Most of the books I've read lately have been about university applications, and I won't bore you with those. I just finished reading 'Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs', one of the books I'll be studying in English lessons this year. The book is essentially a compilation of articles written by women between 1905 and 2005, and the topics of the articles are very varied: sexism, computers, racism, rape, celebrity interviews, lynchings, war, and children are just some of them. Naturally, I knew a lot more about some areas (namely rape and feminism) than others (celebrities and war), so there was some satisfying variation.
The main issue I have with this book is that some of the articles are severely out of date; many of the ideas expressed are from an age when discrimination -- whether intended or not -- was simply a part of life; even more so than today. The word "nigger" was used casually, and many so-called feminists still advocated male supremacy, in their own way. However, it was interesting to see how far back feminism goes. It was wonderful to know that some people stood against racism when it was a social norm. Many of these individuals were ahead of their time. It was also sweet to read an article about Bill Gates from 1995, a lot of which was about the internet and what it could mean for the future. Some of the predictions were accurate, such as global instant messaging and online shopping, but others, most notably the idea of having a "PC wallet" instead of a real wallet, seem a little bizarre.
It's a compilation worth reading, but I'm not sure that it's the best choice for studying. There's a huge array of choice for which article, theme, and story you want to write an essay on, even with my English teacher narrowing it down. We'll see, though.
Currently, I'm reading 'Trainspotting'. My opinion of it might change dramatically once I've finished it, but for now I'm fairly unimpressed, especially since the novel and film have such a huge following. Primarily, I'm concerned with the thousand-metre long bridge Welsh has put between himself and the reader. The novel is written mostly in Scottish English, which is difficult to read as someone from England and is probably worse for Australians, Americans or other English-speakers who are less familiar with the Scottish accent. You cannot skim-read this book and still understand it; you have to read it word by word, which destroys the flow and becomes tiresome. Perhaps more confusing than this is the constantly fluctuating narrative; sometimes, it's in first person, sometimes third person, and the narrative is from the point of view of a whole host of characters at different times in the novel. Usually, in this situation, it would be stated at the start of the chapter whose point of view it is written from, but not in 'Trainspotting'. Since there are lots of characters -- referred to alternately by their real names and their nicknames -- it's pretty difficult to keep track of things. Some characters have only been in one chapter so far, and don't seem to add to the plot in any way.
Not that there really is a plot. The story follows a character named Renton more than anyone else, but thus far there has been an awful lot of drug taking, some fights, and several deaths. I might care more about the deaths if the characters seemed to care. In one case, a guy named Granty dies of a heart problem and, save one very drunk character who keeps repeating that Granty was "one ay the nicest cunts ya could hope tae meet", none of his friends seem to care. Perhaps I need to look at this more closely, but it's a struggle to analyse the language and its underlying meaning when I can barely understand its literal meaning.
Perhaps I'm wrong, but my impression of the novel from bits and pieces I'd heard about it was that it was revolutionary. Maybe writing a novel primarily about drugs is a little gutsy, but it was written in 1996 -- not exactly long ago. While reading about the struggles these young adults face, I was reminded of a much more recent novel named 'The Panopticon'. Similarly, 'The Panopticon' features Scottish youths (and is written in Scottish English), and there are parallels between them with themes of drugs, death, teenage parents, and violence. The difference is that the language in 'The Panopticon' is readable, the characters are fewer and have more depth, the deaths and traumas have much more impact.
I'm willing to be proven wrong about 'Trainspotting'; I have, after all, got the whole second half of it to read. However, I'm not sure that any advances in the vague, messy timeline that is the plot or the cardboard characterisation will allow me to forgive the poor methods of narration that have left readers struggling to grasp any depth the novel may have to offer.
I will say this in its favour, though: I am very fond of the character of Renton. He has a fabulous sense of humour.
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