Audrey > Recent Status Updates

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“...in the fiery gap he had seen something unbearably awesome, the full horror of the abysmal depths of chess. . . .But the chessmen were pitiless, they held and absorbed him. There was horror in this, but in this also was the sole harmony, for what else exists in the world besides chess?”

I think I’ve given this book more than a fair shake, but in the interest of not succumbing to the sunk-cost fallacy, I will be putting it down here.

The writing is unbelievably tedious (Towles’ excessive use of passive voice is nothing short of exhausting), the characters lack any modicum of depth, and all the wonderful references to great Russian literature just remind me that I would rather be reading Tolstoy.

“I am thy creature. I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. . .I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.”

can you hear me repeatedly slamming my face on the floor

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If the Count had a soul he would be Peter Gabriel (I will not elaborate)