angela cozea

Redemptive power of “the rabbit hutch”

Revisado: 04-06-23

Tess Gunty’s ”The Rabbit Hutch” is hailed as a successful first novel and yet it does not read like the beginning of a writer’s career. From the first lines the reader is called to attention: like all important texts, this one requires that every word be given its due, since the intensity of the act of writing never loosens its mesmerizing grip. There is the unusual, at times malefic, suspense in the plot, and then, there is the uncommon perfection, the heights upon which the narration elevates its reader. I am not usually partial to authors reading their own work, but here Tess Gunty, one of the four interpreters, renders her text with sharp intelligence and the affectionate justice it deserves. As if she recognized this to be a work of art greater than herself, its writer and reader. Indeed, against the backdrop of so much pseudo-biographical hubris having taken over contemporary literary production, inevitably chocked by the doomsday scenario where the death of literary creativity is thought to derive from the uselessness of the English major, this powerful denier of doom comes to assert a fact long known and nowadays ignored. That art can and should change people’s minds, and heal the world. That it can act upon the despair of the human condition, just as Hildegard von Bingen’s music did, these many centuries ago. The mystic’s words have never found a more fruitful resonance as they do here, at the heart of today’s sorrows, impotence and grief. As if Tess Gunty were, by means of her magic characters, the incarnation of the mystic; as if her thought, her written work, and her wish for redemption, were the accomplishment of centuries old hope.

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A novel for the open minded and daring

Revisado: 02-12-23

Once in a while it is refreshing to reacquaint oneself with the erudition writers used to profess under the mastery of their literary form. This knowledge does not take itself for information, as those who chase for the accuracy of historical information would have us do. This long novel never lacks suspense and is powerful enough to go from the dramatic, if not tragic, to the witty, lucid, hilarious. To tell a 20th century life story is to acknowledge the desertification of our times. This novel will, at the same time, give strength to those patient enough to listen to it. Not for readers who hold strong principles though, but for those who try to understand.
The narrator’s performance is
in perfect accord with the spirit of the text. Overall Admirable experience.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Une fiction historique digne d’un grand romancier

Revisado: 06-15-22

Un auteur de cette envergure seulement peut effacer les limites qui supposément séparent roman historique et fiction. La biographie de Limonov ouvre l’accès vers le tableau de la dissolution de l’URSS et de la reconfiguration de cet empire à laquelle nous assistons aujourd’hui. Même s’il s’arrête juste avant le début des grandes confrontations armées entre les Russes et les Ukrainiens, le livre de Carrère rend compréhensibles les tourments qui secouent le nouvel ordre ayant pris la place de la guerre froide. Quel défi de tracer l’enracinement de tels mouvements de la psyché collective dans le turbulent, insoutenable destin tragique d’un seul homme. Celui qui se fait adorer car il embrasse sans réserve le destin tragique de nous tous. Le secret de ce texte est de suggérer des réponses étonnantes à des questions que nous devrions nous poser.

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Perfectly intelligent, clear sighted narration

Revisado: 02-28-22

Solzhenitsyn’s work does not need our appraisal in this day and age. His contribution to the unveiling of history’s darkest undertakings is thankfully recognized by the majority of people who care for their fellow men and women. Just as difficult as it has been for him, according to his own repeated affirmations, to put to paper such unimaginable horrors, it must be for the one who reads them aloud, to give them the full weight of meaning and consequence. It appears that it fell on his son Ignat to take on that overwhelming task. The performance he gives here of one of the most relevant witnessing oaths of the 20th century is nothing short of perfect. His is the wisdom brought about by the conviction that the work of testimony is precious, necessary and elevated. But also, the rare gift of humour with which the most absurd of cruelties need be met, if we are to survive such knowledge. It is simply my guess that this narrator is the son of the writer, but if I am correct, I must say I bow in complete admiration before the artful dedication with which this son has honoured his father’s life work.

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Paying hommage to those who paid the very idea of freedom with their lives

Revisado: 11-29-19

A history of the Soviet Union through the thorough analysis of its camps - concentration, forced labour, etc. - so powerful that at times it is breathtaking. The courage of this historian who engaged in such a daunting task is so impressive as to merit the highest praise and of course thanks. It is only due to researchers of this calibre that we can approach the truth so many wish were never brought to light. Although I lived my youth in one of the satellite communist countries, I have learned a lot by listening to this book and, of course, wished I were acquainted earlier with many of its revelations. This is historiography of the most exigent, relevant (very much today) and responsible kind, and I recommend it highly to all those who want to understand that Hannah Arendt was right when she equaled, without reserve, Stalinism and its continuation with fascism. The facts here laid bare are the proof of this equation.
Although the narrator does not know what to do with the frequent Russian vocabulary, her performance is less abrasive than in texts where she’s called to torture more than one language foreign to her.

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English only please

Revisado: 11-20-19

I am a dedicated Audible listener and have sung the praises of this resource many times, particularly where the performance of its narrators, often dramatic artists in their own right, is concerned. These readers have brought books to life for me in ways I could not imagine, and transformed the silent world of the book into a theatrical experience of the highest quality.
This is why I am sad to have to write today about a most troubling failure concerning the Audible standard. I look upon it not as a one off occurrence, but as a symptom of where our expectations are today, when it comes to this intellectual artifact: the book, agonizing.
Here we have - as one of the reviewers has developed at length - one of the masterworks, not only of Hannah Arendt’s, but of the twentieth century’s philosophy, if not of philosophy period. One of the golden rules of those philosophers of the past was, when they quoted the work of another, to give the text in the original language, because, until not so long ago, language mattered. And what was said in one language, would be maybe said differently, if not better, in another. Therefore, Arendt, in keeping with the tradition she in fact discusses for us here, will give text in Greek (ancient), Latin, French, German, and of course English. Here I come to my contention: if Audible, in the person who was responsible for assigning a reader to such an important text, cared about its significance, they would have given serious consideration to the person of the narrator, that is, to their qualifications.The one chosen is for sure obviously senior on the Audible ladder, and has done an impressive amount of work. Unfortunately she is much better at bestsellers and self improvement literature than philosophy. I was able to put up with half of the book, but I have to stop, listening to so gross a mistreatment of these beautiful, painstakingly chosen, philosophical sentences, is unbearable. Somebody who does not have the languages mutilated here might not mind, but those who know at lest some of them cannot recover from the feeling of violence and bewilderment that overtakes them. How is this possible?
Let us say there is not one polyglot left in America. I would not be surprised. But there must be some people able to do this and that language, and it would have been a thousand times better to have those fragments read in another voice, than leave this one butcher everything that comes her way in another tongue than English, proper names included.
I have been a witness to the process by which the academia on this continent has renounced the prerequisite second and third languages besides one’s native, which used to be a strict requirement of any self respecting humanities department offering PhD programs. This might be the reason why now, Hannah Arendt and all her philosopher friends across the centuries, are turning in their graves.

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esto le resultó útil a 29 personas

The courage of those who know the true nature of love

Revisado: 10-18-19

This book is not only about a “preference” for the company of animals. It is a desperate cry in defense of their very survival. I wish I had the courage, when I was living in similar circumstances, to ask for a show of conscience on the part of the hunters (and poachers) who perpetuate the so-called tradition of human dominion over the animal world. I wish that today, I had the courage to call on those who prefer to digest the blood born of horror. But, as Tokarczuk shows, to do so is madness, and we prefer reason. It is one of the many reasons why this book is so cathartic. It allows the reader to imagine herself larger, better, kinder and stronger than what she really is. I too would like, in my dreams, to put the good of animals above my own. To do something that may acknowledge their suffering and humiliation. Tokarczuk has the consummate talent and wisdom of great writers, whose work can measure the immeasurable. She can descend what Thomas Mann called, the bottomless well of time. She takes us along and brings us back up purified, and distraught by the fact that her book must end. And we must continue without her.

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Fascinant et merveilleux, poésie qui traverse les âges

Revisado: 07-09-19

Ce n’est une épopée car le sujet n’est pas la mythologie ni la grande histoire. Mais les traits lyriques et épiques sont présents et se disputent la primauté. Un roman, dit-on, en vers. Plutôt la parodie que la poésie offre, des prétentions romanesques du vécu lui-même. Car Onegin pourrait être héros de roman, et si seulement il avait laissé la chance à la poésie que Tatiana incarne, de lui illuminer la voie, il n’aurait pas échoué dans le cynisme qui menait son jeu. La musique de la traduction en vers pushkiniens de Markowicz, accompagnant laquelle danse la mère, voix du texte original, composent une berceuse envoûtante. Plus on avance dans le texte, plus les deux voix s’enlacent dans l’amour pour ce texte dont la beauté ne peut être décrite, mais entendue. Markowicz offre le sauvetage à tous ceux qui comprennent la grandeur de la littérature russe (voir ses traductions de Dostoyevsky) mais ne connaissent pas la langue. Il donne à comprendre le rôle crucial des traducteurs dans la transmission des œuvres et leur rang de poètes à part entière. Sa poésie est profonde et espiègle, il entraine sur la voie d’une culture qui fait entrer le passé dans le présent et redonne sa dignité au monde des lettres.

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Masterful epic celebration of native worldview

Revisado: 11-07-18

I have read ten of Louise Erdrich titles in a row, proof of the generosity with which her thought stole over me. For many weeks I lived in the Anishinaabe universe brought about by this author, and it was with great regret that I had to leave it behind. I will do one common review because they are to be read as a whole, powerful epic body of writing. A rich set of characters (native and non-native) develops where one or the other take center stage or blend into the background, over time, evolving in and around a genealogical line of astounding force and depth. Besides the quality of the writing, clearly the accomplishment of a brilliant, subtle and generous mind, the knowledge emanating from these pages has often made me think how such material should be of great significance if offered widely to students, young and old. There is much to be learned from these books, at the historical, philosophical and spiritual levels. So many questions burning into the societal fabric, whose bitter seeds have been sown with the conquest of the new world, questions and conflicts as old as the old world, are here exposed, their complexity accessible precisely through those ways of thinking and acting for which the contemporary world has, sadly, little patience. Characters of great interest, courage and wisdom, such as we could only dream one day to encounter and question, are here allowed to offer guidance and seduce, along the path of sharp inquiry. Their is no country for weak men or cowards. I should also applaud the mesmerizing narrative performance (Gary Farmer, Anna Fields, Peter Francis James), whom I imagined of native descent, whose unique, engaged sounding reveals the mastery of the text. Their work as original and wrenching as any of the artefacts which give life and meaning and precedence to the indigenous worldview.

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Every lover of books and people should read this

Revisado: 03-22-18

Towering over the world's smallness, this writer is the living proof of what miracles can come out of the love of books. Of course not every reader can aspire to her wisdom, but we can all be inspired by it. There is so much to learn in this character's daring. I wish she were the one to be called upon to heal the deep wound of ignorance and contempt which poisons our world.

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