|
|
Post by ntsheep on Apr 24, 2018 21:40:43 GMT -5
Adding to the fun of this thread, describe a favorite book plot badly so we can guess what it is. Here's mine
Advanced alien vampire gardeners try to take over London with red ferns but forget to take their vaccinations and die due to a cold.
|
|
|
|
Post by drspendlove on Apr 24, 2018 21:53:36 GMT -5
Sounds a little like War of the Worlds
|
|
|
|
Post by ntsheep on Apr 24, 2018 22:10:52 GMT -5
Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner!!! Congrats drspendlove |
|
|
|
Post by drspendlove on Apr 25, 2018 8:01:48 GMT -5
I tried coming up with my own puzzle but couldn't be as clever as you were. Please, someone else give this a shot!
|
|
|
|
Post by drdave on Apr 25, 2018 8:33:45 GMT -5
I've just finished reading this one:
Oppressive fascist society tries to "cure" teenager's violent behaviour. Treatment works at the cost of freewill and pleasure. He later reverts to his old behaviour, but then is cured by growing up.
If the last part confuses you, the original novel as published in the UK has 21 chapters, the original US publication omits the last chapter. Later US editions have reinstated it. The movie version follows the 20 chapter version of the book.
|
|
|
|
Post by drspendlove on Apr 25, 2018 9:03:54 GMT -5
Sounds like Clockwork Orange.
|
|
|
|
Post by drdave on Apr 25, 2018 9:08:59 GMT -5
Correct!
Now to start a debate, should Chapter 21 have been omitted from the original US version? It was ostensibly cut because it didn't fit with the tone of the rest of the book.
|
|
|
|
Post by drspendlove on Apr 25, 2018 11:55:25 GMT -5
I haven't read either of these last two books to be honest. It's funny you've both chosen books that I've heard about through friends.
|
|
|
|
Post by PyreFox on Apr 25, 2018 13:58:31 GMT -5
Correct! Now to start a debate, should Chapter 21 have been omitted from the original US version? It was ostensibly cut because it didn't fit with the tone of the rest of the book. Interesting question. I first read it without the last chapter, and do think it's better that way. But it should have been included as that's what's the author wanted and that's a bit of a stretch of the definition of "editing." Has anyone read this book where the first three chapters are about a spoiled old rich guy who reads a snide comment and gets into a flame war, then recruits a bunch of stone-hearted trolls to shout at the snide commenters and gets them to ban themselves? |
|
|
|
Post by drdave on Apr 25, 2018 16:25:48 GMT -5
My thoughts are that the final chapter makes it a completely different book. Without the last chapter it's a tale about a dystopian future with a fairly downbeat ending. Yes, it does explore the importance of free will to the very essence of humanity, but did Alex ever really have free will, because in the beginning he was just conforming with a stereotype?
With the final chapter, it becomes a satire, poking fun at purveyors of moral panic. When it was written,in the early 60's, Britain was seeing the first wave of youth culture and rebellion and there were predictions that it would lead to the breakdown of society and that each generation would be worse than the one before. We've all seen similar responses to new developments in youth culture, video games cause violence, the Internet will turn us all into mindless zombies incapable of enjoying and discussing literature, etc.
Alex and his droogs are an, albeit extreme, caricature of this type of panic. In the final chapter, Burgess illustrates that the disaffected youths of yesterday grow up to be the concerned parents of today, society and order survive and the next generation are no worse than the last, they're just different. I much prefer this more optimistic version, but that's just my opinion .
|
|
|
|
Post by PyreFox on Apr 25, 2018 17:14:47 GMT -5
I half-disagree, only in that I think the satire comes through pretty clearly even without the last chapter. The ridiculousness over-the-topness of the droogs and of society's responses to them drives the point home well enough. All the last chapter does, to me, is remove any believability from the setting. Which may well be what's intended, but still.
|
|
|
|
Post by drspendlove on Apr 25, 2018 22:38:53 GMT -5
Has anyone read this book where the first three chapters are about a spoiled old rich guy who reads a snide comment and gets into a flame war, then recruits a bunch of stone-hearted trolls to shout at the snide commenters and gets them to ban themselves? Man, unless this is political commentary about certain US Presidents on Twitter, I have no idea! |
|
|
|
Post by drdave on Apr 26, 2018 8:08:13 GMT -5
PyreFox I read it that it was meant to remove the believability from the setting and make the point that conservative society's reaction to youth culture was overblown and this was reductio ad absurda. But then I've only read it as the full 21 chapter version. I didn't think to take a break after Ch 20. It would be interesting to get a few more opinions, maybe I should have started a poll, or maybe the internet has reduced most of us to mindless zombies! As to the book you described, I have to agree with drspendlove
|
|
|
|
Post by tenbsmith on Apr 26, 2018 11:51:51 GMT -5
I read clockwork orange in the early 80s in the USA. Does this mean I read the 20 chapter version?
Not sure about PyreFox's book, thought drspendlove's theory seems pretty good.
This one should be easy.
A midget throws a big party and disappears, leaving his belongings, including a ring, to his second cousin once removed. The cousin throws the ring in a volcano.
This one is based on a movie (derailing the derail :-)
A space freighter takes a side journey to a planetoid, but the eggs they find there disagree with one crewmen's stomach.
|
|
|
|
Post by resistor on Apr 26, 2018 12:02:21 GMT -5
First one is Lord of the Rings.
Not sure about the movie. It might be Alien, but I haven't seen that one.
|
|
