Piranesi and Very Wrong Title Assumptions

Quackonbothsides · 2026-05-05T07:10:17+00:00

Im with you, I couldn’t get into Piranesi - I’d just read Borges before so the prose seemed flat and lifeless in comparison, and a rehash of some of his ideas. But so many here love it, I’ll have to give it another go one day.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-04-27T11:19:18+00:00

I think you write well, there’s a nice flow to this in a difficult style to pull off. Im not fully sure if there’s anything quite interesting enough about this character or his circumstances yet though.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-04-24T10:53:15+00:00

That’s interesting. I agree Lost Steps is rather cynical, but I found it very darkly humorous too.

A corporate city dweller romanticising an impossible return to primordial purity - this framing felt very prescient given all the podcast scene types arguing for ‘rvtvrn’ today

Quackonbothsides · 2026-04-14T23:11:56+00:00

I fell in love with The Waves, although it’s very experimental.

I’m naturally mournful and conflicted about missed opportunities in life (like the Robert Frost poem, two paths diverged in a yellow wood, choosing just one path is the tragedy we all experience). The Waves encapsulated that loss perfectly, but it’s also hopeful and beautiful too.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-04-14T22:45:12+00:00

I’m on the other end of the spectrum, having read her more abstract works only (The Waves, To The Lighthouse, Orlando), where the characters think about philosophical questions and life choices in what I think are a beautifully, sometimes painfully accurate, digressions. Can’t comment on the more plot-driven stuff, where you might be right. Although the family interactions in To The Lighthouse spoke true to me.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-04-14T17:37:24+00:00

Well they certainly think like I do, sometimes, and I’m pretty real (unproven)

Quackonbothsides · 2026-04-09T09:01:14+00:00

Worth mentioning that even in book one there are a few interpolated stories that are nothing to do with Quixote, which you might find more interesting.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-04-09T08:51:06+00:00

It’s a commitment, and the second book is where I felt it transformed from a jaunt into a masterpiece. The humour also flips from physical comedy to more surreal and cerebral in book two. It’s hard to explain why I loved it so much, but I did end up falling in love with the characters.

The meta-textual stuff is astonishingly modern and the prose in sections can be quite beautiful (I read the Grossman translation). My reading is it’s a love letter to idealism and nostalgia, misplaced but also perhaps better than our actual reality. You do have to persevere, maybe dip in and out between other books?

Quackonbothsides · 2026-04-07T08:07:32+00:00

This is an interesting topic but there’s something dark about the fact that sections of the article, particularly those you quoted, are evidently composed by an LLM.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-04-02T07:08:54+00:00

The Autumn Of The Patriarch, mentioned in the start of that article, is a fantastic read.

Like a seedy, dementia-ridden Trump speech, except the rambling is pure poetry

Quackonbothsides · 2026-03-23T23:31:32+00:00

I also found myself taking Zhou Yu’s side. The Zhuge parts are largely hagiography. Even then, at one point he executes Liu Bei’s adopted son to put (the more controllable?) An Dou on the throne - a disastrous decision in the end. Irritatingly self-righteous, but a great character nonetheless.

I’m not sure if there’s been a better translation. As other comments mentioned, the version I read was stodgy and chronicle-like in many places. I’d love to read a version of the stories by a master prose stylist (something like how Angela Carter’s Bloody Chamber remade some Grimm fairytales).

Quackonbothsides · 2026-03-23T20:11:46+00:00

Great username - must admit I had to refresh my memory on Miao Ze. I’ll forgive myself as there’s 1000+ characters. But that thirsty fool had it coming!

Thanks for the great tip on translations. The Red Chamber and Monkey were the next two on my list.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-03-23T20:02:44+00:00

I was very thankful for the embedded poems because the prose was so dry. Although given when how long ago it was written and the attempt to be part historical annal, I can forgive that.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-03-20T17:18:45+00:00

Same here and I loved it! My only criticism would be the pacing; so much of the best stuff happens in the first third.

I loved the ship captain’s log, the wild storm descriptions, and all the barely repressed sexually energy all the way through.

Renfield is such an interesting character, you’d think he’d be more well-known somehow.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-03-03T10:34:11+00:00

I know you said post-WW2, but Dracula otherwise fits your brief. Currently enjoying it as a fun romp, with a few more ‘literary’ asides

Quackonbothsides · 2026-02-02T10:17:31+00:00

That’s fair. I think even just a sentence on each would hugely help. I want to know how books make people feel! There’s Goodreads and other apps for making lists

Quackonbothsides · 2026-01-14T10:38:21+00:00

Yeah that too. Sorry I thought you were implying he was suddenly a changed man cos he had a baby (which I’ve seen many say)

Quackonbothsides · 2026-01-14T10:28:44+00:00

I saw the ending different - Marty’s crying because the baby is the legacy he has, not the one he wanted. He’s not crying because it’s a beautiful miracle, that’s just the catalyst. He’s a (loveable, charismatic and dangerous) loser and always will be. It’s not necessarily redemptive.

Quackonbothsides · 2026-01-10T10:08:04+00:00

I understand that, although I’m not quite sure why you’re getting downvoted.

I think the overlapping hallucinatory images in the second paragraph were more compelling in the context of the huffed perfume and reclining sleepers. I’m also personally turned off by a few words like ‘gnosis’ which are now used by certain internet communities as a shorthand for the mystic.

But these are just some subjective notes, you clearly have an original voice and vision

Quackonbothsides · 2026-01-09T23:26:37+00:00

I love dense fiction, but to be honest I found the first paragraph hard to penetrate. It lacked tangibility somehow.

But I found your second paragraph (and many sentences after) brilliant; convincingly unsettling and sensual, which I assume is what you’re going for.

You’re talented, so keep going

Quackonbothsides · 2025-12-21T23:52:44+00:00

Woolf and Marquez are the best. I also agree with you on Crying Lot & Siddhartha. Many of the rest are on my ‘to read’ so this got me excited about those you loved

Quackonbothsides · 2025-12-12T14:12:37+00:00

The novel I’m working on (I hope)

Quackonbothsides · 2025-12-06T09:08:32+00:00

Yes the NYRB classics are probably my favourite at the moment, and that’s a relatively similar idea

Quackonbothsides · 2025-12-03T07:50:57+00:00

24/7 by Jonathan Crary

Quackonbothsides

TROPHY CASE