Finished Slapstick. It was no Breakfast of Champions or Galapagos, but it was certainly no Hocus Pocus (gehh). It was in the middle then, I guess.
Summary: I realized I've been writing these reactions like everyone has read the book. So, Slapstick is the memoir of America's last president, at the end of it all, which Kurt thought up whilst en route to his uncle's funeral with his brother. Also a tribute to his sister.
In the beginning, in his forward, Kurt talks about how originally, his family was very much in touch with their German background. It was a strong family knit. Of course, the second world war rolled around and suddenly it was frowned upon to be German or to be related to anything German in any which way. Lacking that, the family just kind of... dissolved. They stuck together, but the culture and real backbone was gone--and the family became a nothing cog in the American machine. And since something so important for family was missing, Kurt and his siblings had no problems leaving the land their generations had been raised up on and being nobodies somewhere else. It made me sad, but at the same time, it's kind of the truth. I think culture's an important bit of family, which probably makes me sounds like an old lady... but it's the truth. It's what really helps you feel close, other than that, what have you got? Half the helix, and what's that anyways? I mean, even living away from aunts and uncles and stuff. When it's like that, it's like you're spending your holidays with strangers. My family--well, my mom's side--all lives really close, except for an aunt and cousin or two. But it's nice. I always feel comfortable, and you always feel like you're home. And there is a certain culture and certain traditions to be procured from this. The farm, the way we celebrate holidays, et cetera. But on the other hand, there's my dad's side: other than one of my uncles, after my poppy died it's been very distant. And they are basically staged fifteen minutes away. But there's hardly anything from them. I can't feel close to them--I don't even think of them as family, hardly. I know they are, but there's such a difference between them and my mom's side it just doesn't seem like we're really related. I go to my grandma's house and I just want out. Is that awful? It doesn't help that she hates my mom. What I'm trying to say is, I think Kurt is right. The culture makes the family makes the bonding makes everything else. I know I'm going to be a wreck in college. I'm going to miss my mom's side. But I get nothing from my dad's side, other than hanging out with an uncle on that side, who I really do love. But other than that? Nothing. I won't see any need to go back. I feel awful, because I mean, that's my only grandma I'm talking about, but at the same time I don't. Just because you're blood doesn't make you family. Anyways. It's not exactly what Kurt was saying, I guess, but I think they parallel. Sort of.
Another thing just in the intro that made me a little sad--"'Are the kids up there nice?' he said. 'Yes, they are,' I replied. He is an airline pilot now. They are all something other than children now." Well, maybe not sad. Again, those damned wheels of mortality keep on moving. ("All the kids you loved have grown real old")
Okay, one guy was named Withers Witherspoon. Look me in the eye and tell me that's not awesome. Good luck.
Kurt again expresses the idea that intelligence is unnatural and freakish. "The brain is far too big to be practical".
The main character says that he and his sister had the ability to be happy all the time and they were. Then he says "Perhaps even in this we were freaks". It is hard to believe anyone wants anybody to be happy in this world sometimes.
"'I love you, Eliza,' I said. She thought about it. 'No,' she said at last. 'I don't like it.' 'Why not?' I said. 'It's as though you were pointing a gun at my head,' she said. 'It's just a way of getting somebody to say something they probably don't mean. What else can I say, or anybody say, but "I love you, too"?'" Thank you.
Later on, Eliza (the final president's sister) is angry, understandably, that her family abandoned her. She is asked if it would help to know how upset her mother would be over that fact, and Eliza asks "How could that help?" If you're going to feel guilty about it, don't do the thing in the first place. One of my general rules. I'm going to be an unpleasant mother/wife/teacher.
"If I drank too much, I might spill the beans to everybody: That the life that awaits us after death is infinitely more tiresome than this one." Eternity must be unpleasant. I know I must sound jaded, talking about mortality and eternity and religion like nothing, but let it be known, if I had to choose, I'd cling to eternity with both arms desperately. I'm only human, and even though deep down I know I'd regret it in the long run, I'd be too desperate for life. But. Back to the quote. I'd back Kurt on this one.
"There was a time in our childhood when we actually agreed that we were lucky not to be beautiful." Remember Invisible Monsters? Brandy talks about how jealous she was of the ugly girls--never having to worry about their appearance and spend hours upon hours primping and preening. Image was never a problem, since it was a futile effort. After her 'accident'--yeah, Brandy was better for the wear. She was one of those girls, and never did she have to worry again. Magic.
So, the book was right in the median. Pre-rereading Slaughterhouse Five, I give it the #3 in my favorite Kurt Vonnegut books. It's a quick read too, even quicker than Vonnegut's books usually are. Maybe two hours tops? Could it have even been that long? It didn't seem that long...
As for Doctor Zhivago, I'm around page 70/80. I think Boris Pasternak is quite eloquent, but what about the Zhivago!? They began with him as a young boy at his mother's funeral, stuck to him for a bit, then appeared to merge into a different plot--they've just returned to Yura Zhivago. I understood the separate plot piece, and I guess it must come into play later, but it was like.... So... about the guy this book is named after.... Anyways. He's still fairly young. Not a doctor yet. Awesome.
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