Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Tropic of Cancer
Book Review: Damn good
Summary: 5 Stars
This here is a nice little book. A stark, honest, naked book. Damn goodBook Review: Das Tier Darin und Die Seele
Summary: 4 Stars
_Tropic of Cancer_ alternates between making your stomach crawl and setting your soul on fire. Miller will twist your guts until you want to scream at the depravity of the actions, thoughts, and outlook presented in short, sharp sentences that cut into your belly. And then the prose will sing on the page and make it so you want to weep with the beauty of it.As Miller writes into these conflicting thoughts it divides the brain; no, it causes the sides of your brain to smash into each other so hard that it hurts. Contrasting the beautiful with the ugly and the ugly with the beautiful, we are left feeling schizophrenic and scared out of our minds that this might actually be how the world is, how humanity is: eternally struggling with das tier darin und die seele.*
This conflict continues throughout the book up until the final page. Miller seems convinced that this is the world we live in. One so sharply divided that not a single person can over come the beast all of the time. Eventually we all succumb again to those animal needs of the genitals and the stomach. They can be waylaid with art and literature, but eventually the beast will rear its ugly head again, even with the smallest mention of a friends woman or the sight of food on a childs plate.
But while wallowing through the filth and obscenity, we must not ignore the moments of ambrosia in Miller's writing. Millers philosophic passages point to a insightful, if not tortured, soul. One that looks into the world and can write on it beautifully. Miller reminds us that while the beast can get in our face, exploding out of our stomachs and genitalia, that we do have a side capable of beauty and wonder.
For Miller, like many modern writers, the world is a fractured place; split in two between the beauty and ugliness of man. His expression of that in his writings reflects that very nature of humanity. Miller is writing obscenities and poetry to keep us grounded. We cannot be just one or the other, but must accept both sides--the beast and the soul--as who we are: Monsters we must be, lest monsters we become.
* "the beast within and the soul"
Book Review: Disturbing, Disgusting, & Disgraceful
Summary: 1 Stars
I think my title says it all.
There is absolutely no redeeming value to this book. The author writes whatever comes to his mind, including citing his sexual perversities and sexual fantasies. Miller is a total lunatic with no real skill as a writer. You will find yourself dumber for having read this obscene exercise in ridiculous profanity.
There are books that I may not like for any number of reasons yet I would recommend them based on the fact that other people will enjoy them because of their varied tastes. But this book has nothing to offer anyone. I mean, if you get a thrill out of reading the boring thoughts of some doofus, then you may enjoy this book, otherwise, read something else.
Book Review: Do not place this book out of its time
Summary: 5 Stars
If this book had been written at any time in the last twenty years, it would be mostly unremarkable. To me, its importance comes from _when_ it was written, in the early 30s, and published in 1934. Utterly frank and anarchic and unrelenting in celebrating everything about being human, it remains shocking to read and in the severely constrained and repressed years of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, must have been nearly impossible to understand. I'm not very well read, but this seems like a seminal work that eventually helped bring forth the beat generation of literature and now the post punk work of high-tech isolation and alienation. Miller saw and embraced both of these trends. Remarkable. Was he prescient? Or just a complete original far ahead of his time?Book Review: Entertaining
Summary: 3 Stars
Entertaining-Yes, Profane-Yes, Worthy of inclusion in the 100 best list?-Sadly NoIf you are interested in a mindless romp, you may want to consider On the Road by Jack Kerouac instead.