|
|
Post by veela on Jul 31, 2006 9:18:03 GMT -5
have you ever read a book that just makes you go "what in the what the???" after you read it? a book that you just can't make out what the heck it was about even days after you put it down?
if you do, please share here!!
one that i read recently that i enjoyed and was a compelling read but did not answer any of the questions i had about it was Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami.
i saw a girl reading it on the tube while in London this past winter and sort of read a few lines over her shoulder. i was intrigued, so i picked it up. i enjoyed reading it but by the end, i still didn't know exactly what was going on! would love to talk to someone else who has read it!!
anyway... if you have read books that gave you a similar reaction, please share! while they frustrate me, i really kind of like them... and maybe if we've read the same ones, we can help each other explore their meanings!!
|
|
|
|
Post by Koalapupu on Aug 2, 2006 6:00:12 GMT -5
What a great thread idea! I can't now think of many books like that... I mean, there have been books that I've read with "WTF is this??" in mind, but then in the end it has somehow resolved. No, wait! The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. It's a great, great book and the idea behind is really simple: what if Germany had won the second world war? How would our future look like? Then a book appears in the market where an alternative history is introduced where Germany did not win the war... So you can see how much of a mind-f**k element there is already in the basic premise! I just remember reading and reading it, thinking I'll understand some of the points made in it by the last pages where the story should be resolved. It was resolved alright, but I can't remember for the life of me what it MEANT! I just put the book down with a "son of a..." feeling. Like I was none the wiser when I started reading the book. Or maybe I was just really stupid and didn't get the ending. I'm going to re-read the book whenever I have the time to prove that I can actually understand the story  It really is worth the read: There are incredible, small beautiful moments in the story that pretty much made me weep. |
|
|
|
Post by veela on Aug 2, 2006 8:03:22 GMT -5
wow... that sounds really interesting!! i'll have to try and find that one...
|
|
|
|
Post by Koalapupu on Aug 3, 2006 7:19:50 GMT -5
Cool! I'd love to get other people to read Philip K. Dick. He's just incredible... when he wants to be. Unfortunately he has written A LOT of books, some of them written for pulp material and it shows, but then there are absolute diamonds among the rubbish. I wuw him <3 I tried to see my libraries for the Murakami-book, but they only had two other titles from her. Maybe I'll give them a go to see whether the author has kept the confusion-inducing style! (And Jess, go already and start a thread about Safran Foer  ) |
|
|
|
Post by *Herry* on Aug 3, 2006 10:12:00 GMT -5
Holy crap, veela, as I was reading your first lines 'Haruki Murakami' flashing lights popped into my head! LOL.... oh dear.
Yes, I do know what you mean. Kafka was the most recent Murakami book I read. Although I enjoyed the journey, and I didn't feel like I finished it properly, or I missed something along the way.
For some strange reason though, I have always been drawn to his novels. He also writes short stories, but I'm not a fan of those - they have more of a 'what the what the?!' element to them (IMO!).
I read Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World nearly 10 years ago, and I thought it was one of the most unique books I'd ever read. I'd kind of like to re-visit it now...
I then picked up The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and was taken to a place so far away, it was difficult to shake after I finished reading it. I think I liked it, but it was very long...
I'll have to chase up a decent interview I found on the net somewhere...
|
|
|
|
Post by veela on Aug 3, 2006 11:12:33 GMT -5
yay!!! someone else has read it!!! that's so exciting. i was thinking of trying one of his others but kind of unsure. just because kafka was so... well... i don't really know how to describe it! i must say that i also enjoyed the journey. it was interesting and, in my opinion, beautifully written. but there were so many intriguing parts to the story that i was hoping for some sort of understanding or resolution of and it just never came!!! like kafka's waking up in a field with blood on him (*not a spoiler, don't worry). what was that about??? just things like that that are thrown out there but you're left wondering at the end. i can't decide if i like it or if it makes me crazy!!!  and jenni -- i'll start a foer thread (don't have to twist my arm!!) haha... |
|
spacedog83
Sweet Molasses
Beauty that rocks!
Posts: 94
|
Post by spacedog83 on Aug 28, 2006 20:32:00 GMT -5
I can't remember the whole Title but it was called The Girl Who Loved...(some baseball players name)
anyway, so this 9 year old girl who was listening to a baseball game gets lost in the woods on a hiking trip. Through the whole story's someone is following the little girl. She's trying to get away while at the same time find her way out of the woods. You're like scared that some creep is going to kidnap her or something like that right? NO! It's a stupid bear. I wasn't confused just like WTF.
|
|
|
|
Post by veela on Aug 29, 2006 9:41:25 GMT -5
I can't remember the whole Title but it was called The Girl Who Loved...(some baseball players name) anyway, so this 9 year old girl who was listening to a baseball game gets lost in the woods on a hiking trip. Through the whole story's someone is following the little girl. She's trying to get away while at the same time find her way out of the woods. You're like scared that some creep is going to kidnap her or something like that right? NO! It's a stupid bear. I wasn't confused just like WTF. haha, that's kind of funny! have any of you ever read life of pi? that was a book that i thought was just okay while reading it. and then you get to the end and it makes you re-think everything you just read. i really liked that about it. |
|
|
|
Post by Koalapupu on Aug 31, 2006 14:20:51 GMT -5
I've heard of so many good things about Life of Pi, I'd love to give it a go. Hope it's not too much hype...
Spacedog--ahahah, that experience kind of reminded me of this (originally German?) children's book, whose title essentially was "Who pooped on the mole's head?" and the cover has a picture of a mole with a turd on top of his head! That's probably the first time a cover alone has made me go WTF?
|
|
|
|
Post by veela on Aug 31, 2006 14:46:29 GMT -5
I've heard of so many good things about Life of Pi, I'd love to give it a go. Hope it's not too much hype... Spacedog--ahahah, that experience kind of reminded me of this (originally German?) children's book, whose title essentially was "Who pooped on the mole's head?" and the cover has a picture of a mole with a turd on top of his head! That's probably the first time a cover alone has made me go WTF? hahahahahahahahaha and eeeeeeewwwwwwwww as for life of pi, my friend had hyped it up to me and told me how utterly phenomenal it was so i was expecting something fantastic. if i were you, i would go into it with no expectation. but it's worth checking out. |
|
It really is worth the read: There are incredible, small beautiful moments in the story that pretty much made me weep. 
)
