There Must be Some Commonality. . .

I think it’s probably safe to say that my change in commute (I LOVE WALKING TO WORK!!!!) has slowed my reading speed. I’m pretty much okay with that. I mean, sure, I’m sad that I have slowed a bit, but there are so many advantages to my new location the benefits far outweigh the costs. Plus, between now and end of February is crazy busy, and my reading would likely have slowed anyway.

This post brings you two books that really have nothing in common in terms of theme, character, plot, or style. But that’s just fine! We’ll work with what we’ve got.

First, The Well of Loneliness. Spoiler alert, but I cried when the horse died. It was so very upsetting! I have an issue with animal death and abandonment (I will not even talk about Milo and Otis or that Winnie-the-Pooh with the bird, and they don’t even die). That was the most touching part of the book, though. It’s definitely one that is more important from a historical perspective than a literary one, significant because of when it was written and for blazing a trail, not for being a great novel. One of the best parts of reading in public is people’s reactions, and this one was great for that (got to love a book that has “A classic of lesbian fiction” written on the cover with incredibly stereotypical cover art to go with it).

The book is an extremely thinly-disguised autobiographical work, and like most autobiographies it is very meandering and lacks focus. The back-of-the-book description is hilarious in its attempt to give the book a plot/focus; it’s just not there, my friend. In some ways it was amazing to think that this was written in 1928, but it also felt extremely dated (biological determinism, gender binaries/heteronormative gender roles in relationships, etc.).

After that one, I read The Secret History, and it is another favorite. If I had to sum it up in one word, I would choose Devastating. You know a book is upsetting when you read The Economist to cheer you up before you go to sleep so you don’t have nightmares. But it was also extremely powerful and beautiful in a wrenching way. In some parts it’s rather terrifying. When I finished it I actually said “wow” out loud.

Since the plot matters, quick summary: the story is about a young man from California who goes to a small liberal arts college in a secluded town in Vermont and falls into this eccentric group of five students who all take Greek (and all their other classes essentially) from this one professor. The story opens with the narrator and four of the others students murdering the fifth student. The rest of the novel explains what lead to that murder and then the shattering consequences it has for the rest of the characters.

At one point in the novel, the characters discuss the relationship between beauty and terror, and the novel as a whole explores that theme in harrowing intensity. Like Crime and Punishment and The Light of Day, the story explores the consequences of murder and what taking someone’s life does to the murderers’ own humanness. The Secret History is particularly interested in how it impacts the relationships of the characters, and though its ending is rather bleak, I would highly recommend this one.