Hello, book lovers, I hope you have a strong start to the new year and are not forgetting to read some good books. I'm still riding the wave that rose on November 1st last year when I started a book club with a few friends. We are continuing strong in 2024 and luckily we chose excellent literature so far. It's important to do a good research beforehand (without spoiling too much); there's nothing more tedious than reading bad books. Once you figure out what you love and create a system, it's easy to bring in new material for future reads.
Ernesto Sabato - The Tunnel
It should be sufficient to say that I am Juan Pablo Castel, the painter who killed Maria Iribarne. I imagine that the trial is still in everyone’s mind and that no further information about myself is necessary.
The opening line of the novel tells us everything, doesn't it? Now with that out of the question you are not reading the book wanting to know what will happen cause we know the epilogue. It's the things that lead up to it, how did it come to this tragic end that taunts us.
It is certainly one of the most interesting book beginnings out there and resembles the other book we'll discuss here, Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground, which starts with
"I am a sick man. ... I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased."
From what I understand, Sabato was indeed influenced by this Russian classic and it can be noticed in a few ways:
- Both books are told from the first person perspective and both protagonists are unreliable narrators. You can't trust them because we only get to see their point of view, and they are prone to deception and mind games. They'll even say things like, "I have no reason to lie" or "This confession is an honest statement" but knowing their character you expect them to twist things to fit image of themselves they try to present
- Both protagonists are letting their mind drive them into twisted, pathological obsession and madness.
Huan Pablo first sees Maria at his exhibition where he notices her hypnotized by the detail in his painting that everyone else seemed to overlook. No one found importance in that minor detail behind the main subject. (It was the girl looking through the window at the beach).
But that small scene meant everything for Huan Pablo - it's where he's put all his heart and his destiny in. Perhaps seeking somebody out there who would understand him, someone who would recognize him. His obsession with Maria begins the moment he sees her pulled into this small window of his soul and for the rest of the novel all his thoughts are about her.
When a person becomes obsessed with something it has the tendency to drive them insane. Especially with people who are already mentally unstable. Constantly overthinking and imagining worst possible scenarios and it gets even more chaotic when love is the source of obsession. It's a sure way to hell when the person is aggressive and thinks you owe them all the answers.
Maria does not help keeping the painter's mind at ease. At one moment she is caring and seductive with him, but soon after she is cold and detached. She plays with his emotions as if on purpose. It is an insight into her character as well. She might enjoy torturing him or, who knows, she may have even enjoyed being the victim of his madness.
“The hardness in her eyes and face disturbed me. 'Why is she so cold?' I asked myself. 'Why?' Perhaps she sensed my anxiety, my hunger to communicate, because for an instant her expression softened, and she seemed to offer a bridge between us. But I felt that it was a temporary and fragile bridge swaying high above an abyss.”
Sabato was a renowned physicist who turned to writing and painting at the second stage of his life. He was only 2 months away from his 100th birthday when he died. It's interesting that the name of the protagonist - CASTEL - means Castle; symbolically he was a complete opposite of the firm, sturdy structure of such building.
The story is beautifully written, captivating and keeps you engaged even though you know how it ends. It's not a pleasurable read but it's a great reading experience. 4.5/5
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Notes from the Underground
The two books have a lot in common so I'll be short in this one.
Actions of the story's (anti)hero without name are so outrageous that they'll make your blood boil. A deeply flawed human being prone to jealousy, hate and both superiority and inferiority complex.
You can't trust his words because of the obsessive need to come up with distorted versions of reality that soothe his ego. He'll start a sentence explaining his thoughts, then scratch it and apologize to the reader for trying to make it prettier than it actually was and so being dishonest.
That's why it's a good book to read - because the augmented (at some points even ridiculous) machinations of the protagonist's psychopathic mind may reveal a tiny glimpse of something that resonates deeply in ourselves, that needs healing.
Should we follow our mind or our heart and what happens when we try to intellectualize our way out of an already sick mind?
“I swear, gentlemen, that to be too conscious is an illness--a real thorough-going illness.”
The book is divided into two parts - the first is a dense, philosophical exploration, the second, which I found much more enjoyable and easier to read is our fallen hero (which became the model for so many characters that followed in century to come) in action and how his misery plays out in the 19th century Russian underground. 4.25/5.