The Dart League King

I'm well into my new book, The Dart League King. I once heard that all good books are either mirrors or windows, meaning that they make you see deeper and clearer into your own experiences or show you a whole new world (a dazzling place I never knew!). Many books I read serve as mirrors, with aspects of characters reminding me of myself or people I know and underscore and heighten traits of those real people. This book is clearly a window. From the first page, I was hurled head over heels into world of darts, binge drinking, cocaine, sex, homicide, and overall madness. I watched with utter revulsion as the normalest-seeming character watched a girl die in front of him with no attempt to save her. There is not a single character in the book that I would want to be friends with or talk to. They're all the sort of people whose friend requests on Facebook I would never accept. They are all stupid and psychopathic and selfish and cruel and debauched. Yet, in a weird way, I almost love them. Each of them has a redeeming characteristic, making them profoundly human. They seem almost trapped. Their realism is accentuated because the author writes in a different style for each of them, as if they were simply thinking (though in the 3rd person). This book is simply crazy good.

Style Mapping

Frequently, the point an author is trying to make in a work shines brighter through how he says it, rather than what he actually says. In The Dart League King by Keith Lee Morris, each chapter has a different main character, although always in 3rd person omniscient, and the style changes dramatically to accentuate the character traits of each. The second chapter centers on Vince Thompson, a crazy, homicidal, psychopathic drug dealer. Fittingly, the first page of this chapter is written with extremely lowbrow vulgarities. There are nine swear words in less than a paragraph of text. Furthermore, the sentences are long, rambling, and nowhere near grammatically correct. It is written like an infuriated tirade, with no hint of class. Again, as Vince is hardly the most intellectual man, his rant lacks figurative or imaginative language, and aside from an obvious tone of hatred, it is mainly denotative. It is rather harsh, from the cacophony of f***s. Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried also jumps from main character to main character, but the style remains essentially the same. The whole work is symbolic and metaphoric, a "noble lie" in which the denotative meaning of the story isn't always true persay, but reveals a deeper truth, transcending the literal meaning. The language is essentially middle of the road, and is somewhat conversational, like someone telling a story around a campfire. It is neither particularly melodic nor particular dissonant. Finally, Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian exhibits his typical disdain for punctuation, but also his unique style. Words like "thunderclap" "gnashing" and "hobbled" create a harsh feel to emphasize the bitterness. Most of his description of the setting is imagistic and connoatitive.  Words like "nigger" and "raggedyman" contribute to the mild coarseness of the tone, illustrative of the rough diction of the Wild West. All authors write with a distinctive style, reflecting their distinctive themes and purposes.

Quarterly

I have always enjoyed reading, though in recent years rarely found nearly as much time for it as I would like. This semester, I have learned the importance of reading a book I ENJOY. I make time for engrossing, wonderful books, but don't have nearly enough time for books that are meh. I also learned that you don't have to like the same books your friends do. Just like your friend could swear by ranch on pizza but you hate ranch, your friend could fall in love with a book that you hate. Many times I have claimed that books are friends and are almost people. There's no way you'll like every person, and in a similar way, you won't like every book. I challenge myself to actually read all 100 pages every week and to love everything I read.

On Quitting

I have finally come to an important realization: you can pick your friends, you can pick your books, but you can't pick your friend's books. I have been trying so hard to read Ginny's favorite book, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, but the fact is, I don't like it. I find it boring and repetitive. All that happens is they fight random strangers and D'Artagnan bemoans his lost love. A couple parts made me laugh, but out of the couple hundred pages I've read, it's essentially put me to sleep. I can see why she likes it, but the humor and style simply don't appeal to me. It's not that it's a bad book, it's just not my book. Just like some people don't like mushrooms, and a few insane people don't like chocolate, some people love some books and others hate them. Anyways, I have finally allowed myself to quit reading that book, and I'm now picking up The Dart League King by Keith Lee Morris. If this book doesn't work out, I'm probably going to read What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell because I've already read Blink and LOVED it. But I'm going to try this out first and we'll see how it goes!

Currently

I read 44 pages of The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Total 1051.

Sentences of the Quarter:

3. "Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage."
--Tytler

Where do you think your country falls on this continuum? This quote of the quarter seems especially relevant in light of the current protests. To the protesters, I would like to remind them that all of them are "the 1%" to many of the impoverished, helpless people of the world. Greed applies to all classes, not just the "super-rich"; I hope those protesters are generous to those less fortunate than themselves.

2. "forced to believe them by my act of trusting people" --"The Farewell" by Edward Field

"The Farewell" is the first poem of the semester--arguably the first poem of my life--that I actually really liked and spoke to me. To me, it's a beautiful illustration of the loss of self brought about by conformity, pride, and trust.

1. "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" --Emily Dickenson

Not only is Dickenson's quote fantastic and original in and of itself, it holds special meaning to me because it was used by my best friend to describe my philosophy on life.

A Cautionary Tale

The section of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers I just read seems to me to be a cautionary tale about false accusations, drinking, and gambling. Because of falsely accusing Athos of giving him fake money, one unfortunate hotel keep found all his food eaten and wine drunk, to his incredible dismay. Athos, however, due to the eating of the keep's food but especially to the drinking of all his fine wine, learns that wine will loosen the tightest tongue and tells D'Artagnan a secret that he regrets telling in the morning. Finally, all four heroes independently are cheated out of their horses through foolish, sometimes drunken, gambling.

However, despite the debauchery of the section, the most evil people in the section I read seem to be the Church, as the controlling Jesuit and the hypocritical, faking priest attempt to talk Aramis out of his musketeer uniform and into a the priesthood, writing a thesis on a topic he neither cares for nor understands. When the churchmen too succumb to wine, it is portrayed as a victory for the young heroes. Hmmmmm.

Currently

I read 54 pages this week. Total 1007.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Edit: Forgot to record my sentences of the week!

"D'Artagnan admired by what fragile and unknown threads the destinies of nations and the lives of men are sometimes suspended." It's amazing how much the personal lives and personalities of a few leaders impact the whole world.

"Every one knows that drunkards and lovers have a protecting deity." I heartily disagree, but it's an interesting idea.

Both from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.

"'Oh dear God,' rang harshly in the close tiled room. I stood alongside others, a simple traveler at a public urinal. Bhind me the restless waited their turns." Sentence of the week. How sad it is how little people care about others.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Random Top Three of the Week:

Breakfast foods!

3. Eggs.
2. Hash browns.
1. Obviously bacon.

If that makes you hungry, go to IHOP for unlimited pancakes starting at $4.99!