#bookrevies

[weeklylibrary]

“I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.”

Been difficult to write my review for this one - it’s perfection! I’m in a way glad I read it now and not before, what with it being so famous and popular. I picked this up because I thought it was high time I read this classic, and boy was I right. The amount of skepticism and exaggeration is not at all overwhelming, it is rather on point. I feel that there might have been an undertone of irritation in his writing, but it feels as though that itself drove him to write. 

Picking quotes from the book for this blog was difficult and just two quotes do not do justice. The sarcasm reeks out of the pages and it is just grand (yes, I did just make up a whole sentence so I could use the word ‘grand’). I thoroughly enjoyed this read, finished it in a couple of days. I honestly want to pick the book up again in a few years and re read this gorgeous, simple masterpiece. Any review will never be enough to appreciate the beauty of this one, you have to sit down for a couple of hours and just loose yourself in the candid narration.

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.”

[weeklylibrary]

“Wonderful to imagine it, though. The whole appeal of medieval studies - the languages, the literature, the history, the art and architecture - to immerse oneself in that world. That other world. Safely other. Other in almost every way, except that it was here. Look at those fields on either side of the motorway. Those low hills. It was here. They were here, as we are now. And this too shall pass. We don’t actually believe that, though, do we? We are unable to believe that our own world will pass. So it will go on for ever? No. It will turn into something else. Slowly - too slowly to be perceived by the people living in it. Which is already happening, is always happening. We just can’t see it.”

David Szalay’s ‘All that man is’  are nine short stories intertwined together. He takes us through the journey of men in different stages of their lives. Starting from college through middle age and then finally old and feeble. Throughout the journey the characters have consistent personalities - somewhat poignant, reminiscing and even absurd at times, making them very believable. 

A few of the stories are very touching, while some are average. It is a long read and I had to reissue the book twice, but it was addictive enough for me to. His writing style is a lot like Camus - character driver - the characters linger on you. I enjoyed reading this book, it took me into a calm yet wavy zone, which is also how I would describe this book - quite bittersweet. 

“The passage of time. That is what is eternal, that is what has no end. And it shows itself only in the effect it has on everything else, so that everything else embodies, in its own impermanence, the one thing that never ends.”

[thebookreviewclub]

Reckless was frigging awesome

So Anna got knocked up again, Kellan's a hit, Kiera gave birth to Ryder Kyle, Griffin's monogamous and a great dad (but still the same perv) ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL!