Collective Buddhas

The Buddha in the Attic is one of the more interesting books I've read lately. I've never read a book before that was told from a collective viewpoint rather than an individualistic one, and I found the experience rather dichotomous. On the one hand, I loved the style because of the cadence and almost soporific rhythm that came of it and on the other hand I found it to be frustrating because I couldn't connect with the book overall. It was like moving through a dream, where all these experiences happened but I knew it was a dream because it didn't feel real.

I think for me, I couldn't feel close to the characters because I didn't feel like I was supposed to. I didn't really pick out any individual characters since it was written in a collective voice and that's how I read it. If the book had been written with only a few women in a collective voice, I think it would have been easier to pick those voices out individually and connect to them that way. But with the book written the way it was, I decided that the "character" was actually the group and while I could feel empathy for all of those experiences, it didn't make me feel connected. Not in the sense that an individual character would, where I could try to put myself into that person's mind and live the book through them.

While I couldn't connect to any of these women, I was still able to envision them. Again, not truly as individuals, but as a collective. The story was written so beautifully, and evocatively, that it was easy to picture in my mind. But again, I think it was with an almost dreamlike quality. The images were there, but without distinguishing features. 

But it's still hard to tell whether the characters and this book felt real to me. In one sense, no they didn't, because I couldn't connect to them or really 'see' them. But they also feel real because I know that somewhere out there, years ago, they were real. Not these characters explicitly, but what they represented. And for me, that in part makes it feel more realistic than I think another book done in the collective voice would have. If this had been a fantasy novel about slaying dragons in the collective voice, then no, they would not have felt real at all. It probably would have been quite boring as well. But since this was historical fiction, it felt a bit more memoir like to me.  Distant, but at the same time, real.

The Sisters Brothers: Spaghetti Western or Literary Fiction?

You know, I've never really understood the term, spaghetti western. Why spaghetti? Why not fettucine, alfredo, or perhaps a nice penne?

.....I think that may be a tangent I shouldn't follow right now, or I may never get off of it. 

Today's blog is about my experiences reading The Sisters Brothers, not my pasta preferences. So to this end, I shall sally forth and answer the burning questions. 

My initial feelings before reading this book, I think, were ones of mild interest. I remember seeing the book in Chapters months before and thought the title itself was catchy and that maybe it's worth taking a gander at. I'm fairly certain I read the back to find out what it was about, but I don't remember my reaction to that. It obviously didn't grab me enough to buy it, because I left the store empty-handed. I don't think it even really crossed my mind after that to be honest. 

Once it was assigned for class, I took another look at what it was all about, and my initial feelings were one of open-mindedness but not really much enthusiasm. It's not the typical book that I would pick up, but I have been surprised in the past in this same scenario, so I thought who knows, I might just find a new favourite.  So I tried to go in with a hopefully neutral attitude.

While I was reading, I think I maintained basically the same attitude. I wasn't particularly enthused or joyously overwhelmed by it, but neither was I underwhelmed or bored to tears by it. It was a slow paced book that actually turned out to be a fairly fast read. I think I finished the book in 2 or 3 days and that's because I really took my time reading it.  I think I found it was easy to put down and then pick back up again hours or even a day later, and just be able to continue on where I had left off. There was no backtracking to find out where I was, or what the main plot points were. So I enjoyed that much about the book.

I will say, one pet peeve I had with the book when I first started reading it was the way the book was written. The language seemed very formal and proper, but in my mind I read everything with a country twang, so it seemed a bit....hmm stilted? I'm not sure, but something about the writing style threw me off a bit, probably for the first 50 pages or so. Once I got more into the rhythm of it, I was able to ignore that and really get into the story, but I do remember finding it difficult to immerse myself in the story at first. 

I don't think my feelings really changed upon completing the book a whole lot. I definitely enjoyed it more towards the end than I did at the beginning, but it still didn't really inspire any sort of feelings in me. The most I felt was a sort of "aww nooooooo, Tub!!!!!" for the poor horse, but that was about it. I have to say, I liked the ending. I thought it felt resolved to a certain extent, but I think that's because I was never emotionally invested in the characters. And so, I didn't really care what happened next, nor was I interested. I felt the story was told, that was how that adventure ended, it's over now so end of story. 

If I were to describe this book in 1 sentence.....

(This may take a while)

....

Okay here, let's try this: This book is a leisurely, character driven pseudo-western  that explores questions of morality and mortality, brotherhood and self during the mid-19th century gold rush.

Maybe it could be a bit fleshier, but I'm afraid if I start in on it, it will simply run on. So I will keep it simple and say, that's all folks!