TheBookchemist | Coming From Behind by Howard Jacobson REVIEW @TheBookchemist | Uploaded July 2020 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
A book that's very difficult to discuss without sounding rude.
The Jacobson novel I mention at the end of the review as a likely future read is The Mighty Walzer (I erroneously call it The Mighty Waltz in the video).
The passage I read in the video comes from Chapter 8, pages 153-4 in my edition (Vintage 2003); here it is:
Arthur Twinbarrow could find a symbol anywhere; not a flower grew but it was symbolic of regeneration, not a leaf fell but it was symbolic of spiritual desolation, not a ball bounced but it was symbolic of the irrepressibility of the human spirit. Nothing was ever the thing it was and everything was always something else. Symbols drove Sefton to distraction. To him they were like fleas in the double bed of literature. He was aware that they might be in there somewhere but he could never find them himself. And even when he was determined to pass an undisturbed night he was pestered by the scratchings of somebody else. He waged a bitter war against Arthur's influence, telling his students that they had better not go on a symbol hunt when he was around, but he knew that they went charging after them the minute his back was turned. It irked him that although he was constantly demonstrating the wildness and folly of Arthur's ingenuity the students still agreed with Arthur. He didn't like to hear himself, either, raising his voice to some quiet but obdurate pupil who wouldn't see that he was right; it seemed to him that there was something a trifle defeated about having to bang the desk and bawl, 'Why can't it just be a fucking albatross, you berk?'
US readers, buy Coming From Behind on IndieBound (yep I'm an affiliate):
indiebound.org/book/9780897331555?aff=TheBookchemist
UK & other European readers, buy it on Blackwell's (also an affiliate):
blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Coming-from-Behind-by-Howard-Jacobson/9780099452034/?a_aid=TheBookchemist
If you enjoy my reviews, please consider supporting the channel on Patreon:
patreon.com/TheBookchemist
One-off donations are also always welcome:
paypal.me/Bookchemist
Follow me on GoodReads!
goodreads.com/author/show/15078502.Mattia_Ravasi
Follow me on Twitter!
twitter.com/The_Bookchemist
A book that's very difficult to discuss without sounding rude.
The Jacobson novel I mention at the end of the review as a likely future read is The Mighty Walzer (I erroneously call it The Mighty Waltz in the video).
The passage I read in the video comes from Chapter 8, pages 153-4 in my edition (Vintage 2003); here it is:
Arthur Twinbarrow could find a symbol anywhere; not a flower grew but it was symbolic of regeneration, not a leaf fell but it was symbolic of spiritual desolation, not a ball bounced but it was symbolic of the irrepressibility of the human spirit. Nothing was ever the thing it was and everything was always something else. Symbols drove Sefton to distraction. To him they were like fleas in the double bed of literature. He was aware that they might be in there somewhere but he could never find them himself. And even when he was determined to pass an undisturbed night he was pestered by the scratchings of somebody else. He waged a bitter war against Arthur's influence, telling his students that they had better not go on a symbol hunt when he was around, but he knew that they went charging after them the minute his back was turned. It irked him that although he was constantly demonstrating the wildness and folly of Arthur's ingenuity the students still agreed with Arthur. He didn't like to hear himself, either, raising his voice to some quiet but obdurate pupil who wouldn't see that he was right; it seemed to him that there was something a trifle defeated about having to bang the desk and bawl, 'Why can't it just be a fucking albatross, you berk?'
US readers, buy Coming From Behind on IndieBound (yep I'm an affiliate):
indiebound.org/book/9780897331555?aff=TheBookchemist
UK & other European readers, buy it on Blackwell's (also an affiliate):
blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Coming-from-Behind-by-Howard-Jacobson/9780099452034/?a_aid=TheBookchemist
If you enjoy my reviews, please consider supporting the channel on Patreon:
patreon.com/TheBookchemist
One-off donations are also always welcome:
paypal.me/Bookchemist
Follow me on GoodReads!
goodreads.com/author/show/15078502.Mattia_Ravasi
Follow me on Twitter!
twitter.com/The_Bookchemist
