It's Okay Because She's Pretty?

In Book II of Tender is the Night we learn...(**major spoiler alert**)

Nicole Diver is mentally ill and a patient of Dick Diver's before they marry. I can't even begin to tell you what I thought about this. It went something like "...!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

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WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? Why would you look at a person suffering from schizophrenia and decide "You should definitely be the mother of my children"? At least I'm assuming that's what Dick thought, because I'm pretty sure they didn't have a lot of birth control options post-WWI. Yes, she's severely mentally ill. Yes, she was sexually abused by her father. Yes, her sister straight up tells you that they want to "buy" a doctor to marry Nicole so they don't have to worry about her anymore. Yes, she will probably ruin your life and irrevocably screw up your offspring. But don't worry about it because Nicole is just so darn pretty.

...!?!?!?!?!? again. Did men really think like this back then? Maybe don't answer that.

It's probably a good thing that I'm listening to the novel in the solitude of my own car so that people can't hear me yelling "WHAT!?" about a book.

In this morning's installment, she just tried to kill Dick and their children by purposefully wrecking their vehicle. I don't really see how their marriage can survive that, but she's still pretty and still seems to need Dick, so maybe it will? Not my kind of logic, but seems to be the prevailing thought pattern in Tender.

Zelda Fitzgerald, partial inspiration for Nicole Diver.

I really do feel sorry for Nicole. She's had a rough go of it, and she definitely deserves compassion and sympathy for the horrible upbringing she had living with her incestuous creepster father. Whether that should have extended to marriage...probably not. I even feel sorry for Dick, because I'm almost sure this insane union is going to wreak havoc on every other aspect of his life, especially his practice as a psychologist.

So maybe I was wrong in my earlier assessment. This isn't just Disillusioned People Behaving Badly. It's...really it's just plain depressing. And when you stop to think that this is based on Fitzgerald's real life marriage. Uf! Almost makes me think I too need two fingers of gin (except I don't technically know what that is...shhh).

Gin and tonic, anyone?

Zelda Fitzgerald image found here.

A Passage to Zzzzs

I can't remember the last time it took me THREE DAYS to finish the last 20 pages of a book, but I literally fell asleep every single time I sat down and tried to finish A Passage to India. Lying on my nightstand or my coffee table, it started watching me like the Money I Could Save with Geico, and yet, I still just could not keep my eyes open through those final passages.

Friends, this book is boring.

And there are quite a few boring books that have great and edifying messages to make them worth the reading. This was not one of those books. Well...I take that back. I do think that Forster was promoting racial tolerance and encouraging people to develop empathy and compassion for their fellow man. Yes, good. Why he had to deliver that message via mostly unlikable dull goobers, I don't really know (the Unlikeable Dull Goober also seems to be a popular character type for novels on this list). Maybe he's trying to test how compassionate I can really be by forcing me to read about these people.

Further beef - you don't actually get to find out whether anyone assaulted Adela in the cave or not. She decides that Aziz definitely was not her man, then in later conversations wonders if anyone even attacked her at all. What. How can you not know this, woman?

And Aziz, oooooh, Aziz. He's offended that anyone would even think he would try to rape Adela because she's ugly. Of all the blows to his honor, that's the one he gets really bent out of shape about?

A Google image search result of "ugly British lady." Apparently a famous painting?

I can only recommend this book to those suffering from lack of sleep; it will quickly send you into sweet, sweet slumber. Or maybe creepy dreams about caves.

How do you feel about books or movies with ambiguous events? Love'em? Hate'em?

Massys' Old Lady painting found here.

Waaa waaa, waaa waaaaa, waaaa, waaaaaaaaaa.

I'm trying something new and different whilst I am stuck on A Passage to India (see my previous post for more on that). I just checked out my first audio book from the library, F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night.

I started listening to the CDs this past Wednesday. So far this is how I feel:

And yes, I had to draw that myself, because when I Google image searched "Charlie Brown classroom" I almost got a computer virus. Danger on the interwebs.

I really really really wish that I could be one of those superproductive people able to turn my work commute into an awesome "catch up on my reading" or "learn language from audio tapes" session. Alas, that may remain a lofty dream. For some reason, it's just easier to stay awake and enthusiastic listening to the latest fluffy pop song or playing Name that Tune along with the morning show.

Example of productivity I cannot manage. Of course, not really too sure how she's talking on the phone AND drying her hair either. Must be a Magic Secret of Multitaskers.

As for Tender is the Night, well...I have a feeling this will fall squarely into the Disillusioned People Behaving Badly subcategory on my reading list. I'm about twenty chapters in and pretty much all that's happened is that a young actress has met Dick and Nicole Diver and their group of friends while in post-WWI France, and she's fallen in love with Dick and begun an affair with him. Oh, and of course the whole crowd has had lots of parties, shopping excursions, late nights, too much drinking, and a duel. You know, the standard Disillusioned People activities. I have a hunch they might all start feeling better if they'd just get full time jobs (Seriously their careers include an actress, a musician, a mercenary soldier, and a non-practicing physician; on further reflection, judging by their daily activities, it would seem they all are non-practicing).

How do you feel about audio books? Easy way to sneak in extra reading or quick trigger for a snooze?

Forster and Four Letter Words

I started A Passage to India a couple of weeks ago, expecting to once again fall in love with E.M. Forster's witty prose. And I'm not going to lie...I'm feeling a little let down by this book.

The basic concept of the novel is to explore the relationship between the British and the Indians during the Imperial occupation of India (according to the intro, Forster spent so many years writing it that it can't be specifically dated to a year). The book jacket tips you off that there will be an incident involving a young Indian doctor and an Englishwoman, and it will deal with the repercussions following. Duly noted.

Here's my beef: when you are dealing with two different cultures, I think there are a HUGE number of incidents you could pick from where there is a legitimate misunderstanding between two people because of their own background and familiar practices (some perfect examples here). But so far, that isn't what's happened in A Passage to India.

Warning - spoilers ahead!

Dr. Aziz puts together an outing to the Marabar Caves for the young English girl Adela and her future mother-in-law Mrs. Moore. While exploring the caves, Mrs. Moore tires and decides to rest, leaving Adela to go on with Aziz and a guide. Aziz and Adela explore separate caves, then reunite with the larger group and head back into town. Upon their arrival, Aziz finds himself under arrest for allegedly assaulting Adela in one of the caves. In the novel, I'm now getting into the nitty gritty of he said, she said and characters taking sides in what's become an Indians vs. British conflict.



Thus far there isn't reason to believe that Adela is lying, although she may have accused the wrong man. And truly, if I was in a pitch black cave with some stranger grabbing at me, I would flip out too!

Obviously I haven't finished reading yet, so the reasoning for this specific intercultural conflict might not be apparent. It just seems that an irrational hullabaloo about touching one of "our women" doesn't really explore the specific tensions of British occupied India - you could interchange any number of racial/ethnic groups and likely end up with the same type of storyline (unfortunately). Remember in Gone with the Wind A Passage to India when Scarlett Adela gets attacked and then the men all round up and go on a Klan raid conduct a farce of trial? See.

Sidenote: My literary disappointment is in no way meant to demean the emotions of women who are attacked by men of any color, shape, religious background, or political affliation. The stories I'm referencing aren't about the experiences of the women - they are about the social response by uninvolved parties to the incident

I guess all this is to say that I expected something more unique from my dear Morgan (I have discovered his friends called him Morgan, so I'm going with that for now). "I think that most Indians, like most English people, are shits, and I am not interested whether they sympathize with one another or not" (Intro).  Oh. That leaves me wondering...what happened to "Only connect!" from Howard's End?

Perhaps we are only supposed to connect with non-sh*ts? Or maybe the universal nature of the novel's conflict shows that humanity needs to work on becoming something that's best described without using four letter words?

Image from A Passage to India film found here.