Rereading Books

I used to reread books all the time, in elementary/middle school I made my way through the Harry Potter series at least once a year. But during high school I didn’t have time to read for pleasure anymore, and since then I’ve been more concerned with reading new books and trying to absorb as much information as possible instead of retreading old ground.

But for a variety of reasons, there’s been a number of books that I’ve reread over the past few months. The primary reason has been the traumatic breakup. I don’t bring it up again because I want to keep harping on it or because I’m looking for pity or something, but it’s something that has colored everything that I do and everything that I think in the past 6 months or so. I initially started rereading books because I wanted that sense of the familiar and I wanted to consume some art that I already knew was amazing and beautiful. The secondary reason has been that I’ve moved out of DC and have spent the summer traveling and couldn’t really bring anything new along. Either way, it led to me thinking about what books I wanted to reread and which would be worth a slightly different perspective on them.

I bring up the breakup for another reason which is that all of the books that I have reread have seemed slightly different to me in this light. I find myself drawn to different aspects of them and coming to different opinions of the characters as a result. I’ll tackle the works one at a time, but if you want to reread my initial interpretations of them, here are the posts on The Shadow of the Wind and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. The others I apparently read before I started this blog, funnily enough.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

So I initially came to this book with limited knowledge of postmodernism, and now am a postmodern nut. It's more or less responsible for many of my wacky ideas about art. It's also the first book that I started post-breakup, and I also rewatched the movie again. Hot take: I love both the book and the movie.

This time around I was more drawn to Sonmi-451’s story in the book where her revelations are a sham. Whereas in the movie that more celebrates love and all that when she is saved. This is primarily for obvious reasons (ie. breakup), but also the revolution being faked in the book is so powerful and a very profound statement about control and what we think we are doing vs what we are doing. The revolution did not exist because it was planned by the big guys in charge!

This story also comes to the conclusion that just because our actions are determined does not mean that all is for nothing. Sonmi still causes a revolution and becomes a religious figure in later stories, which is a great message about how even though the revolution is faked that doesn't mean we have to give up.

Finally the interconnectedness of us all is wonderful within this story, especially with the movie and how the different actors stand for different reincarnations. It shows how we can grow and change over time and how the way we treat each other is central to that, culminating in an important message of hope and justice.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I mainly remember this book being about reading and the power of books when I initially read it. Also remember disliking the rest of the series haha. But you can check the previous posts for more on that.

I had forgotten that it began with Daniel being manipulated and abandoned by a woman he loved. Again, post-breakup that struck me much more powerfully this time around, for obvious reasons. In general I am much more critical of the female characters in this story as they don’t seem to DO much, Beatrice does next to nothing and the rest just die. Not great. Also his relationship with Nuria Monfort is really strange and not super explained… Just makes me feel icky.

Having said that, I am in the habit of pulling quotes from books that I read, and my first time through this book I only grabbed a couple. This time through I grabbed at least 10. I think it has something to do with the fact that this is a book for reading enthusiasts, there are so many references to classical works and also many aphorisms or worthy quotes. So despite it's flaws, the writing really spoke to me. 

Another aspect I had forgotten is that while Daniel’s story revolves around love and its healing nature, Julian’s story revolves around letting it go and learning to live without love. Julian realizes that the love of his life is dead and then conspires to his own destruction, buy by the end he lets her go and stops the rest of that nonsense. Which is just as important of a story, because at the end of the day you have to be able to stand on your own feet as well.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Again, originally read this during my postmodern binge several years ago, and I don’t remember much about my reaction to it other than that I liked it.

The story here is basically about the realities of love, and how it cannot fix everything. You can be like Oscar and in love with every woman out there, but that doesn’t mean they will love you back or that the Dominican mob won’t kill you for it in the end. You can die professing your love, but that doesn’t mean that your death keeps your sister and her boyfriend together. Everyone in this book has been let down by love in some way or another. For obvious reasons, I was into it haha.

But that doesn’t mean that they are all miserable. Oscar starts writing, the boyfriend is the author of this book in the story, life goes on. Full disclosure though: I’m still not sure what to make of the family curse. Maybe the point is that we are all cursed. It just seems as though it could have been left out of the story and it wouldn't change. I'll have to think about it.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Oh man, this is still one of my favorite books of all time. The story is amazing, to be able to go back over it knowing the ending and how it all pans out was incredible because I picked up on so much more foreshadowing and meaning that I would have originally. And it is also is about a breakup of sorts, Strange and his wife end up separated by the end as he’s in an Impenetrable Darkness and she isn’t. I’ve seen stuff online about how their marriage isn’t based on love and I kinda disagree, Strange makes himself go MAD when he realizes that she’s still alive and trapped in an enchantment and that’s got to have a basis in love of some sort.

This time around, I found myself focused more on Childermass and Vinculus. I mean I’ve always loved those two characters but initially I was focused on Strange and Norrell since they are the titular characters. Seeing what the two lower class characters get up to is more interesting as they seem to do much of the work at times haha. I've also seen stuff about how the prophecy could apply to those two but I’m not really sold. Clarke does leave a little ambiguity in there but it’s so clearly referencing Strange and Norrell that I don't think this interpretation really holds water.

Then there's also the women. I didn’t think much of them first time around, but at second glance they really are shut up by society and doing their best to be independent. Honestly this all makes me want to rewatch the BBC mini-series but I haven’t yet.

Ugh I really hope that she finishes the sequel one of these days, it'd be so good.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Man I've been saying it for years, but I really need to read more Vonnegut. This is such a good book about life and war and the feeling of not being in control. Again for obvious reasons this is RELATABLE CONTENT for me. In general, the book is perfectly what it needs to be.

The idea of being unstuck in time, of not having free will, of experiencing time as a landscape, it all makes a lot of sense when you are faced with the randomness of the universe and lack of meaning. I found myself thinking a lot about the narrator, clearly Billy is meant to be a stand-in for Vonnegut. But at the same time, he is not. There are one or two places where the author is pointed out to be a fellow prisoner of war and not Billy. I found this confusing and contradictory, but whenever you go back into memories, you do sometimes find yourself inexplicably in third-person perspective of yourself. Or you want to frame it that way. Possibly this is Vonnegut doing that in story form.

I also thought a lot about Derby, the man shot for stealing a teapot. It’s given away very early on what his fate is, and it’s continually referenced. Which is interesting as the execution itself as a result is very underwhelming versus in the first chapter where Vonnegut is saying that he wants to make it the climax. I guess there isn’t really a climax anymore, given the jumbled nature of the story. You know what’s going to happen and know that it has to happen and it’s all fine. (Thanks Tralfamadorians.)

But also, I remember wondering about this before and it’s still bugging me but how does Billy get off of the planet of Tralfamadorians? No explanation is given in the novel but he somehow does end up back on Earth. I am just confused by that. But still such a good story.