I did something today that I have not done in a while. That is, I read a book cover to cover in one day. Today, the book was Sideways, by Rex Pickett. Now, this book was made into a movie, one I had seen quite some time ago when it first came out. Normally, I have a fairly rigid rule against reading the book after seeing the movie, because, while the book is indeed always better, the movie usually ruins your unique ability to see the reality written within a book.
Here, though I had the usual problem as seeing the protagonist as Paul Giamatti, there was no doubt that the book affected me in a way the movie couldn't. In the movie, you were given insight into the essential angst of the protagonist's existence. While reading the book, there were passages where it tugged at your stomach as if you were taking the Xanax.
Maybe this is incredibly angsty of me, but there was something very primal in the empathy I felt. I guess it's the feeling of not knowing your next turn, especially with your love life. But in retrospect, feeling that in college has a degree of normalcy, whereas in middle age, it can be devastatingly depressing. But the empathy does indeed make the book that much more alive to me. Personally, I believe those sorts of feelings of confusion and forked roads are fairly universal. Therefore, the ability to relate to and enjoy this book should be similarly universal.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A healthy dose of Roleplaying Goodness. An unhealthy dose of a college student's bullshit.
2 comments:
1. xanax doesnt really tug. it melts edges.
2. how did you know that middle age is devastatingly depressing? (It is by the way.)
I was not referring to the Xanax tugging, more that the book evoked an empathetic response that tugged at me. The Xanax referred to the meds of the book's protagonist.
As for the second bit...well, I would definitely imagine such uncertainty and lack of direction to be depressing at a later point in life. Can't say I have any personal experience beyond age 20.
Post a Comment