Seth

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Seth is Currently Reading

Seth is currently reading

The Power of Myth

by Joseph Campbell

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jan 21, 2010 04:30PM

Seth is currently reading

Catapult Soul

by Brian Celio

bookshelves: metafiction, rereading, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in June 2008

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Seth said: " I liken this work to a "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" mixed with the collective consciousness of the alternative community and the dry humor of Oscar Wilde. The story includes several backdrops, e.g. the lives of tortured artists, the life I liken this work to a "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" mixed with the collective consciousness of the alternative community and the dry humor of Oscar Wilde. The story includes several backdrops, e.g. the lives of tortured artists, the life of Jesus Christ, the beginning of the Industrial Age, the end of the Pittsburgh steel mill area, and ultimately the post-9/11 world where the main story is set.

In the first chapter, you learn about a little-known fact in a disputed history of the steel-making process involving the rich vs. the poor, circa 1850. Then you move into the life of the protagonist and narrator, Vincent "V" Vallano, circa 1999, who is about to move from Pittsburgh to attend a private college in Northern Maryland. V is a sarcastic toughguy with a penchant for the arts. He was raised by a bibulous steel-miller (his father) and a Sicilian immigrant (his mother). Because of his friends' indulgence in drugs and violence, and his desire to get away from it, V constantly feels alienated, with the exception of his best friend, Pessi, who V feels never got a fair shot at life. Although the story begins with V yearning for a better life---"to have a million dollars to roll around in"---he is still very much a reflection of his lower-class environment. He is violent, hooked on drugs, and angry at the world.

At college, V becomes close with his English professor, Dr. Rosenbaum, who is a funny wisecracker with a youthful heart. From V's perspective, Dr. Rosenbaum is an aged and wiser version of himself who, he believes, can provide him with the direction he needs to become successful. V also meets Ivy Pineda, coincidentally at a party in Pittsburgh. She lives next to the college and is also a freshman. V falls for Ivy, while Ivy's best friend, Teresa "Squawk" Cazzata, pairs up with Pessi, who moves down to Maryland to live with Teresa. They embark on a reckless drug journey, while Ivy seeks to straighten out V. Meanwhile, demons from V's past start sneaking up on him. There's a steady rise in the pressure on himself to become an Ubermensch, a superhero figure in society. Then 9/11 occurs and V's burgeoning call to become a writer finally breaks through, pushing him to escape the chaos of the world to transform into what he believes will be an eternal artist like his literary hero Stephen Dedalus. What follows is an emotional, delusional, and realistic portrayal of the makings of an artist who defies everything, sometimes comically, sometimes seriously, in his defense of art.

The work itself is brilliantly weaved together with Nabokovian prose, Nietzschean vs. Christian philosophy, Romantic poetry, postmodern and anti-postmodern devices, multi-layered puns, catch-22s, and at times, anti-establishment ranting. Although not short on humor, the story strikes the reader as something to be taken seriously. But there's an outer-contextual element, stemming from the questionable narrative voice, that seems to say this might not be so serious after all. In other words, a cleverly disguised satire that will leave you wondering "What's this book really about?", "Whose story really is this??" and ultimately "Should I laugh or cry?"

No matter how you read "Catapult Soul," you'll be engaged in a beautifully detailed story about family, friends, love, and insanity. ...more "

Dec 21, 2009 06:13AM · see review

Seth’s Quotes

“Mario, what do you get when you cross an insomniac, an unwilling agnostic and a dyslexic?"

"I give."

"You get someone who stays up all night torturing himself mentally over the question of whether or not there's a dog.”
― David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

tags: agnosticism, dogs, dyslexia, god, humor, insomnia, pain

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