Writing

As audiobooks came on stage in the 1970s, the comparison between audiobooks and traditional books never ends. I was a firm supporter of traditional books but the experience of listening to The Night Circus swayed my mind.

The Night Circus is a book with numerous magical elements adding to the real world. After I tried both the audiobook and traditional reading, I was surprised to notice that the story I heard from the audiobook seemed to be more convincing and fascinating than the one I read online.

When I read the book, I felt the circus is isolated from the rest of the society and magical elements are split from the real world. Although the story has a clear time setting from 1873 to 1903 and location changes among London, New York, and Paris, these backgrounds are little developed. When the circus is traveling around the world, the author fails to include local customs or cultural features to differentiate these places and increase the sense of reality. Also, the author fails to connect the major events happened in the late 19th century to the story, which isolates the circus from the rest world. Science development and the Second Industrial Revolution are good covers to explain some magical elements and increase the sense of reality, but the author did not do that.

When I listened to the audiobook, these problems also happened. But the voice of an old man increases the story’s credibility and better integrates the magical elements with the real world. Use a 0.75 speed and listen to this book. It is like an elderly man is recalling his own story happened in his youth, or, he is telling some mysteries of his ancestors. I felt a sense of reality in the time setting. The aged voice made the story sound like an ancient and mysterious legend in the real world. If the audiobook could add some sound effects to differentiate the cities that the circus has traveled, the audience will have better experiences and the story will be more realistic.

Besides the background setting, the plot also seemed to be less realistic when I read it than I listened to it. During the reading process, I wish I am from the perspective of God, an omniscient God. So, I would feel unpleasant if many questions are unanswered at the end. The Night Circus does not tell me why Celia and Macro fall in love so quickly, why Hector and Mr. A.H. start this game and where they come from. These questions make the story become incomplete pieces and lack of credibility.

when I listened to the audiobook, I felt I was from the perspective of the aged man, who is telling a story of his own or the story of his ancestor. I would accept all the questions to remain unanswered since It makes sense if he cannot know all things from his perspective. Instead of losing credibility in traditional reading, these unanswered questions increase the sense of reality in the audiobook. It is less realistic if the aged man knows everything and tells the story from the perspective of God, isn’t it?

After the above comparison and analysis, I notice audiobook is more like a person-to-person conversation and may contribute unexpected benefits. For The Night Circus, the audiobook greatly compensates the sense of unreality in the traditional book, enhances the integration of magical elements realistic world, and makes the story more fascinating.

When I first read Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, in 2012, I wrote a Goodreads review outlining my thoughts on the novel itself.  Though I have to take a moment to brag that this was in my time of being in the top 2% of reviewers on Goodreads, I chose not to return to the themes in that review because I feel like my literary tastes have changed in the last 7 years, and as I experienced the story in a different format this time, that of course, altered the experience of the story.  As such, I will specifically discuss the Audible edition of the book, as narrated by the wonderful Jim Dale.

As a passionate advocate and lover of audiobooks, I was surprised to realize some crucial things about my literary self; firstly, that for academic purposes, I do not prefer audiobooks, secondly, I prefer audiobooks that I have read the print version multiple times, and thirdly, I don’t absorb audiobooks very well if I am doing anything other than driving by myself.  I think these all relate back to the first point; when experiencing a novel for academia, my mind craves the physical appearance of the black print on the crisp page, the intangibility of sound is slightly stressful as I am afraid I will not recall the material as accurately.

However, objectively speaking, how is it to experience Erin Morgenstern’s novel through the velvet voice of Jim Dale?  His narration of the story is mysteriously beautiful, tinged with ominous undercurrents.  The language of the novel, is, in itself lyric in quality, leisurely lilting, and beautiful in sentence form, but, intriguingly, I found I felt differently about its tone coming from Jim Dale instead of my own interpretation.  I read it as less mysterious and more cohesive.  This partially goes back to my last experience with the book being physical, however.  It was easy to flip back to the last portion with Bailey, for instance, to remind myself where we left off, to page through and compare the dates the story alternates between, and so forth.

As an audiobook, I would say it felt…busy.  Not busy in a bad way necessarily, but in a way that asked immense focus from its consumer.  The cast of characters was a bit large for an audiobook that skipped around in its own timeline quite so much, in my critical opinion, but I say this as a strong visual learner.

Jim Dale deserves all due applause for his performance, he incorporates different voices well, reads at a clear, measured, and lyrical pace, and, in a way becomes the story.  From listening to many audiobooks, I have noticed that some narrators very much feel like they are reading off a script, but with Jim Dale, it feels very much as if he were just sitting down to tell you a beautiful story.

At the end of the day, I would recommend, if you are also listening to this for a class, read along with the narration—it will help to anchor the novel more.  If, however, you are experiencing it, solely for fun, I would recommend lying back, closing your eyes, and allowing Jim Dale and Erin Morgenstern to take you on a beautiful immersive adventure through the Cirque de Rêves.

#questusreviewus

“When the battles are fought and won and lost, when the pirates find their treasures and the dragons eat their foes for breakfast with a nice cup of Lapsang souchong, someone needs to tell their bits of overlapping narrative. There’s magic in that. It’s in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict.’ Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus

I walked out of the library into the complete darkness, having no idea what type of weather to expect. Rubbing my eyes, my backpack heavy on my back, the cold was biting as I passed the threshold to the outdoors. 10 hours, I counted, since I had last walked outside. I forced a bare hand out of my warm pocket to place my headphones in, pressed play on Audible, and began my trek home.

Five minutes in, The Night Circus brought me into its world and out of my own. The cold felt less biting, the heaviness of my backpack and tired eyes was lifting. In the midst of midterm season, a dark and sobering time in college, The Night Circus, with its power to make me feel like a kid again, became a beacon of light.

I wasn’t even the biggest fan of the circus as a child. I’d been to the Big Apple Circus and remember enjoying it, but wouldn’t really think twice about it after a week or two had passed. The Night Circus, though, made me feel as if I had been obsessed as a child, and as if I was remembering that feeling for the first time in years.

The Night Circus is a Hunger Games-esque story. The premise: two children are placed in a challenge to fight to the death, they fall in love, and they do everything in their power to try to figure out how to beat the game. The circus itself is just the “venue.” But, in my experience as the reader/listener, the competition felt like the venue for describing the circus, and the description of the circus was what really made this book unique. The complicated storyline Morgenstern lines out was part of what kept me captivated while I listened. It’s truly impressive the number of characters she introduces – from a high school boy in Massachusetts confused about his future to an exotic contortionist with a secret to ghost-like old magician seemingly caught between two dimensions. What kept my attention more than all of this, though, was the sensory element of her storytelling. Morgenstern’s descriptions of the smells, the images, the experiences of the circus were so life-like, they truly had the ability to make me wonder whether every circus I had seen as a child was really magical – maybe I just hadn’t been looking hard enough, had been sheltered by what I thought I knew the boundaries between possible and impossible were.

Morgenstern talks a lot about the power of story-telling, explaining that the effect of a story is different on each “listener.” Listener is the word Morgenstern uses, and in the case of The Night Circus, I think, it’s important. Listening to this book as an audiobook rather than just reading it was a crucial part of my experience. There was something mesmerizing about hearing Jim Dale’s deep voice and British accent tell me this story as I went about my daily life, walking from the library in the dark, brushing my teeth in the morning, sitting in traffic. The story was truly told to me, rather than me just reading it in one stationary place. This was a huge part of the feeling of escape it was able to give me. Headphones in, reality out.

For me, the sensory descriptions of the circus affected me more than anything else in this novel. For you, it might be the story of the competition, the romance, the character development. Regardless, my recommendation would be to experience this book as an audiobook, and to think about the power of story-telling as you listen. If you follow that advice, I don’t think you can have a bad experience with The Night Circus, and I hope it’s able to do for you what it did for me – make you wonder, and possibly even believe in magic.

#questusreviewus #nightcircus #magic

Pierre; or, The Ambiguities Review – by A.H.

This book was my first introduction to Melville and probably the last time I will encounter him. Melville seems that he has some things to figure out as a writer. I really enjoy books that build with a good exposition, but this book just builds, and builds, and builds, then rips you to shreds all at once at the end. After reading countless pages of scenic descriptions and random tangents, you think that all your work will be rewarded at the end. Nope. Everyone dies, the end.  To say I was a little disappointed was an understatement. After all, Melville did write Moby Dick, so I kept telling myself “just wait, just wait, it will get better.” Nope. It just comes to an abrupt stop.

I did enjoy how Melville crafted intriguing relationships that really make you puzzled and think. I also enjoyed the satire and criticism he used through Pierre. Melville has a unique writing style that may not flow as well as most novels, but you are able to appreciate his humor. In reading why Melville wrote this book, many say that it was a response to bad reviews to one of his other works. I respect Melville for trying to do something that other writers haven’t through such ambiguities; I just don’t think it worked out.

I’m not trying to say Melville is a bad writer, but this troubled piece had me wondering what the purpose of the book was the whole time I read it. I just think it is simply not a good book. I appreciate the detail that Melville uses and how meticulous his writing style is – it just bored me to death honestly. I was glad that there was finally action at the end. However, after grueling through pages and pages to get to a very rushed ending, I was very disappointed. I enjoyed the complexity of the characters and the parallels between Melville and Pierre as well as the satire he employed. The addition of 150 extra pages was most likely not necessary and I probably would have liked the original version more. I feel that this book is an accurate representation of Melville:  troubled, confused, and not to be too harsh, but a failure.

Final rating: 2/5

Recommend to a friend: Not unless they are an English major.

Pierre was a very intricately written book with several extremely perplexing elements, as well as many interesting allusions to other stories, which are slightly difficult to stomach in the modern age.  Many of these references went over my head as a modern reader, however I can see how this was viewed as interesting and immaculate writing in earlier eras.  Now, however the bumbling style of Melville does portray an interesting take on mental illness, as well as an intriguing challenge to social norms, however I feel that the manner in which he carried this out makes the book incredibly difficult to read with a severe lack of transitional skills, such as when Melville addresses the audience directly in just about every chapter.  This may be intentional, however, that does not excuse the incredible difficulty of deciphering this novel.  A large problem with the novel was that Pierre’s slip into insanity coincided with Melville’s writing becoming increasingly vague, as well as going into many lengthy tangents which do not serve any significant purpose, and are later contradicted in the book.  One such instance are Pierre’s ravings about Lucy’s beauty, whom he describes as *SPOILER ALERT* later leaves for his supposed half-sister.  I believe the book could have been much better and more readable if the narration would have been more concise, and acted as an anchor to reality.  Having a way to realize whether what was going on was supposed to be real, symbolic, or in Pierre’s head would have been very helpful when reading this book, especially if it was read personally.  Melville’s writing style seemed extremely clustered and scattered, and more like a rough draft, or sketched out plot than an actual published novel.

I did personally enjoy reading this novel, as I was discussing it with a class and it was enlightening to hear everyone’s takes on the narratives portrayed in the story, including my hilarious, kind, amazing, smart, and overall wonderful professor, Dr. Sarah Boyd.  However for anyone wanting to undertake this voyage alone, I would not recommend this book.  If I was to give it a rating, I would give it 5/10 stars for personal reading, but an 8/10 for reading in a class or collective book reading club.

Pierre: or, the Ambiguities is an all-over-the-place story that is extremely difficult to stay interested in. Although I tried to stay absorbed in this novel written by the famous author Herman Melville, I found it challenging to stay focused past reading one book! As stated right in the title, Pierre is ambiguous. In my opinion, Pierre’s thoughts are so ambiguous that the novel becomes boring quickly.

The summary of the story is intriguing – Pierre and his mother have a strange relationship that gets even more complicated when he finds out he has an illegitimate sister and then decides to marry her. But to actually read the novel is nowhere near as intriguing because as soon as the drama starts, Melville adds an extra chapter that slows down the storyline far too much making it very hard to want to continue reading. Overall, the novel is much too slow for enjoyment… unless you’re a reader that actually cares about something as irrelevant as Pierre’s encounter with the Memnon rock.

Melville makes the novel even more tough to read due to his usage of complicated words and phrases. I found myself looking up definitions to words too often to the point that it took away from the story plot. The language used in the novel is just too much for almost anyone.

In conclusion, I found this novel difficult to read for reasons that could’ve and should’ve been fixed. The long, drawn-out chapters about irrelevant and uninteresting things made me feel like I would never get to the good parts, and the language used was also an unnecessary barrier making the novel even more difficult to read. Although the plot was exciting, the way I felt when actually reading the novel takes away the positive aspects of this story.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Man of The Crowd” is a compelling story of a man who believes he has the ability to read people just as he has the ability to read words. In the time period of this short story, there is an increasing popularity of advertisements based on accentuating pop-words. This indication that the majority of the public has the capacity to read, shows an evolution not only of the advertising culture, which would previously contain only pictures to indicate what was being sold or provided, but also the gain in overall education throughout the country.

I thought this piece was cleverly crafted as I saw parallels between print culture and societal obsessions placed throughout. The main character of the story is a man who is clearly sophisticated and educated as he begins his observations of human nature in a scientific way, deducing backgrounds of individuals just through a few seconds of observation. We have all heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover,” and have used this to warn people of making initial judgments of a person based on the way they portray themselves. In this case, the narrator blatantly abandons this motto and makes judgements just as passerbyers do with advertisements.

The narrator becomes perplexed with trying to figure out what’s up with this one dude that he encounters, and decides to stalk him all day and all night, following him everywhere he goes, eventually coming to the conclusion that the man insists on being a part of the crowd, going unnoticed. As the beginning and end of the story both contain the phrase “’Er lasst sich nicht lesen’ – it does not permit itself to be read,” this indicates even though the narrator is obsessed with finding the meaning behind who this man is, just as one would be obsessively reading a novel or a series to figure out an end goal or deeper meaning, he comes to the conclusion that sometimes things are meant to be left mysterious.

I give this story 4 out of 5 stars. The metaphorical parallels that Poe plants throughout the story are incredibly strategic.They keep the reader on his toes, aching to find out who this man in and of the crowd is, and why the narrator is so enamored by him. I highly recommend this piece to all who find interest in the dissection of thought processes. Its ambiguous perspective gives the reader an eye opening experience to the underlying themes of American society.

#judgement #Edgar #Allan #Poe #EdgarAllenPoe #TheManofTheCrowd #ad #advertisement #parallel #noice #4stars

To be honest, the first thought came out of my mind when I finished Pierre was: ah, finally done. Pierre’s gone. The structure of the novel is actually attracting for readers. But for an amateur reader who neither regularly read novels nor familiar with older version English used in Melville’s book,it was a torture to get the meaning of sentences, chapters and how chapters are related. To make things even worse, I could not help myself thinking about there were hundreds of pages waiting and some of then even required to be read more than once to understand.

Despite all the difficulties that come from reading, the book is actually attracting. The experience of Pierre shows that failure can happen in anytime, at anywhere and divert reality from your intuition. The incest of siblings that had been separated for a long time provides a persuasive double symbol because it both discredits the secular world as an model of material interrelations between people and surroundings and shows true relations sometimes are based on the secret and predetermined pattern of attraction. I really like this incest part in the novel because  for Pierre, incest is also a double symbol: a burden while also being a sublime.

In general, despite the unreadable attribution of Pierre,  I would like to rate Pierre 4 stars out of 5, but once combined with the pain from reading, I would only give Pierre two and half stars as a novel.