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Liked It “One of the most controversial books written in the 30's, I am somewhat reminded of the Cockaynes of Paris by W. Blanchard Jerrold ....with some additional "graphic" scenes..” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 2 members found this review helpful “Anyone read Tropic of Cancer? I picked it up quite a while ago, probably at a used book store. I figured I'd dig it out when I finished The Other Queen. I don't understand it. If I hadn't read the forward, something I usually don't do, I would never know what the fuck he's talking about! ...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“Hated it. Life is too short to continue reading more than the two chapters I've gotten through and am disliking.”
Lisa B wrote this review Thursday, November 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“ I really tried because it's listed as important and he's in PARIS but couldn't hang with it! Plus it was banned... so naturally, I had to see why. Stream of consciousness, rambling. If you'd like to have a disturbing and depressing day, have a hangover, watch "Eraserhead", don't eat and then read this short, angst filled so called "classic".”
Mishelle B wrote this review Wednesday, October 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“http://babbettesbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/tropic-of-cancer-where-do-i-start.html”
Elisabeth W wrote this review Monday, October 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“mmm kind of strange so far,ive read about 50 pages,but i like it,its not like book written sooo long ago,you know what i mean,it reminds me a bit of bukowski and i LOVE bukowski ;D,so mm yeah for now its a nice book”
mihaela s wrote this review Saturday, October 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I read this book during my rebellious years many years ago. It's raucous, bawdry, and sexually charged. I liked it alot at the point in my life...”
Dave H wrote this review Saturday, September 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I've been reading this for 10 years.”
Katie W wrote this review Friday, September 4 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No1 of 2 members found this review helpful“Anyone read Tropic of Cancer? I picked it up quite a while ago, probably at a used book store. I figured I'd dig it out when I finished The Other Queen. I don't understand it. If I hadn't read the forward, something I usually don't do, I would never know what the fuck he's talking about! Most of it's this stream of consciousness thing and none of it makes any sense. Let me show you it:
Jennifer J wrote this review Wednesday, August 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
And Fanny is sitting there on the settee, just as she was in the oleograph, with Moe on one side of her and little Murray, Murray the genius, on the other. Her fat legs are a little too short to reach the floor. Her eyes have a dull permanganate glow. Breasts like ripe red cabbage; they bobble a little when she leans forward. But the sad thing about her is that the juice has been cut off. She sits there like a dead storage battery; her face is out of plumb---it needs a little animation, a sudden spurt of juice to bring it back into focus. Moldorf is jumping around in front of her like a fat toad. His flesh quivers. He slips and it is difficult for him to roll over again on his belly. She prods him with her thick toes. His eyes protrude a little further. "Kick me again, Fanny, that was good!" She gives him a good prod this time---it leaves a permanent dent in his paunch. His face is close to the carpet; the wattles are joggling in the nap of the rug. He livens up a bit, flips around, springs from furniture to furniture. "Fanny, you are marvellous!" He is sitting now on her shoulder. He bites a little piece from her ear, just a little tip from the lobe where it doesn't hurt. But she's still dead---all storage battery and no juice. He falls on her lap and lies there quivering like a tooth-ache. He is all warm now and helpless. His belly glistens like a patent-leather shoe. In the sockets of his eyes a pair of fancy vest buttons. "Unbutton my eyes, Fanny, I want to see you better!" Fanny carries him to bed and drops a little hot wax over his eyes. She puts rings around his navel and a thermometer up his ass. She places him and he quivers again. Suddenly he's dwindled, shrunk completely out of sight. She searches all over for him, in her intestines, everywhere. Something is tickling her---she doesn't know where exactly. The bed is full of toads and fancy vest buttons. "Fanny, where are you?" Something is tickling her---she can't say where. The buttons are dropping off the bed. The toads are climbing the walls. A tickling and a tickling. "Fanny, take the wax out of my eyes! I want to look at you!" But Fanny is laughing, squirming with laughter. There is something inside her, tickling and tickling. She'll die laughing if she doesn't find it. "Fanny, the trunk is full of beautiful things. Fanny, do you hear me?" Fanny is laughing, laughing like a fat worm. Her belly is swollen with laughter. Her legs are getting blue. "O God, Morris, there is something tickling me...I can't help it!"
Seriously. What. The. Fuck. And this passage above? It's one of the more coherent. A lot of it's strings of phrases, separated by commas, randomly spouting out names. Some of which I recognize though know nothing about, but most of them I've never heard of before. I know from the forward, this books is largely autobiographical and is about James in Paris mooching off his friends to eat because he has no money. His first wife left him for another woman (and that's what the books supposed to be about) and now he's involved with Anais Nin, who's married, while his current wife is in New York, trying to get money from a sugar daddy. I'm 72 pages in and I have no clue what's going on. I feel immensely stupid because this book is supposed to be some great work and it makes no fucking sense to me!!
It got a bit better after that before falling into confusion again. What's wrong with this book? Where do I begin? First off, there's a lot of meandering around the topic. For the first 40 or so pages, I could detect no real story at all, just a bunch of random thoughts strung together by commas. Random names of authors, artists, and philosophers are thrown out. Some of them are well known and some are more obscure, at least to me. Somewhere, the story comes out, though that doesn't make a whole lot of sense either. There are dozens and dozens of characters in this book and sometimes they're given different names, making it harder to figure out who's who. I felt like I needed to be taking notes and drawing charts and diagrams. The vocabulary used is also relatively obscure. I like to think that I have a decent vocabulary, but there were so many words in here that I had no idea what they meant and the context did not lend you to be able to get the gist of the word. And reading a book next to the computer so I can look up words every 2 minutes does not make for a happy reader. I'm not exactly sure why I didn't want to just give up on this book, but I stuck with it and I feel like I've lot a lot of time that I'll never get back. In the end, if you simply must know what this book's all about, go here: http://www.gradesaver.com/tropic-of-cancer/study-guide/section1/
I used this when I got stuck and had no idea what was going on. I recommend JUST using the link and forgetting about reading the book. This is probably the worst book I've ever made it all the way through. ”“One of the most controversial books written in the 30's, I am somewhat reminded of the Cockaynes of Paris by W. Blanchard Jerrold ....with some additional "graphic" scenes..”
Dolly D wrote this review Saturday, August 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A very good and interesting book, which doesn't get five stars as I find Miller to be a little one dimensional.”
Daniel Rennie wrote this review Friday, August 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“July 2001”
Piedmont Reading Club wrote this review Sunday, July 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
