"The gun was everything to me. I was meaningless without it—I felt a savage love toward it. And yet the gun was cold to me. It drove me mad to thin"The gun was everything to me. I was meaningless without it—I felt a savage love toward it. And yet the gun was cold to me. It drove me mad to think that the gun did not care, not even if I were consumed by that darkness. I’m not the one using the gun, I thought. The gun is using me—I was nothing more than a part of the system that activated the gun."
While walking in the rain at night, a young college student called Nishikawa stumbles upon a gun beside a dead body. On the spur of the moment, he keeps the gun. The deadly weapon adds a little excitement in his tedious life. However, as his life gets complicated, his obsession with the gun grows until he has no choice but to fire it.
The plot of the book is intriguing. It revolves around the life of an aimless and detached young man with unresolved issues and bottled up feelings who drowns out his boredom with cigarettes and girls. After discovering a gun, he begins to live his life with all the fervor of someone in love. However, the object of his affection takes the identity of its own and eventually becomes part of his identity.
I enjoyed the story thoroughly. The writing is dispassionate but at the same time, it evokes a sense of despair. The story is simple, and it portrays the conflict of a person in possession of a weapon aptly. It also makes you wonder whether it's the weapon that's deadly or the person firing it. It also subtly points out the negative impact of running away from your problems and not acknowledging your emotions.
‘Gods are Dead’ follows the life of a nameless nineteen-year-old boy who loves reading classics and playing guitar. He lives in a hostel and is close ‘Gods are Dead’ follows the life of a nameless nineteen-year-old boy who loves reading classics and playing guitar. He lives in a hostel and is close friends with his nerdy roommate Byre and Jerome, a Nigerian guy who’s a lead guitarist of a rock band by the name of ‘Satan’s Sons’.
The story begins with the protagonist attending the rock concert of Satan’s Sons that he’s not a big fan of. Actually, he’s not a big fan of life or anything in general as he believes there’s no point to the existence. He imagines himself being part of a videogame where he is being controlled by someone. (Sort of like that Black Mirror episode of Bandersnatch!)
We follow his conventional college life where he’s just another Homo Sapien following the rules- attending classes, studying for the tests, playing his guitar, doing drugs with his friends. At the same time, he runs off on his own and experiences an unconventional and unethical life. You could say he’s a guy trying to find his place in the universe.
First of all, this is my first book of 2019 and I’m glad to say that I’m off with a great start! This was a unique and refreshing story and I absolutely loved reading it. The book is narrated in the first person by the protagonist where he lives a double life. The narration switches back to the past where we get a glimpse of his earlier life.
From that start, I was hooked due to the mysterious element surrounding the story. It is set in India and we get a glimpse of the life of the working class and poor people. I enjoyed the social commentary in this one.
The protagonist is bitter about life and the book has a dark and serious tone but at the same time, I came across certain things that I found funny which I really liked. Also, I loved his interaction with a cute girl in the library. It shows his soft side and gives a little lightness to the novel. He has daddy issues and he’s trying to deal with his hopeless life. We also learn a lot about his rough past which made me sympathize with him.
I found his dad and his new stepmom very comical. The part where they all interact was amusing. We also learn a little about the side characters Byre and Jerome who were interesting and had their own stories. I felt that all characters had that wackiness that cracked me up for some reason (which is a plus for me!).
The story switches from the protagonist’s college to his hostel to his hometown to the beach to the streets. The ending wasn’t something I had expected. It was absolutely mind-blowing! The book had an eccentric plot and I liked it. I haven’t read much of existential literature but for the debut novel, this book was really well done and I had fun reading it.
It’s a good short book and I definitely recommend checking it out....more
‘A Hunger Artist’ is about an artist who starves himself as an art. Back in the days, the hunger artist used to be displayed in a cage and a lot of pe‘A Hunger Artist’ is about an artist who starves himself as an art. Back in the days, the hunger artist used to be displayed in a cage and a lot of people paid money to admire his art. But, the times have changed and people just don’t care about him anymore. The story is highly metaphorical and different interpretations can be drawn from it.
And when once in a while a person strolling past stood there making fun of the old number and talking of a swindle, that was in a sense the stupidest lie which indifference and innate maliciousness could invent, for the hunger artist was not being deceptive—he was working honestly—but the world was cheating him of his reward.
‘The hunger artist’ can be an allegory of an artist. When the artist is at the peak of his career, he’s given immense attention and appreciation still, there are people who misunderstand his art and doubt his talents. As time passes, people’s attention and interest gets diverted towards something novel or maybe better and no one cares about the washed-up artist anymore.
The obsession of an artist with realizing his full potential and his suffering due to not getting the recognition he deserves might lead him to isolate himself from the world. This can cause the artist to lose himself in his art and take it too far to the point of no return. Eventually, the artist just fades into obscurity. Kafka, an artist, might be writing about his own experience; he lived an isolated life plagued with problems and never received recognition in his lifetime.
It could also refer to people who don’t fit in with the norms of the society and hence, stand out even more. People who lead different lives due to what they do or who they are might feel isolated from the society and feel like they’re trapped in a cage to be gawked at by everyone but understood and accepted by no one.
“Just look at you,” said the supervisor, “why can’t you do anything else?” “Because,” said the hunger artist, lifting his head a little and, with his lips pursed as if for a kiss, speaking right into the supervisor’s ear so that he wouldn’t miss anything, “because I couldn’t find a food which I enjoyed. If had found that, believe me, I would not have made a spectacle of myself and would have eaten to my heart’s content, like you and everyone else.”
The story of the artist could also represent the people who are forced to make different choices in their life due to the circumstances and they end up doing something they never wanted to do in the first place. Even though they tried to make the most of it, there’s this underlying regret and wishful thinking that things could’ve turned out differently.
This is a deep and thought-provoking story and I highly recommend it. ...more
I think “The Stranger” is one of the dullest books I read in a while. I didn’t hate it, I just felt underwhelmed. It was stimulating and boring at theI think “The Stranger” is one of the dullest books I read in a while. I didn’t hate it, I just felt underwhelmed. It was stimulating and boring at the same time! I guess I’m not in the right state of mind or stage of life to appreciate the literary value of the classic. That being said, it is a unique and “strange” book that highlights the philosophy of absurdity and existentialism.
The book is about Meursault, an Algerian man who is emotionally detached and indifferent. He lives life with no logic. His mother dies, but the only thing that bothers him is the heat and the tiresome journey on his way to her funeral. On one fateful occasion, he gets himself tangled into a crime for which he has no motive and he feels no remorse.
The book deals with the themes of meaninglessness and irrationality of human life. Meursault has a simple way of thinking and he attaches no weight to the action he is performing because according to him, nothing really matters. For the people around him, he is a stranger who doesn’t conform to the social norms and should be condemned for it. His biggest crime is not fitting into the box and people not grasping his incomprehensible way of thinking.
The protagonist’s blunt and honest perspective was the most interesting thing about this book, while the plot itself was tedious. The book is short and sweet, and the ending provides some food for thought....more
Written by the man who survived the concentration camp in Nazi Germany, Victor Frankl's ᴛʜᴏꜱᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ 'ᴡʜʏ' ᴛᴏ ʟɪᴠᴇ, ᴄᴀɴ ʙᴇᴀʀ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀʟᴍᴏꜱᴛ ᴀɴʏ 'ʜᴏᴡ'
Written by the man who survived the concentration camp in Nazi Germany, Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" recounts the story of survival. The book is not an account of facts but of the author's personal experience and the experience of his fellow prisoners.
The book is divided into two parts. The author describes life in the concentration camps and the prisoners' struggles in the first part.
The conditions in the camp were horrible. It caused the prisoners to lose hope or turn on their own people. He talks about the psychological shift in their mindset caused by living with no hope for the future.
However, the one thing that stands out is the people who managed to survive did so not because they were in better condition than the rest but because they had hope and something to live for, which gave meaning to their lives.
Life is full of suffering, but it is our job to provide meaning to the suffering, that whatever you've gone through is worth something.
It's heart-wrenching to hear about the grim reality that innocent people had to face and the horrors that befell them, from which most of them never came back.
However, instead of dwelling on such experiences, the author focuses on the psychological aspects of the situation. A person can't control what happens to him but can control how he chooses to react.
The book poignantly reinforces his belief that life is not a quest for pleasure or power but a quest for meaning. And the different ways to find the meaning of life are in work (doing something significant), love (caring for another person), and courage during difficult times.
One powerful insight that can change the way you see the world is- anything can be taken from you by forces beyond your control except your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.
In the second part, the author focuses on logotherapy, which focuses on the meaning of human existence and man's search for such a meaning. According to it, the search for meaning is the primary motivation in life.
The book gives powerful insights on inner strength, life, and suffering based on godawful experiences, but the lessons are helpful in many aspects of regular life. Because in the end, suffering is universal and an indispensable part of life, but how we deal with it is how we choose to live our lives and find meaning....more
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