bukowski. und wieder einmal frage ich mich: wie konnte das so lange an mir vorbeigehen?

I always had problems with Daniel Dennett: As I read others writing about him (i. e. his texts), I always find his contributions relevant, even insightful. when reading him myself, though, I always get the feeling he is just gibbering away. and I do not think that I am just to dumb to understand him. cause I do not even see him make a point when I know what his point is supposed to be beforehand. after some time, I consequently formed the hypothesis that maybe all the smart things that people ascribe to Dennett are just that: ascribed, interpreted into texts where they previously where not.

And it really took me until two hours ago to realize how ironic it is to think such a thing about Daniel Dennett, of all people.

taking another book off the to read stack.

I am not the type for best lines, as I am not the type for best anythings. so I won't tell you what was the best line. Neither do I know. Had few good ones, though.

but the truest line probably is this (one of the corny ones, of course):

Our achievements make us interesting, Tyler, but it is our darkness that makes us lovable.

before you scoff at me for thinking this line holds a truth, get the book, read the context, mentally substract some ounces of pathos and then read what remains.

I still do not know whether I like the novel or not. the ending is strange (to put it mildly), the characters are well-crafted (albeit boring at times). the plot is banal, hence realistic (or vice versa). the book is full of witty observations, half of which are not true. at least not in my universe. coupland's style of writing has something that is vaguely enchanting (in a matter-of-fact way). I like his attitude towards his characters and that of his protagonist (Tyler) towards the world: coupland avoids the trap of boring cynism and still writes cool and somewhat detached. post-cynism, one might call this.

still, it is not one of the books that brought me forward on the way to whereever I am heading to. and it was not such fun that I would consider reading it again. but it probably gets an award for eliciting the most contradicting judgements in years. still something.