Tennis is Pretty Sweet
All I have to say is, I never looked at tennis this way before I read the book.
Of course, that's not REALLY all I have to say. I found the chapter involving James Incandenza's father lecturing him on tennis (pages 157-169) to be amazingly cool. The descriptions were vivid, and I loved the idea of having complete control over your body, of moving your body through space and seeing everything and the idea that people like Marlon Brando can completely dominate objects through simple careful acts. The idea that a tennis ball is a perfect object and that each spin and lob is a product of complete fluid mastery over it. Reading this chapter was like being in a very sharp dream where things are too real to be believed, and I also find it humorous that James' father completely detests golf as an empty, stupid "sport". It is also interesting to note that James' father was deeply upset by his father's lack of support, so he decided to be at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, however James seems unwilling to participate in his father's dreams.
Note that while the character in this chapter is in fact called "Jim", I feel that the use of the initials J.O.I. (pg 164) and the name Incandenza (pg 166) are too coincidental to ignore, combined with the fact that Jim could easily be short for James.
Another thing I thought super cool (and pretty funny) was the description in the cycle of videophony technology. The arc of popularity seems totally realistic and I found it hilarious that it ended up being simply two digitally generated celebrity photos on the visual interfaces. It's an interesting commentary on the behavior of people, and I relate a lot because I have never been a fan of video chat online.
Lastly, I found the chapter with C and Poor Tony to be extremely difficult to read. The sentence structure was obnoxious and I had to settle for not knowing really what was going on throughout. Although it got exciting towards the end, the whole chapter was a long struggle, which I did not find pleasant.
One final note: I KNOW I've seen that bit about the man and the barrel full of bricks on humor sites all over the web. I found that very interesting, it shows that this book has many levels of comedy.
Of course, that's not REALLY all I have to say. I found the chapter involving James Incandenza's father lecturing him on tennis (pages 157-169) to be amazingly cool. The descriptions were vivid, and I loved the idea of having complete control over your body, of moving your body through space and seeing everything and the idea that people like Marlon Brando can completely dominate objects through simple careful acts. The idea that a tennis ball is a perfect object and that each spin and lob is a product of complete fluid mastery over it. Reading this chapter was like being in a very sharp dream where things are too real to be believed, and I also find it humorous that James' father completely detests golf as an empty, stupid "sport". It is also interesting to note that James' father was deeply upset by his father's lack of support, so he decided to be at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, however James seems unwilling to participate in his father's dreams.
Note that while the character in this chapter is in fact called "Jim", I feel that the use of the initials J.O.I. (pg 164) and the name Incandenza (pg 166) are too coincidental to ignore, combined with the fact that Jim could easily be short for James.
Another thing I thought super cool (and pretty funny) was the description in the cycle of videophony technology. The arc of popularity seems totally realistic and I found it hilarious that it ended up being simply two digitally generated celebrity photos on the visual interfaces. It's an interesting commentary on the behavior of people, and I relate a lot because I have never been a fan of video chat online.
Lastly, I found the chapter with C and Poor Tony to be extremely difficult to read. The sentence structure was obnoxious and I had to settle for not knowing really what was going on throughout. Although it got exciting towards the end, the whole chapter was a long struggle, which I did not find pleasant.
One final note: I KNOW I've seen that bit about the man and the barrel full of bricks on humor sites all over the web. I found that very interesting, it shows that this book has many levels of comedy.
posted by Alex Zorn at 11:03 PM
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