Who feels like opening the discussion?
From what we have commented on previous posts (and from some emails that have been exchanged), we can extract that there are a lot of mixed feelings about the story, the characters, and about the book itself.
Reading and Sharing around the Globe
Hey to all!
ReplyDeleteI finished the book this week after very intensive reading since I had fallen way behind schedule (to be fair, my comments may be influenced by my fast-pace reading). My overall impression is.. a masterpiece? I definitely do not think so - sorry Jorge :)
An interesting book - yes, a strong story on social injustice, poverty, religion, fanaticism, journalism, politics, love - yes. But, sorry, isn't that a bit much for one poor book to bear? It's probably just me but I felt it was just too much.. too many characters, to many stories, too many horrible battle scenes (oh, definitely too many of that). I agree with Rocio (and don’t mind correcting Llosa – he’s only human too after all :)), it could be even 200 pages shorter, especially the last part. I guess my point is that I recognize the importance of the issues raised in the book, many of them touched me and made me think, but it was a book I did not really enjoy reading in the end.. I got fed up with it and was happy when it was over!
One question for you, since I did not have the chance to discuss this before: I take Galileo Gal’s character to be completely ironic – he thinks of himself as a fighter for the poor, and in the end not only he doesn’t ever join them, but he gets used by dirty politicians like an idiot, turns into an oppressor (a rapist!!) himself, he ruins Rufino’s family – and he doesn’t care! I think of him as joke of a revolutionary, I just can’t take him seriously, and of course it makes me think about myself – how easy it is to talk and not ever do anything useful to change the world… Does anyone else think that?
All in all, I feel like I should re-read the book, there’s so much still to think about, but I’m sure I can not make myself go through it again!
best,
Fenia
sorry for the looong comment, I blame Mr. Llosa.. ;)
Great comment, Fenia. Too long? Nooo! Here comes mine… :)
ReplyDeleteI have liked reading the book, and as Arantxa, I am happy that the club put me to read it. Specially, I have liked sharing it and knowing your thoughts of such complex book. Now that I have finished, and that I am rethinking about it, I kind of appreciate it more.
I have liked the story, how is written and how it develops. I liked the different approaches and, as Monica, I liked the events' presentation from a variety of points of view. As some of you, I also found the last part the hardest to read. Too many battle passages for me. I am not saying that as a demerit of the book. It is just how I felt and what I like. At certain points I was not enjoying the great writing; I was just hoping to get to a next scene.
I found interesting how some of the characters look into their own deep feelings in extreme situations, like the journalist or Antonio Vilanova. I also liked the jumps in time. When I read about the death of The Counselor I was not sure what to expect from the following pages. I finished the book with the same initial feeling of not having a clear sense of what is behind and inside The Counselor. I was shocked by the narration gap in the last part of the battle, leaving the end to the reader's imagination. At the same time, I cannot think of a better end …- well, maybe that is why I am not a writer.
Finally, I love how Fenia describes Gallileo Gall. I could not agree more. I liked the character at the beginning, and as I read, the mockery was being revealed, just to get to an end that is nonsense and pointless according to all Gallileo Gall's beliefs.
I can see how reading the book again would make me rediscover it. However, I do not think I will find the will for it in the near future... I am enjoying much more discussing it with you all!
Arghhhh! I just wrote my comments and due to technical problems, the are not there! I will be back!!!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading them!
ReplyDeleteSo, I'm back. Yes, last night, I finished the book and I feel relieved. It was feeling like too much latetly. And yes, it raises interesting issues, social class disputes, the horrors of war, revolution and how everything stays the same. But, it is so terrible that actually, everything ended just like it began, Mr.Cañabrava still in position of power gets to own the maid, of course, nothing happens, the idealists die (even most of the fanatics die), and the mediocre, the journalist, survives, And that's killing me! The rat!
ReplyDeleteAll in all, I think I will need some time (a lot) until I decide to try another of Mr.Vargas Llosa's novels, but I'm happy I read this one and yes, it is very well written, but just too long for the action inside. Maybe it is done in purpose, so you feel lost inside, like the characters in Canudos, seeing no way out of the book!
Going for the next one.
The Rat! I agree, Rocio, this character really gets on my nerves... he is annoying all the way through!
ReplyDeleteI was surprised when he is talking to the Baron of Cañabrava and he says that he wants to work in order to help the Dwarf. Does that make him human? Although Vargas Llosa doesn't explain what their current relationship is.
I felt that the survival of the journalist, here so-called "the rat" :-), made sense in the story -- among the numerous things that do not make sense on a war context. I did not like the character at the beginning, and I spent sometime trying to figure out the reasons for his increasing prominent role. However, I liked (and I believed) in the progressive transformation of the character. How he became humble and "human" at the same time. And because of this, I felt that his love towards the dwarf was true... Maybe just what I wanted to believe, to get something nice out of so much misery
ReplyDeleteMacarena, I still don't like him, I would never trust someone like him! the rat! hahahaha
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of Monica de la Paz:
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see that the book has arisen confronted feelings of love and hate. And in fact passion is the thread of the story, not a healthy one: passion in politics, ideas, religion, love, behaviour… all brought to the extreme leads to wars, manipulation, possession, and finally destruction.
Yes, it’s not an easy piece to read. The author does not make the reading easy changing all time from narrator, going forward and backwards, being explicit in his descriptions and making us jump from feeling to feeling from disgust to sympathy or just not understanding what or why (Gall, the Baron, etc). But the true story itself is quite complex and it deserves a book of such characteristics. Can you believe this really happened and it has been purposely buried?
For me the 2nd part was the most boring with the description of how the Community was built, but it’s been mended in the 3rd and 4th. And the end is quite shocking, the “rat” survives but it gives hope and sense as Macarena says.
I must say I just loved it. It does not leave you indifferent after all. Great work.
MONICA P.