The Finer Things Book Club - who's up for Phil's new book?

[Doormatt]

no i havent started reading. i will start soon though. hopefully done by the end of the end of the week, cuz i have to read some other stuff before classes start.

[tugs]

been busy with graduate school materials and basketball training. sorry guys.

[Slava]

Finished the book yesterday night. English being my second language there were certain parts of the book that required me to have a dictionary handy for reference and also google helped visualize some of the things the author describes.

I thought the major pulp of the book was contained in a select few paragraphs and I also had to read the wiki to understand some of the narration.

I will likely have to read it again and likely read some online discussions to get a better idea of the story. Pretty tough book to start the book club, especially for me since I haven't read an old unedited book of this caliber before.

[dockingsched]

i was sick over the weekend and didn't feel like reading, so im aiming to get through it this weekend.

[TyCobb]

Just finished Notes from the Underground. Definitely an interesting read.

[Speedlot]

Just finished reading. I'll hold my thoughts until more is done, but I will lament together with those that suffered through the difficulty of reading when pertaining to this book.

Oh the horror. The horror.

[Doormatt]

yall nigs chose it.

[EArl]

I have midterms this week. Ill try to finish by the weekend.

[TyCobb]

Next book we're reading, Gone Fishin by Walter Mosley. Robert Horry's favorite book suggested by PJ.

[miggs]

Like Doc i've been sick this past week too so I stopped reading but I'm starting to feel better and will be done by the weekend so we can possibly start discussion then start our next book.

are we going to vote again for the next book? or just take the 2nd place finisher and so on from the vote we had?

[Speedlot]

The thing I wonder most from my fellow laker bros is well the ending.




THIS is a question about the ending. So please don't read if you're not done with the book.

Why does he lie to the Intended? What's the significance of this lie? The life of course is how Kurtz was an ideal man and really loved the Intended.

How do you guys feel? What's your interpretation?

[Slava]

Kurtz imo was a person who had the charm to manipulate everyone from the agency officers to the tribals to achieve his motive and make himself feel superhuman. He told many lies to the people around him and the woman was one of those who believed him blindly due to his charm.

Marlow on the other hand could see through his persona because he met Kurtz when he was on his death bed and in his most vulnerable situation. He lied to the woman just so he doesn't hurt her trust in Kurtz because she like a lot of others (tribals, the Russian etc) spend their lives adoring him.

[dockingsched]

discussion is open without spoilers in 2 days.

[Slava]

Open discussion.

[dockingsched]

i'm hoping the next book is a little smoother, easier to digest. had to re-read quite a few parts to make sure i understood exactly what was going on.

[dockingsched]

Question #1: Do you guys think the book is racist?

[Speedlot]

I feel strongly that the book has some areas that it is racist.. Not the hateful part of racist, moreso the ignorance of Conrad when writing the book. He's whining about European ideals sure , but his pick of the native Africans and describing them is very flawed and ignorant.

The importance of this book in terms of criticizing the idealism of Europeans colonization is very good though.

[dockingsched]

probably gonna call this project a failure. may be it was the book or just the difficulty to fit it into our schedules or the long deadline, just couldn't keep the momentum going.

[Slava]

I think the guy that recommended the book hasn't read it.

[Father Time]

This book wasn't low brow enough for me. I prefer erotica and zombie novels, ideally in the same book.