Comment on Why would America declaring cartels terrorist organizations be a problem for Mexico?

• Adderbox76@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  I’ve honestly never made it through the whole thing.

  Tried to, back in the day. It’s one of those things that’s expected of you if you want to be a proper turtleneck wearing, pretentious literati as a university student. (I was a douche, okay…I admit it…it’s the same reason I fought my way through War and Peace and Foucault’s Pendulum) But I’m much better now.

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  • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Foucault’s Pendulum is fucking awesome though? It might be his best book since Name of the Rose.

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    • Adderbox76@lemmy.ca ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      It might be his best book since Name of the Rose

      My personal favourite is The Island of the Day Before. Though I haven’t read either in years and it might be nostalgia because that was my first introduction to Eco.

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  • Juice@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Same, except i wasnt a lit major, just a guy who was going through the phase of “this is what intelligent people look like” while trying to educate myself. I was convinced DFW was the voice of our generation, heralding in a new era of consciousness.

    The book is conceptually pretty cool, like it is really well written and he draws together so many disparate elements to make kind of a coherent narrative.

    But the idea of making a book impossible to read on purpose is a funny joke, especially one that so many aspiring intelligentsia gush over. I can appreciate a good shaggy dog as much as the next guy, but IJ is just so far beyond the pale.

    A book should be challenging because the concepts are unique and well considered, and it draws from lots of historic and philosophical research; not because the author decided to intentionally break the flow of the narrative to make you flip to the not-optional appendix to read 32 pages of made up synopsis about a character’s avant-garde filmography.

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    • Adderbox76@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Best review of it I read was:

      “DFW is a perfect example of what happens when people think they are above editing.”

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      • Juice@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        Hah! Good one

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