Well, I have completed Diary. Let's start with what I liked best: the writing. The twisted, palpable images of Misty and the community of Waytensea Island are watermarks of Palahniuk. Misty's self-loathing and depressing lack of motivation was almost annoying in content, but that's good. That means I was strung along as I should have been. Now the bad news: the story, oh-so-promising in the beginning, unraveled towards the end, much to my disappointment. I was all packed and ready to board the express train to Crazyville which is often where Palahniuk takes us (Fight Club was fantastic in that regard). Yet somehow, he just couldn't seal the deal with me. Was it the trite, coquettish way of the mysterious green pills? (Yes.) Or the unexplained, underwhelmed, blatant acceptance of death? (Yes.) Or perhaps it was the lame-o ending? (Definitely.) All of the aforementioned was just so awful. So much so that I threatened to leave the novel in Vegas since that is where it ended for me. (I really would have left it with a disclaiming instruction to never read it, but I promised it to Kathy L. I may try and talk her out of it though.) Anyways, it's over and done with and it couldn't do so at a better time.
Next Monday, March 15th, a new adventure begins in the reading of Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success. True to form, I'm optimistic of this reading especially considering what I've just read. It can only get better, right?
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Hello, hello, hello..... is there anybody out there?
ReplyDeleteI finally got Outliers the other day (slacker!), went to check the blog to see where everyone was at so I could catch up, but nada. Um, did we change forums? I think I missed that memo. Hmm, well anyway, here goes.
Outliers = Non-fiction = Not excited.
What can I say? I love to read, but what I love about books is finding yourself so engaged in the characters and storylines, becoming so lost in the world created by the writer that you just can't put the book down. Key elements here: characters and storylines.
Outliers, from what I can tell, has no story, there are no riveting characters or events, just a smattering of statistics and facts, cold hard numbers and one man's musings. An entire book, 285 pages to be exact, of ideas and opinions. Bah!
Wait. Opinions? Opinions can be contradicted, countered, argued. This is like a Devil's Advocate playground! Wow! Let me rethink this.
I would never, in a million years, have chosen to read this on my own, but I guess that is one of the points of a book club, broadening your literary horizons and all that. I may not enjoy actually reading this book, but I am certainly looking forward to the discussions. So, I am gonna get reading, and hoping that when I check back here there is some lively banter to join in.
So color me friggin' shocked- I am actually enmjoying this book. Can't wait to see what you all think!
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