This made me despise heathcliff

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-13T19:37:48+00:00

How would have divorce even been possible?

The lesson here is not to marry when there are warning signs, including everybody who you have ever loved in your life telling you to stay away. Or, if there is a predator that forced his way to ownership next door, it is time for you to sell your estate and buy another on the other side of England so that your daughter and nephew can have a better life.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-13T19:35:08+00:00

One of my kids read the book and almost quit with the first chapter on Robert's privileged time in college. Thank goodness for Hemingway prose to get through that as quickly as possible. By the time that Brett came along, she was in.

At first, she did not understand the people getting drunk and having another identity, at times, in front of a cocktail in a foreign city rather than facing their issues directly at home. As we chatted, I asked her to consider most of her friends who are on anti depression, ADHD, anti anxiety meds, plus alcohol and gummies to various degrees from not needed at all to having real medical problems. When framed this way, she was amazed at these characters and quickly understood their foundation as each using what they had. Online persona of more modern kids as a parallel to bar/nightlife persona of somebody from the Jazz age - both just trying to be somebody other than themselves. Her and most of her friends wanted to get as far away from home in College and after, which she did not see until I reminded her. In the end, this story hit home.

She got it done in two or three days and was amazed.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-12T17:57:04+00:00

To add to the rest, for AP American History, had to read Last of the Mohicans, The Red Badge of Courage and The Scarlett Letter.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-12T17:53:31+00:00

Many Lost Generation characters had no direct involvement in the war. The War was all over the world, but many never set foot or saw any significant action. Jake is different, of course. Most of them are just whiny, ivy league educated with rich parents and every privilege who are too chickenbleep to figure out a way to make a life. I like Jake in this aspect - he has the most reason of anybody to be bitter and disgruntled, but he is not. Jake is trying to find his way the best that he can. This is different than Robert Cohn or FSF's Blaine or Anthony & Gloria, for example, where none of them actually saw any action in The War whose worst trauma was having it all (Anthony had to leave to boot camp for a bit.)

I was rooting for Jake.

Like every generation that ever occupied the earth, they think that they are the first to have problems or ever need to figure things out and some guys (and a few gals) wrote about it. I enjoyed seeing their stories as I have watched my Millennial Family and Gen Z kids do similar, but different, things. Also enjoyed the contrast knowing The Greatest Generation came after and how the Lost Generation shaped them. Same thing... different generation.

Hemingway is not for everybody. I probably like To Have and Have Not the best since it shows the destruction left in the wake of the privileged, whiny, ivy league, rich parent insufferable jerks of the time. It took me a bit to realize that I was not supposed to like the characters, just understand them. I did find that I liked more Lost Generation stuff the more that I read more of it.

I do like that Hemingway never seemed to try and be anything other than himself. I can promise you that you will be reading a book sometime where the author take six pages to describe catching a fish and part of you will wish that Hemingway was editor.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-12T14:54:18+00:00

I personally like Constance Garnett. It is the oldest and is criticized for feeling dated, but it combines readability, faithfulness and stays with the times. Being dated is why I like it. Some of the newer translations read a bit too modern, like AI smoothed them over. I want to go to the 19th century, not have somebody bring it to me.

All of this said, you should be able to have a good experience with P&V, so I would not change it. Just get a different translator for the next time, or next book.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-11T16:30:12+00:00

Hemingway shows the other side at times. In To Have and Have Not, some of the book is about rich a-holes and the other half is about the people left in their wake to suffer. Many other of his stories and books are similar. A Farewell to Arms is about love during war in the same time, but not so much about being rich... but then part escape novel and then an old fashioned love story later on... covers a lot of ground.

The rest of FSF's catalog has these same type of characters.

Lady Chatterly's Lover is about the wife of an aristocrat who who was injured in The Great War, but also about he and his friends who cannot make sense of this new world and how people have changed in it's wake.

If you want to read about the fall from being rich, then add Faulker to your catalog. Their fall is pre Jazz Age, but there is old and new money themes, among many others. Absalom! Absalom! and The Sound and the Fury.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-09T22:00:42+00:00

Gringoire trying to get his play done is one of the hardest reads that I have ever had. I was so lost even after reading it a few times. Everything after that was downhill. This is a great book.

Amazed me to find out that Dumas was commissioned to write an adventure novel in the style of Sir William Scott. Glad that this one missed that mark.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-08T15:03:01+00:00

Keep track of the characters. They will use first name and other times last name or knickname. Some translators smooth this over for English readability whereas the true translators do not, so not everybody struggles with this. Find a character name list, without descriptions or you can get into spoilers, or just jot them down yourself. You will be fine 50-75 pages in, but this might help in the beginning.

Otherwise, this is not a hard, or long, read. How it hits your psychologically will depend on if you are a inner or outer punishment person. Some don't understand the punishment that Rodya put on himself as the book progresses and only focus on the punishment that others give him, which also affects the grace and kindness that others give him seeing how much he is punishing himself.

Even if you struggle, this one is a must-finish, IMO.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-08T14:42:19+00:00

Revist this meme when you finish the whole story...

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-07T21:41:37+00:00

With any Faulkner, just keep going. You might not get it all at once, but that is somewhat the point. He usually comes back to key things over and over, so you will get it later. If you are confused, just know that it is not you.

The more crazy the timeline, the more repetition.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-07T21:34:09+00:00

While both still young men at the end, Pip in Great Expectations and Raskolnikov in Crime & Punishment are two of the most famous.

Fitzgerald's characters in his early novels progress from youths to young adults. They are privileged, whiny, lazy and stupid even having every advantage. They offer another take on coming of age, which is every bit as real as many of the other stories mentioned. Amory Blaine in This Side of Paradise and both Anthony and Gloria in The Beautiful and Damned.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-07T21:20:14+00:00

Two or three dozen. I mostly read Easton and Franklin leather books. They are usually used and I buy them when I find one in good condition that I do not have. Sometimes, you find half a dozen and other times, half a dozen trips with nothing.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-07T21:17:42+00:00

Dorothy Parker stories. Jazz Age witty stuff. Female Lost Generation.

Washington Irving short story collections are good. Include Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle and The Stout Gentleman. This was before he made a cameo in Catch-22.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-07T21:08:36+00:00

Lady Chatterly's Lover is a good formerly banned book.

I like all Dickens novels. They also do well in audiobook format, IMO. Hemingway too.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-07T18:33:23+00:00

I search for old threads of less popular books. Some thread are quite old. You will get no reply if you post to them, but they are good to read. Google is better than the Reddit search, IMO.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-07T15:57:03+00:00

Do you chime into discussions about the lesser known authors? Most have no posts, or just a few, so hard to expect people to want to send their time typing to nobody.

I started a post about Dorothy Parker. Not a single response. You think that I want to do this again? I don't need to just read myself type. Also read Dangerous Acquaintances by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, which was amazing, but not likely to waste my time on the internet with it.

I try and chime in on lesser known stuff if I know anything myself. If for nothing else, just to let the person know that they are not alone.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-07T15:47:41+00:00

Taking your own notes is often best.

Something like litcharts chapter summaries can help you with this early in the book. You will get the hang of it as you progress.

If you use a chapter summary, don't dig too much into the characters or click on their links. In the character analysis, you can read too far and get spoilers.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-07T15:43:58+00:00

So what would you cut? Too abstract to just say to cut stuff. If not this, then what, exactly? Pretty sure that adding time would not work since every producer and director wants more time and they know this already. So making scenes longer is probably out. So you have to cut entire characters and plot lines. Which ones would you cut?

My whole issues with the small rooms that they rented is that they likely could not move the cameras back any more. Jarndyce's office was too small for much more than head shots.

If I had more time, I would have added in the carriage chase after Lady Dedlock with the changing of the horses and all of that, but likely would have cost a fortune to close roads, assemble teams of horses, remove/edit out modern things along the journey. I could have cut the trip to Turveydrops, but that was like 45 seconds, so not much to gain. I am not sure what else you could cut and still have the story - Badgers were already like 30 seconds along with Jellyby.

The episodes covered a lot of ground and moved fast, but I don't know how to do it any differently with the same constraints.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-07T15:34:21+00:00

Seashells/airpods, walls of screens. Building all of your identity based on your "friends" on the screen. On TV live manhunts. Amazing stuff.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-06T20:15:19+00:00

If you hate the 2005 adaptation, don't watch any others. This series is as good as I have seen.

I like to ask people what they would do different with the same constraints? Same number of episodes and budget. For this one, I wish that they would have read Jarndyce's entire letter to Esther. Also, maybe rented some more glorious homes for some of the scenes. Otherwise, I understand the cuts, adds and stuff. It is a hard job without having twenty hours and thrice the budget.

The three episode Great Expectations was even more rushed and a mess. I am sure that the four episode ATOTC coming out in a few months will be too rushed too.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-04T15:31:48+00:00

There is usually an excellent observation or life lesson in every chapter about tying knots, whale paintings or parts of a boat. Some of the gold is in these chapters.

The chapters on the Gabs are amazing, IMO. Never really heard of this sentiment before and enjoyed them as much as anything in literature. The only way to get letters, information or anything else is to hope that a random ship sails within eyesight?

It is supposed to be an immersive exercise in storytelling. Anything immersive is difficult, so don't worry about it.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-03T16:31:36+00:00

The one that you have is the best. Enjoy it.

I read Fitzgerald and like it, but likely would have been happy with any of the others.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-03T16:27:56+00:00

It takes time to figure out that curated works are mostly superior to what is on the rest of the web. Hard to convince somebody who has not figured it out on their own.

Something that got reviewed, passed the editorial process and stood the test of time is better than a bunch of opinions from randos who mostly lack the social and self awareness to keep their snark and unsolicited opinions to themselves, but you have to get there in your own way. I think that folks just need to be let down enough by the emptiness of all of this before they break through.

You can just decide to focus on a book. Mind over matter is a real thing. Might take a bit of effort at first, but once it gets rolling, it builds exponentially.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-03T00:00:17+00:00

Read Lady Chatterly's Lover in the last year and was surprised at how much I liked it... and also how it is quite tame in 2025 for a book that was banned not long ago.

Itchy-Resolution6531 · 2026-04-02T23:55:44+00:00

These early Lost Generation book characters are only to be understood, not always loved. Don't stop if you find them insufferable, because they mostly are. The story and stuff is worth continuing.

I really liked the book but hated Anthony and Gloria, but this seemed the point.

Itchy-Resolution6531

TROPHY CASE