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A review by cody240fc
Cigarettes by Harry Mathews
4.0
Perceptions, misunderstandings, miscommunication and intertwined relationships. All of these things affect each of us on a daily basis; probably more than we can appreciate. Mathews' novel explores these themes with a flourishing story line and a style that I have trouble describing. Mathew's is considered an experimentalist writer, but I believe that to be true about the structure of this novel rather than the prose itself. But I do love that prose. Just the slightest touch of humor here as well; really just a trace which fits perfectly with these characters he has created. I didn't love all of the characters though; could've done with less Lewis. Phoebe too. Ironically they are probably the two essential characters. They complicate the hell out of everything. But Maude, Elizabeth, Allan, Irene and Walter are all great.
I was surprised with the powerful ending. For some reason Mathews' style suggested he might make light of our silly tendencies. Instead he draws on the power of relationships and their longstanding impacts (or consequences). I need to read more Mathews.
A meaningful passage that I am really writing down for my own benefit; to remind my future self about Mathews talents:
I was only beginning to learn that the dead stay everlastingly present among us, taking the form of palpable vacancies that only disappear when, as we must, we take them into ourselves. We take the dead inside us; we fill their voids with our own substance; we become them. The living dead do not belong to a race of fantasy, they constitute the inhabitants of our earth. The longer we live, the more numerous the inviting holes death opens in our lives and the more we add to the death inside us, until at last we embody nothing else. And when we in turn die, those who survive embody us, the whole of us, our individual selves and the crowd of dead men and women we have carried within us.
I was surprised with the powerful ending. For some reason Mathews' style suggested he might make light of our silly tendencies. Instead he draws on the power of relationships and their longstanding impacts (or consequences). I need to read more Mathews.
A meaningful passage that I am really writing down for my own benefit; to remind my future self about Mathews talents:
I was only beginning to learn that the dead stay everlastingly present among us, taking the form of palpable vacancies that only disappear when, as we must, we take them into ourselves. We take the dead inside us; we fill their voids with our own substance; we become them. The living dead do not belong to a race of fantasy, they constitute the inhabitants of our earth. The longer we live, the more numerous the inviting holes death opens in our lives and the more we add to the death inside us, until at last we embody nothing else. And when we in turn die, those who survive embody us, the whole of us, our individual selves and the crowd of dead men and women we have carried within us.