Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Great Expectations & High Fidelity

Yesterday I finished High Fidelity. Today I'm going to talk about it. I like to do these posts with three books so I'm also going to talk about The Scarlet Letter and Great Expectations. There are lots of links in this introduction. I'm confused because I started school on Monday! Also I don't know where I'm going half the time. Anyways. I expect I'll be reading a lot more during the school year, mostly books that are assigned to me. That'll be fun.

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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I thought it would be a good idea to read this book because I dunno, apparently it's an American classic or something. Whatever, now I can say I read it and hopefully I'll NEVER HAVE TO PICK IT UP AGAIN. The most interesting thing about reading this book was finding a stamp on one of the pages that said "Nanuet Senior High School, Church St., NY" which is coincidentally like 5 minutes away from where Katrina lives.

This book is dense. I feel like it could've been written in two chapters if Hawthorne hadn't spent pages and pages describing shit that had no importance whatsoever. I'm probably insulting a lot of people right now. I'll say something good: there was a couple of pages at the end that I was really into. That is all.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Again, I wanted to read some "classic literature" 'cause it looks good on my book resume/list. Great Expectations was good. It wasn't life changing and it wasn't terrible. It was completely enjoyable, if not a bit long, but still fun to read. The characters were all developed really nicely and have their own background story, which is great since I love character analysis. Wemmick and Mr. Jaggers were my favorite, especially Wemmick because he's just so awesome (that is the formal way of saying it), also I think Herbert and Pip were lovers probs. Actually now that I think about it, I like Great Expectations a lot more now than when I read it. Which was like a week ago.

"You are part of my existence, part of myself. You have been in every line I have ever read, since I first came here, the rough common boy whose poor heart you wounded even then. You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since -- on the river, on the sails of ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets."

Pip to Estella, "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

I was really excited to read this book because 1) it looks super pomo and 2) it starts with a list. I was not disappointed. I was about 1/3 of the way through it and I was like "what the hell is this book about? this is weird" but it just got better as I went along. I think I got really into it when I suddenly realized that the narrator, Rob, is just like me. Or I'm just like him. There's also a ton of lists, which I love.

I'm kind of curious to watch the movie because there's so much narration that I don't know how they would do it. Anyways I'm going to watch it at one point and maybe I'll tell you about it. I can't really explain this book, but it got me thinking in a certain way and inspired me to write a "short story" which I may or may not post sometime in the future.

Also if you like Chuck Palahniuk, you will probably like High Fidelity.

"The difference between these people and me is that they finished college and I didn't; as a consequence, they have smart jobs and I have a scruffy job, they are rich and I am poor, they are self-confident and I am incontinent, they do not smoke and I do, they have opinions and I have lists."

-Nick Hornby "High Fidelity"

6 comments:

riese said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
riese said...

HAHA I MESSED UP ON MY COMMENT NOW I AM POSTING IT AGAIN BUT RIGHT DON'T TELL ANYONE EMILY CHOO

in the movie he talks to the camera a lot, which is like john cusack's specialty.

when that movie came out my exboyfriend said that the lead character was totally him. then it seemed like every boy i knew said that high fidelity was about them. then it seemed like girls i knew who liked girls so basically now we are talking about all humans who like girls thought high fidelity was about them. i think that means it is a good movie, and also a good book, and that possibly nick hornby invented emo hipsters or "wimpsters" i think just saying.

you read two important books i might never read i am very proud of you. coincidentally Nick Hornby LOVES CHARLES DICKENS LIKE whoa.

YOU ARE SMART

also my word verif is presse, which is french for "seduce"

Lucia said...

Oh hai! I am now never going to read The Scarlet Letter. I think geographical distance excuses me from awful obligatory American Classics reading. Probably not but it does now because I said so. I read this post in my biochem lab and I felt both more rebellious and literate than the situation required. This can be your daily scientific encounter!

Brooke said...

I wasn't a fan of The Scarlet Letter.

I don't think I ever finished Great Expectations. But I did read the Great Illustrated Classics version!

Well done.

miss misery said...

i just bought high fidelity & i cant wait to read it - i saw the movie and really enjoyed it, although john cusack can do no wrong (except for that piece of crap 2012 coming up, huh? lol)

e. c. said...

riese: don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

i don't think high fidelity is about me, i just see a lot of myself in rob, i.e, we live inside our heads. but i guess a lot of people do that.

also i think reading nick hornby (how many times have you written horny by mistake?) right after charles dickens was a coincidence. ALSO "presse" is not french for seduce i don't know which dictionary you're looking at.

lucia: yeah, i think reading the scarlet letter was a waste of my time. it also required SO MUCH CONCENTRATION AND PERSEVERENCE if i didn't have a job where i sit around and do nothing i would never have finished it.

this is a place for rebels.

brooke: i can't see why anyone would be a fan of the scarlet letter. you should finish great expectations! i know you have a long list of books/movies people are telling you to read/watch but since you're halfway through this one you should make it a priority.

miss misery: hi vanessa you have been following my blog for a while now and i had no idea that it was you.

i'm going to watch highfidelitythemovie soon then we can talk about it and how the book is (probs) better.

OMG 2012 looks really stupid.

i forgot my lunch at home today.