Sunday, April 8, 2012

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane.

     This has got to be the most God forsaken book I have ever read.  I mean it, I absolutely positively cannot stand this book.  I can't even grasp what the author was trying to do with it.  It was a nice idea you know, reveal the ugliness of war and all but he did it so horribly.  I honestly wanted to shoot myself while reading this book. 
     I can't stand how he calls the main character so many different names.  The youth, Fleming, Henry, Henry Fleming.  It took me a few chapters just to get all the names straight.  It my class several chapters just realize who the main character was due to the many names. 
     Not to mention the way he wrote the bloody story.  It was as if he took many thoughts surrounding the story and smashed them together.  I couldn't tell where he was going with it half the time.  At first Henry is this brave young man and then he's freaking out and then he's back to being brave.  It's as if the author himself wasn't sure where he was going with it.

4 comments:

  1. I hated it too.... though I hated All Quiet on the Western Front even more. But then I had to read THAT in German...

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  2. I remember reading "The Red Badge of Courage" several years ago. I remember it being very difficult for me to follow. Though, I can't name you anything from it.

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  3. Yea, very tough book. I agree with your assessment of it. I sometimes wonder if it is a sort of time thing that makes it difficult to read today, or if it was always a pain to read.

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  4. Don't know how hard it will be to find this book, but it is a fantastic read and a great resource in your other life.... it is called "My Horses, My Teachers" by Alois Podhajsky. I learned alot. Alot.

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