I'm done with the Power and the Glory. Mostly I felt disappointed, which is considerably unfair actually. I enjoyed the story, and the characters were interesting... so it had pretty much everything I look for. I guess I was expecting something more from Graham Greene's "masterpiece." Come to think of it Greene probably didn't refer to this as his masterpiece, so my problem's most likely with Penguin Classics.
I haven't read Ulysses, but I'm expecting the same reaction when I finally get around to Joyce. I wonder if the days of me reading something and feeling awed and intellectually fulfilled are gone. After seeing that written down I almost feel like I get religious people... come to think of it I don't remember wanting to be satiated by a novel.
I was surprised by Greene's characters though. I read Quiet American in while I was in Thailand and I remember falling in love with his tone; that cynical, broken, aloof, knowing look at the world spoke to me. I was expecting the same from this story but I didn't find it at all as distanced.
The tone seemed far more desperate. I won't say hopeless because it had that strange "everyone's connected... shared human experience... conscious of the ambiguity" feel which is as close to hope as I think writers usually manage without becoming deluded and escapist in nature. I like when characters get pulled through the story by larger forces and eventually wonder why they are where they are and whether they can explain or at least understand what it is they're doing.
On an unrelated note I did a whole bunch of push-ups yesterday and now my chest feels tight and may be surging with pain. I don't like that the only thing I know about heart attacks is that they make your chest feel tight and they apparently hurt like hell. Point being I don't work out enough to know I'm not dying of a massive coronary.
If I'm still alive later I'll let you know what else I'm reading.
