yes, I suppose killing off characters can get old.Originally Posted by Stieg
I'll have to look into his other stuff like Fevre Dream.
yes, I suppose killing off characters can get old.
I'll have to look into his other stuff like Fevre Dream.
Definitely, I mean how many new freaks did GRRM introduce in the last novel to dull me with. Greater character investment for readers would have given the novels a greater backbone. Probably should have let many of these characters live through two or three books at least not only would their deaths have more significance but also GRRM could invent less characters with greater originality but probably didn't because the plot is stretched pretty thin already. Easier to kill them than create more subplots.yes, I suppose killing off characters can get old.
I'll have to look into his other stuff like Fevre Dream.
Fevre Dream is an excellent horror fantasy!
I read The Zahir...it was very very lame.
Although I have tried on several occasions to adopt a slight liking, if not just a general respect for the numerous generic line of literary products by Stephen King my efforts have been in vain. I deplore short sentence structures incessantly cut with hyphens and involving dialogue which although parallel to a lesser educated audience's diction leaves much to be desired in realism. His writing style sickens me although I do find appeal in the labrynth of twists in his thriller series and novels. When all has been said and done, the literary merit of Stephen King's works leave much to be desired--even more when he is categorized with the "greats" such as J.D. Salinger and Harper Lee. His 'The Green Mile' has also been identified with Harriet Beacher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, which very few may object, conveys a profound message that Mr. King could never dream of displaying
My hide hides the heart inside
TO EACH HIS OWN
This day and age, if you like a good simple story without deep thoughts then read all these famous authors of today. But I like all the existentialist and absurdest. I wouldn't consider any of them over-rated, atleast not the famous ones, maybe Ionesco just a hair?
"Why describe the hole, I mean it is a hole; So why describe it?" - Anonymous
I am not going to bother to make a new post because I don't feel there are many GRRM fans on this forum but it does have them.
Question, is George R R Martin the new Robert Jordan?
Aside from a smashing debut of his A Song of Ice And Fire saga, A Game of Thrones. A dark fantasy wonderland for adults. But since then, the series has grown progressively sophomoric and convoluted.
With each succeeding series entry, each book introducing a absurb new cast of uber-killers vying for the title of most bizarre and Iron Throne usurpers and general freaks galore lacking plenty originality.
In the second book, readers had to bear too much GRRM's fixation on Tyrion. So much so we were introduced to his most naked personal anatomy and sex life and his temporary transformation into Ubermensch.
The third book, brought the death of many main characters. And now with their absence brought in an encyclopedia full of new players and powers in the fourth volume. Ahem sound familiar? See question above.
And also similarly to Jordan, GRRM can't make up his mind which characters will remain dead and which ones will return. For readers of the series I have heard Gregor Clegane "The Mountain who Rides" has returned under the alchemy and sorceries of maester Qyburn. He is now a Frankenstein monster rebuilt from various body parts???
O.O
Why bother killing off the likes of Rob Stark, Catylin, Joffrey, Tywin, etc when you are going to write more of the same into the series again.
Did the saga simply grow too overwhelming and complex for GRRM to handle and he lost grip of his original visions and designs?
Last edited by Stieg; 06-03-2007 at 02:23 PM.
My criticism is that the plot just crawls most of the time. It takes a character nearly a whole book to move from one city to the next. And ironically that character often turns around and ends up going right back where they started.
Saul Bellow....When he passed away last year, I re-read Herzog and a few of his other books....I had read them in college and found them full of the fussy self-analysis and uninteresting somewhat elitist charcters that I associate with the worst New York intellectual literature (Yes I know Bellow was a Canadian who lived in Chicago).
Turns out I was right the first time....I should admit I don't like Woody Allen movies either
In two words... Dan Brown!!!
Philip Roth.
I'm a twenty-something WASP female, so I'm sure I don't fit the profile of his intended readers, but I really resent the few days I devoted to Portnoy's Complaint. I appreciate that many people find something worthwhile in his writing, but if I want weirdly self-congratulatory tales of frenzied adolescent masturbation and indulgent neuroses I'll...well...I just never want those things.
Oh, and Charles Bukowski! I cannot understand why he is read and revered by anyone over the age of eighteen; reveling in one's own personal fetidness and vulgarity really ought to expire after a certain age.
(I'll add another vote to the anti-Dan Brown cause as well.)
Hi Set of Keys, interesting user name.
I was truly appalled to see Oscar Wilde's name up there and also Henry James. I honestly don't know much about the other authors you listed....only a small amount about Plath and some about Updike - both considered fine authors.
Could you give some reason you found these authors sh!t, as you put it?
I am still pretty stunned. I usually only read this thread but I found I needed to speak out this time.
It would be interesting for me to know what authors you do like.
"It's so mysterious, the land of tears."
Chapter 7, The Little Prince ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Everyone here at lit net knows I agree with that. Yes, I do think there isn't much there for an adult.I think Bulowski's an example of arrested development, frozen at the emotional age of sixteen.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
While I definately enjoy his writing, I do think the constant critical fawning over him is overblown.
while you may not like these authors, It isn't really nice or proper to refer to something as "Sh!t" could you maybe give a reason for disliking Plath and Wilde?
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Most overrated author? Charles Dickens. His works are extremely boring and just drag on and on. Great Expectations has to be one of the worse books I've ever read yet people are always quoting him and proclaiming his amazing style.
Balooney!
Last edited by Bakiryu; 11-28-2007 at 07:52 PM.
Shall these bones live?
quote-Set of Keys-Oscar Wilde, Ian McEwan, Umberto Eco, Henry James, Raymond Queneau, Ian McEwan, John Updike, Sylvia Plath, Ian McEwan.
Each of them, irrefutably sh!t.
quote-Janine-I was truly appalled to see Oscar Wilde's name up there and also Henry James. I honestly don't know much about the other authors you listed....only a small amount about Plath and some about Updike - both considered fine authors.
Indeed! My thoughts as well. I can live without Plath and Updike... and while Eco appeals to my bibliophile nature... especially in The Name of the Rose... I can survive quite well enough without him... But Henry James and Oscar Wilde categorized as!!??!!
Surely sir (or Madame) you have some impediment of which you have not bothered to inform us.
facial fracture- Oh, and Charles Bukowski! I cannot understand why he is read and revered by anyone over the age of eighteen; reveling in one's own personal fetidness and vulgarity really ought to expire after a certain age.
Everyone here at lit net knows I agree with that. Yes, I do think there isn't much there for an adult. I think Bulowski's an example of arrested development, frozen at the emotional age of sixteen.
Oh Virgil... you are so right. Now be prepared for a drubbing from the Beats Brigade.
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
My Blog: Of Delicious Recoil
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