Present Containing Books Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust
| Title | : | Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust |
| Author | : | Nathanael West |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 185 pages |
| Published | : | June 1st 1969 by New Directions Publishing Corporation (NY) (first published 1939) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics. Literature. Novels. American |
Nathanael West
Paperback | Pages: 185 pages Rating: 3.91 | 9134 Users | 520 Reviews
Narration Concering Books Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust
Miss Lonelyhearts Miss Lonelyhearts was a newspaper reporter, so named because he had been assigned to write the agony column, to answer the letters from Desperate, Sick-of-It-All, Disillusioned. A joke at first; but then he was caught up, terrifyingly, in a vision of suffering, and he sought a way out, turning first here, then there—Art, Sex, Religion. Shrike, the cynical editor, the friend and enemy, compulsively destroyed each of his friend’s gestures toward idealism. Together, in the city’s dim underworld, Shrike and Miss Lonelyhearts turn round and round in a loathsome dance, unresolvable, hating until death… The Day of the Locust To Hollywood comes Tod Hackett, hoping for a career in scene designing, but he finds the way hard and falls in with others—extras, technicians, old vaudeville hands—who are also in difficulty. Around him he sees the great mass of inland Americans who have retired to California in expectation of health and ease. But boredom consumes them, their own emptiness maddens them; they search out any abnormality in their lust for excitement—drugs, perversion, crime. In the end only blood will serve; unreasoned, undirected violence. The day of the locust is at hand…Be Specific About Books During Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust
| Original Title: | Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust |
| ISBN: | 0811202151 (ISBN13: 9780811202152) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Containing Books Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust
Ratings: 3.91 From 9134 Users | 520 ReviewsWrite Up Containing Books Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust
After recently having read Henry Miller's Plexus, and now Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts, it occurs to me that 1930s America is as foreign to me as a colony on one of Jupiter's moons. I also believe there is a contemporary effort by some to portray the past in terms of today, with the objective of pointing out that people from then were just like people today. In the sense that they had the same emotional urges and drives, I might agree; but when factoring in the pressure of conformity andAccording to the back cover: "Nathanael West died almost unknown in 1940" - fairly young in a car crash. "Miss Lonelyhearts" is about a newspaper columnist who gets emotionally sucked into the dilemmas of the people who write in to him. A novel of conscience, set in an often conscienceless profession. "The Day of the Locust" is a critique of Hollywood - later made into a Hollywood movie. I'm 'reviewing' his 4 novels here out of my usual alphabetical order that I'm working thru my lit section in
Robert Louis Stevenson prepared my 3rd grade mind and pushed the limits of my vocabulary. Soon I found Dickens, Dumas and Defoe. But, it was comic books, Mad and Nathaniel West that launched my interest in mid 50s fiction. West wrote only four novels all of which came before the wonderful Terry Southern crazy books. Probably if theres a genre it would include John Kennedy Tooles Confederacy of Dunces. Some call these guys books black humor. Hallucinatory and hilarious!
2-in-1. This book is two stories in one. The broken heart on the front of the book makes fits both stories perfectly. These stories wont make you cry but they will make you question why you started reading the book. The books slowly drain all the joy and happiness out of you one page at a time. Like most readers I try to connect with the characters in someway but in these that leads you to question the society we live in. Most characters are not a joy to read about. They have a bleak look at
To be honest, I was expecting something lighter. Here was the hook: Miss Lonelyhearts, an advice columnist in the early 30s, is really a man. Sounds like a role for Jimmy Stewart at his gosh-darned chirpiest, doesnt it? But the first few pages put a different image in mind it was Pottersville without benefit of George Bailey. The letters in to Miss Lonelyhearts were just so bleak. Of course, it was a time when deprivations were de rigueur. Those lacking money, health, or wedded bliss had very
I picked this book out years ago at The Book Thing in Baltimore because I thought the cover looked charming. I still see it all the time in indie bookstores. If you look at its Goodreads reviews, you'll see that they are overwhelmingly positive; Nathanael West definitely has a bit of a cult following. BUT if you look a little closer, you'll realize that most of these 4- and 5-star reviews are made by intellectual-looking white men. You know the type. I think this says a lot about what sort of
I really enjoyed "The Day of the Locusts." Any book that features a drunk dwarf in the first ten pages is ok by me. His clean, realistic style, crossing into deep psychological insight, makes me wonder what else Mr. West would have written had he not bit the bullet so early."Miss Lonelyhearts" didn't do as much for me, I must admit. Maybe I should read it again. Anyway, add Mr. West to the list of "why isn't this guy more popular?" authors. Mr. West, meet Mr. Sherwood Anderson.
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