Stories inside of stories, time travel or insanity, metaphor stacked upon metaphor. This story is wild. Very entertaining. Very well written.
My only critique is that the whole experience of the book could be enhanced by greater character development. It sometimes felt as if the characters were all the same, just arguing amongst themselves. Which also, may have been the point.
"I thought that the construction of the automobile was most uncomfortable and, moreover, humiliating for the driver, who was always exposed to the elements - but perhaps this was a deliberate arrangement, so that the passengers could enjoy not only the view through the window, but also savor the inequality of the classes." Pg. 15
"About the fact that man is rather like this train. In exactly the same way he is doomed for all eternity to drag after him out of the past a string of dark and terrible carriages inherited from goodness knows whom. And he calls the meaningless rumbling of this accidental coupling of hopes, opinions and fears his life. And there is no way to avoid this fate." Pg. 84
"'If they wake you up from your nightmares the same they they did the Chinaman, Petka.' Chapaev said without opening his eyes, 'all that'll happen is that you'll drop from one dream into another. You've been flitting to and fro like that all eternity. But if you can understand that absolutely everything that happens to you is a dream, then it won't matter a damn what kind of dreams you have. And when you wake up afterwards you'll really wake up - for ever. If you want to, that is.'
'But why is everything that is happening to me a dream?'
'Because, Petka,' Chapaev said, 'there just isn't anything else.'" pg. 207
Book 8
No comments:
Post a Comment