tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3942606170098378450.post5695998496539734088..comments2023-07-06T06:51:12.332-06:00Comments on Brilliant title to go here: Slumdog Millionaire?Trishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14188765993829173059noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3942606170098378450.post-31661218107746393402009-01-12T17:59:00.000-07:002009-01-12T17:59:00.000-07:00Hmmm, I'm not as far as you into the Orwell, but d...Hmmm, I'm not as far as you into the Orwell, but definitely haven't had quite the same visceral response. I've been enjoying the clear images the prose provides, and am experiencing a world and time that simply cannot exist anymore. Truly, a couple of shabby guys standing outside a restaurant for hours would be arrested for loitering, as suspected as terrorists, rather than job-seekers. It all seems rather quaint, doesn't it?<BR/><BR/>As for "cowardly" and "pretentious", maybe it is pretentious of ME to think that I might not behave on a "tour" of poverty in exactly the same way. Honestly, with my superlatively WASP-y upbringing, I wouldn't know true poverty, hunger, desperation, if it bit me in the butt. Would I be able to be a little more "hard core". Now here's a thought - who would like to make comparisons to "Into the Wild" on this one?<BR/><BR/>Or, maybe I'll just finish the book, and see what I think then.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3942606170098378450.post-19478674906661696182009-01-12T08:00:00.000-07:002009-01-12T08:00:00.000-07:00Couple of things... a few things, really.I have co...Couple of things... a few things, really.<BR/><BR/>I have come around to Slumdog Millionaire. I replay it in my head and I like it. If Danny Boyle makes fun movies like that (also, see "Millions"), I'll watch them. Then again, his movies always have this kinetic sense of fun. Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, etc, while grim, are just... fun. I think he likes the image of people running.<BR/><BR/>"Happenstance" is tied as my favourite Carol Shields. Did you read the wife's story first, or the husband's? I don't remember the 'proper' order, but I read her story first, and his second.<BR/><BR/>I reread "Down and Out..." over the last week, and discussed it with a knowlegable friend of mine. We both agreed it is a cowardly, pretentious (but angry, appalled) 25-year-old on a tour through the dregs of society, with the emphasis on "tour." He could always get out, he had an escape hatch. Also, Orwell was coy about the veracity of the characters in his stories. It throws some shadows on the work.<BR/><BR/>Still, it is essiential to see how a great writer started, to his first step towards Wigan Pier, Catalonia, Animal Farm and 1984. <BR/><BR/>My friend also suggested he rendered the subject of "Down and Out..." better in his "Keep the Aspidistra Flying." I will try to read that before club.<BR/><BR/>Currently reading "The Black Swan" by Nicholas Nassim Taleb. Would love to hear your reaction of his work.<BR/><BR/>I'm done.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com