Thursday, January 05, 2006
Tom Wolfe and the Bonfire of the exclamation mark
120 in the first 8 pages, yes i counted them all, and i would say only about 3 or 4 were neccessary, I couldn't cope with it, gave up after the first chapter. Shall i stick with it though? Got a good mind to cut out all the unneccessary ! marks and put them on a bonfire, bonfire of the exclamation mark. Maybe it's some clever Literary device that I dont understand. More is less, after 8 pages i never wanted to see another one again.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There all 120
Update
Finished the big bastard off. It wasn't as great as I had been led to believe and the ending isn't satisfying, and seems out of keeping with what came before. If you read this kind of plot driven book you want a conclusive finish, where things are not left up in the air.
The quality of the writing isn't too great either, and the descriptions and similies arn't particulary brilliant. Wolfe is said to have got New York in the 80's and all it's characteristics spot on, that may be, but Amis does the dark underbelly of 80's London far better in "London Fields" even though they are stylistically Oceans apart.
For all the acclaim I finished the the last page sitting in a desolate Helsinki Airport on Xmas Eve thinking probably not worth the effort. I like sitting in empty Airports, it's a hobby.
Oh, and relentless exclamation marks. After a couple of chapters they no longer bothered me, I just blocked them out.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There all 120
Update
Finished the big bastard off. It wasn't as great as I had been led to believe and the ending isn't satisfying, and seems out of keeping with what came before. If you read this kind of plot driven book you want a conclusive finish, where things are not left up in the air.
The quality of the writing isn't too great either, and the descriptions and similies arn't particulary brilliant. Wolfe is said to have got New York in the 80's and all it's characteristics spot on, that may be, but Amis does the dark underbelly of 80's London far better in "London Fields" even though they are stylistically Oceans apart.
For all the acclaim I finished the the last page sitting in a desolate Helsinki Airport on Xmas Eve thinking probably not worth the effort. I like sitting in empty Airports, it's a hobby.
Oh, and relentless exclamation marks. After a couple of chapters they no longer bothered me, I just blocked them out.
