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shadow_exe

Ok, first things first - If you haven't read any Vonnegut, go and read _Slaughterhouse 5_right now. Or, at a pinch, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.Right, on with the review: Timequake was originally intended to be a science-fiction novel, in which the hero is a struggling, under-rated science-fiction author. After being left on the shelf for a few years, it was shuffled in with some autobiographical musings, some un-finished philosophy lecture notes, and a few random short story fragments.By some miracle of Vonnegut's disjointed prose, this all comes together to make sense. References to Slaughterhouse 5 abound, and many characters that Vonnegut fans will recognise will happily crawl out of the woodwork and start tearing the edges of the 4th wall over the course of the novel, which is arranged in 50-odd very brief chapters.The way in which the autobiography merges with the fiction, and then splits again, allows the reader freedom to decide for themselves where the fiction ends and biography begins. The divide simply isn't clear-cut. The other idiosyncratic touch, that of putting in fragments of literary technique, showing how each scene is constructed while constructing it, lends the whole text a meta-fictional air. (I can't believe I've actually had to use a word as pretentious as the word meta-fictional! AAAARGH!)I adored this book from start to finish, finding all it's various aspects entertaining in different ways.All in all, Timequake is a bizarre book, and not for those easily daunted by Vonnegut's jumpy, staccato style of writing, or the fairly involved concepts this writing throws up. Fans of his earlier work *grins* will devour it, however.(1 comment | Leave a comment)

shadow_exe

I've just finished Robert Twigger's Angry White Pyjamas (hence the rather obvious post title), and I though I'd share my thoughts in a brief review (cross-posted to my own journal):Twigger has evocatively captured the spirit of Aikido is this autobiographical novel, which outlines a year of his life spent living in the slums of Tokyo, and training on the Yoshinkan dojo's Riot Police aikido course. Rather than just being an exploration of a martial art, the seperate threads of Twiggers' life are drawn into the picture, giving a picture of an immigrants' life in post-war Japan. Japan's nationalism, and the links between modern and ancient aspects of it's culture are illustrated as brief, anecdotal vignettes in between chapters on the aikido course itself.Twigger is aware of the complex, and, to an outsider, incomprehensible, system of manners which is entrenched in all of Japan's social culture. He evokes his gradual insight into the Japanese way of thinking with a retrospective air that suggests to me an older, more sophisticated Twigger writing of his distant past, yet keeps such a visceral, sensory intensity to all the descriptions that the reader can develop a strong attachment to the author.The only thing that annoyed me, reading this book, was the boyish machismo of the senshusei in the Yoshinkan dojo: None seem to appreciate that the core of aikido is something deeper than mere violence until they've received several beatings from the sewanin and instructors. This isn't really a criticism of Twigger or his writing, but the mouthy, cocky Americans and Australians got right up my nose...The book carries a lengthy glossary of dojo-terms and common Japanese words, which allows Twigger to keep non-critical explanations out of the bulk of the text, which I'm sure has a lot to do with the flowing nature of the prose within each chapter. Thankfully, the text isn't littered with the over-liberal use of the Japanese language that too many authors use, in efforts to be "authentic" (and by extension, "cool").Current Book: Ministry - WTV (Leave a comment)

| | Jul. 1st, 2004 @ 08:56 pm | | --------------------------- |

missyoshi

MODERATORS REVIEW OF THE WEEKsorry I didn't do one last week, I was away, i WILL get into the habit of this! I must! title: Norweigen Woodauthor: Haruki Murakamiblurb (the bit on the back of the book): When he hears his favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost 20 years to hisstudent days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire-to a time when an impetous young woman called Midoroi marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past.Your own thoughts: this is an amazing book. It moved me to tears on several occasions because I identified with the characters so much. It was a bit slow to start, but once I got into it I couldnt stop. I'd say it was the most accessable of all his books(1 comment | Leave a comment)

| | Jun. 17th, 2004 @ 09:16 pm | | ---------------------------- |

shadow_exe

Hi all,I'm Barry, and I'm an omnivorous reader, (who doesn't read nearly as much as he'd like to for fun, what with spending far too much time reading for his MPhil)...I'm currently reading Robert Twigger's Angry White Pyjamas, and Roger Penrose's Shadows of the Mind, depending on which I'm in the mood for.The former is an autobiographical novel based on the authors time spent living in Japan, teaching English part time, and dedicated about three days a week to the learning of Aikido.The latter is a philosophical discourse on whether there is really such a phenomenon as "consciousness" and whether it is analytically understandable.I also read a lot of renaissance English literature, so that I can keep up with my fiancée tispity, who is in the enviable situation of being paid to study her favourite types of literature and theatre.(Leave a comment)

| | Jun. 17th, 2004 @ 08:14 pm | | ---------------------------- |

bethanberg

Hello!Hannah (puttheknifeback) just told me about this community in my journal so i thought i'd come and see what it was all about.Umm.. i never know what to write in introductiony type things but i'll give it a try anyhow :) I'm Bethan and i love reading (and music and cheese) but hardly ever seem to do any. The only time i usually pick up a book is on holiday when i read lots and lots but the minute i get home i seem to forget that i can actually read and so for the rest of the year i don't bother (although even if i remembered i'm usually too poor to buy books. that was before i discovered fopp though! yay for fopp!)... Anyhow, this week i was a bit bored so i started reading 'Trainspotting' by Irvine Welsh. (i don't know what happens in it because i've never seen the film..). When i've finished reading this i'll probably try and type a reviewy thingy. I don't really know what books i like to read? I think occasionally i just find one that i really enjoy like 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood, ooh and i also liked 'Surfacing' (although not as much as the handmaid's tale). The other books i like are a bit predictable i think... I like all of Nick Hornby's books, Phillip Pullman's 'Dark Materials' and Lord of the rings. Umm i really liked Dave Pelzer's books as well, although they made me cry lots and they remind me of being on a bus for 28 hours! I read a good book called 'chinese cinderella' a few years ago about a chinese girl who was the youngest out of her siblings and got both physically and mentally abused by her family because they blamed her for her mother's death (it sounds so miserable.. i guess it is! but it's good). Predictable Schmedictable. :)Sorry if this is all a bit disjointed and rambley and long.. Beth xCurrent Mood: chipperCurrent Book: Stephen Malkmus (1 comment | Leave a comment)

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