Glad to see you reviewing this; one of my favourite books and definitely due for a re-read. Beautiful, beautiful ending. And I just adore the characters he writes. I love their flaws, their foibles and their humanity. The Corrections has many similarities to Freedom, but its just as compelling. I read Freedom first though, so I think it'll always be my favourite. Another great video, thank you the great content Cliff.
7 лет назад
The videos are getting better. Great job! But, am I the only one that actually misses the "John Waters quote" at the end?
Hi Cliff. I've been following you for a while and I think what you do here is great. I always come to your channel for reference or suggestions about what to read next. It seems to me that sound literary advice is very hard to come by these days. Thank you, and I hope you won't lose your enthusiasm.
Ana-Maria Petre As long as people like you keep watching and commenting, I'm pressing forward. Thank you for your support, great to hear you're getting a lot out of the show!
It's great to find someone who thinks about D H Lawrence the way I do. When i was very young, his books were all "must" books. If you hadn't read any of them or were not in the process of doing so, then you couldn't have a serious literary discussion.The exception at the time was Lady Chatterley's Lover which was banned. Later on, after the ban was lifted, a girlfriend lent it to me and I must say I enjoy it, the only D H Lawrence I have. Also, talking about freedom I like a quote from Isaac Singer. "We have to believe in free will, we have no choice!".
Excellent, entertaining review as usual. I read Franzen's The Corrections, an ambitious, in stretches super intense read (love triangle)...overall high quality enough that I will read Freedom. As far as D. H. Lawrence is concerned, I've never read anything but Lady Chatterley's Lover , but I thought it was an amazing read. Give it a try!
So happy to find your channel! I've been looking for something like that for years! Finally a "booktube" channel that suits my literary tastes! This comment is totally useless, just to express my joy
I am a HUGE DFW fan. I was slightly shocked you didn't like him, but I should've figured because you love Ellis so much. Anyways, I was curious if you have ever consider reviewing graphic novels for your channel. I love reading Chris Ware's graphic novels and many others, but I mentioned Chris Ware because I imagine he'd be the you're likeliest to review. He has created two masterpieces, Building Stories and Jimmy Corrigan, that have been nominated for many book awards; so I'm wanting to know what you consider a book and not a book. Is a book defined by the fact it is words on paper with a cover? If it is, then it would be an injustice to not consider Ware's graphic novels as books because he is one of the few great American authors we still have.
Better Than Food: Book Reviews Saramago's All the Names is one the best books I read this year. Highly recommended and I'll definitely be getting to more of his work.
Hey Cliff, here’s the Great American Novel from the African American perspective: Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man. I’d be curious about your thoughts on it compared to Richard Wright’s Native Son. I have hilariously noticed while most Black people I know love Ellison’s take, our Caucasian brethren tend to appreciate Native Son more... on topic I thought Freedom was essentially about gentrification
Why don't you like DFW? I'm not a fan of him as a person, but I do love his writing. Infinite Jest is one of the best books I've read, Oblivion being a close second. But to contextualize that 'one of the best books i've read realm', among them is: CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, The Corrections, A Tale of Two Cities, The Tin Drum, Maus, Daytripper, A Farewell to Arms, Heart of Darkness.
My friend, nice to see you are interested in philosophy. Trying to finish my dissertation on the concept of personhood in the phenomenology of Husserl. Did you yourself study it in the Uni? Those very basic, fundamental, almost aphoristic sort of dinner table discussions on philosophy are the worst, I had to learn to categorically deny any glimpse of that when it comes to visiting relatives. Sometimes it's best to leave Metaphysics for some other occasion, than family occasions. Learnt the hard way.
What do you think of New Sincerity? And would you characterize Franzen alongside people like Zadie Smith, Tao Lin and Dave Eggers, as part of the movement?
I don't know if someone's mentioned him, but would you be down for reviewing some José Saramago? Maybe Blindness or The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis (especially since it relates to Fernando Pessoa)
I'd put Huck Finn second and Gatsby third. The question I ask myself is this: which American work do we want to export to the world? what is our strongest literary contribution?
Been waiting all week for your latest video entry. I just bought this book last weekend at a discount book shop out in Nevada City. The city is great, has book shops and coffee houses, I recommend visiting if you find yourself in NortCal. I was commenting to my girlfriend that many fellow writers openly hate on Jonathan Franzen. I'm not sure why this is.
Man, I'm glad I'm not the only one who dislikes D.H. Lawrence. It's a shame because I wanted to like him (simply because I wanted to read Anais Nin's book on him). I could revisit to see if my opinion has changed but as you said "life is far too short to read bullshit or D.H. Lawrence". Haha thanks for another great review, I'll definitely pick this one up if I see it around. I enjoyed your commentary on placing restrictions on yourself -- I've never thought about freedom like that before, but it's very true. Keep up the great content!
Dear Master of belles-lettres, could you recommend any FEMALE author of short stories, contemporary with Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Clarice Lispector, Katherine Anne Porter, Caroline Blackwood or Patricia Highsmith?
Franzen is tremendous, now read The Corrections, it's even better than Freedom. The great American novel is Gravity's Rainbow or Blood Meridian or Moby Dick or The Sound and the Fury or Huckleberry Finn or Beloved or Underworld or To kill A Mockingbird or A Confederacy of Dunces or....... 20 other titles that come to mind, each one worthy in their own way. An impossible. The great Australian novel is Illywhacker by Peter Carey.
@@timkjazz than you so much for answering both of my comments. I'm hesitant about Franzen because everyone hates him now and that he's only a writer for white middle class American. I'm from Latin America, so my concern is that maybe I wouldn't be able to connect with his work
The hair's looking fucking slick in the video you old dog. Thanks for another book I have to buy just because you've reviewed it! Yet to be disappointed, just finished Stoner the other day
I finished Purity, Franzen's most recent novel, late September of this year. It was my first foray into his work, and I must say that I really wasn't impressed. I've heard that the reception to that book was lukewarm in comparison to his others, but certainly a very poor introduction to his work; it seemed thematically obvious, and while parts were very gripping I found the language and structure very predictable and bland. I've also heard that Franzen made a conscious decision to make the language of Purity far less flowery, simply telling a story the entire time, but the complexity of the narrative made that approach for me rather repetitive. Not a bad book by any means, certainly worth checking out for Franzen aficionados (though I'm sure they've either already read it or have it fairly high on their to-do list), and I will definitely be checking out Freedom or The Corrections in the near future, but I was just very disappointed by Purity.
Dylan Baldwin Agree. I'm glad I read Purity, but it was tiresome and so hard to like any of the characters. That's not necessarily a prerequisite to a good book, but it's tough to spend so much time and brainpower on abhorrent people. It was kind of...delicious, though, to hear Pip's mom's quirks. Wowee.
Not sure if thats true about humans being the only thing willfully able to sabotage itself, other animals have been thought/known to commit suicide, particularly those living in inhumane conditions from people.
1m2a3t4t5 insects commit suicide as well. I think the importance is the understanding of death, and sabotaging yourself knowing how it will all end. Animals don't have the same conscious understanding of death.
There is nothing like the Great American novel,the great french novel,the British novel etc.,It came I guess from USAs need in 19th century to catch up with European literature by creating 'American' classics.That obsession to a certain extent still persists.
Your vague animosity towards DFW that comes out only in little pieces in your book reviews reminds me of being at a large family get-together and bearing witness to a decades-long grudge between two aunts that I've never met before, I don't mean that in a bad way, it cracks me up lol
Loved most all of the authors and novels mentioned BUT it was disconcerting how not a single female or Asian- or African American author ever came up for consideration for "Great American novel", neither T. Morrison, Ursula K. LeGuin nor Percival Everett nor etc. ...it was flat out weird.
...but the 27th City and Purity are both awful, which is why I'm hesitant about wasting any more time on JF. Whereas any reluctance about DFW, rest assured, is entirely misplaced.
VertPimpin also; art- even great art, is not supposed to tell you how to live. anyone who thinks that simply doesnt understand art or is themselves a bad artist.
Awesome video! If you are looking for the great australian novel I would strongly recommend Wake in Fright By Kenneth Cook it's a super quick read and definitely in my top ten favourite books ever
Great video, really liking the way you're doing them now, even more than before. btw i'd appreciate a more extended review of Borges' Fictions. and a review of Naked Lunch
