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Jul 2016
7:40pm, 26 Jul 2016
10,729 posts
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Columba
Finally finished the New Confessions last night; it was rather a relief. I haven't yet read any of the above; thought I would give first impressions, then go back and read everyone else's first impressions.
I was really gripped at first, and felt very involved with (and sorry for) this poor little boy with no mother, a cold and distant father, an unfriendly elder brother and no-one but the housekeeper to develop an attachment to. Still gripped as he passed through school, gripped by his acne-ridden mathematical-genius friend, gripped by his war experiences... But somewhere along the line, either the book or I ran out of steam. It's one of those books with an Awful Lot of Characters; often I make a list as I go along, noting each new character as s/he appears, and the page on which s/he appears so I can go back and check if s/he reappears 100 pages later. For some reason I didn't do so this time, and consequently was reduced to muttering "now just a minute, who was Monika? And what exactly did Smee have against John?" I didn't really much care what happened to the protagonist from about half-way onwards.
I loved some of the phrases / metaphors, like "a wand of sunlight" but was less impressed when the same phrase turned up again later; it's the sort of thing you want just once in a book.
A theme running through it was the ultimate meaninglessness of events, starting when Hamish talks about the implications of Quantum theory, and cropping up over and over again; that we look for a pattern in the things that happen to us, but really there isn't one. Nevertheless, towards the end of the book there is indeed a very neat pattern, all ends getting tied (did the writer intend this, or did it happen despite himself?). The final film does get made; Karl-Heinz survives to star in it, and dies neatly afterwards; the only copy of the first "Confessions" film is handed over to exactly the people who will make the best use of it; and we know the protagonist is about to die, though we don't know exactly how.
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Jul 2016
7:45pm, 26 Jul 2016
10,730 posts
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Columba
Have now read back.
McG, I have not voted in the poll so those low marks weren't me.
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Jul 2016
8:44pm, 26 Jul 2016
24,848 posts
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McGoohan
Very interesting to see your comments Columba - your response to the book seems very similar to mine.
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Jul 2016
8:50pm, 26 Jul 2016
24,849 posts
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McGoohan
One thing that did annoy me was the plethora of characters slipping in and out.
For instance, Hamish. When he is introduced we are told 'so began one of the most important friendships of my life'. Er... no it didn't. Hamish is barely in the book and exists mainly so we can have the Meaninglessness Thing crop up.
Conversely, when Karl-Heinz is introduced as a guard when Todd is a POW, we are told 'I didn't see him again'. In retrospect, it means 'I didn't see him again in the prison' but I was taken aback when the character cropped up again and turned out to be a major player.
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Jul 2016
9:46pm, 26 Jul 2016
10,735 posts
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Columba
Yes, I liked Hamish, I could have done with more of him.
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Jul 2016
8:06am, 27 Jul 2016
16,162 posts
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Diogenes
Important doesn't have to be long-standing, enduring or everyday.
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Jul 2016
8:25am, 27 Jul 2016
29,221 posts
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NoFleecingAround
I liked Karl-Heinz, thought he was a great character. And the random characters popping in and out are a bit like life aren't they? I can imagine even more so in tumultuous times when people are displaced and moving about a lot.
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Jul 2016
8:36am, 27 Jul 2016
16,166 posts
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Diogenes
I'm not going to gainsay every criticism of the book (because I'll probably agree with many of them) but I didn't feel there were too many characters in the book, they were all quite clearly defined and distinct. Also, the thing that Hamish helped with wasn't meaningless at all, it fundamentally and irrevocably changed the course of John's life
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Jul 2016
8:41am, 27 Jul 2016
24,853 posts
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McGoohan
As a big +ve, I really 'liked' the WWI battle scene - that perfectly and vividly captured the utter confusion of battle, and yet wasn't confusing in itself. That's a difficult trick to pull off.
'Liked' probably isn't the right word there either as it was also horrific.
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Jul 2016
9:41am, 27 Jul 2016
10,741 posts
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Columba
Me too, McG. All the early part was brilliant. I liked the "l'homme de l'extreme gauche" classification. Also the sea-mist which he thought was a gas attack. And the dog which liked him though he didn't like it; and which came from the German side and eventually went back there. All that was fascinating and believable. Not sure exactly when, and why, it went off; or maybe it was me that went off.
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Book Group
Nov 2024