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Sunday, June 7, 2009
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- Buford Ape
- Buford Ape grew up between a cow pasture and a corn field in West Central Georgia. He is a lifelong nerd who has studied English, Drama, and Spanish at 5 different colleges.
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25 comments:
Well first off. it helps to read the "note to American readers" located in the back before you read. This would have helped to avoid some confusion. Like any murder mystery the outset of the book is loaded with a series of unconnected stories. Well, at the time they are unconnected. It is very interesting how the character of Ida is very hesitant when she first meets Fred, yet after a small chat, she finds him very agreeable. She likes him so much that even after barely knowing him, she weeps when she hears the new of his death reported in the paper.After the first 3 chapters the stories begin to flow together in a path that is away from ambiguity....But that's as far as I've read so I'm sure there's about to be a major turn looming ahead.
I really liked this book. It was very intriguing how, and it may be the way the book was written with segments following different characters at different intervals throughout the story line, I never sided with just one character. It seams that at some points I would be upset when Ida managed to figure out pieces of the murder, and at others I would be excited. Just my personal opinion, I guess.
Matt, I think you experienced exactly what Graham Greene wants you to experience -- one of the main things I like about this book is the ambiguity.
I was a little confused at the beginning of the novel and found times where i had to reread certain parts to assert my thoughts about the plot. As a matter of fact, i had to do this throughout the whole book pretty much. I find it truly amazing how Pinkie can care less about "carving" a man but views his virginity with ultimate care. Pinkie is shown as a character that is in control of others, whether it be Rose or any of his "men", Pinkie seems to have complete ownership over their actions. The ironic part is that the only person pinkie can't seem to negotiate with is himself. His crazy thoughts and mixed beliefs ultimately lead to his death.
It didn't take me long to get through this book it was very interesting. I was hooked on wanting to find out what was going to happen. I view Pinkie's look on his virginity as his everlooming sign that he is not yet a man. He has to deal with many things to keep the mob going smoothly. His virginity shows his lack of experiance; it reminds him everyday that he is only 17 as compared to all the other people in the mob. He has to keep his violent composure to assure himself and others that he can be that leader.
Brighton Rock was a good wholesome book all around. It had murder, suspence, lies, romance, manupulation, everything a good book should have. I automaticly clicked with Pinkie. He and I thought alike and kind off behaved alike, too. While we both could view adullt things lke decision making and how to run lives as easly as anything, somethings as simple as growing up and love could be hard for us. Pinkie had to grow up fast since he was made mob boss of his section. Growing up fast means that you miss out on your childhood, but also that you're not quite an adult and people don't see you as such. He had to make harsh decisions to show that he had what it took to be taken seriously. If that meant killing someone, "marrying" someone and manupulating friends, then thats what it had to be done. That didnt mean he was evil and such, it just meant that he had to do what ever it took. He was a misunderstood chracter. On the other hand, I hated Ida. She was so annoying and was always butting in into other people's business. No one wanted her, but she had to stick her nose where it didnt belong. While she has qualities most of us have, most of us dont go out of our way to solve murders for people we just met. She is an old woman who needs something to spice up her life so she ruins other people's lives. She is a classical example of an old person trying to be young again and making the young person's life misarable in the process.
Miriam, what about Rose?
(Also, remind me not to make you mad so you don't throw vitriol in my face.)
Rose is a weakminded character that is blinded by love or the idea of someone loving her and only her. She tricks herself into believing that Pinkie loves her even agaisnt all proof that he is just using her. I dont like weak characters thats why I didnt deem it necessary to write about her. While in the book she is a main character she is to easily led and is just... there. But I found it super hilarious whan at the end she said that she still had the record he had made for her unknowing of what it contained. Trés funny!!!
Yeah... I have a temper. My mom always says that if looks could kill... everyone would be dead. Actually a couple of people have said that... hmmm
Brighton Rock in my opinion was the best of the three books. The book got slow and confusing in spots, but in doing so help the suspense build throughout the mystery.
I found it ironic that the thing Pinkie probably detested most, marrying a *gasp* girl (ewwww cooties and babies and possibly alimony, yuck..wait did they have alimony then?), was what would have prevented Rose from testifying against him and thus saving him. Of course, he had to go and mess up a good thing by trying to get Rose to commit suicide, but I find it funny that what he was trying to run away from (and the possible reason for his licentious lifestyle), which was marriage, happened upon him anyways, and wouldn't have happened had he not killed "Fred."
Truthfully, the first few chapters were very slow and (maybe just to me) difficult to understand. However, as I got further into the book, the book became easier to read, more intriguing, and more suspensful. I loved how Greene told stories from many people's POV instead of just the main characters. It would even go into the secondary character's POV and explain their situations. The ambiguity of everything in the book is actually very intriguing to me and interesting in a book, prior to popular belief. Many people hate ambiguity but in this book, it was correctly placed, because you could never tell which person is right or not.
Brighton Rock was really surprising. At first I thought it was a little weird but I ended up really liking it because it has a twisted storyline that doesn't conform to the usual happy endings or sappy sob stories. I felt bad for Pinkie because he was desperate for people to have faith in him. Everyone that he thought was loyal started leaving him the instant after Kite died. When Rose finally came along with blind faith, I guess he didn't accept it because to the world she was nobody and therefore was nobody to him. All in all, it was a good book although the ending was a tad harsh.
This book was also another very enjoyable read. The whole book seems to be about Pinkie and his struggle to find self-confidence and security. He is extremely insecure throughout the entire book, and that's what lead to him murdering Hale. Also, throughout the book Pinkie is in search of his true inner self. he struggles intensely with the problem most teens struggle with according to psychologists---the battle between identity and role confusion. He continuously strives to find out who he is really is, all the way until his ending.
Great comments here from everyone.
Here's a question: what is Greene's point?
That crime doesn't pay?
In all seriousness, I think the book is about good and evil, more specifically good vs. evil. I consider the two main characters to be Pinkie and Ida, who are opposite of each other in terms of morality. We also see good and evil pair up when Pinkie courts Rose. It's the total opposite of Pinkie's relationship with Ida- although Rose was pure before, she quickly conforms to Pinkie's bad ways. Their relationship could be a metaphor for how good can succumb to evil. Ida also tries to influence Rose, so perhaps Greene is writing about the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil, and how the lines get blurred? Something like that.
My reaction to Brighton Rock is bitter sweet. While I thought the story was slightly long and boring, but at the same time hard to read, I stayed interested because of Greene's unique writing style. He uses an overwhelming amount of rhetorical devices, especially metaphors, to get his point across in the story. One of his most elegant, and in my opinion, best metaphors is, "Tenderness came up to the very window and looked in." A metaphor like this one can make something that would otherwise be serious, seem beautiful. As I got further into the story, I realized that it was not hard to read because of the plot or characters, because that aspect of the story was quite simple, but rather because of the complexity of Greene's style. Instead of making the characters complex, he made their thoughts and ideas complex.
I think Greene's point is to assess the true importance of the difference between Good and Evil and Right and Wrong. He proves his point by teaching his readers that what is right is not always good and what is wrong is not always evil. Pinkie is throughout the book an evil character that chooses to do the wrong thing, but Rose is the most dynamic character. She progresses from good little catholic church girl working at Snow's to developing a seemingly undying love for Pinkie and making promises to stand by his side and cover for his evil ways. She quotes near the end of the book that if they were going to damned him they had got to damn her to. Rose doesn't even realize she has changed so and doesn't see the true consequence of her love for Pinkie. He has changed her and she can never go back to be the same person she was. The very last scene in the book she is leaving the church thinking of the voice record that Pinkie made for her. She thinks this is her last piece of him left and her proof that he really did love her, but in actuality she was about to find her "worst horror of all."
Great comments from everyone in this thread. Emily, I'm glad you mentioned style -- the story line is actually quite simple; it is Green's style that adds complexity.
Did anyone else notice Greene's tendency to use colons? A sentence: another thought: something else: end sentence. Stylistically, what does that do?
I think it builds pacing. It also helps in imagery many times as well as setting the setting and keeping the sentence flowing instead of putting them all together separated with commas and a conjunction. Also, I noticed he uses the elipsis thing (...) alot.
It is a difficult story to understand, but to me it comes out to the contrasting views in morality and the nature of sin. For instance take Pinkie, who is not afraid of killing a man but will hold his virginity like a prized possession (as we all should). I feel like the story is about setting your own morals and what consequences, good or bad, will come from it. Pinkie wants to continuously be in control of others but in the end he is not even in control of the one that matters, himself.
Rachel, i agree with you on the part about Rose. She was pure but let Pinkie "brainwash" her very quickly. She conforms to his bad ways and tries to fill her missing void in life with Pinkie. THat idea leads me to one of the themes which i believe to be the fact that worldy and secular beings or ideas can't fill a very specific missing void.
I loved the contrast of the opposing characterizations of Ida and Pinkie. They seemed to deal with the same issues but in such opposite ways, yet still somehow connected. The taboo subjects kept things interesting and i loved the how metaphysical aspect of the novel that one would not generally expect from a novel about murder. i liked this book, but it left me confused with the transitions of point of view, so i had to pay close attention.
Mr. Harris, I don't deal well with ambiguity. Haha. I agree that this book was centered around morals and views. Those are two things that our generation definitely needs to place more focus on. Too many people let their morals go down the drain and along follows their life. This was a very thought provoking novel.
I agree with Matt that the way he broke up the book and made it follow the different characters definitely effected my feelings throughout the book. I did not think this was the best of the books we had to read. I thought the overall plot was good, but the details that Greene gave throughout the book confused me. I think part of that is probably cause I am not British. Even though I had to reread most of the book to get it's true meaning I thought the themes were good ones that hold true in today's world.
And Miriam you scare me.
Hmmm...I am not going to side with the majority on this one and say that overall I didn't care much for the book or its story line but I greatly appreciate the book for the social commentary that can be gleaned from the novel. This period in England's history was not well known to me, but I truly enjoyed Greene's depiction of scenery and ambiance of Brighton and its many pubs.
Justin Gee
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