not real, it's plaster, as on a stage set.
-
The world is a simulation, and we all play our parts, as set out in the script.
-
The descent into fascism after an economic collapse forces an influx of immigrants. The student puts on a thick belt and forms a revolutionary guard. The baker supplies good for the refugees, finding such a government contract would allow him get rid of worthless flour. A pharmacist tries to get a government contract for medicine, arguing there's likely going to be dangerous disturbances with the immigrants incoming
spaceisavacuum's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Once again, we return to the invisible. Do you believe everything you see? Some things that you see don’t exist at all. Some things you don’t see are visible on closer inspection, for example, a rip in a fabric. And what of the Tailor? “The tailor does not feel guilty if contempt souls the costumes.” The tailor is living his own truth.
“It is the backdrops that determine the look of the world; they give it a trustworthy face and bolster faith in its substantiality, in the belief that everything the eye sees actually exists.” If you draw a figure on a paper, or a backdrop on a canvas, if you write your name in ink- should what is divisible matter be real? The eyes see the questionable. We see a chicken leg 🍗 and it’s there, are sense of taste proves beyond a doubt that the chicken leg exists. Until it’s gone. And art? Is art eternal, if you put it down on paper is it lost?
“How painful it is to see plainly all the shortcomings of this world, its shabbiness and its inability to actually exist. I turn a blind eye to the true state of things.”
Magdalena Tulli’s books are like instruction manuals about how to write a character, and give him dimension. As you’re reading Tulli the stream-of-conscious delirium enfolds you in it’s quixotic, eccentric, and profound vicissitudes that you would not have otherwise perceived had you never read it. She’s one with a curious nature, thinking in the abstract participles and unbelief. Beneath every surface of the visible, lie the invisible, and the invisible lie that nothing is what it seems… in fact, is it always what it seems.
“It is the backdrops that determine the look of the world; they give it a trustworthy face and bolster faith in its substantiality, in the belief that everything the eye sees actually exists.” If you draw a figure on a paper, or a backdrop on a canvas, if you write your name in ink- should what is divisible matter be real? The eyes see the questionable. We see a chicken leg 🍗 and it’s there, are sense of taste proves beyond a doubt that the chicken leg exists. Until it’s gone. And art? Is art eternal, if you put it down on paper is it lost?
“How painful it is to see plainly all the shortcomings of this world, its shabbiness and its inability to actually exist. I turn a blind eye to the true state of things.”
Magdalena Tulli’s books are like instruction manuals about how to write a character, and give him dimension. As you’re reading Tulli the stream-of-conscious delirium enfolds you in it’s quixotic, eccentric, and profound vicissitudes that you would not have otherwise perceived had you never read it. She’s one with a curious nature, thinking in the abstract participles and unbelief. Beneath every surface of the visible, lie the invisible, and the invisible lie that nothing is what it seems… in fact, is it always what it seems.
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