Recent comments in /f/books

orincoro t1_jeg2ncr wrote

F-451 is not specifically anti-fascist (though it does take place in an authoritarian future world) and probably a lot like 1984, it is often cited by far right propagandists who would co-opt the message of anti-censorship and make the case that the post-literary future it presents is the product of some derivation of Marxism. There may be some further ammunition in the book for this take, given that the “firemen” of this future are, according to the legend they subscribe to, eliminating all non-mainstream culture as a means of explicitly of ending class-conflict. This may lead some unimaginative people to conclude that it’s really a tract against socialism, which it isn’t.

However, it’s worth noting that the form of censorship against which the book was implicitly reacting was McCarthyism, and it bears further noting that while the book is of course about censorship on its face, its more animating motivation is probably as a criticism of all mass consumer culture, particularly television and advertising.

I imagine somebody is co-opting it for the same reason anything is co-opted in this way. Young people are told this is an important book.

Fuck neo Nazis indeed sir.

24

Current_Argument4876 t1_jeg1j6b wrote

I agree with this! My husband was an exclusively non-fiction reader, history and political science books. So when we started reading fiction, he enjoyed A Game of Thrones (based off War of the Roses) and Dune (tons of political intrigue) and that helped him start the journey and he’s branched out from there.

3

Choice_Mistake759 t1_jefzzbw wrote

>can get through it without having to think or visualize a lot.

You do not actually have to visualize fiction. I think it is a bit weird you can read non fiction without thinking, if anything I would think non fiction requires even more thinking than fiction. some non fiction actually requires visualizing to understand properly.

Can you give some examples of that non fiction which worked for you and the fiction which did not?

6

Tea_4_thee t1_jefzk01 wrote

Purple prose doesn’t just mean prose that is very descriptive and verbose, purple prose is when the prose is so verbose and flowery that it becomes impossible to actually understand what’s being said. The example you listed isn’t purple prose because it is not impossible to understand the story.

4

the_honest_liar t1_jefz652 wrote

Maybe try fiction books that are in a similar subject area to non-fiction books you enjoy. If you like history read historical fiction, if you like travel books read a book set in a place you've read about. If you're sort of familiar with the setting/background that could be less you have to visualize.

It's sort of backwards from my usual suggestion, but if there's a movie try watching that first. Then read the book and your brain will probably automatically think about the movie descriptions and characters, so it might be easier to get in to.

12

InvisibleSpaceVamp t1_jefy5bq wrote

Why is it a problem that different authors decide to portray fictional beings in different ways? Reminds me of the "real vampires don't sparkle" comments from the good old Twilight days. Sure, it was silly, but real vampires don't exist and you can take all the liberties you want when writing them. Same goes for zombies.

I think all the problems you mentioned are not specific to zombie novels, I have come across unrealistic behavior (in my opinion, based on my personal experience) in pretty much every genre I read. It's not a zombie problem, it's a bad writing problem.

The same can be said about not explaining how a zombie outbreak really happened. That's only an issue when the writing is bad. With good writing, the lack of knowledge might be chosen on purpose. Like, by having a narrator who is not an all knowing scientist but a regular person who has to go by whatever the government chose to leak to the media.

​

> Even though zombie fiction has become more and more popular over the years,

Really? I was under the impression that the zombie trend has slowed down significantly. Is there anything new I should read? I think The girl with all the gifts was the last one I read in the genre.

15

4851205 t1_jefx4ob wrote

I didn’t love it either and this is the book I use as an example for falling short of expectations. I HATED the way the main character was written. Even on the first page I was immediately rolling my eyes. It’s an unpopular opinion since the book gets so much praise but it just didn’t do it for me

3