Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
This is one of the 11 books that I have to read this semester for class.
In a nutshell:
The narrator wonders about his own existance as he listens to other people talking, meets someone regularly that he does not like, and eventually goes to see his old girlfriend. He spends most of the time observing others and noticing the minutest of details.
There are parts of this book that seem as though it was written especially for me. For most of the first 150 pages I was wrapped up in it and thought it was brilliant. I don’t think that I’ve had such a good reaction to a book before. Unfortunately I was under a deadline to finish it, so had to go through the end quicker than I wanted, but it was still pretty good and interesting throughout. It was not as interesting in some parts, and quite shocking in others, but still it was entertaining.
The writing itself is great. It carries along well and flows effortlessly, with a lot of great lines that are memorable. But it is existential and absurd at its core and probably not for everyone to read.
3 books down, 8 more to go.
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2 comments:
What exactly is your class about here? That's two existential/absurdist books so far. I've not read Satre yet, but I want to. I have a collection of three plays by him on my shelf.
btw, my word verification here is "paltywas".
This one is called 'Reading Fiction', which has a dubious title, but covers: The Stranger/Outsider, Turn of the Screw, Death in Venice, Nausea, and the Reader. So far the class might as well be called: 'Weird Books That Oisin Would Probably Enjoy'. :)
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