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/lit/ - Literature

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6425350 No.6425350 [Reply] [Original]

Why is this allowed?

>> No.6425358

because, as we all know, goodreads is the objective measure for quality in literature
what is the purpose of this thread

>> No.6425359

Because at least 80% of the Goodsreads userbase are female.

>> No.6425362

Have you read Divergent?

>> No.6425363

But why the red dot in the middle, OP?

>> No.6425369

They allow any idiot to make threads here.

>> No.6425382

>>6425363
This

>> No.6425386

>>6425350

Why do so many women write dystopian novels anyway?

>> No.6425406

>>6425350

>read plot summary for Divergent
>main character is special because she has more than one personality trait

I don't know how teenagers, or hell I don't know how adults can read this and not find it condescending and stupid.

>> No.6425427

>>6425363
SNIPER!!!

>> No.6425458

Shit thread.

>>6425359
The userbase is also very young. Guaranteed, most of the low ratings are from high schoolers who were forced to read the book and thought it was slow/difficult to understand.

>>6425362
Yes. Yes I have.

>> No.6425467

ntw it got a high rating, i don't know what you're complaining about, OP.
why don't you check the 1 star ratings for the odissey, then you can come back and complain.

>> No.6425468
File: 24 KB, 610x173, 1405815777121.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6425468

Goodreads lulz thread?

I'm on it

>> No.6425471
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6425471

>>6425468

>> No.6425473
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6425473

>>6425471

>> No.6425479

>>6425471
>edward cullen pic
based kara

>> No.6425481

>>6425468
>>6425471
>>6425473
Please tell me those are fake.
Please.

>> No.6425487
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6425487

>>6425481
Nope

>> No.6425494
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6425494

>>6425487

>> No.6425496

>>6425487
>making fun of children
Now this is pathetic

>> No.6425499

>>6425350
Because thats Fagles xDDD
But seriously, its because the people who read YA like Divergent more than the people who read Classics like Odyssey. Which isnt surprising

>> No.6425501

>>6425468
I can never deal with the fact that people think that antiracist books are racist.
Remember when they censored huck finn?

>> No.6425509

>>6425487
Hahahaha. I'm a big girl now! This picture book sucks!

>> No.6425511

>>6425471
>all in all, too much information.(less)
i laughed inside

>> No.6425519

>>6425473
lmao I remember reading this one

>> No.6425532

You're right Op. We should totally eschew subjectivism and maintain a standard of elitism.
Human Collective brain when?

>> No.6425540

>>6425471
More of her:

>But, at the same time, I look at myself when I first read this book. Fifth grader, the product of a broken home, and an avid history buff. I knew the ending- who doesn't when they begin this book- and I knew the historical context probably better than my eighth grade English teacher, who was a self-professed hater of history (and, really, how does that even work?). Maybe it was the fact that, even at that young of an age, I disdained her extreme self-possession (granted, a trait I would later become acquainted with in my teenage years), especially when she was very well-informed of the world she lived in. Maybe it was jealousy of her family who were bound together, even in the midst of chaos and the teenage hormones of her and Margot (who I would have loved to have had as a sister). Maybe it was frustration that she couldn't recognize how lucky she really was. Perhaps, it could have just been that I wasn't ready for it.

I just love how she *has* to talk about herself and is basically disdaining Anner for being too much of an egghead

>> No.6425557
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6425557

Absolutely triggered.

>> No.6425558

>>6425540
at least anne was writing a diary

>> No.6425571

>>6425540
me me me I I I this simpleton

>> No.6425574

>>6425532
You speak as if there's no force of standardization and no conscious design at work in the popularity of novels like the one bellow. It's a typical product of masscult: if it was slightly more challenging or slightly less familiar to the target audience's sensibilities it would probably never see the light of the day. There's no "democratic" process at work here.

>> No.6425579
File: 43 KB, 626x331, review.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6425579

>> No.6425581

>>6425363
Watch it op I think someboy is about to as-

>> No.6425584

The one review of Stoner, from some rat-looking idiot licking a book by Hegel is the one that *always* gets me.

>> No.6425588

>>6425363
>>6425427
>>6425581

you sure this is biggie smalls' crib???

>> No.6425614
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6425614

>> No.6425622

>>6425614
Tuckova also rates Death in Venice 1 star and reviews it as "sorry, no"

>> No.6425627

>>6425614
holy christ i can't read this stuff

>> No.6425635

>>6425467
>why don't you check the 1 star ratings for the odissey, then you can come back and complain.

I wish I hadn't done this, it made me so angry. Loads of reviews said 'It's too confusing, and there are too many Greek names. I'm one for action' ... yeah, exactly.

>> No.6425644

>>6425487
reason #37 to purchase a firearm

>> No.6425646

>>6425494
>disgusting story about a disgusting man using beautiful language
To be fair that's kinda on-spot.

>> No.6425670

>>6425614
What she said about Dostoyevsky, which was probably very clever in her head, is unfortunately such a standard criticism of literature today. It's sometimes also extended to movies.

For them, it doesn't matter that if maybe he had to cut 50 words to 15 some of the content, the beauty, the rhythm, language and overall aesthetic of the passage would be compromised. What's important is to get to the end of the book as soon as possible so you can claim to have read it.

>> No.6425711
File: 133 KB, 629x465, 83.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6425711

>Marx and Engels take the position that globalisation is bad and that the spread of trade and free exchange of ideas is bad as it means people aren't satisfied with the old way of doing things after they are exposed to new ways. They don't like technology, adopting the luddite position that it makes everything worse. They believe technology makes workers redundant and take less joy in their work. Before I go any further, does anyone agree with this nonsense? It's like they want to freeze time indefinitely, they're so anti-progress! So far, so dumb.

>Their anti-machine spiel continues as they fume that the bourgeois are in control of the machines and therefore the direction the world is taking. They want the working class to control this instead. So it's just one group of society jealous of what another group of society have. Nothing revolutionary here.

>I had to include this quote from the manifesto as I found it ironic - "He (the working man) becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is required of him." Ironic as they claim this is the state of the working man under bourgeois rule but this is ultimately what would happen to countless millions under communist rule in the 20th century.

>The manifesto contains largely sweeping statements that aren't backed up with examples or facts, and bizarre statements about the communist utopia that go along the lines of "if everyone were communist then there would be no competition and nobody would be better and so there would be no war". There's a lot of this “anti-competition” sentiment in the manifesto as apparently we should all be equal and competition means some would be better than others. And all the even weirder stuff about all private property is abolished - those so-called reasons behind that argument make no sense at all.

>I think besides the idealistic posturing, behind which there are no practicalities for how to bring about their “utopia”. I mean who is to oversee that everyone does a certain job or where all products of production are directed, etc. etc.? There is very little of substance here. But then it's aimed at the 19th century working classes who, especially at this time, were very poorly educated, if at all, and so they wouldn't have the critical thinking to dissect the propaganda and lack of pragmatism that the manifesto contains, they would simply swallow the message of "bourgeois bad, working class good, we will make the working class have better living standards". Like a politician, all style, no substance.

>> No.6425718
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6425718

>>6425670
>FINIS!

>> No.6425726

>>6425646
I was almost surprised she gave it a one-star for a sec reading that. Like, that's kinda the point of it, and it's brilliant, but whatever.

>> No.6425731

>>6425574
This post made me retarded.

>> No.6425741

>>6425494
>Listing to an audio book of LOLITA.
Dear Heavens' Why!

>> No.6425742

>>6425473
MARXISTS BLOWN THE FUCK OUT

>> No.6425745

>translation
there

>> No.6425749

>>6425731
The fact you struggled half an hour to come up with this rebuttal suggests so

>> No.6425764

>>6425745
I get the impression that all this annoyance of /lit/'s with translations is a veiled attempt to justify not reading foreign works of literature.

>> No.6425768

>>6425764
It's an american thing.

>> No.6425772
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6425772

>>6425487
>>6425487
goddamn. I don't know why but I found this one hilarious.

>> No.6425835
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6425835

>>6425711
I can't read this.

It's just too cringe inducing.

>> No.6425858

>>6425670
>For them, it doesn't matter that if maybe he had to cut 50 words to 15 some of the content, the beauty, the rhythm, language and overall aesthetic of the passage would be compromised. What's important is to get to the end of the book as soon as possible so you can claim to have read it.
maybe, but I think they genuinely like books with 3 word sentences all over. Otherwise I can't explain the onslaught of (poorly made) hemingway-esque prose and the gradual extinction of, well, any other kind of prose.
I suspect movies are related to this the same way photography is related to the fall out of style of photorealism, except visual arts actually got some awesome stuff later, whereas literature just got worse.
it doesn't help that this shit is so easy to sell either. of course everyone starts out not being used to complex writing, but instead of trying to understand they get mollycoddled into thinking this is the best thing to ever happen to communication and go talk about it on a website that doesn't allow messages longer than 140 characters.

>> No.6425891
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6425891

>>6425557
>critiquing the prose
>of a translation
>of a philosophy text
What the fuck?

>> No.6425892

>>6425835
It doesn't make me cringe as much as it makes me eyeroll

I mean, it's the type of thing we've all read or heard before. I'm used to it at this point.

>> No.6425909

goodreads is the imdb of books. everything that panders to idiots is highly rated.

>> No.6425926
File: 79 KB, 625x605, average nietzsche reader.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6425926

>> No.6425938
File: 31 KB, 614x184, nietzsche reader.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6425938

>>6425926

>> No.6425948

>>6425926
>shitting on m-dashes
>:^(

>> No.6425949

>>6425711
It always baffles me how someone literate can be so intellectually dishonest.

>> No.6425959

>>6425741
also not with earbuds or anything but with your 50w hi-fi system

>> No.6425961

>>6425938
link her profile

I have to see what type of book she agrees with

>> No.6425962
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6425962

>>6425948

>> No.6425966

tbh the Odyssey is shit, pure shit compared to the Iliad

>> No.6425971

>>6425961
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1193140-jodi

>> No.6425978

>>6425962
>beautiful and profound analytic philosophy

>> No.6425983

>>6425971
I don't know any of her top rated books except the two Twilight ones.

>> No.6425986
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6425986

>> No.6425987

>>6425983
Me either, but she 5-starred a Glen Beck book so that's all I needed to know

>> No.6425989

>>6425971
bitch actually tried to make the jump from glenn beck to nietzsche

>> No.6425994

>>6425971
I'm not surprised at all by her taste.

>> No.6425995

>>6425962
Where do you guys think he got his hatred of continental philosophy from? Reading the wikipedia article of the Sokal hoax?

>> No.6425996
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6425996

>>6425962
>beautiful and profound analytic philosophy

>> No.6425998
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6425998

holy shit

>> No.6426003

>>6425926
the most fun thing about this is that the filename is probably correct.
>i'm an atheist, this guy said god is dead, LET'S CHECK THIS OUT

>> No.6426013
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6426013

Since goodreads is shit, what literature related website do you recommend, /lit/?

>> No.6426014

>>6425962
>>6425938
>THIS GUY WHO DIED A CENTURY AGO WAS A RACIST AND A SEXIST!!!!
UNBELIEVABLE!

>> No.6426021

>>6425986
oh my god that last line

>> No.6426024

>>6425350
Maybe they are rating that particular translation low and not the work itself? I know a bad translation can really annoy me. Especially when there are a lot of awkwardly worded sentences.

>> No.6426025

>>6426013
there are none. you just have to carefully read between the lines on the shit websites.

>> No.6426027

>>6425986
>>6425998

#rustled

>> No.6426049

>>6425614
To be fair, Roth really is a complete hack who has nothing to say beyond his "LOOK AT HOW JEWISH I AM, ISN'T THAT WEIRD?" shtick.

>> No.6426050
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6426050

>> No.6426051

>>6425995
>Sokal hoax
Thanks for making me find this out.

>> No.6426061

>>6426051
It's hardly a knowledge I want repressed. If someone mentions it to make a point, I already know that person isn't worth talking to

>> No.6426068

>>6426049
sabbath's theather had very little to do with the protagonist being jewish

>> No.6426075

>>6426050
>>6425998
You have to realize that these people naturally place themselves in the subservient role, socially, and are thus looking for people to tell exactly what to think and believe. Hence their need for everything to be "convincing"

>> No.6426078

>>6426061
>It's hardly a knowledge I want repressed.
i was sincere. i laughed
>>6426050
>"i continually find myself thinking [citation needed]"
holy fuck

>> No.6426085

>>6425962
Euphoric

>> No.6426090
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6426090

>> No.6426096
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6426096

>>6425986
>stick to existentialism

>> No.6426099
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6426099

>>6426090
WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

>> No.6426102

>>6426090
The new atheist and analytic kind love to blabber about 'muh fallacies' and are at the same time so oblivious about this kind of personal attack when it suits them.

>> No.6426140

>>6426090
That guy's first paragraph is 100% spot on, btw. So is his last one.

>> No.6426159

>>6426140
Evim b7

>> No.6426162

>>6426102
nice blanket statement

>> No.6426163

>>6426140
He's right on a few things and wrong on others. For example he doesn't understand the whole "god is dead" bit, but he's in good company.

>> No.6426179

>>6426102
the guy in the screenshot is pretty obviously a christian

>> No.6426241

>>6425749
And your syntax suggests that you don't read. Why are you on this board?

>> No.6426243

>>6426159
>anyone who disagrees with me is being disingenuous

>> No.6426262

>>6426163
True, but his opinion seems pretty good anyway so that's likely not important

>> No.6426318

>>6425386
Being female is shit

>> No.6426363
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6426363

>>6425363

>yfw

>> No.6426390

>>6425350
Democracy.

>> No.6426393

>>6426243
Either disingenuous or retarded, I'm being nice to you.

>> No.6426402

>>6425644
What are the first 36?

>> No.6426405
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6426405

>>6425971
>https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1193140-jodi

>> No.6426406

>>6426363
You can barely see it.

>> No.6426419

>>6426405
Surely this is a troll...

>> No.6426432

>>6425588
severely underr8ed post

>> No.6426445
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6426445

>>6426419
I wanted to see what she gave 5/5 and it was this and twilight and a book on polygamy

>> No.6426450
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6426450

>> No.6426466
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6426466

This one seems too absurd to have been written in earnest to be fair.

>> No.6426482

>>6426450
this is the most actually pleb person I've ever seen holy shit

>> No.6426490

>>6426013
lithub
/r/literature
and goodreads isn't shit, you just don't need to purposefully seek out the crap reviewers. Follow the people you like and it will be good.

>> No.6426491
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6426491

>>6425363
get rekt op

>> No.6426493

>>6426482
At least in this one she's humble enough to put the blame on her, not the book (although she could have not fucking rated it then)

I say this because I know so many proud "regular Joes" who make similar remarks on a completely self-satisfied, anti-intellectual way. I have to listen to how reading this author or that philosopher won't help anyone "pay their bills" almost every week at work

>> No.6426495
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6426495

DAVID
A
V
I
D

>> No.6426496
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6426496

Guess which philosopher.

>> No.6426502

>>6426496

Man this guy is fucking stupid

>> No.6426506

>>6426495
I have no idea how this cunt isn't a meme here

I swear to you every time I see one of his negative reviews I have to read it and I almost always need to raise from my chair and walk in circles for a few seconds to calm down afterwards

>> No.6426597

>>6426490
>and goodreads isn't shit, you just don't need to purposefully seek out the crap reviewers. Follow the people you like and it will be good.
I looked for incest romances once. The most voted on was Forbidden by Tabitha Something. It was absolute shit. Never came back there.

>> No.6426607
File: 275 KB, 824x1052, Screen Shot 2015-04-19 at 23.52.42.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6426607

>being this angry about a book

>> No.6426612

>>6426597
>I looked for incest romances once
well there is your problem

>> No.6426615

>>6425468
Joseph Conrad's grave spinning out of Earth orbit

>> No.6426620

>>6425350

>Twilight: 3.56
>Divergent: 4.31
The Hunger Games: 4.39
>Holy Bible: King James Version: 4.41

YA BTFO

>> No.6426622

>>6426612
>not looking for incest romances ever

>> No.6426625
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6426625

>all ratings are a comparison to each other

A really shitty reason to start a shitty thread.

>> No.6426628
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6426628

>>6425471
>22 likes

>> No.6426631

Because the Fagles edition sucks.

>> No.6426635

>>6426620
>>Holy Bible: King James Version: 4.41
I bet half of them haven't even read anything but what their priests preached to them.

>> No.6426667
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6426667

>>6426635

>> No.6426671

>>6426635
>priests
>King James Version

uh

>> No.6426687
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6426687

>>6425540

>> No.6426705
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6426705

>>6425540
>Fifth grader, the product of a broken home

>> No.6426712

>>6426667
>>6426671
It's funny because it's true.

>> No.6426718

>>6425579
Gave me a chuckle actually, still a fucking pleb though.

>> No.6426741

>>6425962
>I'm glad he's dead

>> No.6426749

>>6426014
>>6425938
>Nietzsche hated women
Fucking bitches can't have read a single line of the Gay Science if they seriously believe this.

>> No.6426801

>>6426607
>thinking hot grills would have anything non-retarded to say about books

>> No.6426812
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6426812

>>6425971
>https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1193140-jodi
ding ding ding

we've found the newest lit meme!!!

>> No.6426820

>>6426432
This

>> No.6426900

Can someone take a screenshot of the 'Best Books Ever' list on Goodreads?

>> No.6426924

>>6426900
just here
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/24716.Highest_Rated_Books_on_Goodreads_with_at_least_100_ratings_

>> No.6426945

>>6426924
There are several of these kinds of lists. But this is by far the most horrible one. At least they got Borges in there.

>> No.6426950

>>6425986
>>6426050
lost

>> No.6426952

>>6425986
HAAHAHAHAHAHAH

W O M E N


jesus christ

>> No.6426965
File: 41 KB, 422x342, third installment.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6426965

>>6426812
'tis a good'un

>> No.6426967

>>6425998
Okay someone explain what's wrong with this.

Why wouldn't the falsehood of an opinion be the objection to it?

>> No.6426984

>>6426945
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1.Best_Books_Ever

>> No.6427028

>>6426967
>Okay someone explain what's wrong with this.
the guy who capped it loves nietzsche

>> No.6427047

>>6427028
Actually, I get it now.

>> No.6427055

>>6425741
Have you heard it? It's actually quite good. I listened to it while reading the book.

>> No.6427058

>>6425350
Just because something is old doesn't mean it's good.

2/10

Go to bed, grand pa.

>> No.6427073
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6427073

Notice how must of the reviews posted in this thread were written by women.

>Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.

>> No.6427078

>>6427073
*most

>> No.6427085

>>6427073
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34NVSoo4y88

>> No.6427088

>>6427073
Actually most of the old ones are guys. Girls just post the funniest statements. Guys post these longwinded jerks so they're not as fun to post.

>> No.6427097
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6427097

>>6427088
for example, picked a random book often recommended on lit and first 5 1 star were guys

but they just aren't as funny about it

>> No.6427101 [DELETED] 

>>6427097
Men read more classics. Women read YA trash. They don't challenge themselves.

They read books that they have read countless times before, so they will have nothing to dislike. Men challenge themselves.

>> No.6427115

>>6426965
now /lit/ is going to collectively reimagine her entire life through her book reviews on goodreads.

>> No.6427122

>>6427101
The fuck? This shit is the same across classics and modern and YA shit.

Obviously being a complete idiot is a genderless trait. I mean you manage it.

God I just saw a stupid good one on infinite jest but that shit is too fucking long to bother.

>> No.6427123
File: 25 KB, 230x244, 1429425050696.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6427123

>>6427101

>> No.6427124

it's democracy.

>> No.6427127

>>6427123
Jokes on you, that wasn't my sincere opinion.

>> No.6427130

>>6427127
>i was only pretending

>> No.6427131

>>6425350
Why does it bother you?

>> No.6427133

>>6427130
Got to cast that bait once in a while.

>> No.6427134

>>6426496
>God is not real
>If God had of asked me to sacrifice my son as he did Abraham
sure about your atheism, fedorabro?

>> No.6427136

IJ is a dogs breakfast. Nobody has actually read it from cover to cover. Nobody has understood it on its own terms. Anybody who reckons they’ve read it or understood it is lying and needs to be exposed for the fibbers they are.

The sooner there is something that is post-postmodernism that we can get our hands and minds and kindles and iPatches on the better. No wait, it doesn’t matter.

Postmodernism was invented so that nerds could take money off other nerds.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world can eat, drink, snort, smoke, dance, party and have sex regardless and in spite of the postmodernist nerdfest going down, down, down in the library.

Length

Surely, it is enough to state the length of this book to condemn it.

If an author has 1,100 pages in them, then write four novels of 275 pages each.

Can Sting possibly be any better on the fourth day of his tantric sex than he is on the first?

What is the point? To achieve a target for the Guinness Book of Records? For as soon as you break the record, somebody else will want to beat you and your record will last for, how long, one year, at most?

Repetition

In a book that long, there must surely be a lot of repetition of themes and subject matter, if not dialogue and actual words.

As for a book whose ending simply takes you back to the beginning? That's not what I call recycling. Recycling is the yellow bin. Or, wishful thinking for charities, two copies sitting side by side in a second hand book store.

Self-Indulgence

See my comment about Sting. Beyond that, I risk being guilty of the post-modern crime of repetition. In fact, I might already be guilty. Damn. How ironic.

Irony

Show me somebody who really knows what irony means and I’ll show you a bullshit artist.

I mean, what does “an incongruity between the literal and the implied meaning” mean?

Is there any literal meaning that is not implied? Surely, DFW meant everything his words implied.

Therefore, they are not incongruous, they are deliberate and congruous.

This is starting to sound like that other Ian Graye, so I will stop.

>> No.6427141

check my dubs please

>> No.6427142

>>6427136
Playfulness

OK, so they play tennis in this book. So what?

And so what if he plays with our minds? Writing this bloody book probably played with DFW’s own mind. How can you control something as gargantuan and prolix as this?

It plays with our minds, because it played with his. If he had won the game, it would have been a shorter, sharper, better book and a more pleasant experience for us.

There is a reason tennis has a tie-breaker. IJ needed a tie-breaker. Around 300 pages.

Black Humor

I like black humor, white humor and Jewish humor. I haven’t heard any other types yet. But I hope I do eventually.

However, I can’t remember any good jokes in IJ, nor can I remember LOL’ing.

Even if I could remember one, there’s no way I would ever tell a mate in a pub or print it on a t-shirt, which is my ultimate test of a good joke, well, an aphorism, anyway.

Intertextuality

I mean, are you serious? Who would invent a word like “intertextuality”, but a postmodernist wanker?

Did the English language really need this word? Did it have to be imported from France or Italy, or wherever?

Intertextuality…”the relationship between one text (a novel for example) and another or one text within the interwoven fabric of literary history…an indication of postmodernism’s lack of originality and reliance on clichés”.

Put two things next to each other, juxtapose them, as the other Ian Graye would say, and you have a relationship (a “juxtaposition”). So what?

If you want to refer to another book in your book, it’s a quote if it’s acknowledged or plagiarism if it’s not.

So what? Any graduate student can do this. We used to call it cheating.

As for cliches, we were taught to eschew them in my day. DFW uses truckloads of cliches, mostly old ones, but many new ones of his own creation. How pathetic. There are nearly as many cliches in IJ as there are in Hamlet. I mean, "To be, or not to be", if Shakespeare was half the writer he's supposed to be (or not to be), he would have steered clear of that old chestnut.

Pastiche

Once again, write your own bloody book. Don’t copy somebody else’s. Sampling is cheating. If I want to read the other book or listen to the other song, I’ll find it on iTunes.

Metafiction

Another word created by postmodernists for postmodernists. It’s like a secret handshake. A club for us and not for you. Because you won’t let us into your club, and your club is blockbuster, best-selling fiction with a home and a boat in the Bahamas.

Anybody who can write should strive for a home and a boat, better still, a houseboat. If you haven’t got it in you, don’t waste trees or cyberspace. Write a blog. Do your pathetic little reviews on GoodReads. Or pathetically long reviews, in the case of my namesake.

>> No.6427145

>>6427142
Fabulation

I mean, honest, we’re talking fiction here, and some critic has to introduce a synonym and pretend it means something different. A distinction without a difference. A high distinction without a job prospect. This is today’s academia for you.

Poioumena

This word makes me want to vomit.

I mean I love Maoris and their language, but words weren’t meant to consist of four consecutive vowels. It's inconsonant.

Historiographic Metafiction

Another one. What, aren’t the old words good enough for postmodernists? This would have been edited out of the wiki article if anybody knew what it meant or had the guts.

Instead, it’s left in, and college students in my wake will struggle to apply it correctly in a sentence for another 20 years.

If this term was a dog, it would be put down. In fact, this term is a dog. Bang.

Temporal Distortion

It gets worse. “Fragmentation and non-linear narratives”. In a word, drugs. Nobody used this language when the poison of choice was alcohol.

In the old days, the bell would ring, and you’d say, “Oh, is that the time?” Not temporal distortion.

Magic Realism

All the best drugs come from South America. Say no more. But put a frat boy in a broad brimmed hat and sit him on a horse and it doesn’t make him a gaucho or a magic realist.

Technoculture and Hyperreality

Doof doof. I can’t remember one computer in IJ. Unless you count microwaves and whatever they played the cartridges on. And, I mean, who remembers cartridges?

Paranoia

The only source of paranoia for me in IJ is the sense that DFW might have known what he was talking about and I didn’t get it. But if he did and I didn’t, then I’ve read all the other IJ reviews on Good Reads, and no two of them are the same, so quit the bullshit and admit it, nobody gets it. It’s time we fessed up, it can’t be got, we weren’t supposed to get it, DFW didn’t design it to be got, leave it alone.

IJ is a conspiracy by the paper manufacturing industry to consume paper, put it inside a hard cover and never let it see the light of day.

Yes, a paranoid conspiracy, I know, but guess what, it worked.

Maximalism

A big word for “long”.

Minimalism

A big word for a little idea. Incongruous, if not ironic, I know.

Encyclopaedic

Yes, IJ is long, but credit where credit is due, it contains a lot of words and meanings, about a lot of things, but let's face it, nobody ever reads an encyclopaedia from beginning to end, we all dip in one entry at a time, if not randomly, and we wouldn’t know shit about all the other bits that we didn’t read.

Let’s hope there's not a question about them in the exam.

Well, that's about it from me. Let me leave you with one more serious thought.

Party at my place. Come on.

KCRCR. Whatever will be will be. And whatever will not be will not be. That is the answer and there's the rub. Thanks, Bill. Can I have my bottle back now, please?

>> No.6427147

>>6427141
not checked

Check these

>> No.6427150

>>6427145
Oh, is that the time? Let's cross to Rupert for the news.
CHOOSE YOUR REVIEW:

"Infinite Jest" elicits diverse reactions. I thought I might try to express some of them, both negative and positive.

The above review is my attempt at a negative review.

My positive reviews are mentioned below.
TAME AND INEFFECTUAL POST-CAPITALIST LAPDOG FIVE STAR REVIEW

This is a positive capsule review with a few add-ons:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/......
NERDS ONLY PSEUDO-INTELLECTUAL FIVE STAR REVIEW

This review is my attempt at a more analytical, but positive, review:

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/2......
THE "TELL ME WHAT YOU REALLY THINK" VOTE COUNT (AUDITED BY CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS NICE WATERCLOSET)

DJ Ian:

February 17, 2013

41 likes

Post-Capitalist Lapdog Review

February 17, 2013

38 likes

Nerd's Only Pseudo-Intellectual Review

February 17, 2013

27 likes

DJ Ian's one star review jennifer garnered more "likes" in 12 hours than either of the other five star reviews did in 10 months (they were posted in April 2012)

>> No.6427152

>>6427101
i don't know if this is generally true and i don't even care. however i did go on a date with a chick once who told me she has a bookshelf full of crappy fantasy / scifi novels most of which she has read twice, a good portion up to five or more times even.

i can't even comprehend why someone would do that. i used to read some fantasy when i was younger ... there's nothing to be gained from rereading these types of airport-kiosk tier fantasy stuff.

>> No.6427167

>>6427152
It doesn't bug me at all if people enjoy stupid shit. But it drives me up the wall for them to be pretentious about it like so many idiots on goodreads are.

>> No.6427178

>>6427167
yah it's not like i really mind, either. i just can't fathom why someone would invest that kind of time into reading something they already know by heart. but hey, i'm on 4chan

>> No.6427259

>>6426607

> Don't be as dumb as me,

>> No.6427330

>>6427145
>>6427142
>>6427136
this may be the one thing I most want not to be real. those sections named irony and length and playfulness and intertextuality and pastiche are just too stupid

>> No.6427338

>>6427136
>Nobody has actually read it from cover to cover.
i get it, the joke is that the review is long winded, that's very funny.

>> No.6427346

>>6427167
What do you mean?

>> No.6427384

>>6427346
most of these reviews read like someone on /lit/ trashing john green or something but then you find out it's some barely literate douche with ADD who doesn't like [insert widely appreciated classic] because "it's long" or "the author was sexist" or "but MOM! I don't like the characters!"
I mean, people trashing john green on /lit/ are silly too but this is just another level.

>> No.6427393

To be fair, the main character in the Odyssey is a pyschopath who comes back and executes a bunch of teenage girls and boys.

>> No.6427399

>>6427393
Look at this basic nigga.

>> No.6427405

>>6425962
>Nietzsche was racist
>Nietzsche was sexist
>denser than a neuron star and more contradictory than the Bible.
wtf dude

>> No.6427436

>>6427399

If the Athenians could critique Homer, so can I.

>> No.6427473

>>6425986

>no woman will ever make an intellectual achievement in your life time

>> No.6427475
File: 23 KB, 623x191, anti antigone.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6427475

>> No.6427492
File: 27 KB, 626x440, dorian gayyyyy.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6427492

>> No.6427501

>>6427475
yoo...

>> No.6427502

>>6427436
The Athenians were chumps.

>> No.6427565

Prove to me the Odyssey (a book written by some old crazy white guy) is better than Divergent (book created by a cool and hip woman and has sold millions)

>> No.6427570

>>6427565
Homer was not white.

>> No.6427571

>>6427570
And he didn't write anything.

>> No.6427578

>>6427097
"no real attempt at versimilitude"
Come on, how is that not gold?

>> No.6427583

>>6427101
>Men read more classics. Women read YA trash
meanwhile, you post on 4chan.

>> No.6427625

>>6425581
I remember going on /b/ back in 2007 and seeing sniper thr-

>> No.6427629

>>6425386
Because women are dystopian versions of men

>> No.6427886

>>6427097
what book is this?

>> No.6427890

>>6427886
the cyberiad

>> No.6427985

>>6427571
Debatable. Recent evidence suggests Homer might have been the first to write them down after performing them for years.

>> No.6428952

>>6425926
>living in a much more secular age (thank god!)

Heh

>> No.6428980
File: 16 KB, 232x197, 1390769296993.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6428980

>>6427565
>a book written

>> No.6429026

>>6425581
>>6427625

Sniper gags suck. Candle Jack was always the good st

>> No.6429887 [DELETED] 
File: 54 KB, 566x480, 1426448802829.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6429887

>>6427565
>Prove me
>Written
Hilarious how this low quality bait captured the very essence of philistinsm.

>> No.6429977

>>6427492
>after watching the league of extraordinary gentlemen i thought dorian gray might be interesting
WHAT

>> No.6429991 [DELETED] 
File: 707 KB, 1131x832, think of the children.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6429991

yurope only has a good reads rating of 2.5
i think that says everything that needs to be said about good reads

>> No.6430045
File: 106 KB, 571x649, file.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6430045

>> No.6430389

>>6427492
you sir are one highly uncultured piece of shit. Dorian Gray is one of the greatest literary characters ever developed.

>> No.6430420

>>6425350
If goodreads is the imdb of lit, what is the mubi?

>> No.6430607

Goodreads rating is not about if a book is good or not, it's about if you liked it or not. And everyone knows that you can't expect people in this big websites (also reddit) to like good books.

>> No.6430642

>>6430045
> guy had opinion
> wolfe fag on lit gets mad, how dare he insult the prophet
> posts screenshot on lit to try and get support
> no one takes up bait

Sometimes lit is good

>> No.6430649

>>6430420
imdb has better discussion than /tv/. Don't let those mouth breathers fool you.

>> No.6430945
File: 167 KB, 1056x1072, severian.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6430945

>>6430642
> admits that Gene Wolfe is "smarter" than he is
> admits that Gene Wolfe is a "talented writer"
> admits that he's buttblasted about being too stupid and criticises Wolfe for making him feel like a dumb fuck

I.. I just thought it was a funny example

>> No.6431069

>>6425835
>>6425949
>mad commies

>> No.6431242

>>6426965
She seems like a fine soul tbh, though a very simple one.

Earnest, humble and willing to recognize her limitations. Infinitely less narcissistic and arrogant that most of others goodreader itt (and that most of /lit for that matter), and also less pointlessly confrontational. Bless her, but I hope I'll never have to read something she'd recommend.

>> No.6431260

>>6427142
>There are nearly as many cliches in IJ as there are in Hamlet. I mean, "To be, or not to be", if Shakespeare was half the writer he's supposed to be (or not to be), he would have steered clear of that old chestnut.
>truckloads of cliches, mostly old ones, but many new ones of his own creation.
>new cliches of his own creation
>if Shakespeare was that good he would not have written "To be or not to be"

Wow. Even as a troll, that's rather ballsy.

>> No.6431343

>>6431242
those are all very fine qualities in a person, but I just find it silly that she thinks such (not to imply there isn't more to it, but it seems that she's going off just personal/instinctive observations ... not that someone can't review a book that way, it's just intrinsically less informative/useful/insightful if 'twere otherwise, or whatever) constitutes a proper review. as in, i'd like to be her friend, just not have any literary discussions at all, y'know

>> No.6431382

>>6425487
i'm 19 and i still crack this god tier book open for a quick read

>> No.6431386

>>6425487
who names their kid klo?

>> No.6431393

>>6431386
klo's parents

>> No.6431404

>>6425406
Because both teenagers and adults are sick.
Would a sick person reject a compliment even if this is obvious and poorly writen? Of course not. Those people would take whatever they can in oder to keep going, even if that thing is a poorly writen novel about some girl who's "sooo special cause she's so different LIKE ME" and shit.

>> No.6432128

>>6426402
>1: self defense
>2: disaster preparation
>3: they're fun as fuck
>4: admiration of engineering and design
>5-36: SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED.
FAGGOT

>> No.6433173

>>6425581
>>6425427
>>6427625
>>6429026

EVERYBODY HIT THE FL

>> No.6433187

>>6427330
It's definitely a joke, parts like this make it clear:

>Poioumena
>This word makes me want to vomit.
>I mean I love Maoris and their language, but words weren’t meant to consist of four consecutive vowels. It's inconsonant.

>> No.6433215

>>6425471
W-what was Peter doing in his room alone with the cat?

>> No.6433258

>the odyssey
>500,000 ratings
>divergent
>1,000,000+ ratings
There's your answer

>> No.6433335

>>6425350
Probably because unlike imdb, goodreads is still kinda niche. It's popularity is starting to grow because of amazon, but it was generally only used by tumblr readers or autistic level /lit/ people.

>> No.6433472

>>6426496
kierky

>> No.6433508

>>6430607
I know but damn, what's the point of other people reading a review if its not about what is good in it, but what the random author liked, building a circlejerk ?

>> No.6433520

>>6427473
>born too soon for Grace Hopper and Marie Curie

>> No.6433533

>>6433508
Its a social network. The idea is that you follow people with similar taste so you find out stuff you might like

>> No.6434363

>>6425473
But he is right.

>> No.6434375
File: 107 KB, 633x243, death_note.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6434375

>> No.6434501

>>6427393
>plotted to kill his son
>only there to take the estate then throw Penelope away
>used up all his resources, and abused his servants and guest

Odysseus dindu nufin, and if he did, then why did the Gods help him? Checkmate.

>> No.6434546

>>6425986
>philosophicalites

cancer, absolute and irreversible cancer.

>> No.6434601

>>6425588
oh shit

>> No.6434602

>>6425386
because they're currently popular

>> No.6434613

>>6425473
why is bashing Marxism considered stupid on /lit/?

>> No.6434648
File: 1.43 MB, 2853x1700, it's a fucking painting.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6434648

>>6425858
Orwell and his 'if you can cut out a word, cut it out' did this.

>> No.6434680

>>6434648
but it was popular before orwell

>> No.6434812

>>6433187
this guy:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5022264-ian-pagan-gladfly
>Some reviews are tongue-in-cheek or parodies and might contain views that are contrary to my actual opinions.

>> No.6434951

>>6425741
what if
anon, what if...
nyanners??

>> No.6434987

Has anyone here actually read the Divergent trilogy? I'm curious to try some of this YA dystopia shit to see what all the fuss is about.

>> No.6435110

>>6425350
maybe they don't like Fagles's translation

>> No.6435143

>>6434987
Honestly if you have any interest in that kind of YA shit just watch the movie adaptations. That way you can mostly avoid the awful writing while still enjoying the cheap entertainment and eating popcorn while doing it.

>> No.6435162

>>6435143
Fair point.

>> No.6435166

>>6434951
But the narration isn't from Lolita's perspective.

>> No.6435704

>>6435166
Not the same anon, but if Nyanners was voicing the actual narrator, that would only be an improvement.

>> No.6437615
File: 299 KB, 460x467, shocked driver.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6437615

What's up with the "several different factions in a cosmology representing different personality aspects, staffed by teenagers" maymay?

This seems to be a recurring theme since Harry Potter. The Hogwarts Houses, the Districts of Hunger Games, and now the "cultivators of virtue" in this Divergent series.

Is this really all I have to write about to be Fuck You level rich and bury myself in a mound of luxury cars and cocaine?

>> No.6437619

>>6437615
Teenagers like being able to say, "This is who I am, this is what I identify with."

>> No.6438415

>>6433520
>Grace Hopper
>Not glorified code monkey
Blackus invented high level language and Hopper didn't invent Cobol, get over it.

>> No.6438417

>>6438415
Nobody ever said that Hopper invented COBOL? She was on the committee that defined COBOL!

She made the first compiler and was the third computer programmer in the history of mankind

>> No.6438431

>>6438417
And some random hueland guy was the third man to make an airplane. Nobody cares besides a few bunda lovers on /int/.

Grace Hopper was certainly a better programmer than I ever will be (I changed field anyway) but parading her as token female computer scientist sounds like tumblr. My kinesitherapist is a woman and she's goat at her job too.

>> No.6438678

>>6426061
Good you will allways have the back of liars and frauds.

>> No.6438702

>>6427134
>Hypotheticals
>Sincere belief
>Pick one

>> No.6439484

>>6427629
I really wanna read a dissertation about this

>> No.6439564
File: 231 KB, 800x600, 1387418752947.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6439564

>>6426445
>catering to the ADD in all of us
dropped

>> No.6439602
File: 114 KB, 709x958, kill whitey.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6439602

>> No.6439604

>>6437619
Also because "Interesting/Heroic Group must defeat the Boring/Evil Group" is literally pornography for teens

>> No.6439613

>>6431343
>(not to imply there isn't more to it, but it seems that she's going off just personal/instinctive observations ... not that someone can't review a book that way, it's just intrinsically less informative/useful/insightful if 'twere otherwise, or whatever)

How the fuck is anyone supposed to remember what you were saying prior to this monstrosity? I thought you had forgotten to close it honestly.

>> No.6439681

>>6439602
I refuse to believe that this isn't a troll.

>> No.6439723

>>6438678
Sokal is himself a fraud.

>> No.6439926

>>6425471
They're idiots yeah, but I'd be upset too if I had to read about the holohoax in school too.

>> No.6440140

>>6430642

>I didn't understand it
>better give it an inordinately low rating because I'm a retard

>> No.6440145

>>6434375
The Death Note manga is great though.

>> No.6440164

>>6439613
the fuck is wrong w/ you

>> No.6440304

>>6425473

To be honest, most published books that try to attract an audience and provide "simplified" knowledge should not be something you should waste your time with.

Technical subjects such as economics, psychology and science are ones that can't be done justice while still being readable by most of the population.

What you read in these books will largely be nits and picks, most of which people just gather to later use as ammunition to sound smart.

If you really wish to learn, there's a reason we have things like college.

Pick up the reading lists from a course's syllabus, go through online lectures, eventually start reading publications, then you can truly understand systems.

Unless of course you only want to read the book to try and feel like you're smart, then go right ahead, it would be quite good at that, not to mention look fancy on your bookshelf.

>> No.6440352

>>6425711
ONE FUCKING SECOND

Is this critiquing the Communist Manifesto?
No shit it has baseless assertions, it's MEANT to be a PROPAGANDA INDUCING PIECE OF SHIT.

God, people could give the world some credit to not have been induced into communism by something as flimsy as the Communist Manifesto.

>> No.6440407

>>6426061
Why do you feel this way?

I'm not an American and am well aware of how shit the journals in my third-world country are.

Reading about the Sokal hoax really changed my opinion off American reviewers, even at the academic level.

Ever since then, I've only gone by own instinct in choosing my books.

>> No.6440469

>>6426466
This is clearly written by a child you piece of shit, have some sympathy.

Tell me you weren't that dumb when you were 13?

>> No.6440481

>>6426607
>How this even got published in the first place is beyond me

HOLY SHIT I LOST IT HARD

>> No.6440496

>>6426749
You're the kind of person that's cringe-worthy at the opposite end of the spectrum.

She didn't say he hated women, that's your misreading due to the stuck up mentality you went in with when you started reading her post.

His sexism though, is something well known and accepted.

>> No.6440517

>>6431343
Are you fucking kidding me?

I do hope she has a nice life and don't hate her in the "burn in hell cunt" sort of way, but you would honestly befriend her?

Look at how much she talks about her troubles in life, she's clearly an attention seeking women, you can tolerate that?

>> No.6441874

>>6426496
He seems mad at poor Soren. Pls no bully.

>> No.6441918

>>6431386
Could be a distortion or homonym of the very pretty French girl's name "Clothilde" (Clo-teeld)