The Book Thread

[kashan123999]

Have you read Brave New World? Quite similar to 1984.

,Finished it...A nice one...will start 1984 tomorrow as i am free

 

[King Cricket]

Have you read Brave New World? Quite similar to 1984.

I just finished Brave New World; wonderful and nothing short of a masterpiece.

Not quite similar to 1984 though. Orwell sketches an abominable dystopia, where the omnipotence of the party, and ruthless suppression of the individual are accepted norms. Huxley's 'dystopia' makes you ruminate deeply and profoundly over the subject for a long time.

More than anything, I loved the ambivalence so discernible in the writing. Are our culture, heritage, emotions and the right to be 'us' a high price to pay for a world of happiness, prosperity, peace, stability, for a world which is without wars, bloodshed, diseases, feuds, anarchy? It's also not that a life, different from the rest, is completely impossible; neither are attempts at subversion retaliated with torture and oppression. The Savage's character was excellent btw.

I'll next read The Mayor of Casterbridge.

 

[Chewie]

My friends had to read the mayor of casterbridge for school and they said it was the most incredibly boring book ever

 

[Varun]

And my friends called A Tale of Two Cities the most boring and disgusting book ever. Obviously, they were wrong.

 

[6ry4nj]

I just finished Brave New World; wonderful and nothing short of a masterpiece.

Not quite similar to 1984 though. Orwell sketches an abominable dystopia, where the omnipotence of the party, and ruthless suppression of the individual are accepted norms. Huxley's 'dystopia' makes you ruminate deeply and profoundly over the subject for a long time.

More than anything, I loved the ambivalence so discernible in the writing. Are our culture, heritage, emotions and the right to be 'us' a high price to pay for a world of happiness, prosperity, peace, stability, for a world which is without wars, bloodshed, diseases, feuds, anarchy? It's also not that a life, different from the rest, is completely impossible; neither are attempts at subversion retaliated with torture and oppression. The Savage's character was excellent btw.

I'll next read The Mayor of Casterbridge.

The 'deepest' parallel to 1984 is the debate - Smith vs. O'Brien, Savage vs. Mond. I find 'Brave New World' more relatable. There are certainly people in our society being coerced the way Smith is - Bradley Manning (and whistleblowers in general come to think of it) the obvious example. But on the whole the "political correctness"-based coercion in Brave New World is more the type we have to deal with. There is no torture to fit square pegs into this utopia's round holes. But should one question the virtues of the "enforced" lifestyle, one's right to life and societal belonging will be curtailed by small increments, leading to Savage's life, even as a hermit, becoming (self-perceived as) untenable. Similarly Bernard Marx (a parody of Shaw and the Fabians?), I don't remember how he turns out, but he pays the price of resistance.

I also see a parallel in BNW to "A Clockwork Orange". Without the capacity for suffering, Savage finds it impossible to lead a fulfilled life. I see a parallel with Alex, who loses his aesthetic appreciation when he loses his predilection for sadistic mayhem.

Similar struggles with issues relating to belonging and the absurdity/insanity or otherwise of society, are found in other early 20th century novels, the two that spring to mind are Kafka (in general), and 'Steppenwolf' by Hesse. Come to think of it, I know (cos I looked it up) that 'Casterbridge' is earlier, but doesn't it have some similar elements?

 

[King Cricket]

The Mayor of Casterbridge is anything but boring. It's an ingenious work of fiction where Hardy brilliantly paints the life of a tragic hero who, in futility, dares to defy his fate. If one contemplates the theme patiently, he'll be enraptured by Hardy's adroitness in depicting the ebb and flow of emotions, desires and passions within the minds of his characters.

On a related note, is it just me, did the last two chapters, where Henchard parts with Elizabeth-Jane and eventually meets with his tragic death, bring tears to anyone's eye? Henchard and his daugther remind me of King Lear and Cordelia.

 

[kashan123999]

Finshed "Man Chalay Ka soda",Superb,Classy By a Master Mystic...

 

[AkshayC]

Got a new book

 

[P Squared]

Finished "Only Time will Tell" by Jeffrey Archer. Now I've heard of movies ending on cliffhangers but books? Anyway it was good, waiting for the next installment.

 

[P Squared]

Just started reading "One Hundred Years of Solitude". I've heard great things about it, so I hope it lives up to my expectations.

 

[ste_mc_efc]

whilst on holiday I read "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac and "The Outsider" by Albert Camus.

Both were superb but i'll try to reread the former within the next few weeks otherwise I don't think i'll appreciate it as much as i should.

 

[Fenil]

Started reading this one by Chetan Bhagat.

 

[AkshayC]

Completed reading:

 

[Varun]

Completed reading 'The Trouble with Physics' by Lee Smolin a few days ago. Smolin so magnificently used the example of the failure of string theory to depict the crisis in physics, merely due to sociological issues in the academy in the contemporary world. A marvelous piece, and I'll recommend it to everyone who wants to ascertain what major changes the mechanism of doing physics has undergone in the last 15 years, and understand some philosophical aspects regarding science.

 

[AkshayC]

Finished Reading :
(Actually I read them in summer holidays but Curtain Poirot's Last Case I re-read.)