/lit/ - Literature

I liked it very much but it’s not “great”
There haven’t been any “great” American novels this century

Depends on what you mean by "great American novel"
If you mean "great" as in great compared to other american novels i would be inclined to agree if you mean it in the way that it's a novel written by an american that could be considered great then i would have to disagree because there is no such thing as a "final great American novel." In comparison to the rest of the world. American simply don't know how to write anything that would constitute true greatness in that sense. There are few good books written by americans, none of them novels. The only one i could think of write now is Thoreau's Walden.

>>13869285
I thought it truly was great. It's the only work I've encountered that has anything relevant to say about our society as it actually is: vulnerable and begging for ruin.

>>13869314
What does constitute true greatness then? I agree about Walden nonetheless.

You guys high? Richard ford, franzen, auster..some great american books in the 21st century. Walden is for uni fag starter pack.

My god. You guys are such plebs. Read some Evan Dara and Vollmann.

>>13869944
>franzen, auster
>great

>>13869268
Absolutely based book.

>>13869268
The road isn't great. Blood Meridian is my favourite book. East of Eden does good to capture the American spirit.

>>13870004
>great esl geek commenting on great english language novels and the american spirit

>>13869268
This book is bizarre to me. I like it, but not nearly as much as any other McCarthy work I've read. Yet it's the only one that was assigned to me (once in high school, twice in college). I wonder what it is that teachers love so much. I'm thinking it's dystopia, teachers of entry-level English teach dystopia almost exclusively.

>>13869285
Wrong

>>13870035
No, it's because it's easy to read and the type is really large so as to keep the attention of smooth-brained HS and college students who otherwise don't read. You should have asked for something more challenging like Blood Meridian.

>>13869268
This book was gay
Oh look I can't think of an apocalypse that's unique so I won't tell you what started it
Oh look, I'm never gonna directly say the man is the boys dad XD so clever
Book was crap. Wish my school had kept animal farm on it's assignment list rather than adding this trash

>>13870771
How about you finish high school first you underage faggot.

>>13870035
it has simple and clean themes that run deep. the prose and ideas are easy to discern but contain surprising depth. it's obviously great for teaching

>>13870771
imagine being this immature.

>>13870611
Based and Hyuk!pilled

>>13870771
You are being ironic, right? I mean there is legit criticism I cannot deny even though I am a huge fan of this book, but you just ate a load of shit if you truly believe in what you said

I like this book because it's not really that fun to read. It's depressing and grey and nothing much happens. In this way, the readers experience mirrors that of the characters.
I often recommend it and multiple people have told me they hate it because it is depressing and boring. Which is entirely the point.

I loved it desu, so bleak and bland but still kind of interesting. Them finding that bunker was such a great and humbling scene in so much chaos.

>>13870771
>This book was gay

So you’re still 16 years old, that’s fine, you should kill yourself though

>>13871351
>>13871954
>>13872092
>>13872185
>u no like book me like
>u must be younger than me
It has been many moons since I was in school
This book was fairly new still, and overrated
Its not deep. Its just structured so that you don't know what happened, and then tries to make its apocalypse "unique" by adding in gory details and making the kid out to be the new Jesus because he was born into this world but is still innocent
I'll give the author credit, the book does portray a violent vision of the apocalypse. But he tried way too hard with this thing.
No page numbers no chapter numbers, poor grammar etc to try and make it seem like the kid wrote it is the author just trying too hard.
Wasn't a fan. And yes it was gay.