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markgoodyer's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoy Flanagan’s writing, there is a depth and elegance to it that draws me in like few others, this alone saved this book for dipping below 3 stars in my humble, questionably educated opinion.
It started strong but I found it sprawled out into something a little too ridiculous and with great effort a conclusion was Frankensteined together from prior monologues.
It lost me about halfway through and although I got through the back end of the book felt like work then the sheer enjoyment I got from Flanagan’s other works.
Perhaps I was not in the right mind frame for this book however as there is a lot to unpack here but I feel at this point in time it wasn’t a cohesive read and I didn’t completely buy into the narrative. (And rightly so as it turns out!)
It started strong but I found it sprawled out into something a little too ridiculous and with great effort a conclusion was Frankensteined together from prior monologues.
It lost me about halfway through and although I got through the back end of the book felt like work then the sheer enjoyment I got from Flanagan’s other works.
Perhaps I was not in the right mind frame for this book however as there is a lot to unpack here but I feel at this point in time it wasn’t a cohesive read and I didn’t completely buy into the narrative. (And rightly so as it turns out!)
eloisalou's review against another edition
Este livro está em standby. Acho que vou ter de o começar de novo pois já há muito que não lhe pego.
Não desisti, está só à espera de melhor humor em relação à escrita!
Não desisti, está só à espera de melhor humor em relação à escrita!
avidreadr's review against another edition
5.0
To this day, may still be my favorite of Flanagan's books
meeshsassycat's review against another edition
5.0
Epic amazing but confusing. If you want to read a book that you can follow, don't read this one. If you want to read a book that feels like pure poetry and wisdom, then read this.
cjt64's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
amotisse's review against another edition
4.0
This really is something quite different and wonderful.
From the amusingly cheeky Irish accent to the narrator’s shenanigans,
Something to indulge in and enjoy.
From the amusingly cheeky Irish accent to the narrator’s shenanigans,
Something to indulge in and enjoy.
briandice's review against another edition
5.0
If, like Gould, we gaze into life’s ocean and paint what we sea, will the fish be like us, the fish be like me?
The answer is yes.
When, like Gould, we search for the hero to our history, the savior of our story and find that files were god’s joke on memory and that beauty is life’s revolt against life, is it ok, like Percy Shelly, to pause and reflect that we were injured, and that means memory?
The answer is yes.
When we realize that definitions belong to the definer, not the defined; when we come to the comforting conclusion that books are the tongue of divine wisdom, and that, by definer’s definition, means they are nothing more than follies destined forever to be misunderstood, may we at least come to the place, like Gould, where we recognize that the flashpoint of event to memory is anything but truth?
Now we are asking the right question.
The answer is yes.
When, like Gould, we search for the hero to our history, the savior of our story and find that files were god’s joke on memory and that beauty is life’s revolt against life, is it ok, like Percy Shelly, to pause and reflect that we were injured, and that means memory?
The answer is yes.
When we realize that definitions belong to the definer, not the defined; when we come to the comforting conclusion that books are the tongue of divine wisdom, and that, by definer’s definition, means they are nothing more than follies destined forever to be misunderstood, may we at least come to the place, like Gould, where we recognize that the flashpoint of event to memory is anything but truth?
Now we are asking the right question.
sylviaisme's review against another edition
2.0
Ho trovato questo libro di una pesantezza non indifferente. È partito con una premessa molto interessante anche se dopo la prima cinquantina di pagine ho avuto difficoltà a seguire sia la storia di Gould che lo stile stesso con cui è narrata, il quale nulla ha a che vedere con uno scritto che invece dovrebbe risalire al 1830 o giù di lì.
Di Flanagan avevo già letto "La strada stretta verso il profondo Nord" ma con questo libro ho avuto la conferma che il suo stile narrativo non fa per me: ho avuto spesso la sensazione che la scrittura fosse eccessivamente autoreferenziale e ridondante di dettagli ed espedienti stilistici che volessero più che altro conquistare il lettore inducendolo a credere di avere davanti uno scrittore di talento. La narrazione, soprattutto verso gli ultimi capitoli, mi è sembrata soltanto una prova di scrittura creativa tutt'altro che efficace.
Inoltre, durante la lettura, non ho provato particolare interesse ad approfondire le vicende dei vari personaggi di cui narra Gould né quella dello stesso protagonista, che invece avrebbe dovuto rappresentare il vero focus della mia attenzione, ma che ho portato a termine solo per sapere come si sarebbe conclusa.
Di Flanagan avevo già letto "La strada stretta verso il profondo Nord" ma con questo libro ho avuto la conferma che il suo stile narrativo non fa per me: ho avuto spesso la sensazione che la scrittura fosse eccessivamente autoreferenziale e ridondante di dettagli ed espedienti stilistici che volessero più che altro conquistare il lettore inducendolo a credere di avere davanti uno scrittore di talento. La narrazione, soprattutto verso gli ultimi capitoli, mi è sembrata soltanto una prova di scrittura creativa tutt'altro che efficace.
Inoltre, durante la lettura, non ho provato particolare interesse ad approfondire le vicende dei vari personaggi di cui narra Gould né quella dello stesso protagonista, che invece avrebbe dovuto rappresentare il vero focus della mia attenzione, ma che ho portato a termine solo per sapere come si sarebbe conclusa.
traceyo's review against another edition
4.0
Truthfully, I almost gave up on it a couple of times--partly because I had trouble engaging with the narrative's thick Australian dialect and partly because the story itself just didn't grab a hold of my imagination. I wanted to care about Gould, but he didn't make it easy.
I persevered; it was important for the purposes of my research. I wanted to explore Flanagan's magical realism at play in the wilderness as environmental literature. And so it was, when Gould finally emerges from his watery prison cell to traverse all things wild, that I found myself enjoying his observations and reflections a lot more. Here's one of my favourites:
"Stories as written are progressive, sentence must build upon sentence as brick upon brick, yet the beauty of this life in its endless mystery is circular. Sun & moon, spheres endlessly circling. Black man, full circle; white man, bisected circle; life, the third circle, on & on, round & round."
Gould's story challenges what he asserts here and then circles back on itself. I could keep writing about it, creating more circles in the process, but I'll leave it there, rather than risk spoilers.
I persevered; it was important for the purposes of my research. I wanted to explore Flanagan's magical realism at play in the wilderness as environmental literature. And so it was, when Gould finally emerges from his watery prison cell to traverse all things wild, that I found myself enjoying his observations and reflections a lot more. Here's one of my favourites:
"Stories as written are progressive, sentence must build upon sentence as brick upon brick, yet the beauty of this life in its endless mystery is circular. Sun & moon, spheres endlessly circling. Black man, full circle; white man, bisected circle; life, the third circle, on & on, round & round."
Gould's story challenges what he asserts here and then circles back on itself. I could keep writing about it, creating more circles in the process, but I'll leave it there, rather than risk spoilers.