Free To Enjoy

I finally found time in between working on The Avid Reader to get to the third section of The Green House, which has introduced so much essential background information. The whole timeline of the plot's major events is pretty clear now, so I can focus on the writing of the novel instead of figuring out the plot nuances! The last really difficult books that I can remember reading, in the sense that they really required me to actively work my mind, were Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace and Ulysses, by James Joyce. Though I finished Infinite Jest (which left me feeling better off than when I started), I got only part way through Ulysses before I lost pretty much complete understanding of the narrative.

Though complicated, The Green House needs to be recognized for some beautiful pieces of writing. In hindsight, the two quotes I posted previously are not the best examples of this, though they're still wonderful. He also masters a unique style that has defined this reading experience. Two or three of his characters may be having a conversation in which a past event/conversation is being discussed, and Llosa will throw in, without any indication of a switch in tense, dialogues or narratives from that past conversation/event. In early sections of the novel, this used to confuse me more than anything, but now it plays like a beautiful movie in my head, a seamless picture-in-a-picture.

I'm off to read! :)