2 ms·
A great novel by one of my favorite authors -- I think the way to understand Tao is he is simply trying to be as 100% purely honest as possible, to really grapp
by dilap 3y ago
A great novel by one of my favorite authors -- I think the way to understand Tao is he is simply trying to be as 100% purely honest as possible, to really grapple with what it means to be alive, in each and every tedious (or awkward or tender or...) moment. But he's doing that from the perspective of someone who never managed to enter into & find satisfaction in all the various social structures that most people use to find meaning in their lives.
(I think there is increasingly an epidemic of people like this this, and you could speculate as to why, e.g. maybe something about breakdown of social structures, or maybe something about unhealthy environments creating autism/autistic-like traits, or maybe dot dot dot -- lots of a possibilities.)
Anyway, no author I have ever read matches the reality I myself have personally seen and experienced as closely as Tao Lin. I think if you're fortunate enough to not be in that kind of reality, Tao's books must seem strange and pointless. But if you are in that kind of reality, or have experienced, or a neighboring one -- they are magnificent. (Every book is after all ultimately a collaboration between the author and the reader...)
- tsunamifury 3y agoI took it more as the strange pointlessness of the children of the global elite. They have enough to survive, be hip, hang out, but no motivation to do anything with it. It’s the modern problem of the wealthy’s progeny — but unlike the 1800s there is no social structure for them to fit into. They want to be “normal” but don’t need to do the work or be a part of the normal working/family world. So they are adrift in places like Brooklyn.
- kranke155 3y agoPost scarcity problems. Nothing we do anymore in many western societies has life and death stakes.