11-09-2013, 06:10 PM | #1 |
languorous autodidact ✦
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A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz
This is the MR Literary Club selection for November 2013. Whether you've already read it or would like to, feel free to start or join in the conversation at any time! Guests are also always welcome.
Some ebook availability- Canada- Amazon U.S.- Amazon Some pbook availability- Australia- Bookworld search U.K.- Amazon search So, what are your thoughts on it? |
11-19-2013, 07:05 AM | #2 |
Nameless Being
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Has anyone else started reading this? Any finding it a struggle? A jumble or memories not anchored in any time?
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11-19-2013, 08:13 AM | #3 |
Snoozing in the sun
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I have read about 100 pages in difficult circumstances (we have painters in the house - radio on all day as they work, and various interruptions) so am not sure whether I am finding it hard because of that, or because of the way the book is written. I have to keep on trying to work out who people are and how they relate to each other, but I suspect that is to do with all the interruptions I am experiencing.
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11-19-2013, 01:38 PM | #4 |
Wizard
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I've started it but maybe I am not far enough into the story to be struggling.
I have read quite a lot of memoirs/biographies by jewish people who grew up in Germany or in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 20th century and later moved to Palastina/Israel. So in contrast, I find it very interesting to read a biography by someone who grew up there directly. |
11-20-2013, 05:48 AM | #5 |
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I haven't started it yet, still plodding through The Count of Monte Cristo for the other club!
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11-20-2013, 01:43 PM | #6 | |
Wizard
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Quote:
Like Bookpossum, I've wondered if external events may be interfering with my ability to concentrate. Apparently you have to want to know what happens next for a book to be a happy diversion. |
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11-22-2013, 03:53 PM | #7 |
Wizard
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11-22-2013, 09:16 PM | #8 |
Wizard
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I'm about 2/3 through the book now and to the point of the UN General Assembly's Partition Vote. Finally this is interesting enough for me to care what happens next. But I had to read two other books since beginning this one just for the break.
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11-23-2013, 08:25 AM | #9 |
o saeclum infacetum
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I'm going to be contrarian. I'm not that far into it, but I love it. I find the prose mesmerizing and dizzying, the imagerie grounds me solidly in Jerusalem, and the sardonic take on people and their behaviors has me snickering, even as it frequently shocks or saddens.
I've still got about two-thirds to go, but I'm greatly enjoying the labyrinthine journey, so evocative of the twisting streets of Jerusalem. For me, this is one of those books where the prose in translation is so gorgeous that I wish I could experience it in the original. |
11-23-2013, 03:00 PM | #10 | ||
Nameless Being
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Quote:
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Different strokes, for different folks. What you are enjoying so much I often found tedious and repetitious. What I did really like were the occasional pearls of wisdom presented. Though whether or not the thoughts presented were really original to the claimed sources ins anybody's guess. A couple of examples are this wisdom about what many women find sexiest in a man (though it could equally apply to winning friends of either sex): Spoiler:
I also really liked this passage: Spoiler:
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11-25-2013, 02:40 AM | #11 |
Snoozing in the sun
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Lovely passages Hamlet - and he's spot on about the attractiveness of a man who actually likes women and is a good listener. (Luckily for me, I'm married to one!)
I am still beset by painters so have pretty much given up reading until they are gone in another few days, as I can't concentrate and do the book justice, but I do really want to get back to it. |
11-25-2013, 11:13 AM | #12 |
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I'm almost finished reading the book and, although I struggled through the first 2/3, I've enjoyed the remainder. I particularly appreciated the author's discussion of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio and the book's impact upon him. It made me see A Tale of Love and Darkness in a different light and helped me understand Oz's approach to his subject.
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11-26-2013, 04:53 AM | #13 |
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So far I have enjoyed the actual beauty and wit of the prose and the very clever characterisations. But I think this is a book to read quietly and at leisure when the spirit strikes rather than one to read straight through and analyse. This isn't by any means meant to be a negative criticism; after all the same can be said of the greatest of all biographical works: Boswell's Life of Johnson.
Last edited by fantasyfan; 11-26-2013 at 04:56 AM. |
11-26-2013, 10:07 AM | #14 |
o saeclum infacetum
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The comment about what makes a man attractive is so very similar to something Stella Bowen said about Ford Madox Ford, a huge bear of a man. I've tried googling for it, but I suspect I read it in Bowen's memoirs and will have to see if I can find it there.
I was relieved when I got past the long interude with Auntie Sonia, as I missed Oz's voice. But I acknowledge that her testament was important to both Oz's individual story and that of Jews of the Disapora as well. |
11-28-2013, 12:09 PM | #15 | |
Nameless Being
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Quote:
To the point of plagiarism, or just similar thoughts, perhaps from a common source? |
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