Flaubert's Parrot

[DaisyNonna]

My reading group chose this book. 50 pages in I am rapidly losing the will to live, never mind the will to finish reading the entire book. Am I missing something in my old age? Any comments would be appreciated whether or not you read the whole thing.

[boxtops]

I couldn't get on with it - and I never like to give up on a book - but I packed it in after only a few pages.

[DaisyNonna]

Thanks boxy. No longer feel a complete failure. Very rarely do I not finish a book but in desperation went into Oxfam to buy a few paperbacks for light relief.

[seadogg]

Guess its one of those things you feel you ought to read. Remember losing interest in Madame Bovary too, till she came to that sticky end.

[jno]

I rather enjoyed it, though it was years ago. Perhaps your attention span is shortening as you get younger? :-)

[rojash]

Personally, I thought it was one of those books that's probably more entertaining for the author than for the reader (self-indulgent is the word that springs to mind), but then again, it was Booker short-listed, which is often an indication that it was written by someone with their head up their own arse.

[brainwashed]

I remember when this book was first published, it was about the time I began looking into the notion of the post-modern in order to understand why the definition on literature had changed by including complete trash. I can understand the negations of modernist culture and to a great extent agree that those principles are no longer valid but why they should be replaced by self indulgent, navel fluff inspecting drivel that apparently reaches a wider audience, namely the pleb...I dont know.
I still believe that the person who reads literature is one who seeks inspirations for the formulation of their own big questions....if Flaubert's Parrot dosnt work for you burn the damn thing....