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On Cookie Cutters And God.
Friday, April 16, 2010
I now completely agree with Hock Eu’s view of Pride and Prejudice: it’s just old fashioned chick lit. And you know what I think of chick lit. It’s shallow, repetitive and unimaginative. How well the book is received depends on how well you excite the reader’s hormones – therefore the more PDA the better! Why do you think a crappy novel like Twilight sold so well? Face it, guys. The simple answer is that everyone got turned on by the mushy scenes. Bella and Edward get so unbearable that after a while I felt like throwing the book across the room and screaming, “GET A ROOM!” The worst part is that I used to be the kind of person who gets glued to a book and can’t put it down once I’ve picked it up, no matter how awful the story and style of writing is, simply because of curiosity - I want to know how it ends. I had the utter misfortune of picking up Twilight during the finals of my Form 4 year. I am I can just about rightly say that Twilight ruined my life. I wasn’t a cat, but curiosity killed me anyway. I have digressed a little, but it was necessary. I was talking about Pride and Prejudice, and my point is: YES, I am comparing Pride and Prejudice to Twilight. It is almost as crappy! And I have the right to say this because for the last few months I have had P&P forced down my throat by my English Lit lecturer. I can quote from the bleeding novel. P&P is a story revolving around love and marriage. The story centers on Elizabeth and Jane Bennet and how they find happiness despite being hampered by the pride and prejudice of others and themselves. Now I can thoroughly appreciate the elaborate and pretty language of the Regency English. But that is the sole point that the novel has over Twilight, and it is not a very strong one. Because pretty language doesn’t do much for you if you have a storyline that is unimaginative and predictable. Fine, I’ll concede that almost any novel would beat Twilight’s crappy storyline, which feels as if Meyer made it up as she went along. But seriously, there are novels with better twists and turns than those in Pride and Prejudice, and stories with far more interesting settings. One such novel would be Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. A stepfather in love with his prepubescent daughter. Now that’s something different. How can a novel about finding the perfect man compare? Basically P&P is a good novel with an okay storyline. It was probably a bestseller in its time. But I criticize those who call Jane Austen “one of the literary giants of the English Language” and her novel P&P “one of her best works”. It certainly does not deserve its place as one of the best-selling works in our time. I can study P&P, don’t get me wrong. I am completely fine with having to study it for my A-Levels. But I will scream if I hear any of you say one more time that “P&P is soooo awesome!!!” or gush over how romantic Darcy is. He is so not. And I am heartily bored of Elizabeth. She and Darcy are too Mary-Sue for my liking. I’ve told my Lit class this before, but my favourite characters in the novel are Mr. Collins and Mrs. Bennet. They’re different, they’re stupid and they’re utterly comical. They’re the breath of fresh air in an otherwise cookie-cutter cast of characters. I’ll support them to the end of Unit 1! Fellow Lit students, you heard me. But on my earlier point on what determines how well a book does, it makes me wonder if there really are any good books out there. I am wary of books that have a “hype” attached to them, because they tend to disappoint. The point is that a book that pleases the masses cannot be all that satisfactory to the enquiring mind. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini disappointed, and I have yet to read A Thousand Splendid Suns but I have the feeling that it won’t be anything to rave about either. It is disappointing how many books there are out on the market that have made their way to the bestseller’s list by playing on emotions, and really have little or no depth to them; the prime example of this would be Twilight. This is why I stopped reading all fiction except for Diana Wynne Jones, whose children’s stories are so lighthearted and so different and original that I can’t help but laugh, quixotic as they are. I take solace in books that are more factual or contemplative, books that show me that the author was sincere in penning his/her thoughts on a certain view. Most works of fiction fail to fit into this category. Let me give you an example using the book I’m reading right now: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I think Dawkins does a really poor job of explaining away the many reasons for God’s existence; to use Peter Heng’s analogy, using science to counter religion is like using a thermometer to measure current – it’s an incompatible method of reasoning. For much of the book, Dawkins sounds more like a furious, indignant, arrogant child ranting on and on about all the reasons he’s right, and not at all like a calm, reasonable philosopher. Despite this, I can still enjoy reading The God Delusion because the man was sincere: he truly does have an issue with religion and he believes everyone should know what he does too. And while I’m still on this tangent, would all of you atheists please stop touting The God Delusion as a reason for the rest of the world to drop our crucifixes and bibles. Explain away God in a manner that sounds reasonable and intelligent, and in a way that shows that you have taken our side of beliefs into account, but don’t give me any arguments from Dawkins. If Dawkins is all you have, then it’s not much of an argument at all. And now, back to the point, on books: I don’t think I have one! I just wanted to rant about how overrated some books are and how terribly difficult it is to find good ones on the market nowadays, because any idiot can write. And I got started on the topic of books because I have RM55 worth of MPH book vouchers. They’re a combination of the vouchers I got as a reward for my service to the Ed Board and Christmas presents from my neighbor. The point is, they expire TOMORROW. And I have NO IDEA WHAT TO BUY! T.T Suggestions, dear readers? Labels: Musings, Very Long Posts
INTRODUCING
Name: Louise
13 April 1992
You can only call me Lulu if you don’t think the name’s funny.
I am a member of the Smiley Conspiracy and a proud ex-CHS-ian, graduating class of 2009. Now doing A-Levels at HELP University College. Is proudly Malaysian, but doesn’t look like it and is proud of that too.
This is the 7th time I am editing this about section of the blog this year; I have sort of accepted that my personality is ever-evolving, ever-changing, therefore rendering my moods as volatile as the weather. But just as there are some things that have stood untouched across the centuries by harsh weather, so there are some things with me that remain ever the same: a belief that to live is to learn, and the ability to bounce back from setbacks.
What I love also remains constant. I love good food, dancing, fresh experiences, open minds and friendly people, all of which can be found in the wonderful wonderful city that is Istanbul. I love musicals, plays, good books, stickers, owls, colourful wrapping paper, hugs and kisses, chocolates, almost any music from the 17th to the 21st century, intense debates and post-it notes.
Fictional characters I have been compared to (in terms of personality) are Piglet from Winnie The Pooh and Kelsi from High School Musical.
I dream of finishing this list [29/8/2010: list is undergoing revamp!], and my secret ambition is to become a hairdresser or bartender. Unfortunately I’m also incredibly kiasu, so I’m going to go to university just to show everyone that I can. But want to go to uni also because I love learning lah!
Words that describe me are impulsive, impetuous, quixotic, sanguine, quirky, bewildered, kiasu and hodgepodge. The last one also refers to my sense of fashion.
*GRINS* :D
On Cookie Cutters And God.
Friday, April 16, 2010
I now completely agree with Hock Eu’s view of Pride and Prejudice: it’s just old fashioned chick lit. And you know what I think of chick lit. It’s shallow, repetitive and unimaginative. How well the book is received depends on how well you excite the reader’s hormones – therefore the more PDA the better! Why do you think a crappy novel like Twilight sold so well? Face it, guys. The simple answer is that everyone got turned on by the mushy scenes. Bella and Edward get so unbearable that after a while I felt like throwing the book across the room and screaming, “GET A ROOM!” The worst part is that I used to be the kind of person who gets glued to a book and can’t put it down once I’ve picked it up, no matter how awful the story and style of writing is, simply because of curiosity - I want to know how it ends. I had the utter misfortune of picking up Twilight during the finals of my Form 4 year. I am I can just about rightly say that Twilight ruined my life. I wasn’t a cat, but curiosity killed me anyway. I have digressed a little, but it was necessary. I was talking about Pride and Prejudice, and my point is: YES, I am comparing Pride and Prejudice to Twilight. It is almost as crappy! And I have the right to say this because for the last few months I have had P&P forced down my throat by my English Lit lecturer. I can quote from the bleeding novel. P&P is a story revolving around love and marriage. The story centers on Elizabeth and Jane Bennet and how they find happiness despite being hampered by the pride and prejudice of others and themselves. Now I can thoroughly appreciate the elaborate and pretty language of the Regency English. But that is the sole point that the novel has over Twilight, and it is not a very strong one. Because pretty language doesn’t do much for you if you have a storyline that is unimaginative and predictable. Fine, I’ll concede that almost any novel would beat Twilight’s crappy storyline, which feels as if Meyer made it up as she went along. But seriously, there are novels with better twists and turns than those in Pride and Prejudice, and stories with far more interesting settings. One such novel would be Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. A stepfather in love with his prepubescent daughter. Now that’s something different. How can a novel about finding the perfect man compare? Basically P&P is a good novel with an okay storyline. It was probably a bestseller in its time. But I criticize those who call Jane Austen “one of the literary giants of the English Language” and her novel P&P “one of her best works”. It certainly does not deserve its place as one of the best-selling works in our time. I can study P&P, don’t get me wrong. I am completely fine with having to study it for my A-Levels. But I will scream if I hear any of you say one more time that “P&P is soooo awesome!!!” or gush over how romantic Darcy is. He is so not. And I am heartily bored of Elizabeth. She and Darcy are too Mary-Sue for my liking. I’ve told my Lit class this before, but my favourite characters in the novel are Mr. Collins and Mrs. Bennet. They’re different, they’re stupid and they’re utterly comical. They’re the breath of fresh air in an otherwise cookie-cutter cast of characters. I’ll support them to the end of Unit 1! Fellow Lit students, you heard me. But on my earlier point on what determines how well a book does, it makes me wonder if there really are any good books out there. I am wary of books that have a “hype” attached to them, because they tend to disappoint. The point is that a book that pleases the masses cannot be all that satisfactory to the enquiring mind. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini disappointed, and I have yet to read A Thousand Splendid Suns but I have the feeling that it won’t be anything to rave about either. It is disappointing how many books there are out on the market that have made their way to the bestseller’s list by playing on emotions, and really have little or no depth to them; the prime example of this would be Twilight. This is why I stopped reading all fiction except for Diana Wynne Jones, whose children’s stories are so lighthearted and so different and original that I can’t help but laugh, quixotic as they are. I take solace in books that are more factual or contemplative, books that show me that the author was sincere in penning his/her thoughts on a certain view. Most works of fiction fail to fit into this category. Let me give you an example using the book I’m reading right now: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I think Dawkins does a really poor job of explaining away the many reasons for God’s existence; to use Peter Heng’s analogy, using science to counter religion is like using a thermometer to measure current – it’s an incompatible method of reasoning. For much of the book, Dawkins sounds more like a furious, indignant, arrogant child ranting on and on about all the reasons he’s right, and not at all like a calm, reasonable philosopher. Despite this, I can still enjoy reading The God Delusion because the man was sincere: he truly does have an issue with religion and he believes everyone should know what he does too. And while I’m still on this tangent, would all of you atheists please stop touting The God Delusion as a reason for the rest of the world to drop our crucifixes and bibles. Explain away God in a manner that sounds reasonable and intelligent, and in a way that shows that you have taken our side of beliefs into account, but don’t give me any arguments from Dawkins. If Dawkins is all you have, then it’s not much of an argument at all. And now, back to the point, on books: I don’t think I have one! I just wanted to rant about how overrated some books are and how terribly difficult it is to find good ones on the market nowadays, because any idiot can write. And I got started on the topic of books because I have RM55 worth of MPH book vouchers. They’re a combination of the vouchers I got as a reward for my service to the Ed Board and Christmas presents from my neighbor. The point is, they expire TOMORROW. And I have NO IDEA WHAT TO BUY! T.T Suggestions, dear readers? Labels: Musings, Very Long Posts
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