Lucky Jim + Murder on the Orient Express

It took me awhile to complete Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis due to finals. I got this for like $4 from Times warehouse book sale, and considering that it's "regarded by many the finest, and funniest, comic novel of the twentieth century" (Goodreads), it's probably quite a good deal. 

For this book made me smile and chuckle and all on the MRT!!! It might be its quintessential English comic precision (like what other reviews have claimed; I am unsure of what exactly constitutes English), or perhaps, plainly, its expressions are really quite hilarious. 

This book is a satire about the bourgeois in post-war English society. I don't know anything about the English bourgeois, much less in the previous century lol so I just read it with an open mind. I felt that the book kinda lost its essence due to my ignorance of English archetype. Unless you're talking about how ridiculously polite the English are; I mean it can't be any more obvious through the dialogues in the book. Or hypocritically polite, very much demonstrated by Dixon making faces and pranking behind other people's backs.

In the book, Jim Dixon is just an impossibly jaded young professor sick of playing up to Department head Welch. Tea parties, art retreats hosted at the latter's house are obligations to Dixon as he has to impress upon Welch to secure tenure in the university. 

Love the expressions! It makes imagining the scene more comical and funnier.

"He read it through, thinking how admirably consistent were the style and orthography. Both derived, in large part, from essays of some of his less proficient pupils." 

and 

"Finally he stuck a stamp on, slobbering on it for further verisimilitude"

"Some infantile fa-la-la-la stuff" lol

Welch's son is an up and coming artist (probably the embodiment of aristocracy in this satire) and the middle-class Dixon hates his guts and ends up trading his own plain, boring girlfriend for Welch's son's impeccable girlfriend, which meant alot of catfights between the 4 people involved. 

I love how Amis wrote with very mean undertones throughout the book and this defined Dixon and his outlook on the people around him, and generally made the book really funny: 

"The only thought that presented itself to him at all clearly was one of mild surprise that the fictional or cinematic treatment of hysterics should be based so firmly on what was evidently the right treatment."  (Refer to above photo, for context lol) 

Despite the hilarity of all the situations Dixon gets himself into, I felt the book got a little dreary and uninteresting. Still a good book 3.7/5. 

Another Christie opus that propounds my love-hate relationship with her mystery novels. Good plot, boring delivery. I must say the revelation in Murder on the Orient Express is really quite unexpected, but it didn't keep me on my toes like how a good mystery novel should because you can't just piece together transcripts of interrogations of X number of passengers in the train (can't bother to count, 9?) and expect me to stay excited. I thought it was like a Mrs Marple thing for her stories to be bland but no it seems that be it Poirot or Marple, I can't quite agree to her style of writing. 2.5/5, I'll need some time for this unsatisfying aftertaste to go away before starting on the The Murder of Roger Ackroyd which I have downloaded since Goodreads promised me of a shocking twist and I can't seem to learn my lesson.

So... THERE'S A NEWLY TRANSLATED HIGASHINO BOOK! I am so so so excited to be reading it!!!!!!!!!!!! My last Higashino was December 2014, you can read it here. I read from some random website that the sales of Journey Under the Midnight Sun actually surpassed that of The Devotion of Suspect X and Suspect X was - REALLY GOOD - BUT NO I need to suppress my expectations!!!!

I just googled for the above photo and by chance I discover that the translated A Midsummers' Equation (another book of his) will be published this year :'-) Yay another addition to the Detective Galileo series!!!! Caught the movie approximately 2 years ago and it made me cry because the plot is so so good but excruciating!!!!!!!! How exciting!!!!!!!!

I just need a physical copy of Naoko to complete my Higashino collection :-) I hope that Higashino catches on to the sudden "Contemporary Japanese Authors" fad (Murakami, Ruth Ozeki, Natsuo Kirino lol) and earns abit of deserving recognition (and MORE translated works dammit) for himself. I wanted to finish Journey Under the Midnight Sun and do a combined review with the above 2 books but NO, a Higashino book warrants a special post for itself.

A Clockwork Orange - Action to the World

When I first got to know of the play I was so incredibly excited because A Clockwork Orange is my favourite book so far, and being the cultural idiot I am, I've not watched a professional play before.

My close friends are probably annoyed that I rave about the book at any chance I get!! I read it a few years back, before or after O Levels, read it again, and will definitely be re-visiting it (after I'm done with the pile of books which I HAVE NO TIME TO ATTEND TO)!

The novel follows the story of Alex DeLarge, obnoxious teen tyrant who terrorizes the society with his late night shenanigans with his droogs. While incarcerated, he volunteers himself for the "Ludovico's Technique", a brainchild of the government to ease the overcrowding issue in prison. Through classic conditioning, Alex develops negative responses to his innate evil inclinations, and this thereby compels him to 'do good'. I'm not gonna spoil the book because it's so worth reading and that I'm too lazy to write. One of the two things I adore about this book are concepts like the institution and the self, youth, and free will, which, to me are very huge concepts. It is how these ideas are sewn together in an arresting story plot that amazes me up till this day!

And of course, THE LANGUAGE. If Burgess were to use plain English, will this book still triumph, solely on it's plot? Definitely not. The novel is first person narrated in Nadsat, an argot in English peppered with Russian slovos. It's very funny how it is precisely this funky language thing that made me near give up on the book when I first read it. Out of context, these modified Russian words are gibberish to me and I couldn't get a clear picture of what was going on till a few chapters in.

Here is one of my favourite passages; Alex here was engaged in a gang fight:

I really love this passage!

"And my brothers, it was real satisfaction to me to waltz left two three, right two three - and carve left cheeky and right cheeky, so that like two curtains of blood seemed to pour out at the same time, one on either side of his fat filthy oily snout in the winter starlight." 

It's describing something so gruesome in such a rhythmic, beautiful prose, it's like you can practically feel how Alex is taking joy in the ol' ultraviolence. Love the contrast.

Love the hypocrisy here too!
To me, using Nadsat as some age-defined vernacular characterizes and isolates teens from the rest of the society. Against the backdrop of regular English dialogues from the institution and authorities, it creates this sense of "teenage identity" among them, such that Alex and his droogs exist in some independent, wayward, teen subculture. As you go along, you kinda get hooked on the language, like ponying every slovo little Alex boy govoreets (SORRY I CANNOT HELP IT), and understanding this esoteric "teenage vernacular" assimilates you into the story and soon enough you get SOOOOOOOOoooo attached to Alex. Because it's first-person narrated, there's always "O my brothers" in his narrative, like Alex is specifically addressing me so it's really engaging and I adore it so much omggggggg.

Ok enough of the book, here is a very good synopsis from the programme booklet

It was an all-male cast, so I thought it was interesting especially during scenes with women. Also, even more interesting were the theatrical dances and violence, shirtless.
Of course the play was not without censorship, of the depiction of Alex's attitude towards Christianity. I can write more about censorship but I don't wanna digress.

I thought the play was good; compared to the book and movie, there weren't that spectacular violent scenes (the play left out some) and therefore, it didn't fully develop Alex's predisposition to violence. Nonetheless the action, lights, music were great.

One of my favourite scenes was when the doctors unveiled the "reformed" Alex, and Davies (who played Alex) launched into a soliloquy starting with a (really, extremely) loud, anguished "ME! ME ME ME what about me? Am I just to be a ..... CLOCKWORK ORANGE?" (Or something to that effect - it was in the book as well).

And then there's the scene where Alex attempts to commit suicide by jumping off the window, and then the theatre went dark for dramatic effect and Beethoven's Symphony Number 9 still continued to blare on. Love the build up.

And the ending was amazing, with Alex just sitting on the table, talking to the audience (as in the book); it was as retrospective as how I love it to be, and when he delivered his rendition of the last few paragraphs of the book I was just like OMGGGGGGG DA FEELZ

I absolutely ADORE the last paragraph. Moving on, growing out of his teenage identity, the maturation and happy ending concludes the book beautifully, and this is what makes this book, to me, heartwarming, despite all the heinous deeds my little Alex boy has committed :'-)

"But where I itty now, O my brothers, is all on my oddy knocky, where you cannot go. Tomorrow is all like sweet flowers and the turning vonny earth and the stars and the old Luna up there and your old droog Alex all on his oddy knocky seeking like a mate. And all that cal. A terrible grahzny vonny world, really, O my brothers. And so farewell from your little droog. And to all others in this story profound shooms of lipmusic brrrrrr. And they can kiss my sharries. But you, O my brothers, remember sometimes thy little Alex that was. Amen. And all that cal."

Of course, that tenuous bit of immaturity still remains; "profound shrooms of lip-music brrrrrr" and OH MY THAT SASS IN 

"Amen. And all that cal." 

has GOT TO BE my favourite 5 words out of this entire novel.

The play immediately ended after Alex delivered an insane maniacal laughter, which completely confused me; like why would you want to destroy such a heartwarming paragraph (the above) with that seemingly unrepentant laughter WHY WHY WHY WHAT DOES THAT IMPLY???? The effect left me a little unsatisfied.

I don't have any basis for comparison to this play, but it was an enjoyable experience and it's definitely not going to be my last play. I guess nothing beats seeing real people and action on stage. REAL HORRORSHOW O MY BROTHERS!

It was a day before the exams when I got to know that someone close to me has, all along, been a closet Christian. It shook me really badly and I spent the day being a weepy bitch. Because

1. No one should be so oppressed such that they cannot openly announce their faith. 
2. I'm immensely disappointed in myself that I didn't read all the signs, I didn't piece up the clues that were right infront of my nose because I'm so self-absorbed. I should have been there when that someone chose to join the Christian fellowship to support, caution, and affirm. 

I would be heartbroken if that someone got sucked into religion because at that point of time that someone couldn't find anyone to relate to, because I was always present and that person chose not to thrash it out to me. The relationship plays a central role in my life and I'm disappointed that in my capacity as someone close, I did not pay enough attention and show my affection and support. After my thoughts cleared up abit I immediately texted a pious close friend in hopes that he can shed some light on this issue.

In our lowest times of trials and tribulations, we seek solace and fall back on the same people and/or things, perhaps out of habit. To me, this devotion which spans across and takes on so many forms (in religion, a soulmate close friend family etc, binge-eating) is very interesting because we never seem to get sick of it. Like, out of so many things that make us happy, why do we persistently recognise a particular something as our number one solace?

EXAMS ARE OVER! So many problems to work on and showing abit of affirmation to that someone in an attempt at self-redemption is on the top of my list. It would take an amazing amount of tact and circumspection but I am confident I can get my message across. Problems like these keep me down-to-earth and headstrong, and I am almost proud to welcome them with open arms.
No more hoping that things would just die down - like what people advised me - with passivity and incessant, nervous waiting. It is uncharacteristic of a proactive person that is yours truly. - HAIR FLIP - I take the bull by its horns.

I cannot wait for next semester, but meanwhile, I'm going to take pleasure in doing things I like.
N.B. I caught A Clockwork Orange play (OMG!) this month and I'll be doing a review soon when I'm less overwhelmed by all the things I can do with copious amount free time.

Sometimes when you realise that big, bad things are happening to close people around you, the 4 page essay you have been fretting over seems pathetic. The perturbation of today's mistakes and how you often fumble infront of people dwarf in comparison to the emotional baggage some people have no choice but to lug. Upon introspection, you admonish yourself for being so insulated from the bigger, badder things that can happen to you.

Big, bad stuff happen to people around me all the time, and like waves, the realisation that you're privileged hits you, then it ebbs as you continue to look for an axe to grind.

I have to remind myself that these minute fusses that constantly irk me are CHOICES I choose to take on. It's either I take a look on the brighter side of things, or don't even bother about them at all.

Unfortunate incidences put things into perspective - you don't know what can go wrong when they don't go wrong. Also, how wrong is wrong? Sure I have my share of long-running bad stuff of proportions greater than myself. Sometimes, these things compel me to sleep it off, and sometimes it keeps me awake at night. But sympathy tells me that problems other people are facing are probably worse than mine. I don't know if these people feel a commensurate amount of sadness towards their problems as I to mine, but if I were in their shoes I would probably feel like shit.

I think I need constantly remind myself how each of us probably has their own demon to fend against. I have mine; dormant, tame. I'm not too sure for other people's, but I hope that everyone is doing well.

OCD - Neil Hilborn

I shared this on my Facebook page a few days ago, from a random page off the net but the title was "Man with OCD Perfectly Describes What It's Like to Love Someone When You Have a Disorder", which sounds so stupid and it doesn't do the poem any justice, so here I am.

I came across this video on tumblr, I think, many months back, and I loved it so much! A few days ago I had a lecture on psychological disorders which probably prompted me to revisit it.

I am not a poem-reading person because I don't quite understand and appreciate the beauty of it, like how does chopping up a sentence into different lines make a paragraph anymore beautiful? Poe's poems (which are the only poems I've ever read lol - I think 'The Bells' is quite enjoyable) are really good, but sometimes I can't understand because of his archaic expressions. I know Roald Dahl has alot and they're really funny, but they're for kids. Then you have Lang Leav, whoever she is, whose poems annoy the shit out of me because all about it is heartbreak and love and I construe this image of her as this weeping, whiny, overly-emotional lady (I really cannot help it) and even the cover seems insanely pretentious I cannot take it.

Moving on, I guess poetry slams are different, because in a soliloquy there's abit more expression. And YESSSSS 'OCD' was delivered beautifully! It has beauty, sadness, quirkiness - all in one short recital.

I've been exploring other of his poems and this one is really funny

" Remember always the hipster creed: “Why be efficient when you could be inefficient?”

" Remember always the hipster ideal: if you base your life around your possessions, make sure they are bizarre, inconvenient, and obsolete, for then no one can accuse you of being shallow. "

Diary of Anne Frank + Predestination (2014), Inside Out (2015),The Martian (2015)

Every time I look through one of those "Books to Read Before You Die" Lists, The Diary of Anne Frank pops up. I won't say the book is that amazing, but for sure reading a true life account of hiding in WWII is somewhat interesting. 

I get heavyhearted whenever Anne speaks about her hopes about the future after the war, her prospects as a journalist and a burgeoning writer. Knowing that towards the end she eventually dies bearing all these hopeful aspirations really makes me feel discontented at the lack of happy ending because such a bright young lady obviously deserves better. Anne's positivity in the face of war cannot be ignored. 

As with all teenage girls, a part of her diary was devoted to her development of affection for Peter, the strife between her and her mother, and her relationships and opinions on those who were in the Secret Annexe. Being cooped up in the hiding place obviously made her desperate for physical intimacy with Peter (who she then realises wasn't manly enough for her), and frustrated at the littlest interactions with her family. It got a bit dreary when she goes on about the internal conflict within herself, how despite the veneer of happiness and witticisms, she is in fact tender, sensitive and quiet, which is probably so common in the phase of pubescence. 

Being a diary, there were alot of introspection which made me feel some sort of a connection with Anne herself when I was reading and I guess this is what makes The Diary of Anne Frank a perennial, posthumous favourite. 3.5/5 A very simple read, because you might have to dumb yourself down to understand the workings of a 14 year old. But this should not dilute Anne Frank's optimistic, soul-searching personality that thoroughly resonates throughout the book. 

There have also been a few books whose reviews I've been putting off. These I have completed before school started/just started, and I'll do a short condensed review:

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
4.5/5 
Go read it, you'll be enlightened by the first-person recount of a Indian servant-turned-entrepreneur. The book speaks to you, the words leap out and grab you; you'll feel that someone actually regales you with their success story with splashes of dark humour on the impossible social ladder in India. Why is this not made into a movie???

Between the Assassinations - Aravind Adiga
2.5/5
Thankfully I gave Adiga another shot as I chose to read The White Tiger. Between the Assassinations was a series of short stories leading no where, or rather, I couldn't dissect or discern the point Adiga was trying to make. About India's caste system and poverty.

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk 
4/5
The movie could succinctly summarise the book, and would probably be an ideal option for those who can't follow Palahniuk's style of writing (I tried my best). Despite the contemporary prose of the brilliant/trying-too-hard Palahniuk (I sit on the fence regarding this), Fight Club is shocking and refreshing, very characteristic of Palahniuk.

The Girl on the Train - I don't really care
2/5
Remember Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn? Something similar, but less mystery, because the main character blacks out very often and halfway through the book I'm so jaded by her mucking around and practically doing nothing but bathing herself in alcohol that I don't even bother to keep up with the mystery.

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 
4/5
One of the Big 3 of dystopian novels, but very unfortunately I can't remember much of the story, perhaps because it did't strike me as much as it should. Set in the future where hedonism is ideal and is the key to peace, a savage from the Savage Reservation (think normal people with normal ideals - Shakespeare-appreciating, monogamous) forays into this utopic society and ends up being very conflicted with loving Lenina.

Predestination (2014)

- "Which came first - the chicken or the egg?"
- "The Rooster."

If you know me rather well you'd know that one of my least favourite book/movie genre is Sci-Fi but this 2014 Australian film did it. Lousy poster aside, this time-travelling movie has a pretty solid plot (and this probably says alot especially coming from someone who's ever so skeptical about science fiction). I was talking to Thien about how I like intelligent movies, and she brought this up and so we spent an evening being a pair of couch potatoes - despite being in a flurry of deadlines and events this week!

A man walks into a bar - 'man', in this case - Sarah Snook passed off as a convincing 'John' with her strong jaw which made her resemble Leonardo DiCaprio (lol). As her life story unfurls, the movie drags, but having her flashback occupying so much screentime means that it's obviously important. John reveals that "When she was a little girl...." - the bartender (Ethan Hawke) does a double-take - she was headstrong, and was bereft of social decorum and therefore friends. Magic happens when you realise the impossibly intricate relationship between 'John', his past female identity 'Jane', and the bartender.

These 3 identities are connected by the "Predestination Paradox" - which essentially loops the cause and effect relationship within a duration of time. If you have the chicken, mustn't it hatch from an egg? But doesn't the egg come from a chicken? Of course, I grappled with this idea even after the movie, but the movie is still really mind-blowing! It was adapted from the 1959 short story "'—All You Zombies—'" by Robert A. Heinlein, which I'll probably read and review it.

*** SPOILER***

How do you procreate yourself???? Just like what Thien said "This takes narcissism to a whole new level" oh dear. If there's any point in time where the Predestination Paradox perpetuates itself, it must be when 'John' decides to love 'Jane' in absence of contraception, dammit. This brings us to a plot hole, which is that Jane seemingly readily takes on masculinity after a traumatic birth (of herself...'cause PARADOX oh my) which changes her sex only. Anyway, it takes a hell lot of loneliness for someone to have sex with their opposite-sex-self while being FULLY AWARE that they are literally, THE SAME PERSON. Which isn't so far-fetched considering that the movie paid substantial amount of attention to how Jane couldn't click with any other people.

There is also an underlying subtlety in the response "The Rooster" to the Chicken-Egg question. Neither chicken or egg, The Rooster suggests a prominent figure that puts the Predestination Paradox into traction, which in this case, I feel is the secret time-travelling organisation whose mission is to prevent as many future crimes as possible. Throughout the movie Robertson seems to be egging 'John' to continue the loop - perhaps to retain him as one of his agents, since if 'John' does otherwise, he ceases to exist.

*** END *** 

Overall, a pretty brilliant movie, 8.7/10. I'm quite surprised that this wasn't released with much fanfare last year, because I first heard of it only when it was recommended. As with time-travelling, my tenses for this review are all over the place.

Inside Out (2015)

Inside Out was surprisingly good! It has been AGES since I last watched a Pixar movie [Monsters University (2013)] - again, not exactly a fan of animated movies. I really liked the personification of individual emotion because it is quite funny that each character-emotion displays their typical emotion-characteristics. During the movie I can't help but going back to whatever I've learnt in my Psychology Intro (the different theories of emotion, and how they differ from this movie, long/short term memories, and how personality is an agglomeration of experience-fueled traits). The only gripe is that the allusions to so much psych stuff makes Inside Out age-inappropriate. I mean, kids won't grasp the whole emotion-character thing. 7.7/10! Finally a refreshing idea after Monsters Inc. 

The Martian (2015)

I was really looking forward to this movie because its trailer was quite interesting and I was quite interested in seeing how being stranded in space would play out. Sadly other than the beginning and end the movie was a little boring and totally draggy and halfway through I just can't wait for him to go home. Plus I kinda realised that the scenes all consisted of Matt Damon, alot of Martian soil, spacecraft stuff which made the scenes so...unvaried. 5/10

I hate to admit this, but I really miss my friends :-(
I'm not too verbal or comfortable with mawkish feelings and corny dispositions, but recently hanging out with people who'd formed a large part of my secondary school life really contrasts with that of University. We touched on how the deepest friendships are usually forged when we were naive to whatever adulthood has in store for us, ignorant of the consequences that are contingent upon on our actions. We wore our hearts on our sleeves without any qualms because being young, sunny and dumb insulates us from things we cannot avoid upon hitting adulthood. Now that we are, presumably, mature, and fully aware of the enormity of adulthood, priorities start to kick in and the struggle for the head-start in life consumes the ambitious among us. I honestly feel very heartened to see people I hold dear to develop passion and belief in whatever they are doing, and how some of them have already hit their first few milestones in life! Invariably, I cannot help but compare myself to them, and fear that I'll be the odd one out still struggling in coming to terms with myself and the capricious future. But of course, I seek the assurance that it's totally fine!!! There's nothing wrong being 19 and not have a yellow brick road set in mind. Life to short to even care at all ohohoh oh ohhhhhh oh

On, like, Stuff

On my holidays:

As of now, I'm down to my last 4 days of holiday. A holiday, my holiday, that I can call a true, clean break from whatever frenetic mess that preceded it. Let's put this into perspective: never in my life I'll get another 8 months' worth of nothingness, except when I start receiving CPF payouts. It is pure remorse I did not do anything extraordinary or anything that I'm particularly proud of. 

On studying (again) and the future:

I'm one of those students that looks forward to the new school term because it provides sorta like a clean slate where I can carve out a name for myself through hardwork and stellar results and

Whatever. You know me. But I'm having this mid-mid-life crisis too; What do I want in life? How can a CAP of 5.0 help me achieve what I want in life? 

Oh hold on, I am acting on the assumption that the hardworking grubber still sees to the day. 

What if I get a CAP f 0.5 instead? 

The end goal in my time in secondary school and junior college was as clear - there was only one, study now, get as many A's, bonus if it's all A's, think later. Setting the ending goal now is completely futile without a clear vision in mind. And what ending goal? End of what? 

Small steps. Get as many A's, but think now. 

On new environment:

It's great to step into a new institution that offers a new environment and experience - the only perk to the sad realisation that once again, you are subjected to the unforgivable cycle of lectures, tutorials and the merciless/merciful bellcurve demon/deity. Participating in a separate academic program boasting of its own tight-knit community (oh, wonder why people label us exclusive and elitist) forces me to actually socialise lest I relapse into my chao mugger persona I have veneered for the past number of years. I hope I'll adapt well and form new relationships. 

On the past:

It doesn't matter!