Who else thinks this is total shit?

>>7640119
why did you have to?
why didnt you just read something you'd enjoy more?

>>7640121
I always finish what I start. I thought it might get better towards the end but it didn't.

>>7640125
i don't really understand not just quitting an utterly unenjoyable novel. is it pride?

>>7640126
I was trying to give it a real chance. It only took a few days to read.

>>7640135
days you will never have again.

The writing is good. The entire thing is filled with moments of depression, disconnection and also beauty.

>>7640151
Go to bed Tao.

>>7640147
True
>>7640151
He writes like a retarded fifth grader who has been huffing his mom's nail polish remover. I think he gets so much praise because he is all "look how druggy and alienated me and my generation are" without actually being too druggy and alienated. He is like valium when what you are expecting is smack, just edgy enough for housewives and suburban high school kids.

>>7640159
>contrary opinion to your own beliefs
>memez

nice

>>7640164
>He writes like a retarded fifth grader who has been huffing his mom's nail polish remover.

Just shows your lack of literary knowledge if you can't see that Lin clearly follows a tradition of writing and does so atleast to an average standard. It's carefully composed novel. It seems to me that you project your dislike for what he represents culturally onto his prose, you dislike the content and intellectualize it into an attack of his writing.

>>7640172
No. I dislike the fact that he is totally unoriginal, has no style, and his story line reads like a fragmented collection of memories from a wanna be "fucked up writer." He throws forth cliche after cliche in his descriptions but does that without a spark of interesting or compelling prose. He lacks the engaging imagery and aggressive style of someone like Kanehara. He is the Tumblr blog edition of the "literary tradition" you claim he is following.

>>7640182
It's neither totally unoriginal and there is a very distinct style that can be categorized, as i said before into literary traditions. Again these empty criticism which you just spout are just there to make your criticism of his person ''a wanna be "fucked up writer'' more sophisticated.

Then you namedrop an author, and then accuse him of tumblr-dom. This is what happens when you learn on /lit/ how to approach literature. Reddit-tier faggots like this intellectualize their purely banal dislikes which are based on sensitivites rather than careful and substantial analysis of what is written.

Can you name those cliches? And are you aware that all you try to do is push Lin into cliches yourself to denounce him?

http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/bookworm/tao-lin-taipei

Check out this conversation between Silverblatt and Lin, maybe it can provide you with some insight. But even though you claim to ''give Lin a chance'', you seem to be set on treating him as a symbolic figure of a cultural attitude you dislike, so it probably won't matter what anyone tells you.

I would expand, but i got a bus to catch. Maybe later if this thread is still up

>>7640188
see what i mean, OP? not only do you have to deal with a shitty book, you have to deal with people like this wasting more of your time arguing with you when you dislike a book.

it's just not worth it, man. read what you like.

>>7640188
I let his book speak for itself and it fell flat.
>>7640190
Yes. I see. I am in the process of deciding what to read next.

>>7640193
what are you looking into? any ideas?

>>7640194
Abe's The Ruined Map or Kawabata's Beauty and Sadness

>>7640201
you like japanese literature i see! I haven't ever read any, actually. I'm not sure I would like it from the excerpts I have read so far. What about it do you like when it's good?

>>7640203
I live in Japan so it is easy to find here. The good works of Japanese lit aren't plagued by the Western sense of morality that seems to limit what a writer can include in his plot or describe. There is a sense of freedom in the literary scene here. It is just like any other scene...there are some brilliant writers and some shit ones. Try Abe's The Woman in the Dunes, Kawabata's Snow Country, Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, Dazai's No Longer Human, or Kanehara's Snakes and Earrings. All are fairly short reads but each has something special. One might spark your interest in Japanese lit.

>>7640211
I might have to try that out, but i think the separation from western morals is exactly why i don't like it. I'm comfy with western morals, and I know it isnt worldly, but I don't really mind too much. Thank you for the suggestions though, I'll have to look into them. Arigato!

>>7640211
I would add Tanizaki to the list, I remember reading "Seven Japanese Tales" while on a summer camp. Changed my life, no joke.

since Tao Lin is really a red state Ayn Rand reading Arizona hill billy who talks like John McCain but pretends to be a nyc cool guy, ten bucks says he's voting trump, are YOU?

>>7640226
Then definitely try Murakami. He is basically a western writer.

>>7640240
Tanizaki is good. The Makioka Sisters was excellent.

>>7640119
> Complains about hype trumping substance
> Critiques a novel by calling it shit

Tao Lin is not for Trump. He lives in Taiwan, and his family are supporters of the Kuomintang, the fascist party there, who lost the election in January to the pro-democracy party.

>>7640188
lmao this. it has always been like this on this board and it will remain like this in this shithole.
That is reason why it is not able to provide anything for more knowledgable users
+ make them come back after getting enough of the moderately funny meming

>>7640119
It was alright.
I liked it more towards the end.

Too bad warosu is down, this thread with almost this exact same picture was here for the last two weeks.

>>7640190
There is a difference between calling a book bad and not liking it.

>>7640193
"I let this book speak for itself and it fell flat"

As long as you realize that if "letting a book speak for itself" means that however you uncritically feel about a book after you finish it, you're just talking about a preference which says more about you than it does the book.

>>7640406
When reasonable posters like the one you are replying to post and then others actually respond to them about a work and ignore the "it's shit" etc., some actual discussion and insight occasionally happens on lit.

>>7640119
I really like Tao Lin, actually, but I couldn't get through Taipei. I got about halfway and then decided it was pointless self-torture. I recommend Eee eeeee eee, though - that one's great.

When Tao Lin is good, he's like the Kevin Smith of the avant-garde - it's mind bending, surreal stuff about goofy losers, and that's what makes it fun

Taipei had none of that - it was a bland exercise in form.

There are 13 posters in this thread.

>>7640783
There are 15 now.

>>7640119
Ending sucked but it was a enjoyable read for myself

I'd encourage to watch mumblecore alot of the book is based on that

Dubs/Danny/Other asian guy who shows up less why are you shilling for tao bois?

File: tao.jpg (21KB, 475x357px) Image search: [Google]

21KB, 475x357px

>>7640965
I dont knpw what you are are talking about. ;']

>>7640793
18 now

Received direct sunlight into & around my asshole for the first time in years, maybe decades, yesterday

>>7641236
21 now :+)

Will this guy be considered a classic in a distant future?

>>7640780
Eee eeeeee eee is kindergarten level avant garde. I can see it being a fun read if you're high or drunk but other than that it's just terrible.

>>7640164

>he STILL thinks Tao Lin is trying to write Catcher in the Rye

you seriously need to read more books that aren't classics or postmodern

>>7640182
Can you provide some examples of these cliches, please?

>>7641139
Father can you hear me? ;)

>>7640164
>I think he gets so much praise
when did tao lin ever get praise? he's a hack who has to spam 4chan to get sales, he's a loser just like that fucking dweeb youtube guy who built his channel off spamming /mu/

>>7640774
>however you uncritically feel about a book after you finish it, you're just talking about a preference which says more about you than it does the book.

Yes but it's more complicated than that. People are not islands, they are products of their experiences. In the case of literature they are the products of their reading. Readers are more like spiders on a web, the big, autonomous boss, but limited to a plane, however complex. When you say "preference" it sounds like you are saying "all harsh reviews are merely reflections on the reader's inability to understand the work." I believe a better response would be "a harsh review is a product of a book not fitting the reader's web of texts and understanding." And beside that point, when you say "preference" in the context of dislike, you are also implying the opposite--that when X likes the book, this "says more about X than it does the book." Which could apply to yourself, seeing as you seem to defend Taipei.

>>7640119
I hate when the author's name is bigger than the title, i wish capitalism could die so we could all write anonymously

>>7642263
or as big as

>>7642239
No, I mean that saying it sucks and "letting a work speak for itself" are not good reasons to say something is bad. If you can articulate why you think something is bad, that's fine, but the other poster was essentially saying that you shouldn't need to critically look at what the work was trying to say or what the context of the work is to determine whether it was good or not.

If you want to dislike a book, that's fine, you can do that for any reason and I won't say shit. But if you're going to call a book bad, you should be prepared to say why you think so, and you can be wrong about why you think so.

Gosh father dubs why do you have to post two threads within such a short period of time?

>>7643057
You mean besides him saying that it lacked style and originality?

>>7643354

wait what Taipei is hyper-stylized. its style is probably the reason why it's so polarizing. that, or people expect 1. Catcher in the Rye For The Internet Generation (probably from the BEE blurb) or 2. Epic Postmodern Sincere Alternative Literature Puzzle

>>7640211
>Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki
This is like his shittiest book though. Or maybe you are reading it in Japanese and it's just the English translation which is shitty.

>>7641644
Not that guy, but I only partially agree. If the novel was the length of Shoplifting, that is, with all the moose/alien/George Bush/dolphin/hamster/bear shit cut out, it would be a pretty good novel. The whole thing about him hating the shit out of Orlando and trying to get to New York as though it would make him happy, as well as the part where he sees Batman Begins with a friend and gets confused as to whether it was supposed to be ironic or sincere but his friend is too ignorant to consider his ideas

if dubs tao lin needs to go to bed

>>7640406
>Implying that this board devoted to literature hasn't produced some of the sharpest and most inventive literary criticism I’ve read online, in threads that improvised their brilliance then disappeared.

>>7640119
>>7640119
i didn't mind it. it has some radiant passages scattered about.

>>7643441
Even the wacky animal stuff could've worked if he actually did anything interesting with it. The whole thing just seemed hollow and one dimensional. Like the musings of a boring underachieving stoner who occasionally has psychotic or schizoid thoughts to distract himself from his ennui.

If there's one word I'd use to describe Tao Lin's style and thematic inclinations overall it'd be "underwhelming".

>Anyone else think Tao Lin is a shit writer?
everyone here thinks that and you know it. have fun with your echo chamber thread.

for what it's worth, i really liked it. i feel like it highlights something profound that other writers fail to see.

>>7643444
oh shi-