Skip to main content

Notes from the Underground 90%

The second half is a personal narrative.  We follow our narrator as he humiliates himself in front of a group of acquaintances.  We also follow his internal thoughts as all this is going on.  He knows he is acting absurdly but can't stop himself.  He thinks of the profound and the trivial--bouncing back and forth.  He makes up absurd fantasies in which he is debased but heroic.  The human mind and all it's capacities.

After this, we follow him to a house of prostitution where he meets Liza.  He preaches to her about the need to live a meaningful life.  She seems to pay attention. He invites her to visit him, then is in dread that she might visit.  This I found less interesting.  Wordy.

There is also a lengthy discussion of his relationship with his servant.  Power struggle without words over trivialities.

All in all, excellent.  Human condition in a modern society. Confused, often humiliated, lost.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin . . . finished

 Follows Sadie and Sam (Mazer) from childhood to mid-thirties when both are feeling old and a bit out of it in the gaming world.  Characters are well-rounded, develop throughout the novel in interesting way.  Plot is involved but sensible.  Not a single, "Oh, come on!" moment.  The book could have been faster paced. Odd, since the main topic is video games which are not for their speed of engagement and Gabrielle Zevin clearly knows her video games. Recommended by Michael Connelly in an interview.  He also has Bosch pick up the book in his novel, Resurrection Walk, as Bosch tails a possible witness to a crime as she moves through a bookstore. Sadie and Sam do not get together at the end, which is good.   Marx killed by homophobic nutcase who really wants to kill Sam, but Sam isn't there. Marx is father of Sadie's child. 

The Franchise Affair, Josephine Tey--opening pages

Blair, a lawyer in Milford, gets a strange call.  His practice is wills and similar--nothing criminal.  A woman tells him that Scotland Yard is accusing her of abduction and implores him to come out to help her, even if later on he passes the case to someone else.  The woman says she has called him because he is "her type," meaning respectable and conservative.  He agrees.