Jerusalem General

>>8601852
Well, I like it. You might well hate it. It all revolves around Northampton, which is to Moore what Dublin was to Joyce - he believes it to be the historical, cultural and mystical center of Britain.

There IS a lot of ornate description of things like streets and shop counters; the book plays off Blake's idea of "Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant lands", i.e. the visionary and the divine manifesting through the mundane. The angel stuff ties in to that as well.

It sounds like Connor tapped out somewhere in the first volume; the second one (Mansoul) is a bit more straightforwardly structured.

Basically it's a weird and deeply personal book that people are going to have varied reactions to. There's definitely some literary worth there, but proceed at your own discretion.

>>8601908
Thanks for this, I'll prob give it a shot

>>8601852
Many people are going to react badly to Jerusalem because they would expect a lighter read -- the language is too dense and elaborate for casual readers but not concerned or affected enough for snobs -- and many will be overly indulgent simply because they like Moore. There is no reason to trust anyone's review on this, so I'm not going to write one... let's say that there are worse things to be than ambivalent when going into these 1200 pages. the Joyce comparisons must have come too easily to reviewers in reference to the scope and this is not Ulysses -- thankfully, since there is no point in writing another one, but that will not to stop those expecting Ulysses from running blind into disappointment. Links to Joyce, not Joycean technique. If you knew Moore from comic books, you might prefer to pick up his first novel instead and see whether you trust him enough for it to dedicate time to his more ambitious and unedited form.

Also, the cover is very appropriate -- if you can't get past it, don't.

>>8601852
it's fucking garbage

>>8602130
Okay... care to elaborate?

>>8601852
It's good desu but the descriptions really can be too much.

Moore is a good writer. The prose is good and the ideas are wonderful. He tends to be pretty wordy and spends a lot of time explaining things over and over but many of those things are so big in the novel that you kind of need the repeat. In the first 350 pages there are a lot of descriptions of the same bits of the town told by different characters and that makes the first quarter of the book a slog, you can skip pages in those first 350 and lose nothing. He basically wrote a philosophical novel based on psychogeography. I understand that this could put people off but it really picks up around 370.

His characters are really great though. Everyone from the elderly black man in 19th century England to the mother who loses a child to Asmodeus himself is given a unique treatment so well done that just never feel a character is being explained to me so much as their history just unfolds in their daily life. Very organic.

If it continues the way it is (I'm a little over halfway) then ill give it a VERY solid 4 out of 5. If it gets better which I suspect it will I may very well give it the fifth star. I'm enjoying it very much and don't regret the purchase at all.

For full disclosure though, I'm a fanboy. I bought the hardcover and the paperback.

>>8603783
>elderly black man in 19th century England
Btw is "Amazing Grace" generally known by anglophones, or is it more of a black/gospel thing?