As I previously mentioned in my last blog post, Ishmael Reed brings to the table a very unconventional style of writing that I've never encountered before. As I've progressed further into the book, I have come upon countless cases of this unique style that would not be found in any other works of literature. Although there are many other examples, here are a few:
1) Unlike every book I've ever read, the start of a chapter isn't placed on another page, rather he just starts the next chapter as soon as the previous one ends. 2) Dialogue is not placed in quotation marks. This could potentially become quite confusing. 3)Reed doesn't write out numbers. "One" is 1 and "thousands" is 1000s in the book. This kind of throws me off since I'm used to authors writing out numbers, I get distracted by the fact that numbers frequently appear where they're not supposed to. 4) There are portions of writing with altered font, font size, and bolded words. Once again, this distracts me as I'm not used to seeing such writing. The last thing I'll address is 5) There are random pictures placed in the book. I honestly dot find them helpful in the least, it's usually just a picture of something vague that was mentioned a little bit. A caption describing the picture would help, but then again this is Reed's writing, as confusing as possible.
Overall, although Reed's unconventional writing style is distracting, it also makes the reading more entertaining since you don't know what to expect from him. It makes me want to continue reading the book just to see what crazy bs he can come up with next.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
A Whole Bunch of Mumbo Jumbo
As the title suggests, Mumbo Jumbo is a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo. The writing is all over the place! As soon as I opened up the book, I knew I was in for a ride.
Mumbo Jumbo is pretty much the definition of a postmodernist book. The first chapter starts before the title page, there are pictures throughout the book, there are no quotation marks during dialogue, there are a ton of one-page chapters, and I'm sure even more unconventional things will pop up as the book continues.
Through what I've read, I've seen that "jes grew" is some epidemic that makes people go crazy, speak in tongues, and move differenty and people are trying to figure out how it works. But it really isn't actually a disease through my interpretation, perhaps it is just a representation of how people were acting at the time. The first chapter drew my attention and that's always a good sign when I'm reading a book. Overall, I think the plot has a lot of potential to be very interesting and should prove to be very exciting.
The style of writing definitely intrigues me and I'm looking forward to see more of what Ishmael Reed is able to do to make the book his own style of writing. I really like reading his free-flowing, undefined style of writing. It makes the book a lot more interesting since it's no way at all a conventional book. All in all, I feel like this book will be a fun and interesting read for me.
Mumbo Jumbo is pretty much the definition of a postmodernist book. The first chapter starts before the title page, there are pictures throughout the book, there are no quotation marks during dialogue, there are a ton of one-page chapters, and I'm sure even more unconventional things will pop up as the book continues.
Through what I've read, I've seen that "jes grew" is some epidemic that makes people go crazy, speak in tongues, and move differenty and people are trying to figure out how it works. But it really isn't actually a disease through my interpretation, perhaps it is just a representation of how people were acting at the time. The first chapter drew my attention and that's always a good sign when I'm reading a book. Overall, I think the plot has a lot of potential to be very interesting and should prove to be very exciting.
The style of writing definitely intrigues me and I'm looking forward to see more of what Ishmael Reed is able to do to make the book his own style of writing. I really like reading his free-flowing, undefined style of writing. It makes the book a lot more interesting since it's no way at all a conventional book. All in all, I feel like this book will be a fun and interesting read for me.
Quick Thoughts On Ragtime
Upon reading Ragtime I was very curious what kind of book it would be like. I'd never read a book that implemented historical figures in a fictional setting and thought it'd be confusing and hard to follow. In the end, I really enjoyed reading the book and it wasn't difficult at all to understand as I had expected.
The story overall was very interesting and I believe that most of the historical figures placed in the story, such as Harry Houdini and Emma Goldman, were used very well in the story. He alters certain details about them and places them into completely out of place situations, creating a fantasy world that they interact in, which I thought worked well for the story. I also really liked the fact that the book had multiple stories going on at once. There was always a different story to follow which kept each chapter refreshing and interesting. The book kind of started off slowly but once the story of Coalhouse Walker was introduced, the book was pretty much non-stop action. That made the book very enjoyable as I tend to like exciting, fast-paced books.
Overall, Ragtime was a very exciting and fun book to read and I definitely enjoyed reading it. The allusions to historical figures throughout the book made it all the more interesting since I'd never encountered a book that did that before. Ragtime has certainly raised my expectations for future books in the curriculum!
The story overall was very interesting and I believe that most of the historical figures placed in the story, such as Harry Houdini and Emma Goldman, were used very well in the story. He alters certain details about them and places them into completely out of place situations, creating a fantasy world that they interact in, which I thought worked well for the story. I also really liked the fact that the book had multiple stories going on at once. There was always a different story to follow which kept each chapter refreshing and interesting. The book kind of started off slowly but once the story of Coalhouse Walker was introduced, the book was pretty much non-stop action. That made the book very enjoyable as I tend to like exciting, fast-paced books.
Overall, Ragtime was a very exciting and fun book to read and I definitely enjoyed reading it. The allusions to historical figures throughout the book made it all the more interesting since I'd never encountered a book that did that before. Ragtime has certainly raised my expectations for future books in the curriculum!
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