From Patricia Half Blood Blues Half heartedly I read up to page 56.The language is a barrier, it won’t let me in. I can’t get the rhythm of this “rap” dialogue. The only thing sticking in my head is a block of musicians’ names. They set the scene along with the suggestion that this music was enjoyed by sections of German society. By the time I get to page 59 I am totally confused about the arrest of H.F. I had to re-read from the beginning. Then I began to understand how the film maker is manipulating the truth. Although truth, like beauty, may be in the eyes of the beholder I begin to slip into the language. The story is good, but the terminology is priceless, imaginative, pure poetry: “Lets ankle” “She was a Venus, man, real prime rib” The soul of sexiness in the phrases: “Rubbing up against jazz in your tadpole years” “Yours had a chassis made you want to buy the whole damn car” The symbols and how we look for patterns and links to events i.e. the drinking of milk at the time of the arrest and then the noticeable lack of milk at the reunion. Was the Hagenbeck Zoo real? This is the scary face of mankind. Then, at the end of the tale, the mention of the sky. The one thing we can all look to, and share, beyond human intervention.
I found some of this book difficult to read because of the raw emotions expressed by Sid in particular.He was such a bitter jealous character and his narration of the story permeated the story. The way the story jumped around was confusing at times. I was surprised by the fact that there was a black population in Germany pre 1939 and that there seemed to be real understanding of the position of the Afro Americans in the band.An interesting book but not one which I would read again too much treachery and betrayal.
From Patricia
ReplyDeleteHalf Blood Blues
Half heartedly I read up to page 56.The language is a barrier, it won’t let me in. I can’t get the rhythm of this “rap” dialogue. The only thing sticking in my head is a block of musicians’ names. They set the scene along with the suggestion that this music was enjoyed by sections of German society.
By the time I get to page 59 I am totally confused about the arrest of H.F.
I had to re-read from the beginning. Then I began to understand how the film maker is manipulating the truth. Although truth, like beauty, may be in the eyes of the beholder
I begin to slip into the language. The story is good, but the terminology is priceless, imaginative, pure poetry:
“Lets ankle”
“She was a Venus, man, real prime rib”
The soul of sexiness in the phrases:
“Rubbing up against jazz in your tadpole years”
“Yours had a chassis made you want to buy the whole damn car”
The symbols and how we look for patterns and links to events i.e. the drinking of milk at the time of the arrest and then the noticeable lack of milk at the reunion.
Was the Hagenbeck Zoo real? This is the scary face of mankind.
Then, at the end of the tale, the mention of the sky. The one thing we can all look to, and share, beyond human intervention.
I found some of this book difficult to read because of the raw emotions expressed by Sid in particular.He was such a bitter jealous character and his narration of the story permeated the story. The way the story jumped around was confusing at times.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by the fact that there was a black population in Germany pre 1939 and that there seemed to be real understanding of the position of the Afro Americans in the band.An interesting book but not one which I would read again too much treachery and betrayal.