Again, I came in
blind to this read. I've heard the title mentioned from time to time
and someone said it was funny.
It's not funny. Not
even close to funny. Every line drips with a sardonic sorrow or else
a holy sense of regret. It's sad and melancholy- but it's also very
good.
This is a book about
endings. On the surface its about the ending of the aristocracy of
Europe prior to WWII, but the story is full of other endings. The end
of friendships, the end of relationships, the end of potential of
youth and so on.
It follows one
Charles Ryder and his associations with the Marchmain family- a
family entrenched in aristocracy as well as Catholicism. Charles is
agnostic and is somewhat antagonistic to the Marchmains. Charles'
first befriends Sebastian- a young man he either is great friends
with or else is his temporary lover, the text doesn't seem clear on
the matter. Sebastian is a happy-go-lucky fun guy who doesn't want to
take life too seriously, but his drinking is out of control until it
becomes a source of concern and embarrassment to the rest of the
Marchmains. As time goes on you see the flower of Sebastian's youth
fade away into nothingness, a sad reflection to much of the rest of
the characters and motifs in the book.
Ultimately, the
story seems to be one of redemption through the Catholic church-
indicating that the Grace of Jesus Christ is... well, it's not
completely established what grace brings but it is the end point to
the story- which is sort of the point I guess. This isn't a religious
book, it's a secular book about religious things. There are no
miracles and the conversions are subtle. Still, it's hard not to be
moved spiritually even though it's somewhat a bummer to read.
Moving forward with
the 100 book challenge the following is coming up. I'm listening to
the Lord of the Rings trilogy and am finished with “The
Fellowship.” I'm also around halfway done with “The Sheltering
Sky” and will be done with it soon. Don't give up on my 100 book
challenge, It's a lot of fun and I'm not quitting. By its very nature
it's a slow process. I'm not racing anyone, I'm just trying to enjoy
some of the best English literature written since 1923.
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