So. I’m back from the break, and I must say that it’s amazing how days can drag on forever, but still seem like they are flying by at lightning speed. I got to my room after I said “bye” to my sisters, and I just felt like running after them. *sigh*
It’s back to the grind for the last few weeks. I really hope I can make it through without completely crumbling under exam stress- eek.
When I’m not studying, though, I’ll be taking every opportunity to blog- it keeps me sane ;).
I’ve got the first part of the The Beautiful And Damned book review here. I also read Zakes Mda’s Black Diamond.
Enjoy…
X – X – X
3 Months.
It’s taken me just about 3 months to finish reading The Beautiful and Damned.
When I saw the reference on Gossip Girl, and decided that it shouldn’t be too much of a difficult read because it was Fitzgerald, and we’d studied him in high school, there were a few very important factors that I didn’t take into consideration:
- I don’t have nearly as much leisure time as I did then
- The Great Gatsby was hardly an “easy read”, so what makes this Fitzgerald the exception?
- I might not understand half the novel, because his writing style is complex- and he also uses a lot of big words
I discovered these problems a few pages into the novel, and if I were a different person, I would’ve quit right then.
Instead, I took my Oxford dictionary and kept it- and the book- by my bed or at my desk, so that each day I could force myself to read a chapter or two (that’s if you refer to the divisions of the story as ‘chapters’- they were really more like ‘episodes’- that’s how complicated Fitzgerald’s writing is).
So, yes: there are some really big words, and some of the phrases the characters use to talk about a simple thing like the weather are a reminder of just how old the story is- I mean, even if I were around in 1922, I think I’d be one of those reclusive types, because hanging around to “…exchange a few aphorisms on the fluctuations of the mercury” is just so much effort compared to just saying ‘it’s so hot today’- but once I got into the story, and the main characters were more developed I was actually enjoying it.
I’m going to do the “review” of the novel in a few parts, because I’ve got lots to say, but I know that you don’t have lots of time to read pages and pages of a literature review. Also, this way I guarantee that you’ll be back for more [Wink saucily here]. Here it goes.
The novel follows the lives of Anthony Patch and Gloria Gilbert. Anthony likes to think of himself as an aesthete: everything which is fine and beautiful in life is his supposed area of expertise, especially art, literature, and philosophy. Gloria’s main concern in life is floating around the social circles of New York, flaunting her beauty and building her self-esteem on the flattery and propositions of the men who give in to her charms.
The author describes Gloria as someone who “[takes] all things of life for hers to choose from and apportion, as though she [is] continually picking out presents for herself from an inexhaustible counter”- people, relationships, and higher ambitions are really just little markers on her stage, and her life is just one big starring role.
The main trait which Anthony and Gloria have in common is that they both live in their dreams- hopes of a bright, prosperous and luxurious future are what motivate them to get up in the morning.
The fact that they live in their own dream worlds like this, means that they are inherently self-centred. The friends they have are, in my opinion, just old university acquaintances, who are themselves just floating on in life. Each is always about the business of his or her own trifles: ‘will I write a book this year?’, ‘I’ve got to attend so-and-so’s cocktail later this week-’, ‘have you heard the latest jazz number?’, ‘I wonder if I’ll go to Paris next year-’.
I was really amazed at how adults who had seemingly come from upstanding families and gone to prestigious schools could be so content with just doing nothing- completely ignoring the real world they live in, in favour of their flights of fancy.
Anyway: there comes a night shortly after Anthony was introduced to Gloria by her cousin (and his friend) Richard Caramel, that changes the way he feels about her.
At first, Anthony had said he ‘doesn’t care for young girls as a rule’, but at this party Anthony and Gloria find some mysterious common understanding of each other- Anthony seems to realize for the first time how beautiful Gloria really is, and Gloria is just content to have a distraction from her usual party “routine” (something which we 21st century folk would call “schmoozing”) – but this is how they fall in love.
To be continued…
Nkhensani Manabe 