The Street of Crocodiles

There is a whole lot going on in this book. Simultaneously, there is a whole lot of nothing going on. I kind of think that it fits that way. As a collection of short stories there are obviously going to be ones that are better and ones that are worse, this book is no different. Schulz has a great mind for interesting depictions of what would be otherwise mundane events (consider The Night of the Great Season). He also has the surrealist sense of the absurd (consider Birds, my personal favorite).

Overall it was a pretty good book. Some of the parts were really, really funny. Some of the seemed to ramble on a bit and arrive at nowhere. Sometimes that nowhere was worth the journey, Sometimes the rambling wasn't worth the nowhere.

The Discovery of America by the Turks - First Reading

Again I find myself frustrated by the lack of a half-star option on Goodreads. Goodreads, if you read the reviews on your app, I beseech you, give us a half-star option.

This is the second Amado book I've read. It was quite a surprise in how different this one was to The Violent Land . It starts out a bit confusing and jumbled; but, it ends quite well. It's a bawdy, raucous tale. Amado notes toward the end that God is a Brazilian. IF man was created in the image of God the Brazilian  then this book captures perfectly what His creation would be like. It's a very funny read and at less than 80 pages totally worth the short time it takes to read!

1984 - First Reading

I'm not quite sure how I went my whole life without having been forced to read this book or having not picked it up on my own considering both its stats as a classic and how much I love Animal Farm. But given its resurgence in the wake of a Trump election and the renewed interest in Far Right political movements I thought I might give it a go. To be utterly honest. I found a lot of it boring and underwhelming as story. As a political ideology piece it's fascinating; but, there is quite a bit to be desired in the overall novel aspect.

The term Orwellian has been tossed at Trump and his supporters a lot since the election. I don't think that's quite a fair assessment. Trump may want to and tries to employ a bit of revisionist history and certainly the alt-right media definitely spins the news events to their own end. But, I don't think Trump or any of the alt-right figures out there today has the mastery of intellect that O'Brien had over Winston. In some respects, like the power for power's sake and the hate, I think the comparison comes a bit closer. But, as far as manipulating history to make it matcha  current political agenda the Left is as equally Orwellian as the right in modern America.

The most interesting parallel with current events and the state of Oceania that occurred to me was in the collectivism and newspeak that was slated to be in full force by 2050. What is closer to this Orwellian dystopia than the current (or relatively recent or relatively to come) political apparatus of the United States is the state that exists online. Freedom is slavery, at least online. Few participate openly in the hate the way they do online. And nowhere matches the collective mindset on threads following news stories or Facebook posts. As far as the creation of a new language slated to entrench itself by 2050 one need not look further than twitter to see that this future is already beginning. Hashtag truth.

Violent Land - First Reading

This was truly a great story to read, utterly gripping. I found myself rooting for both sides and against them as well, depending on the circumstances. It was good to read a more serious and more traditional story after having read two Queneua books in a row. It was also extremely gratifying to read a story that takes place in a setting I know so very little about. In spite of my comprehensive lack of knowledge concerning Brazilian history and the cacao rush that this book entails I felt transported to that region and time by Amado - That is the hallmark of a fantastic storyteller and a good book.