Sons and Lovers - Prongs 12th Review

'To be rid of our individuality, which is our will, which is our effort—to live effortless, a kind of curious sleep—that is very beautiful...'

Sons and Lovers
D. H. Lawrence

As I am currently working my way down the Modern Library’s list of Top 100 books, I knew that soon or later it meant I had to tackle a work by D. H. Lawrence. As I had never heard rave reviews about his writing before, I will be honest in saying that I was not thrilled when I hit him on the list. Sons and Lovers was the first work I have read by D. H. Lawrence. It is his 3rd novel and is considered to be by most to be the novel that really pushed Lawrence into the literary lime light. The work was published in 1913 and for many, is considered to be autobiographical in nature. Sons and Lovers is a work that centers on the Morel’s; a middle class family trying to make ends meet in the early 1900’s. The children and the father work together much like a wheel, revolving completely and entirely around the love they feel for their mother.

The first half of the novel focuses aptly on the ‘Sons’, which are the backbone of the family unit. With a drunkard of a father, it is left to the three sons of the Morel family to provide and care for their mother in many ways that her inept husband never could. In opening, Ms. Morel finds herself becoming mentally and emotionally drawn to her middle son Paul, the son who was her intellectual and emotional match in every way. Paul, in response unconsciously develop what is one day known to many as an ‘oedipal’ complex, and as time progresses finds himself unable to break away from the psychological ties that hold him to his mother.

He leaned with his back against the side of the chimney-piece, his hands in his pockets. He was a big, raw-boned man, who looked as if he would go to the world’s end if he wanted to. But she saw the despair on his face.

This type of extreme attachment between Paul and his mother is what makes the second part of the book so intriguing and heartbreaking. Mrs. Morel’s son becomes a man and with that starts to feel unhinged by the fact that he cannot truly give his love to another woman, for a reason that he cannot seem to understand. Paul falls as deeply as he can in love with a wide-eyes girl named Miriam, but cannot resolve himself to let her possesses him fully. He also has a heated, passionate affair with a married woman; but both relations only satisfy him physically, and Paul can never truly find peace with another woman.

‘He had come back to his mother. Hers was the strongest tie in his life. When he thought round, Miriam shrank away. There was a vague, unreal feel about her. An nobody else mattered. There was one place in the world that stood solid and did not melt into unreality: the place where his mother was. Everybody else could grow shadowy, almost non-existent to him, but she could not. It was as if the pivot and pole of his life, from which he could not escape was his mother.’

And in some ways, who can blame him? If your soul is married to someone, in the ways that a body can never be… how could you expect to ever be at peace with another lover? Freud would have a field day with this one, but it is hard in the end not to sympathizes with the love that Paul can never realize.

While D. H. Lawrence does spin a beautiful yet heart sick tale of an impossible love, and a doomed man, he makes the time go by quickly with his beautiful prose and in-depth look into the psyche of the English middle-class, something that was groundbreaking for his time period. Although I was never rushing to pick up this book, it did go fast during the times that I sat down with it and has made me realize that I might have been a bit quick on judging ole D.H.

Make sure to check out in the next few days by reviews of Cat's Cradle, The Bell Jar and A Confederacy of Dunces!! Ah so much reading how exciting. As well, don't forget out to check out all the new quotes!! Have a wonderful day Marauders.

Sons and Lovers - Prongs 12th Review

'To be rid of our individuality, which is our will, which is our effort—to live effortless, a kind of curious sleep—that is very beautiful...'

Sons and Lovers
D. H. Lawrence

As I am currently working my way down the Modern Library’s list of Top 100 books, I knew that soon or later it meant I had to tackle a work by D. H. Lawrence. As I had never heard rave reviews about his writing before, I will be honest in saying that I was not thrilled when I hit him on the list. Sons and Lovers was the first work I have read by D. H. Lawrence. It is his 3rd novel and is considered to be by most to be the novel that really pushed Lawrence into the literary lime light. The work was published in 1913 and for many, is considered to be autobiographical in nature. Sons and Lovers is a work that centers on the Morel’s; a middle class family trying to make ends meet in the early 1900’s. The children and the father work together much like a wheel, revolving completely and entirely around the love they feel for their mother.

The first half of the novel focuses aptly on the ‘Sons’, which are the backbone of the family unit. With a drunkard of a father, it is left to the three sons of the Morel family to provide and care for their mother in many ways that her inept husband never could. In opening, Ms. Morel finds herself becoming mentally and emotionally drawn to her middle son Paul, the son who was her intellectual and emotional match in every way. Paul, in response unconsciously develop what is one day known to many as an ‘oedipal’ complex, and as time progresses finds himself unable to break away from the psychological ties that hold him to his mother.

He leaned with his back against the side of the chimney-piece, his hands in his pockets. He was a big, raw-boned man, who looked as if he would go to the world’s end if he wanted to. But she saw the despair on his face.

This type of extreme attachment between Paul and his mother is what makes the second part of the book so intriguing and heartbreaking. Mrs. Morel’s son becomes a man and with that starts to feel unhinged by the fact that he cannot truly give his love to another woman, for a reason that he cannot seem to understand. Paul falls as deeply as he can in love with a wide-eyes girl named Miriam, but cannot resolve himself to let her possesses him fully. He also has a heated, passionate affair with a married woman; but both relations only satisfy him physically, and Paul can never truly find peace with another woman.

‘He had come back to his mother. Hers was the strongest tie in his life. When he thought round, Miriam shrank away. There was a vague, unreal feel about her. An nobody else mattered. There was one place in the world that stood solid and did not melt into unreality: the place where his mother was. Everybody else could grow shadowy, almost non-existent to him, but she could not. It was as if the pivot and pole of his life, from which he could not escape was his mother.’

And in some ways, who can blame him? If your soul is married to someone, in the ways that a body can never be… how could you expect to ever be at peace with another lover? Freud would have a field day with this one, but it is hard in the end not to sympathizes with the love that Paul can never realize.

While D. H. Lawrence does spin a beautiful yet heart sick tale of an impossible love, and a doomed man, he makes the time go by quickly with his beautiful prose and in-depth look into the psyche of the English middle-class, something that was groundbreaking for his time period. Although I was never rushing to pick up this book, it did go fast during the times that I sat down with it and has made me realize that I might have been a bit quick on judging ole D.H.

Make sure to check out in the next few days by reviews of Cat's Cradle, The Bell Jar and A Confederacy of Dunces!! Ah so much reading how exciting. As well, don't forget out to check out all the new quotes!! Have a wonderful day Marauders.

Prongs - Fourth Review - Mother Night

Mother Night
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

Disclaimer: Let me start off by saying I am frankly appalled at myself for ignoring Vonnegut for this long. Honestly, there was just something about reading Slaughter House V when I was barely a teenager that just really turned me off to him. So instead of sucking it up and trying again, I simply ignored what is quite possibly one of the most influential writers of my generation. I should be stoned to death, by books...encyclopedias. I am so glad that not only have I given Kurt Vonnegut another chance, but I have also discovered a new favorite author along the way. Reading Mother Night was the perfect segue to ease myself back into this literary master, and I would actually recommend it to any first (or second) time offenders like myself. With that being said, onto the review, which might get quite lengthy so hang in there.

How long would you keep a secret to save your own life? How long would you keep that secret while thousands died at your expense? How long can you wear the mask of someone else before you truly become that person? These are just a few of the questions that Kurt Vonnegut tried to tackle in his third novel entitled Mother Night. In this novel, Vonnegut uses metafiction to detail the life of Howard Campbell, Jr., a supposed Nazi, as Howard writes down his final words from a prison cell in Jerusalem. Vonnegut goes to great lengths to try and make the memoir appear to be from a once living, breathing person; he even goes as far as to make an editor's note as if Vonnegut himself were merely the editor of Campbell's story, not the actual writer. In the editor's note Vonnegut states that Campbell took the title of the book from Faust:

" I am a part of the part that at first was all, part of the darkness that gave birth to light, that supercilious light which now disputes with Mother Night her ancient rank and space, and can not succeed; no matter how it struggles, it sticks to matter and can't get free."

This sets the tone for the novel, as Vonnegut sinks himself further and further into the identity of a man who does not exist, except in the pages of a book and the mind of an author. As Howard Campbell begins to unfold his story through his memoir, we are given insight to an extremely complicated and remarkable individual. More importantly, Campbell is giving us a front row seat to the inner workings of the minds of corrupt men, and the paradox of their actions verses their beliefs.

Howard Campbell is a man of many faces. By reputation, Howard Campbell is a Nazi ... but not just that, he is the voice of hope and moral justification to a Holocaust Germany. To a very select number of Americans, Campbell is an undercover spy, and one of the greatest American heroes of the war. To Howard Campbell, he is a simply an artist who cares nothing of politics and war, outside of the boundaries of the love he has for his wife and his writing. He merely lives his life from day to day, speaking as a Nazi figure head, while simultaneously giving key information against Germany into America's willing hands, both sides feeling an invisible hold over his true nature. He says of himself,

"I had hoped, as a broadcaster to be merely ludicrous, but this is a hard world to be ludicrous in, with so many human beings so reluctant to laugh, so incapable of thought, so eager to believe and snarl and hate. So many people wanted to believe me!" ... “And I did fool everybody. I began to strut like Hitler’s right-hand man, and nobody saw the honest me I hid so deep inside."

But what can a man be deep down inside, when his actions do not echo his beliefs? Can you be a monster and a martyr at the same time? After the death of his wife and the end of the war, these types of questions cease to matter to Campbell, as he spirals down into a 'stateless existence,' without any true purpose or reason for living apart from his sense of curiosity about the world. The different masks begin to merge as Howard hides himself away from the world in an old apartment in New York, the place he has fled to escape persecution for 'war crimes.' While in New York, Howard recalls certain friends and events that force him to re-evaluate what decisions he has made and the consequences of his actions. He starts to see in others' examples how a mind can ignore certain truths in order to protect the masks that people wear.

Vonnegut uses countless examples of this type of double-standard lifestyle, asking the reader to question their own facades as portrayed to others and the consequences of these portrayals. It is not all so serious, especially when Vonnegut uses his dry sarcastic comments to show the irony behind many of the situations. One such case is that of an Aryan soldier that is best friends with an African American, who just happens to believe in white-supremacy. Vonnegut's social commentary is electric and strong, and can have even the best literary nut's head reeling for days over the sheer complexity of his writing. To think that a man with little to no experience with any actual Nazis could write with such force and authority over his own mind, is just astounding. The only character that appears to be within full comprehension of his actions and his mind is Howard Campbell, and despite how wrong he knows his and others' actions are, Vonnegut cannot let Campbell bring himself to care.

"They (the Nazis) were people. Only in retrospect can I think of them as trailing slime behind. To be frank – I can’t think of them as doing that even now. I knew them too well as people, worked too hard in my time for their trust and applause. Too hard. Amen. Too hard."

Despite acknowledging for a moment the evil behind the people that he served, Howard realized that he had never really seen a fault at all, because the Nazis had given him more than they had taken away. There are multiple times throughout the novel that many of the characters will overlook an obvious flaw to protect some desperate attachment they have to the actions that they are committing. Could you do the same for a friend? How about a true love? Characters try frantically to cling to lies that they refuse to acknowledge exist, while others watch without batting an eye. Does knowing that someone partakes in evil acts make them evil or is it possible to overlook their flaws for your own selfish reasoning? In turn, does that make you evil?

There are a lot of questions that are asked of the reader, considering the book's length (roughly 200 pages). Vonnegut establishes himself as a master of the literary critique by planting all of these questions into a novel that holds its own in regards to a period-relevant plot and character development. Who is Howard Campbell to you? Is he a monstrous Nazi or an unsung hero? Or is he just a man who tried to live his life in the only way that he knew how: by wearing all the different masks that we expect others to wear? Vonnegut mixes enough fact with fiction to help the reader lose themselves in the idea of 'Howard Campbell.' Enough so to make them forget the personas they carry for brief amounts of time. He also makes them question: What would we really do in his situation and does it really all matter in the end?

"Three people in all the world knew me for what I was—" I said.
"And all the rest—" I shrugged.

"They knew you for what you were, too," Frank said abruptly.

And that my friends is the true purpose of literature. To make us question and to grow. 50 big thumbs up Mr. Vonnegut, I look forward to reading more of you.

(quotes)

Prongs - Fourth Review - Mother Night

Mother Night
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

Disclaimer: Let me start off by saying I am frankly appalled at myself for ignoring Vonnegut for this long. Honestly, there was just something about reading Slaughter House V when I was barely a teenager that just really turned me off to him. So instead of sucking it up and trying again, I simply ignored what is quite possibly one of the most influential writers of my generation. I should be stoned to death, by books...encyclopedias. I am so glad that not only have I given Kurt Vonnegut another chance, but I have also discovered a new favorite author along the way. Reading Mother Night was the perfect segue to ease myself back into this literary master, and I would actually recommend it to any first (or second) time offenders like myself. With that being said, onto the review, which might get quite lengthy so hang in there.

How long would you keep a secret to save your own life? How long would you keep that secret while thousands died at your expense? How long can you wear the mask of someone else before you truly become that person? These are just a few of the questions that Kurt Vonnegut tried to tackle in his third novel entitled Mother Night. In this novel, Vonnegut uses metafiction to detail the life of Howard Campbell, Jr., a supposed Nazi, as Howard writes down his final words from a prison cell in Jerusalem. Vonnegut goes to great lengths to try and make the memoir appear to be from a once living, breathing person; he even goes as far as to make an editor's note as if Vonnegut himself were merely the editor of Campbell's story, not the actual writer. In the editor's note Vonnegut states that Campbell took the title of the book from Faust:

" I am a part of the part that at first was all, part of the darkness that gave birth to light, that supercilious light which now disputes with Mother Night her ancient rank and space, and can not succeed; no matter how it struggles, it sticks to matter and can't get free."

This sets the tone for the novel, as Vonnegut sinks himself further and further into the identity of a man who does not exist, except in the pages of a book and the mind of an author. As Howard Campbell begins to unfold his story through his memoir, we are given insight to an extremely complicated and remarkable individual. More importantly, Campbell is giving us a front row seat to the inner workings of the minds of corrupt men, and the paradox of their actions verses their beliefs.

Howard Campbell is a man of many faces. By reputation, Howard Campbell is a Nazi ... but not just that, he is the voice of hope and moral justification to a Holocaust Germany. To a very select number of Americans, Campbell is an undercover spy, and one of the greatest American heroes of the war. To Howard Campbell, he is a simply an artist who cares nothing of politics and war, outside of the boundaries of the love he has for his wife and his writing. He merely lives his life from day to day, speaking as a Nazi figure head, while simultaneously giving key information against Germany into America's willing hands, both sides feeling an invisible hold over his true nature. He says of himself,

"I had hoped, as a broadcaster to be merely ludicrous, but this is a hard world to be ludicrous in, with so many human beings so reluctant to laugh, so incapable of thought, so eager to believe and snarl and hate. So many people wanted to believe me!" ... “And I did fool everybody. I began to strut like Hitler’s right-hand man, and nobody saw the honest me I hid so deep inside."

But what can a man be deep down inside, when his actions do not echo his beliefs? Can you be a monster and a martyr at the same time? After the death of his wife and the end of the war, these types of questions cease to matter to Campbell, as he spirals down into a 'stateless existence,' without any true purpose or reason for living apart from his sense of curiosity about the world. The different masks begin to merge as Howard hides himself away from the world in an old apartment in New York, the place he has fled to escape persecution for 'war crimes.' While in New York, Howard recalls certain friends and events that force him to re-evaluate what decisions he has made and the consequences of his actions. He starts to see in others' examples how a mind can ignore certain truths in order to protect the masks that people wear.

Vonnegut uses countless examples of this type of double-standard lifestyle, asking the reader to question their own facades as portrayed to others and the consequences of these portrayals. It is not all so serious, especially when Vonnegut uses his dry sarcastic comments to show the irony behind many of the situations. One such case is that of an Aryan soldier that is best friends with an African American, who just happens to believe in white-supremacy. Vonnegut's social commentary is electric and strong, and can have even the best literary nut's head reeling for days over the sheer complexity of his writing. To think that a man with little to no experience with any actual Nazis could write with such force and authority over his own mind, is just astounding. The only character that appears to be within full comprehension of his actions and his mind is Howard Campbell, and despite how wrong he knows his and others' actions are, Vonnegut cannot let Campbell bring himself to care.

"They (the Nazis) were people. Only in retrospect can I think of them as trailing slime behind. To be frank – I can’t think of them as doing that even now. I knew them too well as people, worked too hard in my time for their trust and applause. Too hard. Amen. Too hard."

Despite acknowledging for a moment the evil behind the people that he served, Howard realized that he had never really seen a fault at all, because the Nazis had given him more than they had taken away. There are multiple times throughout the novel that many of the characters will overlook an obvious flaw to protect some desperate attachment they have to the actions that they are committing. Could you do the same for a friend? How about a true love? Characters try frantically to cling to lies that they refuse to acknowledge exist, while others watch without batting an eye. Does knowing that someone partakes in evil acts make them evil or is it possible to overlook their flaws for your own selfish reasoning? In turn, does that make you evil?

There are a lot of questions that are asked of the reader, considering the book's length (roughly 200 pages). Vonnegut establishes himself as a master of the literary critique by planting all of these questions into a novel that holds its own in regards to a period-relevant plot and character development. Who is Howard Campbell to you? Is he a monstrous Nazi or an unsung hero? Or is he just a man who tried to live his life in the only way that he knew how: by wearing all the different masks that we expect others to wear? Vonnegut mixes enough fact with fiction to help the reader lose themselves in the idea of 'Howard Campbell.' Enough so to make them forget the personas they carry for brief amounts of time. He also makes them question: What would we really do in his situation and does it really all matter in the end?

"Three people in all the world knew me for what I was—" I said.
"And all the rest—" I shrugged.

"They knew you for what you were, too," Frank said abruptly.

And that my friends is the true purpose of literature. To make us question and to grow. 50 big thumbs up Mr. Vonnegut, I look forward to reading more of you.

(quotes)

Prongs - First Review - American Psycho

American Psycho -Bret Easton Ellis

Technically I finished this book before I started the blog, but this is the kind of story that does not leave your mind for quite some time after finishing it. Written by Bret Easton Elis, the novel was published in 1991, and later adapted for film in 2000.

I have read my fair share of books whose authors rely mainly on shock value to give their stories more substance. While American Psycho definitely has its 'shock value' moments, there was still a great amount of depth to the overall story but most importantly to the main character. American Psycho follows the every day life of Patrick Bateman who prides himself on his seemingly perfect physique, job, and 'American' way of life. But beneath his perfect exterior, Patrick is a man that has become so emotionally detatched from the rest of the world that he has devoted a secrete 'psycho' part of his life to the torture and murder of innocent hobos and prostitutes. It is this mix of a desire for perfection but a lack of general understanding for what fuels his desires, that ultimately leads to his mental downfall.

The first half of the book details very mundane facts about Patrick's life, with a stream of repetition relating to the day-to-day events. He is constantly reiterating what has happened on the T.V. show he watches every morning and goes to great lengths to describe in specific detail the clothes, products, and drinks that he and his friends use. At points the lists that he makes can be extremely redundant to the point of annoying. Like honestly Ellis, spit it out already. But the annoyance of relentless repetition is precisely the feeling that the author is trying to push the reader into. Patrick has become so detached from his own true feelings and moral conscience that all he knows is the mundane details of others. His concept of right and wrong revolves around how to pair black socks with a brown belt and god help you if you choose the wrong color. One of the best quotes that Bateman gives to describe himself is,

"...there is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusonary, and thought I could hide my cold gaze and you cans hake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable" I simply am not there."

That quote pretty much sums up Patrick Bateman to a tee. As the book progresses we are given more of an insight to the darker side of Bateman when he begins to describe the deaths and extreme torture methods that he doles out to his unsuspecting victims. The scenes become more and more graphic (and I mean graphic. No PG-13 stuff here) as Bateman begins to gradually lose control over his own thoughts and emotions, and this tailspin beings to spill into his 'American' life. While Patrick spirals further out of control he pulls you down to his level of contemptment letting you slam into rock bottom with him. Ellis ads insult to injury when towards the end of the book the now bruised and hopeless reader along with Patrick begin to question if the murders that Bateman executed actually happened. You will end it feeling disgusted, annoyed, maybe even offended....but it sure is one hell of a ride.

"Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do? My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone In fact I want my pain to be inflicted on other. I want no one to escape. But even after admitting this -- and I have, countless times, in just about every act I've committed -- and coming face-to-face with these truths, there is no catharsis. I gain no deeper knowledge about myself, no new understanding can be extracted from my telling. There has been no reason for me to tell you any of this. This confession has meant nothing..." <---- Just wow.

Overall I was generally impressed with Bret Easton Ellis and his attention to detail in this novel. His story has haunted me long after the last page and unless you are dreaming up murders of your fellow colleges...it will leave the same impression on you. 9/10.

(quotes)

Prongs - First Review - American Psycho

American Psycho -Bret Easton Ellis

Technically I finished this book before I started the blog, but this is the kind of story that does not leave your mind for quite some time after finishing it. Written by Bret Easton Elis, the novel was published in 1991, and later adapted for film in 2000.

I have read my fair share of books whose authors rely mainly on shock value to give their stories more substance. While American Psycho definitely has its 'shock value' moments, there was still a great amount of depth to the overall story but most importantly to the main character. American Psycho follows the every day life of Patrick Bateman who prides himself on his seemingly perfect physique, job, and 'American' way of life. But beneath his perfect exterior, Patrick is a man that has become so emotionally detatched from the rest of the world that he has devoted a secrete 'psycho' part of his life to the torture and murder of innocent hobos and prostitutes. It is this mix of a desire for perfection but a lack of general understanding for what fuels his desires, that ultimately leads to his mental downfall.

The first half of the book details very mundane facts about Patrick's life, with a stream of repetition relating to the day-to-day events. He is constantly reiterating what has happened on the T.V. show he watches every morning and goes to great lengths to describe in specific detail the clothes, products, and drinks that he and his friends use. At points the lists that he makes can be extremely redundant to the point of annoying. Like honestly Ellis, spit it out already. But the annoyance of relentless repetition is precisely the feeling that the author is trying to push the reader into. Patrick has become so detached from his own true feelings and moral conscience that all he knows is the mundane details of others. His concept of right and wrong revolves around how to pair black socks with a brown belt and god help you if you choose the wrong color. One of the best quotes that Bateman gives to describe himself is,

"...there is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusonary, and thought I could hide my cold gaze and you cans hake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable" I simply am not there."

That quote pretty much sums up Patrick Bateman to a tee. As the book progresses we are given more of an insight to the darker side of Bateman when he begins to describe the deaths and extreme torture methods that he doles out to his unsuspecting victims. The scenes become more and more graphic (and I mean graphic. No PG-13 stuff here) as Bateman begins to gradually lose control over his own thoughts and emotions, and this tailspin beings to spill into his 'American' life. While Patrick spirals further out of control he pulls you down to his level of contemptment letting you slam into rock bottom with him. Ellis ads insult to injury when towards the end of the book the now bruised and hopeless reader along with Patrick begin to question if the murders that Bateman executed actually happened. You will end it feeling disgusted, annoyed, maybe even offended....but it sure is one hell of a ride.

"Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do? My pain is constant and sharp and I do not hope for a better world for anyone In fact I want my pain to be inflicted on other. I want no one to escape. But even after admitting this -- and I have, countless times, in just about every act I've committed -- and coming face-to-face with these truths, there is no catharsis. I gain no deeper knowledge about myself, no new understanding can be extracted from my telling. There has been no reason for me to tell you any of this. This confession has meant nothing..." <---- Just wow.

Overall I was generally impressed with Bret Easton Ellis and his attention to detail in this novel. His story has haunted me long after the last page and unless you are dreaming up murders of your fellow colleges...it will leave the same impression on you. 9/10.

(quotes)