Evan’s Reviews > The Recognitions > Status Update
Evan
is on page 400 of 956
It's taking awhile, but this is clearly doable. It's a toughie, no doubt, but not the most difficult book I've tackled. Let's keep going and maybe come out the other end in a month or two.
— May 21, 2021 04:32PM
2 likes · Like flag
Evan’s Previous Updates
Evan
is on page 50 of 956
What a difference a second reading makes. First 50 pages are so masterful they made me cry, just from the sheer genius of it. Gaddis, you absolute king.
— 6 hours, 53 min ago
Evan
is on page 40 of 956
A greater book now, re-reading five years after the halfway abandonment. Perfect stuff for fallen Catholics and those co-existing with the Fundamentalist mindset. "The sight of the pains of the damned heaps up the measure of the accidental joys of the righteous." Explains a lot about the MAGA Christian-nationalist cult; though I don't think their joys are "accidental," but intentional. The feature, not the bug.
— 10 hours, 22 min ago
Evan
is on page 21 of 956
Re-starting this. Been wanting to get back to this for a long time. Made it to about page 420 a few years back but life interceded. Seems much more a breeze this time; given how difficult Joyce's Finnegan's Wake is by comparison. There's nothing here that seems to be stopping me. I'm liking it a lot more.
— Apr 02, 2026 10:21AM
Evan
is on page 422 of 956
I need to get back on this. Of course, I will have to go all the way back and start over at page 1 having reached 422 a long-ass time ago but without the momentum of thought one accrues in the reading none of that previous effort matters now.
— Mar 26, 2025 04:13PM
Evan
is on page 370 of 956
Every time Gaddis wants to inject a touch of faux reality business it's always "He/she lit a cigarette." What literary crutch like this do we have today in this smokeless future? I guess, "he/she checked his/her phone for texts" ...
— May 21, 2021 09:01AM
Comments Showing 1-2 of 2 (2 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Alexander
(new)
May 21, 2021 05:21PM
What is the most difficult book you've tackled?
reply
|
flag
Alexander wrote: "What is the most difficult book you've tackled?"I think Joyce is harder than Gaddis. I liked Ulysses for its writing, even though I only understood a percentage of the writing, lol. Finnegan's Wake is one that I will likely never be able to get through. Also, Marguerite Young's Miss Macintosh My Darling, though not "harder" to read, per se, is also more difficult because of the laser-precision of the ceaseless repetition. Gaddis is dense, but at least he moves forward, while Young just layers the same things on top of each other and seems to stay in one place.
