Atilla Eryaman
@Atillathewhip
“Vexilla regis produent inferni” Dante
A strange love affair of liberal and anarchistic lead protagonists, reflecting everything out of the Punch and Judy show called politics and it´s strange and illogical ideological foundations.
The woodpecker is such a badass antihero, and his pairing with the redhead hippie girl leads to loads of great plot options Robbins uses to make fun of everything and adds an extra load of filth, sex, and wordplays to the mix to make it even grittier. His language, comparable with some rare ingenious novelists such as Simmons, Irving, etc., makes it difficult to choose if one wants to enjoy the flow of letters or the underlying themes Robbins throws at the reader all the time, because altogether characterization, introspections, and weird world views of the protagonist and the universe around them are astonishing.
I know that I know nothing and so many of the political and some economic innuendos won´t find their target in my mind, because I´ve stopped dealing with the lunacy and stupidity of both fringe sciences a while ago, but readers who are big in history will maybe find many real life inspirations. Although that´s just an assumption, it´s also possible that most of it is purely fictional, but I deem Robbins too clever to not use the option of owning this dysfunctional system. Not to forget the symbolism, individualism, how society deals with progressive tendencies, and how stupid people become by following a mixture of primate and wolf pack instincts.
Reklam
This is no Little Prince, that's for sure. You must kill the fox, burn the rose, murder the businessman, if any of them tries to take control over your princedom. There's no time to be nice! There's only time to seem to be nice. At the end of the day, it is better to be feared than loved, if you can't be both. Nevertheless, keep in mind chapter 23.
The Prince was written in the 16th century and a couple of its ideas are too contemporary. It is a major treatise that influenced several political leaders throughout history. Machiavelli is widely regarded as the father of modern politics by taking away any trace of theology and morality from his works. (That is something no one has ever said before.) I should have read it long ago, but everything has its time, I suppose.
So, there are a lot of concepts that should just stay in the book and a few which you may apply to everyday circumstances. It delivers what you are waiting for, if you want to know how to have and keep power to yourself, no matter the head you are crushing, and all that using a fairly straightforward language. It is a short book and easy to understand, even though the notion of achieving glory, power and survival, regardless of how immoral you have to be... it is not difficult to comprehend; that we get.
Cruelty, wickedness, immorality; all those things apparently needed to achieve greatness, all of them printed long ago in the form of a little book, just like that... From a twisted point of view, sometimes, it is almost a bit funny.
It was an excellent read.
The only way to learn is to live”
Fuck, this book hit me so hard. I finished this book a few days ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It has one of my favorite themes or tropes in a book, where we follow a main character who at the beginning of the story is very depressed and possible suicidal and doesn't see the point of life, but then slowly throughout the story begins to build an admiration toward humanity and life. This book was so beautifully written and I love the way this book asks the question: what is the best way to live?
“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices… Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”
It's a really cool concept, that between life and death you enter the midnight library, where you get the opportunity to see how your life would've been different had you made different decisions. I think a lot about this, what my life would be like had I made different choices and wondering if I'm the happiest version of myself? This book forces you to ask hard questions, like what makes a life worth living? And are your dreams for yourself really something you want? I love the way this book talks about regrets and how most of the time our regrets are a load of bullshit of things that are out of our control and they are causing a major burden on our life.
“A person was like a city. You couldn't let a few less desirable parts put you off the whole. There may be bits you don't like, a few dodgy side streets and suburbs, but the good stuff makes it worth-while.
