Books: Delaney and Droogs

[woodwardiocom]

The Einstein Intersection by Samuel Delany

-This is an odd little book about a race of aliens (?) who try to recreate human culture long after we're extinct, in the process getting things a bit muddled, like confusing Ringo Starr with Orpheus. Our hero reenacts the Orpheus myth, except he kinda doesn't. And many of the chapters are headed with excerpts from Delany's journal, from when he was writing this book. It has some lyrical moments, but I confess to Not Quite Getting The Point.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

-This book, on the other hand, wears its point on its sleeve. A reasonably brilliant book (very similar to the movie), particularly in its invented language. I'm going to attach the hackneyed phrase "thought-provoking" to it. A bit weak in the actual construction of its plot — the last third is rife with unlikely coincidence, and there's no explanation given of the process used on Alex in the next-to-last chapter — but still, highly recommended.

(And yes, I thought about writing the review in Nadsat, but decided that was too obvious.)

Comments

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I heart Burgess.

Read The Wanting Seed! That's one of my favourites by him.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

[Jon makes a note]

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

Did you see the movie of Clockwork before reading the book? Wacky. I don't think I've ever done that... If I see the movie first, I rarely read the book. And vice versa. Harry Potter and the Thorn Birds are two notable exceptions. In both cases I read the book first.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Did you see the movie of Clockwork before reading the book?

-Parts of it. I wasn't really in a good head-space for it at the time.

If I see the movie first, I rarely read the book.

-Bey makes a point of trying to see the movie before reading the book . . . since the movie is usually worse, this way she avoids disappointment.

[stevenehrbar.livejournal.com]

Ah, The Einstein Intersection.

Known to me as "This beat Lord of Light on the final ballot for the 1967 Nebula? Man, the SFWA members must have been on lots of drugs."

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

-Yes, well, on events like this lies my distrust of the Nebula as an accurate indicator of quality. Or, at least, of "stuff I'll like".

[queenofhalves]

did your copy of ACO have the twenty-first chapter?

i hate the twenty-first chapter.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

-Yah, it does. I'm ambivalent about it. Probably best to have the author's original vision, though.