Hi girls - I don't really know what i'm doing with this whole blog thing... and my left side shift key doesn't work.... so sorry if there's weird capitalizations going on.
oh, and i've decided to try posting questions in individual blogs, so you'll have to do a new post to respond to each question. That way, if we only have time to respond to one, we can do that (fits better with my spurts of computer time, at least!). We'll see if it works... if not, please feel free to go back to the old formatting the next time around.
1. It seems from some of the recent emails going around, some of us have had rather vehement reactions to the book. What are your initial thoughts about Helprin's writing style, the characters, particular themes? Other general thoughts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
My general thoughts are mixed. I found the first two chapters very long-winded. I felt like Helprin was trying to do too much to get the reader into the story. That being said by the time I got to chapter three and beyond, I felt invested with the characters because I had stuck with it. I want to know what happens to them and maybe that is because I needed to be comitted to stay with this book.
ReplyDeleteAs to Helprin's writing style, I find it really dense. There seems to be an extraordinary attention to detail which is good at times and really annoying at others. Sometimes I just want him to get to the point.
I think when I finish this book, I will feel a sense of accomplishment which I don't usually feel when I finish books. I like that though because it feels like I have read someting that was meaty and perhaps full of some depth.
*disclaimer - I'm on page 603 so I'll try not to give anything away but since I'm so late commenting maybe it doesn't matter :-)*
ReplyDeleteI too thought it was a bit of a slog to get through the first couple of chapters. It's a bit like Charles Dickens that way, in the sense that the first 150 pages are always pretty rough and then all of a sudden you find you've committed to the characters and you HAVE to keep reading! That's what happened with this book.
The contrast between Alessandro (and can I just say I LOVE that name!!) as a crotchety old man and him as a young child - well, even more so as a young man - is profound. There is certainly a continuous thread woven through the book with the attention to aesthetics, but while as a young man (and this is more evident as you get through more of the book) he finds deep joy and peace and pleasure in beauty, it seems that as an old man it is more a balm that can soothe the wounds that he has gathered through his life - that he focuses on beauty not only for it's own sake, anymore, but to forget that which he has lived through.
I really like Alessandro as a character and have been a bit relieved as the book has gone forward that you know that he's alive as an old man! I was also grateful that Helprin stopped skipping between his "present" life and that of him as a child or a teenager, etc., and just let us read the story of his life.
As far as particular themes go, there's a point in the book where Alessandro goes to see a painting in Vienna (I think) that he thinks portrays a soldier in the midst of war with the contrast of a mother nursing her young child at her breast. I think that portrait is emblematic of the over-arching theme of the book; this contrast between aesthetic beauty and the ugliness of war. If you actually take a look at the painting, though, it seems a bit less profound than that... but then, I'm definitely not an art historian and am probably missing the significance! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Giorgione_019.jpg
I'm excited to finish the book :-)
I love that you posted a link to the painting, Meagan! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSo I am EXTREMELY late to this party, and I am sorry for that! But here we go....
ReplyDeleteI think we all agree that this was a bit of a hard book to get through, but worth it, right? Helprin seems to dance around the point of many parts with flourishes and fanciness, and I have often times only read a page because my mind can't handle that much detail. It was a hard first 100 pages or so. And I still think he sometimes goes into too much detail... I just want to know the story.
All that said... I think I love this book! I love Alesssandro (and yes, Meagan, I LOVE his name too!) and the way he looks at the world. I love that he sees beauty in everything. And I love that Helprin describes it all. The 21st century impatient side of me longs for the story to keep moving. But the 19th century romantic side of me loves that it lingers and waltzes around the story.
And I would agree with Meagan (although I'm not as far as you yet) that a big theme is contrasting the ugliness of war with the beauty of... Well, life. I'm not sure many people would be able to maintain a view of beauty after living through a war. But it's interesting to see how Helprin is weaving it all together. Beauty and garishness. I'm excited to keep reading!
Karissa, what do you think?
Ha, I think I win the lateness game on this one (unless Suz pops in here someday). But at this point perhaps just a pert, "I agree with you girls" would suffice?
ReplyDeleteI love his main character's name, the "flourishes and fancies" annoy a bit until you get into it (who knew a sentence could go on so long), and yes, the finding of beauty in everyday life is a good reminder.
Does anyone know anything about Helprin? Has he experienced war before?
I do wonder about what happens to people after they experience war. Perhaps it is a natural response to seek out beauty to block/replace the horror of what you went through...
I loved the woman Alessandro was falling in love with (the one he chased on his horse, I swooned) but I didn't quite understand why they couldn't be together. Maybe I was zoning out amidst all the adjectives...
I am not ready to give a love or hate judgement yet.