Why was this thing such a killer to trudge through. I think the afterword by William Vollman reminded me why it's tolerable and why I am not insane for losing my place and train of thought within a thumb full of pages.. yea the transitions between places and events are lose or merely nonexistent. I still found myself reaching for this... even though after hours of pessimism, I still found it awesomely funny and entertaining. I was told to read the book before I read anything about Celine. The same friend who recommended it also later said "I hope it didn't piss you off." Apparently he was insane and the further you read into it, the more his thoughts are broken and jagged. I loved that he hated the world, the bourgeoisie, and he would not buy into civilized bullshit. Even though his take on existence is daunting, he is insightful and I still feel there is truth in his rantings. He is still a great writer and his wanderings from the first World War to Africa to New York to Detroit without any sense of a calling is refreshing. Okay it did help me get through the 5.5 hour flight with a new born crying baby and an angry, bitter couple from Manhattan.
"Maybe what makes life so terribly fatiguing is nothing other than the enormous effort. We make for twenty years, forty years, and more to be reasonable, to avoid being simply, profoundly ourselves that is, vile, ghastly, absurd. It's the nightmare of having to represent the halt subhuman we were fobbed off with as a small-size universal ideal, a superman from morning to night."
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