Book Woes
Published by a-hem on Monday, September 28, 2009 at 9/28/2009 03:10:00 PMI’ve started reading Shantaram again. It’s the fourth attempt in the last three years. I quit the last three times because reading it required too much effort for no good reason; it felt like cardio minus the promise of visibly jaw dropping abs.Really, what's the point of exercise if you don't like a bombshell at the end of it? (I'm not even sure if this is simply an analogy anymore...)
I expected a lot more, given the hype surrounding it. I suppose I should’ve looked into its lack of nominations for any significant awards before I listened to the hype. But I still feel cheated because it is just so laborious. And that’s saying something, because I’ve read some pretty hefty books without any trouble at all.
It. The Stand (The uncut edition.) Inheritance of Loss. A Fine Balance. Freedom at Midnight. Bleak House. Atlas Shrugged. The Time Traveler’s Wife. The last four books of the Harry Potter Series (young adult fiction, but it counts.) The Fountainhead. Gone With the Wind. Pillars of the Earth. Hawaii. World Without End. The unabridged translation of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights (two tomes, with dirty bits too! So much better than the sanitized versions we were subjected to as children.) I intend to pick up Shogun, as well, and I doubt I’ll have as much trouble with it.
Shantaram is a couple of hundred pages or so shorter than some of these, but I never got more than half way through. This is so completely unlike me, as I usually push and persevere to the end, no matter how terrible a book is (Case in point: The Da Vinci Code) With Shantaram, I wait and wait for a coherent plot to materialize, before I give up and opt for something that’s far more enjoyable. It read more like a travelogue, and a rather plodding one, I might add.
I've never really had to struggle to finish a book, so this is a first. I’m going to give it one last shot, and if it doesn’t work I'm just going to wait for the movie. Johnny Depp would make it infinitely less taxing.
Could someone who has read this book please explain its allure?
5 comments:
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oh em gee, so much overdue commentage! Um, first of all, I envy your literacy...
Second of all, and more to the point, I've actually found that I've gotten out of the habit of reading. My brother brought back a nice heap of paperbacks from India and I haven't read half of them! TEH WRONGNESS! And I'd picked up this Chomsky's Greatest Hits type book that I've barely even skimmed... Chomsky! My Hero! What's wrong with me???
Shantaram is a highly over-rated piece of work I think. I stopped reading around page 405 ... which is when I happened to look at the preface and learnt that it was not an autobiography - instead a hotchpotch of a few not so exciting real events mixed with what the author reckoned would be a little spicy fiction. But it doesn't work.
Also it contains too much gyaan if you know what I mean - after a while the head gets heavy and you want to have a beer! Or just go off to sleep.
Sharon: MY literacy? I've gotten lazy, and I'm really falling behind in terms of non-fiction. The last time I read Chomsky or Said were in college! I try (re)reading classics, but there's still a non-fiction drought. I shall remedy it soon. I suppose vampires don't count, do they? ;)
Saltwater Blues: FINALLY! I was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with me. *falls gratefully at your feet* But no, you're right, the whole thing just does not work. The beer gives me an idea, though. Perhaps a little vino well take the edge off while reading.. a last ditch attempt.
Shantaram!! haven't read yet... i suppose its not happening anytime soon... I'm attacking Midnight's Children rite now and it's not really going well :( And Atlas Shrugged's lying in a corner too.. Laziness definitely doing the rounds these days... :-/ Good luck with Shantaram.. I'm definietly waitin for the movie :D
Shimmer: Don't get your hopes up with Shantaram. I think that was my mistake. But I really like Atlas Shrugged!