Blog to be posted by Sally
We rated the book 7 out of 10. Descriptions : curious; curiouser and curiouser; confusing; intriguing layers; frustrating.
Our next book will be The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan and the meeting will be at Lee's on Thursday August 28th.
I love love LOVED this book, devoured in 2 nights and now I miss the characters a lot . Sarah
ReplyDeleteApart from all the
ReplyDeleteother layers in the book, we forget to discuss Cruikshank and the
possible?? first development of a computer as a means of getting the
numbers of drownings correct for a report. How many different ideas
did Carey manage to incorporate into that single novel! Fascinating
and frustrating while reading but on retrospect an amazingly complex
work. I did enjoy it. Lee
As we were discussing literary interpretations last night – from industrial revolutions and oil spills to wormholes and duck poo – I was reminded of this ridiculous but admittedly amusing piece about art interpretations which is being sent around lately :
ReplyDeleteAt The National Art Gallery in Dublin, a husband and wife were staring at a portrait that had them completely confused. The painting depicted 3 black men totally naked, sitting on a bench. Two of the figures had black penises, but the one in the middle had a pink penis.
The curator of the gallery realized that they were having trouble interpreting the painting and offered his personal assessment. He went on for over half an hour explaining how it depicted the sexual emasculation of African Americans in a predominately white, patriarchal society. 'In fact', he pointed out, 'some serious critics believe that the pink penis also reflects the cultural and sociological oppression experienced by gay men in contemporary society'.
After the curator left, an Irishman approached the couple and said, 'Would you like to know what the painting is really about?'
'Now why would you claim to be more of an expert than the curator of the gallery', asked the couple.
'Because I am the artist, who painted the picture,' he replied. 'In fact, there are no African Americans depicted at all. They're just three Irish coal miners, and the guy in the middle went home for lunch'.
Melissa