cynicalspacecactus t1_iui0vla wrote on October 31, 2022 at 2:16 PM

Reply to comment by ButterflyAttack in Revealed: TE Lawrence felt ‘bitter shame’ over UK’s false promises of Arab self rule by Aboveground_Plush

I can hardly believe that someone who has actually read the unabridged book in print to have not found much of the book tedious. Much of the 700+ page text is hard to track as names for Arab persons TE encountered are introduced throughout the book but the ones that have already been introduced are not kept constant. Long passages are then composed of flowery descriptions of high level descriptions of conversations, between persons referred to with non-constant names.

ButterflyAttack t1_iuif42q wrote on October 31, 2022 at 3:55 PM

I've actually read it several times. Certainly I preferred to return to some parts more than others but I didn't find it at all tedious. TBF I also really like Moby Dick, which many people seem to feel is unreadable - so maybe I'm something of an outlier.

cynicalspacecactus t1_iuiig5x wrote on October 31, 2022 at 4:17 PM

Fair enough. I read it halfway twice before getting through it from the beginning on the third attempt. It is a beautifully written book and I dont think I've ever read a work written with a similar character, even if it did sometimes have a hard time holding my focus.