Invitation to a Beheading - Vladimir Nabokov (45/50)

Mr Nabokov writes in way easy to free reader from stereotypes, prejudices and boredoom. This time, "Invitation to a Beheading" is the story of Cincinnatus, a prisioner who has been condemened to death penalty because a crime that is not mentioned, only suggested, in the book.

Nabokov's novels tend to focus on good fiction; however, metaphor is used in a fancy and efficient way. Cincinnatus has feature, he is able to be transparent. If it is a symbol or a fact is not clear in the text; however, the main character tends to disengage his body and let the light pass through his body.

Surrounded by ridiculous characters that try to be kind, Cincinnatus keeps his dignity and keeps his temperant attitude. He is introduced to Monsieur Pierre, a extremely courteous man. The prisioner is honest, the partner is friendly. 

Cincinnatus is under the pressure of director and guards will. He has the habit to read; actually, there is a book that particularly interested him: Quercus, which tells the story of a tree a long history. It witness of world changes. 

The story is told in a funny voice. In spite of its merry and simple narrator style, it is unavoidable to feel touched by conversation between Cincinnatus and his mother, Cecilia C. It is supposed to be a comedy or a soft story but cruel Nabokov takes the reader to the heart of an abandoned child whose mother tries to give relief. 

"...'Why do you tell me all this?' asked Cincinnatus.

She was silent.

'What's the point of all this? Don't you know that one of these days, perhaps tomorrow...'

He suddenly noticed the expression in Cecilia C's eyes. -Just for an instant, an instant- but i was as if something real, unquestionable (in this world, where everything was subject to question), had passed through, as if a corner of this horrible life had curled up..."

Cincinnatus reveals in a letter to his wife the relationship they had. It was horrible according the writer. In spite of the straightforward tone of the text, she visits him. Of course, it is suggested she has had sex with the director in order to break the rules. She also does it naturally with one guard. It is told in a delicate ang comic language.

Finally, Monsieur Pierre reveals he is the person who is going to kill Cincinnatus. He has pretended to be a prisioner in order to get Cincinnatus friendship and esteem. The prisioner is near death. He walks in dark places and some beautiful literarian details may be appreciated. For example, when he walks he is able to read "ffice". I consider it a genuine way to express in words the effect of walking fast and barely read an inscription.

When Cincinnates is conceded his final desire, he wishes to have 3 minutes to think. He wonder about what he is living. He becomes big and the executioner small. He walks and leave the place.

I LOVE YOU NABOKOV

   

To Kill A Mockingbird- Harper Lee (41/50)

To Kill a Mocking Bird was a book I decided to read because of Harper Lee's death. It is about Jean Louise (Scout), her brother, Jem, Atticus, their father and Calpurnia, a black woman that is like their mother. The novel develops in Maycomb.

Scout is a good reader; actually, since an early age her father has taught her about literature and news. She has troubles because in school sincerity and premature reading is not well seen.

Dill, is a boy that visits Maycomb for seasons. He does not know very well who is his father. But it is not a reason that stops the friendship between the children.

They are obsessed with a neighbor called Boo Radley. He is a man from the country. It was believed a phantom lived inside Radley's house. Any crime in Maycomb was attributed to the ghost. The family that inhabited it did not go to the church. Mr Radley Boo, was one of the two sons of the family. Once, he had acquaintance with a northern band which brought legal troubles for him; however, he was condemned to study in an industrial school. In spite of that opportunity, the Radley boy was never seen again. The doors of the house were always closed.

The children try to leave a note and ring Radley's bell. But Atticus catches them and teaches them about respect for other people. The father inquired Jem about his behavior. A lawyer should never do that. Jem doubts about his professional preferences.

Miss Maudie is the person that links the children with reality. She is a sick woman that is always angry. She tends to say to Jem and Scout Finch, his father is a Negro lover. In this point, the social background of the book begins to strengthen.

Jem feels offended and destroys the flowers of the elder woman. As lesson, Atticus send him to read her every day. She is always sepaking, screaming and angry. But Jem starts to understand the wisdom of his father. One day, the woman dies and Jem feels something unexplainable.

The boys are used to listen that term for his father. Once Scout asks him directly. And Atticus explains her it is something about principles. He is defendin Tom Robinson, a black person.

Tom Robinson is accused of raping Mr Ewell's daughter. The Ewells are a family that goes just one day to school and never return. Judge Taylor tries to be neutral in a racist society. Mayella Ewells version was simple. Tom tended to help her and once she asked to bust a chifforobe. The nigger helped her but after that he grabed her from her neck and raped her.

I would be a believable story except that no one took her to a doctor or called a policeman. Atticus questione Tom. He said he usually helped Mayella because no one in her house did it. Once, she tried to seduce him, however, he was married and he did not want to do anything. Mr Ewell finds them and believes they have a relationship. After that, he might have hurt Mayella because of his anger.

In spite of strong statements and weak accusations, Tom is condemned. However, he escapes but it is not enough to have freedom in this planet. He is caught and killed.

Mr Ewells is really angry for Atticus defense. Actually he argued with him. Once, when Scout and Jem were going home because the girl had forgotten something, Mr Ewell hurt the boy and the girl. The man who saves them is Radley. Jem is very weak and Mr Finch must call a doctor. When Jem was defending he killed Mr Ewells.

Atticus understands the only right way is telling the police everything he knows in order to clean the name of his son. However, the officer tells him he does not care for it and he understands everything that happened.

It is a beautiful story in the racist USA. An attempt to remembre these days Trump has become the Republican Candidate.

Cosmópolis - Don Delillo (39/50)

El ganador de múltiples premios Seix Barral, Don DeLillo, aborda un día de Eric. Él es el director de una compañía y quiere cortarse el cabello, empresa para la cual debe atravesar la ciudad. Dado que está en Nueva York y es rico, lo hace en una limusina. También es comprensible que esté protegido por un guardaespaldas, su nombre es Torval.

La historia consiste en la caída vertiginosa del poderoso hombre. Confió en el yen, solicitó préstamos inmensos, sin contar que éste iba a caer de manera vertiginosa y arruinarlo en cuestión de horas.

El perfil de hombre calculador se vislumbra en la disposición del protagonista frente a otras mujeres. Tiene algunas amantes que lo hacen sentir vivo, una de ellas es escolta. Su ansiedad de vivir lo humano lo lleva a dispararse un paralizador eléctrico. También es revelador, que Eric busque a diario a su médico para que lo revise. Éste día, el suplente, le indica que tiene la próstata asimétrica.

La ciudad es el plano para contextualizar la época. En el viaje a la peluquería, la ciudad está atascada debido a la visita del presidente de Estados Unidos. La limusina se ven inmersa en las protestas de los anarquistas que denuncian el fantasma del capitalismo.

Un personaje agudiza el conflicto y le permite al protagonista revelarse. Se trata de un habitante de la calle (homeless) obsesionado con matar a Eric. Fue empleado del millonario en un cargo menor y luego terminó en la miseria, con la necesidad de analizar cada uno de los movimientos del que fuera el director de la compañía para la que trabajo.

La esposa de Eric es una escritora, heredera de una fortuna. Siente constantemente el aroma a sexo de su esposo. Él es pragmático, ella idealista. Una vez se entera de la quiebra del que fuera un hombre poderoso, sabe que todo ha acabado. 

Desconfiado y analítico, Eric decide matar a Torval con la pistola de República Checa que responde al comando de voz "Nancy Babich".  Posteriormente, se encuentra con el mendigo que lo busca hasta al cansancio. Tras un diálogo, logra comprender que el yen se escapa de su cálculo, es caprichoso. Quizás el universo es así, como su próstata asimétrica.

Se ve muerto a sí mismo en su reloj de última tecnología.

Comentario: Creo que la traducción de Miguel Martínez-Lage pudo ser mucho mejor. No quiero ser injusto pero considero difícil leer un libro en el cual en vez de decir ¿Qué? dicen ¿El qué? y en el que no se refieren a República Checa sino a la "República de Chequia". Ser traductor no es fácil pero entraña un profesionalismo superior a sus retos.

Henry Miller - Tropic of Capricorn (38/50)

"Tropic of Capricorn" was written by Henry Miller and published in 1939. It is written in first person in past tense. It is the story of a New Yorker in charge of hiring people for Cosmococcus Telegraph Company. His sexual stories are a metaphor of his world vision. The city, the buildings and his thoughts lead him to become a writer, a great admirer of Paris art stream.

The cold spirit of the main character is revealed when he speaks about an friend of his chilhood. Actually, his best friend; he fell sick. The 12 year old protagnist understood the best for him was dying; hence, he decided to stop inquiring about his health, forgetting him and avoiding suffering.

Dedicated to his job, he avoided holidays. Determined to disappear Horatio Alger from American mind he decides to write in the resting time. However, American routines distort his peace: reading newspaper and going to work. Usually he dreams with his eyes wide open: he imagines himself as a cowboy in Texas, sometimes he thinks about the ovaries of Hymie's wife.

Conversations with his friends and collegues are mainly about sex experiences. One of them is Mac Gregor. Once he told Miller about his experience having sex with a crazy woman, Arline. She was absent, she enjoyed and thanked for it. After uniting their bodies, she prayed for his soul.

His memories of chilhood sometimes were breathtaking. Once, he visited his aunt Caroline. When playing with his cousin Gene, a battle started. They must prove other boys they brave and rude. Henry threw a rock and boy fell on the floor. The cops arrived and realized he was dead.

While telling his experiences one watch some features of American cultura that are taboo. For example, he had a collegue called Valesha who was biracial. Because of that she was rejected in their job. He defended her. They had an affair.

It is particular of his prose that cunts have personality. For example, Veronica's is a talking cunt. Other are universe, soft, bright, deep or cannibal.  

The event that divided his life was when he read Dostoievski. The Russian writer waas the first man to open his soul to Miller.

The cold man, free of feelings start to reveal how he loved Una, a jewish girl. For any reason instead of asking her to marry him he invented a story about leaving to live in California. They loved each other but he decided to leave. He left deeply alone. No just because he had lost his loved Una, also because he had realized about literature world, he was the only one in the world with that new perception.

His position about religion is clear when he explains his experience with Agnes. Playing with Frances in the water he meets Agnes, an Irish Catholic girl. It started to rain and the lighting of sky did not stop. Agnes started praying because they were frightened. Henry started to dance and to speak against God, Jesus and religion. She cryed, she escaped, she astonished. In order to relax her, he apologized and said nice things of religion. And he was able to have sex with her.

After he knows about Dadaist and French movement, Miller realizes about his role in writing world. He has discovered America, he has become a Dadaist, a Surrealist.

What I liked about the story was astrology quotes.

It was quite complicated for me. I am a Spanish speaker. His literature quotes sex and metaphors to explain his way to understand the world.

Post Office - Charles Bukowski (33/50)

Charles Bukowski published Post Office in 1971. It is the story of Henry Chinaski, an american white post officer who is in charge to deliver the mail of American people. He joins that federal institution which is obssessed about process and time. During his life as a clerk he enjoys sexual pleasure with Betty. At the begining, there is a supervisor called Stone who is strict and obssessed with Chinaski mistakes. That is one of the reasons to leave. Nonetheless when he realizes private service is as difficult as federal one, he returns to the Federal Service.

In spite of difficult amounts of duties, Chinaski can enjoy love and pleasure. He knows a town girl called Joyce. Daughter of a rich man, she is kind and tolerant. With she came a dog, parakeets and geraniums. Nontheless when she began to feel frustrated, the relationship started to9 fail. At the end, she decides de leave Chinaski for a collegue.

Betty has health problems. The health service let her die. The man who captivated Joyce was not really interested at her. When he knew about her divorce he started to avoid her.  Henry keeps enjoying his contacts with women until he meets Fay. She is a writer, dressed in black, with gray hair and against war. She got pregnant and gave birth to Marina Louise Chinaski. However, like all Henry's women, she feel attracted to another man and leaves to New Mexico with her daughter.

At his job it becomes a routine recieving notes threatening to make a sanction for bad behaviors like driving drunk. Actually, his police record is not good at all. The supervisors are always sending him notes because he is late, because he has taken more rest than authorized, etc. And he is always answering with anguer.

At the end, he retires from post office. There is a physician who brings a human heart and monitor Chinaki's health. Henry keeps going to parties and makings friends. And decides to write a novel.

The story is told from the words of Chinaski. The character and his personality are involved in each paragraph of this book. Sometimes Henry narrates the facts and sometimes he quotes conversations. It is used a fluid and kind English. I think it is fabulous humor and kindness of the main character and the great simplicity of scenes. I have started to love Bukowski: no cheap philosophy, real human beings.

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (26/50)

Nabokov's "Lolita" was written in 1955. The author was a lover of butterflies, he researched about them and contributed to classify species. When sauntering in USA to get them, he confesses in "Speak, Memory" he was able to know landscapes, personalities and typical features of the North American culture.

The book is about Humbert, a frenchman born in Paris whose father was a hotel owner and whose Enlgish mother died early. Annabel was a girl with whom he could enjoy love and sexual desire which changed his life for ever.

Humbert has a theory about nymphets which are girls that he admires. When his uncle died, he specified that the heritage would not be given unless his nephew moved to America and showed some interest about the bussiness. 

Valeria (Humbert's wife) decides to escape from that exhausting marriage. She has an affaire with a taxi driver with a Russian aspect. 

Humbert moves to America. He lives with Haze family: Charlotte and Dolores. The character feels a deep atraction through Lolita, Charolotte's daughter. The Frenchman marries her; however, she realizes when reading hid diary that he is deeply in love with Lolita, the nymphet. 

Charlotte dies in a car accident.

Humbert takes Lolita and explains her that she has two options: living with him or becoming an orphan with a terrible lifestyle. She agrees traveling with him; however, she gets tired when starts to meet new people.  She runs away with Clare Quilty a playwright and pedophile. 

Solitud devours Humbert's heart. Hence, Rita enters the picture. He picked her up on the road between Montreal and New York. She was a constant company till one day when he recieved a letter from... Lolita.

It is about Lolita telling him she is married, she is pregnant and she needs some money. Dick (her husband) has debts. Humbert inquiries about the origin of the letter and realizes the nymphet is living in an industrial community to eight hundred miles to from New York City. He leaves Rita and drives towards his loved "Lo".

Humbert visited Lolita, and had an awkward conversation, she states firmly she will never return with him. He leaves Dolores' house disappointed.

Although it was a controversial novel, it is clean, sweet and describes Nabokov's version of USA.