Anesthesia: A Brief Reflection on Contemporary Aesthetics by Tripp York Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Anesthesia: A Brief Reflection on Contemporary Aesthetics
Book Review: Life just happens and sometimes you're not allowed to act, but to merely react.
Summary: 5 Stars
The only thing I can think of to start is "wow." After reading the first 50 pages of this novella, I was raving about how great it was, and how intrigued I was by the writing style and the insightful philosophical viewpoint of the main character, Trajan. As I continued to read through the sardonic life of Trajan, laced equally with deep quotes, thought-provoking ideas, and the commentary in Trajan's head, I began to highlight interesting quotes and ideas: "Life can only be understood backwards." & "Life just happens and sometimes you're not allowed to act, but to merely react." Trajan's ability to have a blunt, straightforward outlook on life while still maintaining the utmost level of intellectual superiority to other characters impressed me. The connection any reader can make to Trajan's thought process is definitely beneficial to finding an appreciation for the story.
York's ability to make my jaw drop so many times in a mere 114-paged novella is incredible to me. Whether it was Anna's random comments, such as "I'm all for leaving any creature's balls intact", or Trajan's descriptions, they all were written with raw emotion. It wasn't wordy, it was straightforward.
"This is a world that can never be totally of our own making, for it has been made for us, and is continually being remade by us."
All in all, I really enjoyed the experience of reading this, as disturbing as the last few chapters turned out to be. The vivid descriptions in the climactic ending chapters gave me chills. It was so disturbing, and so well-written, but I was completely taken aback. I would have never expected an ending such as this one... especially not depicted in the way it was. The constant turns taken in the plot, along with ingenious writing made this enjoyable.
Thanks for the thrill, Dr. York.
Book Review: Amazing Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
This made my brain toss and turn as Tripp York's page turning novel made me think outside the box the entire timeBook Review: messed up, awesome, and messed up
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay, so this book is freakin' great. Seriously. The whole Holden Caulfield inner monologue thing tinged with the writing style of Chuck Palahniuk is the perfect recipe for excellent writing. This book narrates the college scene for what it is (which is why everyone goes and enjoys it) as well as slicing through the shallow nature of our society as especially found in Hooters and college classrooms. Just how he writes his sentences in order to see in the narrators head is so helpful for how to think about the 1.2 billion things he thinks about in the course of this very short book. It's a definite must read. Very funny, very clever, and a tad bit sick.Book Review: Interesting, to say the least.
Summary: 5 Stars
It would give the work a great injustice to simply call the book, Anesthesia by Tripp York, PhD, "interesting". Described as "A Brief Reflection of Contemporary Aesthetics", and written as a fiction novel, from the very beginning the book offers unique perspectives on topics that sometimes seem "over thought" or possibly even "clich?". However, the book manages to put a distinctive spin on many of the arguments, by pulling in opinions from multiple sources that are not often brought up. This, braided with a story written from the point of view of a character, Trajan, both humorous and easy to relate to, provides readers with an exclusive ride through philosophy, religion and infatuation.
From the first chapter (not the prologue) we as readers are thrown a question that many people would not even consider: "He died as few rarely ever die. . in a state of unqualified bliss. How could you not wish that upon him?" (11) This question is a complete shock. How could a real friend be happy for a friend's death, let alone wish death upon a friend? Though not much time is spent on the question, and after a while it drifts to the back of the readers' minds, it does leave a haunted feeling for a while, and has the readers' have a sudden feeling of apprehension towards the "unreliable narrator" (7), which should be noted is a self-given name. After the statement we are plunged into the narrator's tangents, which are complimented with brackets full of the author's later comments or famous quotes, and then sometimes his thoughts lead directly into action. Later, the style changes, though.
At the beginning of the novel, Trajan seems to think very highly of himself. When in contact with his roommate, who is not "an idiot. He's just chooses to live a life of which introspection is, or him, a lost cause." (53), Trajan sees himself as basically intellectually superior, and enjoys playing mind games with him (19), he even calls himself a mentor to him (94). As the story continues though, Trajan meets Anna, and with possibly clich? character maturation, yet at the same time, a very effective one, Trajan finds himself in the opposite position than what he was used to.
As the story continues, Trajan's inner monologue becomes less prominent within the pages. As he meets Anna, there is a stronger focus on actual events occurring outside of him, to which Trajan simply acts as a recording bystander. Soon, action is focused on him and Anna, yet the pages are not filled with as much action, nor with Trajan's words, instead Anna's words take up the space, and Trajan is forced to listen, the complete opposite of what was occurring at the beginning of the book.
All in all, with such character development as what Trajan goes through within the short book, a lot happens to the guy. He learns to listen instead of speak, and comes to many realizations about the world around him. With prominent discussions on love and death, and the likes, the book never lacks good points which are not the most common in conversation these days. Really, the book feels like a really great conversation, one that's well overdue, and one that leaves you both pleased and blown away by the content.
Book Review: And it was clear she couldn't go on....
Summary: 5 Stars
Since everyone else is making cultural connections I felt it was only right to do the same. After finishing this book I couldn't get the Blue Oyster Cult song "Don't Fear the Reaper" out of my head. You know, "Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity..." ...except what happens if Romeo doesn't show? What if the eternal is the here and now moment and Romeo bails on his Juliet. What if Juliet is okay with that? Does she still remain at rest in the blissful moment now that she in extinguished from life while Romeo makes due looking for future Juliet's to sustain him? I don't know. This review doesn't really tell you much about the book and therefore may not be very helpful but if you read it you may be led to more questions than answers on things like love and death. And that's what makes it so good.