Forcing myself through a book

[cupcake_goth]

Soooo, last night I started reading Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out. (I have very dim memories of the Hammer movie based off of it.)

I ... I don't know if I can keep reading it. YES, I know, it was written in 1934, and I understand that the social landscape was very different then. But good GOD, the casual and unthinking racism. Just ... wow. I nearly threw the book across the room last night, while I was reading at bath time.

I want to read it, because it's considered a classic of the supernatural/occult suspense genre. But I just don't know if I'll be able to keep at it. Which is a shame, because in terms of wacky occult and "Black Magick" stuff, Wheatley did his research, and the book could be all sorts of fun in a popcorn-reading sort of way.

Comments

[staxxy.livejournal.com]

you know, there are a few books I just could NOT finish reading because they repulsed me *so much*. Lolita is the first one that pops into my head, but I know there were several that squicked me for the reasons you listed.

*shudder*

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who couldn't finish Lolita. Several of my friends think it's The Best Book Ever...and I can see why, but UGH.

It's not just the subject matter (going into it, I thought she was fifteen...no, she's TWELVE), it's the smarmy smart-ass "I'm so fucking clever" first-person voice. I hate that in any novel--it's why I don't like Tom Robbins or Kurt Vonnegut.

Cultural Relativism

[boyastridgirl.livejournal.com]

I realize this is probably not what you want to hear but for the reasons you stated, I'd read the book. There are a lot of pieces of literature that have the exact same issues within them and the discerning reader is able to connect the details in the book to the context of when the book was written. The times were very different and as you have attested, the differences in social opinion between the time of its publication and your reading it mean a great deal in the enjoyment of the work. It may be hard to stomach but it was true to its times, which sometimes means we have to be made to feel squeamish. Stretch for it, I'm sure you'll get past it.

[valdary.livejournal.com]

I have trouble reading Sax Rohmer's books for the same reason, Bulldog Drummond was a great adventure series in it's time, but ouch the attitudes

[savannarama.livejournal.com]

Aieeeee! I just came in here to say "that reminds me of me trying to read Lolita"! I bought the annotated copy, which was probably the wrong choice for a person with a little ADD, the first time around . . .

The language is gorgeous, but I just couldn't manage. I stopped 25-30% through. I still have it. I keep thinking one day I'll try again.

Re: Cultural Relativism

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. I'm going to take another go at reading it tonight, and see if I can tamp down my reactions of "Really? REALLY?!"

[staxxy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that voice in combination with the OMG Skeeeeevy nature of the character and what he talks about just made my skin crawl. I have no personal experiences that are triggered by it, but I know lots of people who do. It's just *yucky*.

I have to say that your statement about your friends thinking it is the Best Book Ever actually gave me a visceral shudder. ICK I TELL YOU ICK ICK ICK!!! These people need to get out more. There are far better writers, and FAR FAR more pleasant books.

ICK ICK ICK ICK ICK ICK

[staxxy.livejournal.com]

mine sits on the shelf with other 'classics'.

I honestly have tons of other books i would MUCH RATHER read. Like... H Rider Haggard's series about Alan Quartermaine, or the Sherlock Holmes series, or everything by H G Wells, or the annual reports of all of the major soda companies from the 20th century... *koff*

okay, honestly, i think I would rather gouge my eyes out with a grapefruit spoon than go back into that book. 0.o

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

Well, they were English majors, so they just think about these things differently. And they're not alone--I mean, it's considered one of the best books in English literature.

(Speaking of which: sometimes I wonder WTF people are thinking when they put books on that list....have you ever read Wuthering Heights?! It's awful!)

But yeah: I've had close friends (and an ex) who were sexually abused as kids. I wasn't really able to remove myself from that when I tried to read it.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

Oh, and another (another) note: The irony here is that I'm really into Japanese Lolita fashion.

Which doesn't really have anything to do with the book. I mean, I think the guy who coined the fashion's name may have heard of what the book was about, but I doubt he read it.

[staxxy.livejournal.com]

I think the person who coined the name for the fashion saw the movie - where the girl was about 16, and the actress herself was over 18.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

I think so, too.

As someone online put it: Perverts want little girls who act like adults...not adults who dress like little girls!

[staxxy.livejournal.com]

I do not buy being an Eng Lit major an excuse, honestly. My mother was an Eng Lit major and I grew up on Eng Lit (seriously, the first real book I read all the way through was Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare, and I could quote poetry by Christina Rosetti, Whitman, and Poe by the time I was 6). Bad taste is still bad taste. I agree that the use of language and writing are top caliber, but that doesn't make it a good book to read. Writer = genius, book = crap.

Lots of people call D H Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover a classic too, but being the first bodice ripper romance doesn't make it well written.

[staxxy.livejournal.com]

exactly!

[marc17.livejournal.com]

Actually, the fashion was created and coined by women. At the time, Japanese women's fashions were hypersexualized and the entire lolita fashion was female reaction against it. "If you want us to wear these slutty outfits when we grow up, then we simply won't grow up." It is meant to make them look like little girls, but had the typically Victorian moral values and shows hardly any skin except hands and face. That some guys like little girls is just more to do with the fact that no matter what you dress like, some guy is going to be into it.

It probably has nothing to do with the book and just comes from the common word they both use.

[marc17.livejournal.com]

However, entemology seem to all point back to that book for the word. I'd just put it down to Engrish more than actual reference to the book. Maybe I'm wrong about who coined the name for that matter. i don't think I've actualy heard that, although I have read and been told that the original fashion designers were female.

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

Most of the stuff I've read claims that Mana (of the band Malice Mizer) started calling it Lolita.

Although I agree with the rest of your comment.

Japan loves to take our words out of context. But then, we do it too: "a la mode" doesn't mean "with ice cream on it," it means "in the fashion"!

[marc17.livejournal.com]

Etymology ( I can't say it either.)

[savannarama.livejournal.com]

okay, honestly, i think I would rather gouge my eyes out with a grapefruit spoon than go back into that book. 0.o

Haha! I'm glad I'm not alone. Life's too short to read stuff that makes you feel bad & squicky. I owe it to no one! I resent people who imply that I must finish it. To me, that seems like an oddly personal decision. Maybe I will. Probably wont. :)

Does this mean I've chucked it or donated it? Humorously, no.

[staxxy.livejournal.com]

I still have the bookmark in mine where i left off.

Life *is* to short to read things that do not enrich us, amuse us, inspire us, or enlighten us (awesome if we can get it all in one place, but one is enough).

[tbosky.livejournal.com]

Wheatley is a main character in F.G. Cottam's House of Lost Souls which was interesting and creepy. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78854958

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

I don't finish books likes that. It isn't worth my time.

[brumbjorn.livejournal.com]

I used to read Nancy Drew books as a kid. I had 3 MUCH older sisters and we had many, many copies of those books in our house -- multiples of some stories in different printings. The very early ones were REALLY racist in the portrayal of the housekeeper. Interesting to compare an old printing to a new one...

Re: Cultural Relativism

[boyastridgirl.livejournal.com]

It's gonna be hard, I won't deny it. Huckleberry Finn hit the wall a few times when I read it in primary. But then it was required reading in HS and I didn't throw it then, I watched others around me do it (even the instructor) and spoke up by pointing out that Twain wasn't writing from personal opinion, he was writing from his view of what life was like then. If we were to take and only place the values of our society on works written before majority opinion was what it is now, what do we bother with previous works for?

Then again, I was the only one in Grade 9 World History Honors class to say that while Hitler will be remembered for his atrocities, he was a politician par excellence. That got me a lot of grief and the begrudging respect of the faculty because it's true, he was a brilliant politician, still a horribly monstrous human being.

:: prepares to duck ::

[aprilstarchild.livejournal.com]

I get entemology and etymology mixed up too. And of course, the other one is the study of insects!