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Julius recommended this book to me, and I absolutely loved it. This may be my favorite book this year. It's beautifully, masterfully written, but incredibly playful at the same time. His use of language is amazing. I loved the story, I loved trying to figure out where all of this was going, I loved the way everything came together in the end. And I loved Robbins' overall message, the way he explores the ideas of death and immortality and what life is all about. I mean, a silly story about beets and a waitress and perfume, with so much to say about what life is all about!
One passage I particularly liked:
page 96, Alobar has been living at a Buddhist monastery, and has this to say:
"Here they teach that much of existence amounts only to misery; that misery is caused by desire; therefore, if desire is eliminated, then misery will be eliminated. Now, that is true enough, as far as it goes. There is plenty of misery in the world, all right, but there is ample pleasure, as well. If a person forswears pleasure in order to avoid misery, what has he gained? A life with neither misery nor pleasure is is an empty, neutral existence, and, indeed, it is the nothingness of the void that is the lamas' final objective. To actively seek nothingness is worse than deafeat; why, Kudra, it is surrender; craven, chickenhearted, dishonorable surrender. Poor little babies are so afraid of pain that they spurn the myriad sweet wonders of life so that they might proect themselves from hurt. How can you respect that sort of weakness, how can you admore a human who consciously embraces the bland, the mediocre, and the safe rather than risk the suffering that disappointments can bring?"
Even that, though--I bookmarked it as I read it, but seeing how Alobar changed with the centuries, it seems so young of him to say.
I also loved the passage on February (pp. 303-305). It is exactly how I feel about February and it's awesome.
And I loved the ending. It was exactly the right ending for this book. Exactly right. Everything wrapped up properly, but still with beautiful mystery and myth.
I really liked this book.
One passage I particularly liked:
page 96, Alobar has been living at a Buddhist monastery, and has this to say:
"Here they teach that much of existence amounts only to misery; that misery is caused by desire; therefore, if desire is eliminated, then misery will be eliminated. Now, that is true enough, as far as it goes. There is plenty of misery in the world, all right, but there is ample pleasure, as well. If a person forswears pleasure in order to avoid misery, what has he gained? A life with neither misery nor pleasure is is an empty, neutral existence, and, indeed, it is the nothingness of the void that is the lamas' final objective. To actively seek nothingness is worse than deafeat; why, Kudra, it is surrender; craven, chickenhearted, dishonorable surrender. Poor little babies are so afraid of pain that they spurn the myriad sweet wonders of life so that they might proect themselves from hurt. How can you respect that sort of weakness, how can you admore a human who consciously embraces the bland, the mediocre, and the safe rather than risk the suffering that disappointments can bring?"
Even that, though--I bookmarked it as I read it, but seeing how Alobar changed with the centuries, it seems so young of him to say.
I also loved the passage on February (pp. 303-305). It is exactly how I feel about February and it's awesome.
And I loved the ending. It was exactly the right ending for this book. Exactly right. Everything wrapped up properly, but still with beautiful mystery and myth.
I really liked this book.
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Date: 2009-08-27 06:35 pm (UTC)From:Tim Rides Again
Date: 2009-08-27 09:41 pm (UTC)From: