powerpuff | (no subject)

been doing a lot of thinking about the stranger since i finished it a few weeks ago... reading it is such a weird experience because despite the fact it's written in first person pov, i never feel like i understand or relate to meursault the way that pov is supposed to work. i guess i technically never understood or related to humbert humbert in my read of lolita either, but at least the way his narration went made me feel something. reading the stranger is a lot like just reading the newspaper: things have happened, and you think, oh, that's a shame and flip to the next page.

i wonder if that's sort of a failing on my part or if that's something intentional, though. i haven't read any analyses on it yet and i don't remember anything from the english class we were supposed to read it for... i feel like it is intentional given the title, though.

the stranger. even to the reader, meursault remains that way. we get a glimpse into his mind and we follow his actions and yet he still doesn't feel any closer to us... it's really interesting. the stranger is also one of my least favorite books but it gives me a lot to think about with regards to writing, how things work or don't work. i should go back and reread the other books i didn't like and see why i didn't like them. except i think i know why i didn't like wise blood (i didn't care) but i'd probably appreciate that one more now as an adult maybe?

anyway to make this cringe i'm pretty interested in how meursault's canto will go in limco given his book lol

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time to make a friend pact... i re-read a book i hated 15+ years ago too and you re-read one you hated too and we compare notes on how they made us feel-- (even if it's just "yep, i still hate it" lmao)

LMAO this would be the only way to get me to reread some of these older books i s2g. you know what, i straight up read maybe a third of wise blood and nothing else. just listened to class discussions and kept my head down. and when we had to do a project on it, i picked something i knew really well (aztec human sacrifice and the meaning of blood in it with regards to religion), bullshit the whole thing on how it connected, and still got a good grade.

I'M LAUGHING that's what i did with them too... i read small fragments and then only talked about those and added some bullshit around them, but the concrete details were enough to make me seem like i'd read it so my grades were Great

i can think of a local novel i super hated tbh maybe i'll try w that one

ugh lmk if you do... i have to find a copy of this book anyway because apppaaareeenttlyyy my library doesn't have it??? insane. they also don't have a separate peace, which WAS a book i really enjoyed reading in high school... homophobia tbh

homophobia for that one, but i can't believe they're sparing the younger generation from the horrors of ur childhood on the other--

i think i'll need to go borrow mine from my parents too lmao bc i most assuredly do Not own it myself, but i'll let u know when i obtain it!