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Giulia Mirra

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I Used to Be Charming: The Rest of Eve Babitz

by Eve Babitz

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For the Time Being: Essays

by Annie Dillard

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Reading for the 2nd time

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Giulia Mirra said: " Annie Dillard is without a doubt a great writer. However, don’t read this if you’re prone to existential crisis’s. The overall message I got was that; in the grand scheme of things nothing matters? Everyone dies, why should we care, life goes on? It Annie Dillard is without a doubt a great writer. However, don’t read this if you’re prone to existential crisis’s. The overall message I got was that; in the grand scheme of things nothing matters? Everyone dies, why should we care, life goes on? It kind of glazes over the fact that humans are born with souls and we have feelings, which is why the things we experience effect us uniquely. The book sort of takes these individual experiences and compares them to the grander scale of 8 billion other people, to say why does it matter, there are so many of us, and so many have come and gone before us? I just think it’s minimizing the individuality of humans, and trying to compare intimate experiences on a grand scale to reduce them.

Now, I could definitely be wrong, but that’s my interpretation. It felt more apathetic than empathetic. Which is in my opinion is the complete opposite of what humanity is, which I guess in reality IS actually true?? But there are people who care, and many at that. Seems like she focused on the negative parts of humanity, and mind you, I understand there are a lot. But holy crap, no one wants to talk about any of the good stuff either??

I'm also like, you experienced so much of the world, travelled to so many incredible places, met so many amazing people, and the only thing you can really write about is how many dead bodies there are compared to the current number of living people? and how many people died? oh, and SAND, how sand was formed, and how the formation of sand is similar to the formation and life of humans?? call me crazy or shallow but i feel like thats just a bit of a reach. like common just a bit? I get the whole, from dust we were formed, to dust we shall return, but holy I cant relate to a grain of sand right now. last time I checked I still have an actual conscious. Yah, this review sounds like a rant, but I got to acknowledge the fact that, this book at least makes me think about things I wouldn't have considered before. And inactually what Dillard is saying is true, there any waaay more people that died than there are living. Shes not saying anything wrong, Im just trying to grasp what shes alluding to by this? thats the message here? But I guess thats life, and we dont get all the answers.

OKAY, to be fully honest that's an exaggeration, Annie does mention other stories and interactions that are not completely about death, but overarching theme is, Yah we're all gonna die in this crappy world of suffering so, yah try to be joyful??? And honestly the aspects of this book that discuss birth and birth defects were so odd to me, and maybe I felt that way because I was like Wow, Dillard is right, the people are born with these "defects" that are so dispassionately described in a Birth Defect manual, that it completely disregards that these people are human beings, and not little lab rats? But, as I continued to read the book, shes kind of repeating what felt like the underlying tone of the birth defect manual was? This whole depiction of human beings as nothingness?

I just felt like, there are so many more things to talk about in life, so many relatable human experiences, and so many more beautiful aspects to this, I'll be it "crappy" world. But everyone knows its crappy, everyone's experienced some form of suffering, but there's something special about the soul, that in my opinion this book sort of glazes over to be like meh so many people were killed and died that its like they really didnt mean anything because theres so many of us?? And, of course, im not denying that what Annie writes about is true! These are numeric figures that I had never thought about before, and yes, it altered my perspective. But not sure if im picking up what shes putting down. Or many I have a negative take on the book, because 80% of it was negative?

I don’t know, but the book kind of pissed me off at times. Again, I just felt like it completely dismissed that humans are humans because they have a soul and have feelings. So I’m really conflicted by that? Idk the book felt pointless, similar to how life is described in the book. Maybe I’m just annoyed so I’m not focusing on the other good parts of the book. I obviously finished it and read every page so that says something. I guess the point of this book is to evoke this thought process, so I guess it did the job it set out to do??? And I mean whats a good book if it doesnt make you questions everything anyways?

Honestly, re-reading this review im not even sure why I am giving it three stars. I guess, I did appreciate that it evoked deep thought and really got my gears turning. And again, Annie Dillard is a great writer, I really enjoy how she describes scenes and interactions. I wouldnt not recommend this book either. so there you go! ...more "

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(page 194 of 205)
— 5 hours, 14 min ago

8 hours, 14 min ago · see review