Middlemarch, Book 1 - Miss Brooke by George Eliot (Marian Evans)
Spoiler Alert: Plot Summary
I'll just tell you what I know so far. Middlemarch is the story of an eponymous small community in England laced with intertwined romances, the pursuit of knowledge, and an ever-tightening web of intricate relations. Our cast of characters begins with the Brooke family, the friendly uncle Mr. Brooke and his two nieces, Celia, and Dorothea. Dorothea is puritanical and (for some reason) highly sought-after, and Celia is younger, and a bit flightier (if you ask Dorothea). Dorothea gets engaged to the Reverend Edward Casaubon, a sallow elderly figure, much to her delight (and Celia's disgust) (and her uncle's disappointment). We are introduced to some ancillary characters in the Vincy family, a veritable Middlemarch establishment, including the very pretty Rosamond and her spendthrift brother Fred. Rosamond is instantly interested in the new town doctor, Mr. Lydgate, and Fred must prove to his uncle Mr. Featherstone that he is not gambling with the future prospects of his uncle's will (bad karma to spend imaginary money from your relative's yet-to-occur death!) in order to maintain any access to his expected inheritance. Our dear narrator has hinted that perhaps all will not be well with the seemingly destined Casaubon and Dorothea, but the plot is fresh yet. More to come!
Spoiler Over: Continue Here
I've decided to blog on each of the 8 books of Middlemarch. I could give you a reason, but I don't Have to - it's my blog, after all. ;) I think the book is too funny (and too well-written) to sum up in one post, and I highly doubt anyone would read one as long as a post on the whole 800+ pages would be.
So far I'm highly diverted by the book, and if anyone is looking for a witty and eloquent read, feel free to jump in and join me.
A few of my favorite spots so far:
Conversation between Dorothea upon their first meeting Mr. Casaubon:
Dorothea: Celia! He is one of the most distinguished-looking men I ever saw. He is remarkably like the portrait of Locke. He has the same deep eyesockets."
Celia: Had Locke those two white moles with hairs on them?" ha. that is Always what I look for in a man. deep EYEsockets and hairy moles!
Mr. Brooke, to Dorothea, on her decision to marry Casaubon:
"The fact is, I never loved anyone well enough to put myself into a noose for them. It is a noose, you know. Temper, now. There is temper. And a husband likes to be master." really sellling it, here, uncle!
On Mr. Casaubon coming to dine with the Brookes:
Celia: Is anyone else coming to dine besides Mr. Casaubon?
Dorothea: Not that I know of.
Celia: I hope there is someone else. Then I shall not hear him eat his soup so." hagh.
Exchange between Sir James Chettam (the handsome bachelor in town who is also sweet on Dorothea) and Mrs. Cadwallader, the town gossip and wife of the rector:
Sir James: Good God! It is horrible! He is not better than a mummy! [The point of view has to be allowed for as that of a blooming and disappointed rival.]
Mrs. Cadwallader: She says he is a great soul. A great bladder for dried peas to rattle in!
Sir James: What business has an old bachelor like that to marry! He has one foot in the grave.
Mrs. Cadwallader: He means to draw it out again, I suppose.
Mr. Casaubon, on singing (lest you wonder why I don't like him):
"I never could look on it in the light of a recreation to have my ears teased with measured noises."
Celia, imagining the pleasure of Sir James' house over Mr. Casaubon's:
"She thought of the white freestone, the pillared portico, and the terrace full of flowers, Sir James smiling above them like a prince issuing from his enchantment in a rose-bush, with a handkerchief swiftly metamorphosed from the most delicately odorous petals - Sir James, who talked so agreeably, always about things which had common sense in them, and not about learning!" hagh. if only men would just Pop out of the rose-bush with a handkerchief made of petals and speak sense!
During a conversation on a rather aimless family member of Mr. Casaubon's...
Dorothea: After all, people may really have in them some vocation which is not quite plain to themselves, may they not? They may seem idle and weak because they are growing. We should be very patient with each other, I think. Thank you, Dorothea! I couldn't agree more. I'm Growing. Be patient, please!
Mrs. Vincy, to her daughter, on the imminent death of her brother-in-law:
"He can't be long for this world, my dear; I wouldn't hasten his end, but what with asthma and that inward complaint, let us hope there is something better for him in another." ha!
Exchange between Rosamond and Fred (brother and sister):
Rosamond: Pray do not ask me this morning.
Fred: Why not this morning?
Rosamond: Really, Fred, I wish you would leave off playing the flute. A man looks very silly playing the flute. And you play so out of tune.
Fred: When next anyone makes love to you, Miss Rosamond, I will tell him how obliging you are.
Rosamond: Why should you expect me to oblige you by hearing you play the flute any more than I should expect you to oblige me by not playing it?
Fred: And why should you expect me to take you out riding?
This question led to an adjustment, for Rosamond had set her mind on that particular ride.
So Fred was gratified with nearly an hour's practice of 'Ar hyd y nos', 'Ye banks and braes,' and other favourite airs from his Instructor on the Flute; a wheezy performance, into which he threw much ambition and an irrepressible hopefulness.
Passages I particularly enjoyed:
-- Dorothea's opinion of a 'good' marriage:"The really delightful marriage must be that where your husband was a sort of father and could teach you even Hebrew if you wished it." yes of Course, Hebrew! any good match should involve some fatherly language tutelage!
--"Has anyone ever pinched into its pilulous smallness the cobweb of pre-matrimonial acquaintanceship?"
--"Dorothea by this time had looked deep into the ungauged reservoir of Mr. Casaubon's mind, seeing reflected there in vague labyrinthine extension every quality she herself brought, had opened much of her own experience to him, and had understood from him the scope of his great work, also of attractively labyrinthine extent." yes, Dorothea, dig in to that ungauged Reservoir! what a sexy reservoir.
--"But there was nothing of an ascetic's expression in her bright, full eyes as she looked before her, not consciously seeing, but absorbing into the intensity of her mood the solemn glory of the afternoon with its long swathes of light between the far-off rows of limes, whose shadows touched each other."
--"We mortals, men and women, devour many a disappointment between breakfast and dinnertime, keep back the tears and look a little pale about the lips, and in answer to inquiries say, 'Oh, nothing!' Pride helps us, and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts - not to hurt others."
--"Mr. Cadwallader was a large man with full lips and a sweet smile; very plain and rough in his exterior, but with that solid, imperturbable ease and good humour which is infections, and like great grassy hills in the sunshine, quiets even an irritated egoism and makes it rather ashamed of itself."
--"Destiny stands by sarcastic with our dramatis personae folded in her hand."
--Mr. Featherstone, to his nephew Fred, on bringing his sister books to read: "That's enough for one day, I should think. I can't abide to see her reading to herself. You mind and not bring her any more books, do you hear?' hehehehehe. can't STAND to see her reading to herself! how Awful!
Can't stop me from reading more Beginningapril! Off I go!
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Come aboard if your destination is oblivion.
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Spoiler Alert: Plot Summary
I started writing out bullet points for myself to keep track of the story, and when I looked back, I thought it made a poignant (if rather succinct) summary. But I like doing this first line, so I'll do it first - Life of Pi is a young boy's story of adventure, heartache, loss, and rediscovery. If you haven't heard of it, it is probably not about what you think it is about. (hint: no geometry skills required!)
Here goes!
Spoiler Over: Continue Here
Did you like that? It's over quite quickly, isn't it? Thoughts, in no real order...
-Useless chapter markings - Apparently the author wanted exactly 100 chapters (I know this because he pointed it out at one point in the book) which I thought a bit odd because I found the chapter markings to be completely meaningless. Often they were very short, occasionally they represented a time change, but all in all, not my favorite use of chapter delineations, and I'm not sure what the obsession with 100 was. Now if there were exactly 3.14....
-On Pi's father's switch from the hotel industry to zookeeping - "A natural transition, you might think. Not so. In many ways, running a zoo is a hotelkeeper's worst nightmare. Consider: the guests never leave their rooms; they expect not only lodging but full board; they receive a constant flow of visitors, some of whom are noisy and unruly. One has to wait until they saunter to their balconies, so to speak, before one can clean their rooms, and then one has to wait until they tire of the view and return to their rooms before one can clean their balconies; and there is much cleaning to do, for the guests are as unhygienic as alcoholics. Each guest is very particular about his or her diet, constantly complains about the slowness of the service, and never, ever tips. To speak frankly, many are sexual deviants, either terribly repressed and subject to explosions of frenzied lasciviousness or openly depraved, in either case regularly affronting management with gross outrages of free sex and incest. Are these the sorts of guests you would want to welcome to your inn?" heh. heh. heh.
-In case you're wondering, Monsieur Pi Patel gives himself the nickname because he was named after the French word for a pool (piscine) and, can you guess what the boys like to change piscine to? Here's a hint - it starts with p and rhymes with hissing. Ohh, little rapscallious boys ;)
-On the abominable habits of zoo visitors: "Just beyond the ticket booth Father had painted on a wall in bright red letters the question: DO YOU KNOW WHICH IS THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL IN THE ZOO? An arrow pointed to a small curtain. There were so many eager, curious hands that pulled at the curtain that we had to replace it regularly. Behind it was a mirror."
-Things I was Not a particular fan of: (1) the multi-layered time construct to tell the story. The story was told through a series of flashbacks and flashforwards that mostly left me confused, rather than appropriately mystified to see what was next. Perhaps if it had been done a bit more carefully I would have liked it? If you can't really pick up on what's happening in the flashforwards, you end up having to re-read the book (which is basically like putting a movie trailer for your own movie in the middle of the movie. Snobbish.) (2) the slightly "holier than thou" tone of the religious portions. I enjoyed the role religion played in Pi's life, but I was a bit offended by the narrator's presumption that we're all "coming back to religion" at some point in our lives. Perhaps some of us simply don't take to it, Pi. It's not a boomerang!
-On killing a Dorado fish and watching it change color (yes, Do look it up! it's Crazy looking!) - "I felt I was beating a rainbow to death."
-The banana incident - This was one of my favorite scenes in the book. These Japanese officers come to interview Pi to find out what happened with the ship (since Pi was the only survivor) and they have some trouble believing Pi's story, particularly the early events where he passes by some floating bananas just after the ship has sunk. Here's a tidbit:
"Mr. Patel, we don't believe your story."
"I'm amazed. Why not?"
"It doesn't hold up."
"What do you mean?"
"Bananas don't float." of all the crazy parts of Pi's story (ahem, carnivorous island!) this is the one they take issue with.
"Yes, they do."
"They're too heavy."
"No, they're not. Here. Try for yourself. I have two bananas right here." Pi has been hoarding food in his hospital bed.
"In Japanese: Where did those come from? What else does he have under his bedsheet?"
"No, that's all right."
"There's a sink over there."
"That's fine."
"I insist. Fill that sink with water, drop these bananas in, and we'll see who's right."
"We'd like to move on."
"I absolutely insist."
[Silence]
[Sound of a chair being pushed back. Distant sound of water gushing out of a tap]
"What's happening? I can't see from here."
"I'm filling the sink."
"Have you put the bananas in yet?"
"No."
"And now?"
"They're in."
"And?"
"In Japanese: "Are they floating? They're floating."
"So, are they floating?"
"They're floating."
"Could I have my bananas back now, please?" heh heh heh.
Passages I particularly enjoyed:
-- "But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud."
-- "It was on my own, a guilty pleasure, that I returned to the sea, beckoned by the mighty waves that crashed down and reached for me in humble tidal ripples, gentle lassos that caught their willing Indian boy." on being taught how to swim in a pristine pool, and then "slumming it" in the ocean ;)
--"The riot of flowers is incessant."
--"It was after school that I discovered in a leisurely way what it's like to have an elephant search your clothes in the friendly hope of finding a hidden nut, or an orang-utan pick through your hair for tick snacks, its wheeze of disappointment at what an empty pantry your head is." an empty pantry inDeed!
--"Until it knows its rank for certain, the animal lives a life of unbearable anarchy."
--"I knew very little about the religion. It had a reputation for few gods and great violence." on Christianity
--"I owe to Hinduism the original landscape of my religious imagination, those towns and rivers, battlefields and forests, holy mountains and deep seas where gods, saints, villains, and ordinary people rub shoulders, and, in doing so, define who and why we are."
--"The sun was beginning to pull the curtains on the day. It was a placid explosion of orange and red, a great chromatic symphony, a colour canvas of supernatural proportions..."
--"At moments of wonder, it is easy to avoid small thinking, to entertain thoughts that span the universe, that capture both thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far."
--When the Japanese officers ask for the "real" story: "I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality."
I don't know whether this one will live on as a classic, but I think it definitely stands a better chance than some of the other contemporary fiction on this list. A nice blend of some lovely prose and a good tale - worth the read if you have the time and inclination.
I'll end with one of my other favorite lines -- "Now I will turn miracle into routine."
Off I go, to turn grad school miracle after grad school miracle into routine! Onwards to Endslog. Or was it Beginningtramp? I'll think of it one of these days...
Spoiler Alert: Plot Summary
I started writing out bullet points for myself to keep track of the story, and when I looked back, I thought it made a poignant (if rather succinct) summary. But I like doing this first line, so I'll do it first - Life of Pi is a young boy's story of adventure, heartache, loss, and rediscovery. If you haven't heard of it, it is probably not about what you think it is about. (hint: no geometry skills required!)
Here goes!
- Zoo; Pondicherry; India; Home, Family
- Religion - Muslim - Hindu - Christian
- Selling animals - cargo ship TsimTsum
- Ship sinks; family dies
- Hyena eats zebra; hyena eats orangutan; Richard Parker eats hyena
- Long trip for Richard Parker and Pi
- Pi loses eyesight
- Odd man; dies/eaten by Richard Parker
- Weird carnivorous island
- Return to the ocean
- Mexico
- Story to disbelieving but polite Japanese
- Canada
Spoiler Over: Continue Here
Did you like that? It's over quite quickly, isn't it? Thoughts, in no real order...
-Useless chapter markings - Apparently the author wanted exactly 100 chapters (I know this because he pointed it out at one point in the book) which I thought a bit odd because I found the chapter markings to be completely meaningless. Often they were very short, occasionally they represented a time change, but all in all, not my favorite use of chapter delineations, and I'm not sure what the obsession with 100 was. Now if there were exactly 3.14....
-On Pi's father's switch from the hotel industry to zookeeping - "A natural transition, you might think. Not so. In many ways, running a zoo is a hotelkeeper's worst nightmare. Consider: the guests never leave their rooms; they expect not only lodging but full board; they receive a constant flow of visitors, some of whom are noisy and unruly. One has to wait until they saunter to their balconies, so to speak, before one can clean their rooms, and then one has to wait until they tire of the view and return to their rooms before one can clean their balconies; and there is much cleaning to do, for the guests are as unhygienic as alcoholics. Each guest is very particular about his or her diet, constantly complains about the slowness of the service, and never, ever tips. To speak frankly, many are sexual deviants, either terribly repressed and subject to explosions of frenzied lasciviousness or openly depraved, in either case regularly affronting management with gross outrages of free sex and incest. Are these the sorts of guests you would want to welcome to your inn?" heh. heh. heh.
-In case you're wondering, Monsieur Pi Patel gives himself the nickname because he was named after the French word for a pool (piscine) and, can you guess what the boys like to change piscine to? Here's a hint - it starts with p and rhymes with hissing. Ohh, little rapscallious boys ;)
-On the abominable habits of zoo visitors: "Just beyond the ticket booth Father had painted on a wall in bright red letters the question: DO YOU KNOW WHICH IS THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL IN THE ZOO? An arrow pointed to a small curtain. There were so many eager, curious hands that pulled at the curtain that we had to replace it regularly. Behind it was a mirror."
-Things I was Not a particular fan of: (1) the multi-layered time construct to tell the story. The story was told through a series of flashbacks and flashforwards that mostly left me confused, rather than appropriately mystified to see what was next. Perhaps if it had been done a bit more carefully I would have liked it? If you can't really pick up on what's happening in the flashforwards, you end up having to re-read the book (which is basically like putting a movie trailer for your own movie in the middle of the movie. Snobbish.) (2) the slightly "holier than thou" tone of the religious portions. I enjoyed the role religion played in Pi's life, but I was a bit offended by the narrator's presumption that we're all "coming back to religion" at some point in our lives. Perhaps some of us simply don't take to it, Pi. It's not a boomerang!
-On killing a Dorado fish and watching it change color (yes, Do look it up! it's Crazy looking!) - "I felt I was beating a rainbow to death."
-The banana incident - This was one of my favorite scenes in the book. These Japanese officers come to interview Pi to find out what happened with the ship (since Pi was the only survivor) and they have some trouble believing Pi's story, particularly the early events where he passes by some floating bananas just after the ship has sunk. Here's a tidbit:
"Mr. Patel, we don't believe your story."
"I'm amazed. Why not?"
"It doesn't hold up."
"What do you mean?"
"Bananas don't float." of all the crazy parts of Pi's story (ahem, carnivorous island!) this is the one they take issue with.
"Yes, they do."
"They're too heavy."
"No, they're not. Here. Try for yourself. I have two bananas right here." Pi has been hoarding food in his hospital bed.
"In Japanese: Where did those come from? What else does he have under his bedsheet?"
"No, that's all right."
"There's a sink over there."
"That's fine."
"I insist. Fill that sink with water, drop these bananas in, and we'll see who's right."
"We'd like to move on."
"I absolutely insist."
[Silence]
[Sound of a chair being pushed back. Distant sound of water gushing out of a tap]
"What's happening? I can't see from here."
"I'm filling the sink."
"Have you put the bananas in yet?"
"No."
"And now?"
"They're in."
"And?"
"In Japanese: "Are they floating? They're floating."
"So, are they floating?"
"They're floating."
"Could I have my bananas back now, please?" heh heh heh.
Passages I particularly enjoyed:
-- "But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud."
-- "It was on my own, a guilty pleasure, that I returned to the sea, beckoned by the mighty waves that crashed down and reached for me in humble tidal ripples, gentle lassos that caught their willing Indian boy." on being taught how to swim in a pristine pool, and then "slumming it" in the ocean ;)
--"The riot of flowers is incessant."
--"It was after school that I discovered in a leisurely way what it's like to have an elephant search your clothes in the friendly hope of finding a hidden nut, or an orang-utan pick through your hair for tick snacks, its wheeze of disappointment at what an empty pantry your head is." an empty pantry inDeed!
--"Until it knows its rank for certain, the animal lives a life of unbearable anarchy."
--"I knew very little about the religion. It had a reputation for few gods and great violence." on Christianity
--"I owe to Hinduism the original landscape of my religious imagination, those towns and rivers, battlefields and forests, holy mountains and deep seas where gods, saints, villains, and ordinary people rub shoulders, and, in doing so, define who and why we are."
--"The sun was beginning to pull the curtains on the day. It was a placid explosion of orange and red, a great chromatic symphony, a colour canvas of supernatural proportions..."
--"At moments of wonder, it is easy to avoid small thinking, to entertain thoughts that span the universe, that capture both thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far."
--When the Japanese officers ask for the "real" story: "I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality."
I don't know whether this one will live on as a classic, but I think it definitely stands a better chance than some of the other contemporary fiction on this list. A nice blend of some lovely prose and a good tale - worth the read if you have the time and inclination.
I'll end with one of my other favorite lines -- "Now I will turn miracle into routine."
Off I go, to turn grad school miracle after grad school miracle into routine! Onwards to Endslog. Or was it Beginningtramp? I'll think of it one of these days...
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