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Reader discussion: Clarissa
Public reader discussion about Clarissa by Samuel Richardson.
What are your thoughts on Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland?
By followsForest60
Honestly, I mostly struggled with the book’s themes. I could see what it was trying to say about modern life, but the tone just didn’t work for me, and I can’t tell if I’m missing something or if it’s just not clicking. The ending especially felt kinda forced to me, like it didn’t fit.
It also felt like the author contradicted himself a bunch, though maybe that’s on me for misunderstanding. On top of that, I thought the characters were pretty bland overall, and the way things were written really annoyed me for some reason—Karen in particular. I don’t feel like there was much growth for anyone until the last few chapters, and maybe that was meant to be that way. So yeah, I’m curious what other people thought.
Obviously we are on this sub and don't believe in banning books. But if through some fluke you could ban just one book, what would it be?
By notebookPencil
At first I was thinking about maybe banning Clarissa or The History of a Young Lady, and I even considered Lolita for a bit, just because I’m totally over hearing the most off-the-wall takes about it (and about Nabokov too). Grapes of Wrath made the list for me as well. And honestly, a few months ago I tried to read Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers and ended up with a really firm dislike for it—I couldn’t finish because of how much it pushes anti-Semitic and classist stuff.
But if I had to pick one thing to ban, I think it’d be The Fountainhead. I feel like it’s past its “heyday,” kind of like the author. It’s a pretty ridiculous story and I don’t think it has any real literary value—like, even some random cheap romance from a thrift store is probably better written. I also don’t really hear younger people talking about it, which feels like a good sign… or maybe I’m just not paying attention. Either way, better safe than sorry.
So what would you ban, and why?
In 2024 I want to read (or begin reading) Clarissa and Tale of Genji
By acornzenith
I’m kind of freaked out by the first one. Like, it’s supposedly the longest novel ever written in English (and yeah, I don’t really want to argue about the details—it’s still insanely long). Even just skimming around and hitting random sections feels like it’s not going to be a quick, easy read at all.
Genji seems way more doable since the translations are in modern English, but it still feels pretty intimidating.
Also, I want to read more versions of Don Quixote too.
So—has anyone here read Clarissa and/or Genji?
MY DEATH by Lisa Tuttle
By acornzenith
I read this pretty quick (like in a couple days), and I’m honestly not sure why people online were hyping it up so much. They kept calling it “uncanny,” “unpredictable,” “moving,” and “surprising,” but to me it mostly fell flat.
It read really easily, I’ll give it that, but I was under a third of the way through before I could tell what the whole “and then I woke up” thing was going to be. I had the basic setup, even if I couldn’t see exactly how it would play out yet.
What made me roll my eyes was this whole situation where the main character is suddenly asked to take other people sailing. The boat is there, she’s able to sail it all by herself, and there’s even a rubber dinghy on it. Fine. But she hasn’t looked at or thought about the boat in two years, and somehow the marina owner is just taking care of it the whole time, perfectly ready to go, even though nobody asked.
I mean… in real life, getting anyone to maintain your boat the way you want is ridiculously hard. If you show up with zero notice and just ask, “Is my boat ready?” you’d get laughed out of the place. Hull, rigging, sails, all the deck stuff, lines, steering, electrics, motor, safety gear, bilge, fuel system—the list goes on. And yet she just swings by and they’re out on the water. Super convenient.
There are also little “gotchas” that felt like they’d be more fun if they weren’t so obvious. Like the narrator brings up reading MRS DALLOWAY three times, and there’s a character named Clarissa (so… you know). Then there’s a photo of Clarissa’s mom meeting someone and it turns out to be Virginia Woolf, and the mom tried to kill herself by… jumping out a window. Same vibe as Septimus from MRS DALLOWAY. It’s not that I hate references, I just didn’t find them that rewarding.
And the ending has some kind of awkward geographic/logistical thing going on too, but it’s basically ignored. Maybe it’s meant to feel mysterious or magical, but I have no idea.
Overall, if they tightened it and made it way more focused, I think it’d work better as a short story. As a roughly 100-page novella, though, it left me kinda underwhelmed.