Big Sur

“Big Sur” by Jack Kerouac. This was one of the more interesting stories I have read all year. I read just an excerpt, but now I want to go back and read the whole thing. At times I felt the story was a little hard to follow, but that is simply based on the writing style. This was a story written during the 1960's when the group known as “the beat writers” were becoming popular. The beat writers had a distinct writing style, which was in part due to their alternative lifestyle.

The story, as far as I could tell from the excerpt, was about the author (Kerouac) taking a road trip with a friend to visit another friend. This sort of story always appeals to me. This is because traveling has always been an interest of mine. Ever since I was young, I have been venturing across the the globe. The next book I plan on reading, after I finish John Grisham's “The Firm” is John Steinbeck's “Travels with Charley”. I think stories which center around traveling have a higher chance of appealing to the masses because when someone travels, there is a lot that goes on as opposed to when someone remains within one location such as a city. When a character takes a journey, they go to multiple places, meet a lot of interesting people, and through the process of moving from point A to point B, the character is involved in a series of very interesting adventures. The movie “Easy Rider” comes to mind when I think of interesting adventures. There is a movie chalked full of interesting tales from the road.

I had never read anything by Kerouac before, but I had heard a lot about him. I had no idea his writing style was so incoherent and difficult to follow. This fact has not discouraged me from wanting to read more works by Kerouac though. His style is just different from others and in this case that is a positive thing.

Zeitoun

I had heard of the book Zeitoun by Dave Eggers before reading it for this class, but I had never read it before. The book, in my opinion, was slow to get started, but it soon picked up. Once the storm came, my attention remain high. One thing I found really interesting was the difference between the Zeitoun I imagined in my head and the real man. I watched the interview in class and realized Zeitoun was much different then I imagined. This however, did not change how I viewed the story.

The actions Zeitoun was put through really made me think. I realized that there is injustice going on unnoticed in this country. In the context of the aftermath of the storm, was it really necessary to suspect Zeitoun of being a terrorist? I know the authorities were just being biased, but they should've thought a little harder before just grabbing him and taking him away. Had the authorities been more focused on doing their job (assisting hurricane victims), they would have paid less attention to Zeitoun and let him help them by helping those in need.

Overall, this was a good book. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to friends. It really makes the reader think, which to me, is one of the primary purposes of a book.

Selling "the Salesman"

In class today I watched the movie adaptation of Arthur Miller's play “Death of a Salesman”. I was surprised to find Dustin Hoffman, who was only 48 when the movie was made, played the part of Willy Loman, the 60 year old main character. He pulled it off perfectly though, a fact that genuinely impressed me. The other thing that surprised me were the breaks in the set. The walls of the apartment were not connected and I could see parts of the background I didn't think I was supposed to be see. This threw me off since I am used to seeing movies where the set meshes together seamlessly.

Overall, I thought it was an excellent adaptation. The actors seemed to use the dialogue verbatim from the original text. I did however feel the lines were read faster then I expected. When I read the text in my book, in my mind the characters talked slower then in the movie. I suppose this is due to the fact that when I read the text, I forgot to account for the natural rate of human speech. This was my first time reading this play and I have to say, I enjoyed it. Going in, I anticipated being bored, but I felt quite the opposite by the end of the first act.

Death of a Salesman

After reading act one of Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman" I found myself engrossed by the story. I find the children, Happy and Biff, to be relatable characters. I say this because the attitudes the two of them take and the dialogue they say in relation to their father, Willy, sounds realistic. I can imagine a real family that is in a similar position to Willy's (children grown up, visiting their family, their father worked hard all his life and is now nearing retirement) to be interacting in about the same manner.
I have only ever read one other work by Miller, "The Crucible", but I am finding I like his writing style; It is easy to follow. From what I have read in “Death of a Salesman” so far, it is turning in to a failrly dark story. I have my own thoughts on what I would like to see happen, but I am uncertain if they will come true. Ideally, I would like to see Biff get a job and make his father proud. I look forward to reading the second act.

The Poetry of Gertrude Stein

I recently read in my textbook a collection of poems by Gertrude Stein. The poem that made the most impression on me was entitled “A Time to Eat”. As with the rest of Stein’s poems, a direct meaning is hard to determine based on the words alone. However, I have attempted to analyze the poem and determine my own meaning. To me, the poem uses the adjectives “pleasant, simple, habitual, tyrannical, authorized, educated, resumed, and articulate” to describe various groups of people each sitting at different tables. One table is filled with educated scholars; very articulate orators surround another, and so on. The final phrase in the poem “This is not tardy” then means that eating is not sluggish, that each table eats their meals with haste so that each member at the table may continue on with their busy lives.