It is the Day of the Dead. The fiesta in full swing. In the shadow of Popocatepeti ragged children beg coins to buy skulls made of chocolate...and the ugly pariah dogs roam the streets. Geoffrey Firmin, HM ex-consul, is drowning himself in liquor and Mescal, while his ex-wife and half brother look on powerless to help him. As the day wears on, it becomes apparent that Geoffrey must die. It is his only escape from a world he cannot understand. UNDER THE VOLCANO is one of the century's great undisputed masterpieces.
Un livre génial, suivant un personnage intitulé "Le Consul", qui a rechuté dans les consommations d'alcool après le départ de sa femme. Quand celle-ci revient, il devra choisir entre l'amour de son épouse et celui du Mezcal.
Mostly unreadable stream-of-consciousness gibberish. The author uses so many big words you will spend your time checking the dictionary every 30 seconds. Somehow, the text improves in, say, the last 3 chapters, and the author drops the big words all of a sudden for no apparent reason. Perhaps he got tired of checking the dictionary himself and wondering which fancy words he should use next.
There's so much Spanish and other foreign languages here that you'd better finish the entire Spanish course in Duolingo before you even considering reading this book. Otherwise, the content has the appearance of constant stream-of-consciousness; meandering conversations that lead absolutely nowhere, boring background stories of the characters. 50 pages in you've probably lost concentration and interest, but I finished the whole beast.
The way the novel is written makes you lose track of what's going on and where. Shortly after you don't even care, least …
Mostly unreadable stream-of-consciousness gibberish. The author uses so many big words you will spend your time checking the dictionary every 30 seconds. Somehow, the text improves in, say, the last 3 chapters, and the author drops the big words all of a sudden for no apparent reason. Perhaps he got tired of checking the dictionary himself and wondering which fancy words he should use next.
There's so much Spanish and other foreign languages here that you'd better finish the entire Spanish course in Duolingo before you even considering reading this book. Otherwise, the content has the appearance of constant stream-of-consciousness; meandering conversations that lead absolutely nowhere, boring background stories of the characters. 50 pages in you've probably lost concentration and interest, but I finished the whole beast.
The way the novel is written makes you lose track of what's going on and where. Shortly after you don't even care, least of all of the main character. I read this book in case it would be better than the movie experience I had of Under the Volcano roughly 18 years ago. I thought that perhaps I was too young to appreciate the movie. I can now positively say that the movie still stinks, and the book even more.
This book quite reminds me of Ulysses. Both books are contained, yet overflow with themes. Both books have a bizarre sense of time and space. Both books have an odd style, which, in my opinion, helps them stay somewhat engaging. All that being said, I must admit, I enjoyed Under the Volcano more than Ulysses. Could be because it did not overstay its welcome. Could be because it is far more accessible as a text. Could be something entirely outside my understanding.
“And you say first, Spaniard exploits Indian, then, when he had children, he exploited the half-breed, then the pure-blooded Mexican Spaniard, the criollo, then the mestizo exploits everybody, foreigners, Indians, and all. Then the Germans and Americans exploited him: now the final chapter, the exploitation of everybody by everybody else--"
Although I read this book straight through, with relatively few interruptions, I've never been more aware of Nabokov's dictum that "one cannot read a book: one can only reread it."
I barely scratched the surface of this novel. The prose expertly balances the natural dissolution of each character's thoughts with effortlessly structured literary devices - weaving metaphor and allusion into the settings and interior life of each character - and Lowry is able to keep all of it just beyond the grasp of everyone involved.
There was so much going on in this novel that it was too hard to navigate without a guide. However, there's no better guide than a first reading and I'm curious to see what I get out of this book the second time around.
