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clitbooks's review
4.0
a read intended for writers!! the prose is gentle, self conscious, smooth as the japanese writers do it and yet (excuse the kiwi-aussie comparison) australian in the way it adores and respects and loves the land.
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11. there’s a problem in telling a story. things have to come one at a time, as through a narrow gate. but in reality nothing is single… have patience, give me time, and i promise i will give you a story.
20. why not drink if you’re going to die? but i dont believe for a moment that im going to die. i just like the wine.
34. if his mind was the author of the fiction of the dream, why didnt his mind know how it was going to end? isn’t it wrong, then, to speak of one mind? on the evidence of this experience there must be at least two, one playing a dream trick on the other
47. she’s trying to rid herself not only of her body but of rational thought which is another kind of sleep
53. there are only philosophical problems at the point where language begins to fail
97. the sea’s breathing, his body relishing its weightlessness, his skin recovering its own life in the perfect water
107. I wake from these dreams of Auckland
127. you have to be very careful, he tells them, not to think that because there are two words, soul and mind, there are therefore two ‘things’ to match them.
130. a group of people could be talking about god. no word illustrates better how language can trap us. if a word gets into circulation and gets used a lot, we behave as if there must be something it refers to. it’s a lot like setting up a fundraising committee and then looking around for a charity to give the money to.
142. these linguistic riches
157. The pools are calm, and although the stream flows through them, dragging at leaves and reeds, the water is clear.
187. It's certainly not triumph. But not despair either.
It's something so neutral it's hard to be sure what it is.
Probably just acceptance, as a well-trained dog accepts when you chain it to its kennel for the night. It is, after all, quite a long chain, and an unusually well-appointed kennel.
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-1 star because for a novel titled “death of the body” it sure spends a lot of time in (almost petty) third-wave-feminist culture wars instead of its titular themes. impressive though- good form for a 1986 publication. nevertheless a beautiful, lovely read. to be pored over.
—
11. there’s a problem in telling a story. things have to come one at a time, as through a narrow gate. but in reality nothing is single… have patience, give me time, and i promise i will give you a story.
20. why not drink if you’re going to die? but i dont believe for a moment that im going to die. i just like the wine.
34. if his mind was the author of the fiction of the dream, why didnt his mind know how it was going to end? isn’t it wrong, then, to speak of one mind? on the evidence of this experience there must be at least two, one playing a dream trick on the other
47. she’s trying to rid herself not only of her body but of rational thought which is another kind of sleep
53. there are only philosophical problems at the point where language begins to fail
97. the sea’s breathing, his body relishing its weightlessness, his skin recovering its own life in the perfect water
107. I wake from these dreams of Auckland
127. you have to be very careful, he tells them, not to think that because there are two words, soul and mind, there are therefore two ‘things’ to match them.
130. a group of people could be talking about god. no word illustrates better how language can trap us. if a word gets into circulation and gets used a lot, we behave as if there must be something it refers to. it’s a lot like setting up a fundraising committee and then looking around for a charity to give the money to.
142. these linguistic riches
157. The pools are calm, and although the stream flows through them, dragging at leaves and reeds, the water is clear.
187. It's certainly not triumph. But not despair either.
It's something so neutral it's hard to be sure what it is.
Probably just acceptance, as a well-trained dog accepts when you chain it to its kennel for the night. It is, after all, quite a long chain, and an unusually well-appointed kennel.
—
-1 star because for a novel titled “death of the body” it sure spends a lot of time in (almost petty) third-wave-feminist culture wars instead of its titular themes. impressive though- good form for a 1986 publication. nevertheless a beautiful, lovely read. to be pored over.
cnythia's review
3.0
This is one I've read many times over the years. I did not enjoy it as much this time as I remember enjoying it before. Maybe I was too distracted by the pandemic etc to have the same engagement?
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