I liked this book better the first time, when it was called A Confederacy of Dunces and wasn't half in Spanish. For example, here is advice about how to get over an ex-boyfriend, given to Oscar's mother by her friend/coworker: "Forget that hijo de la porra, that comohuevo. Every desgraciado who walks in here is in love with you. You could have the whole maltido world if you wanted." I can understand the basics from context in this example, but in some places there are entire paragraphs in Spanish that I had no clue about...I just felt like I was missing a whole lot because I didn't want to stop and google every 7th word. Does desgraciado just mean man or gentleman or something more specific? Any other non-Spanish speakers read this book, and how did you deal with the language problem?
But that being said, this book did make me laugh a lot and was very interesting. I also learned a lot about the political history of the Dominican Republic. The footnotes were very long and were in very small font, but they were some of my favorite parts, I kind of wish there had been a lot more of them. I also loved all the Tolkein references, because I've read LOTR and seen the films multiple times, so I felt like I was actually in on those inside jokes.
One major theme of his book is fuku or the idea that a curse can follow a family through generations. So that made me think about whether or not I am superstitious. When I was a kid, I used to have this thing where I would have to open and close the laundry hamper three times before the tiolet stopped flushing everytime I used the bathroom, but I don't remember what I thought was going to happen if I didn't do that, so maybe that's more OCD and not superstition. There's a black cat that likes to hang out under our black car and runs across the driveway whenever we turn in, so Aaron and I are in trouble if that's a bad omen. I think that to a certain extent our lives are subject to fate. Everything that happens is leading you to where you're meant to be, whether it's a decision you make or one that gets made for you. And it's certainly true that your parents' mistakes can stick with you and have irrevocable consequences, although I think that's environmental and not because there's a fuku hanging over your head. So go walk under a ladder or break a mirror and enjoy the ride because life is short and you are not in control. And take a few semesters of Spanish if you want to try and read this book.
Up next: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment