Atonement (Ep 4.03)

I am writing this post expecting not to write for a while. Hope you continue reading the blog - who knows when I will get to read another book! Meanwhile, do send me suggestions on what to read next!

In the Hobbit, the Sofa and Digger Stiles, Rory is apparently seen reading the Atonement. (I have not been able to confirm this, so readers, please let me know the details of the scene if you happen see the episode). Atonement is one of my all time favourite novels, and it just so happened that it was lying around on my shelf when I ran out of books to read.

A Booker prize winner, a beautifully-turned-into movie and Ian McEwan's most successful to date, I have seen this book on most of my fellow readers' bookshelves. Shelfari itself has more than 1000 reviews and 17,000 readers, making it one of the most discussed books on the internet. So I guess it means I need not discuss it much - except in the context of Gilmore Girls.

Atonement is one of the newest books read/mentioned on Gilmore Girls, with the book being released in 2001 and the episode in 2003. It achieved almost immediate cult status, and Rory definitely looks like someone who would pick up a book like this, with its intense drama, complex
personalities and historic setting. It is one of the few World War-era novels in Rory's collection and the lead character of Briony is so "confused" yet talented that Rory probably couldn't help but connect with the character.

I definitely recommend anyone who hasn't read the book yet to pick it up, for its believable seriousness, and also catch the movie right after. It is probably one of the few instances where a movie does justice to the beauty of the book (the Twilight series a case in point!).

The Bell Jar (Ep 4.11)

My pre-pregnancy hormones are already making me depressed; and then I go and pick up the Bell Jar! The novel is great, and probably not depressing to normal souls - but I absolutely totally began to relate to the suicidal, career-confused yet reasonably "successful" heroine who is facing an early mid life crisis. I have been there myself - a successful internship in a to-die-for corporate, yet not belonging there one bit. The desire to do something else, when that "else" will never likely be properly defined. Can anyone blame me for getting the blues?

Not surprisingly, both Rory's and Lorelai's relationship to the book is also through thoughts of depression.

Rory: You’re gonna starve to death.
Lorelai: Well fine, I will starve to death, because I’m not going to reward bad behavior…
Rory: Mom, you have to do something.
Lorelai: I need a suggestion.
Rory: Have you read The Bell Jar?
Lorelai: Huh! Not funny!

Lorelai and Luke are fighting in episode In the Clamor and the Clangor and Rory is commenting on how Lorelai will starve to death if she doesn't go eat at Luke's sometime soon. Rory suggests reading the Bell Jar as a way to drive one to death (suicide), thanks to the depressing ramblings in the novel.

The book is also mentioned in the episode Breakup Part 2 in season 1, where Lorelai mentions that Rory might as well stay home and read the The Bell Jar rather than going to a Chilton party. She claims both are equally depressing.

The novel is semi autobiographical, based on Sylvia Plath's suicidal attempt as a student and her subsequent recovery. She later married a fellow poet, Ted Hughes and moved to England. She battled depression for several years, wrote this only novel, and committed suicide at the age of 30 by carbon monoxide poisoning. 

Metamorphosis (Ep 1.10)

Now, this was a book very easy to finish! Thin and simple, and existentialist, just the way I like it.

Franz Kafka is mentioned several times in Gilmore Girls (I guess it is bound to be, with ambiguity and surrealism the favourite pastimes of the Girls). I had seen Kafka's birth home in Prague from the outside and wondered what the heck the long queue was for. With the Girls constantly praising him, I figured it was time to read a Kafka.

Kafka is mentioned at least thrice in Gilmore Girls, with Metamorphosis mentioned in Forgiveness and Stuff in season 1, the Trial in season 4 and Kafka himself mentioned in season 3 during Jess and Paris' famous argument.

In ep 1.10, Rory had just started dating Dean and buys him the book as a gift.
Rory: ... a book for Dean,
Lane: You got Dean a book?
Rory: Yeah, Metamorphosis.
Lane: Metamorphosis!?
Rory: It's Kafka.
Lane: Very romantic.

I am not surprised that Lane is surprised and thinks she should just buy a girlie gift like something that says "I dig you, baby". But then Rory is, well, Rory.

Metamorphosis is the story of how the hero, Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman and sole earner for the family, wakes up to find himself turned into a monstrous insect (I visualised it to be a cockroach for some reason) and how he is suddenly ostracised from society and his "loving" family. It is simply the plight of the human life. I loved the concept and adored the simplicity of the language. I am sure some charm was lost in translation (it was originally written in German), but you can still see how simple and logical Kafka's thoughts were. The existentialist crisis is something we all live with (but refuse to talk about) and it was nice to see it represented in a simple manner across the pages of a famous short story. Recommended for anyone who has been scared by the term Kafkaesque - it's not as scary as it sounds!

On The Road (Ep 2.16)

I apologise for not being regular on the blog, but my reading time has been recently curtailed due to a horrendous mix of work, pregnancy and midwife appointments.

I started reading Jack Kerouac's On the Road way back in February, and finally got around to finishing it in July (awww, just 5 months of hibernation!). Ironically, it was also one of the more interesting "cult classics" I have read lately. I recommend all escapists to read it at least once as the road trip that Sal Paradise (the author's persona itself) and Dean Moriarty (the catalyst to the road trip) undertake is the ultimate in material escapism. As you might have guessed by now, the book is all about a road trip that Sal undertakes (most likely Jack Kerouac too) across the USA and Mexico. Wikipedia has an interesting map of his cross-country trips.

The book is such a classic, and Kerouac such an icon, that the book and author are mentioned at least twice in Gilmore Girls (as far as I know) and also in another book I read recently - The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. In the pilot episode (which I have never managed to catch as I always miss the beginning of reruns), Lorelai and Joey (a guy who tries to hit on her) has this conversation:

JOEY: Yeah, I’ve never been here before. Just passing through on my way to Hartford.
LORELAI: You’re a regular Jack Kerouac.

As always, Jack Kerouac is the ultimate in road trip symbolism.

In There's The Rub, an episode I adore, here goes a conversation (argument) between Jess, Rory and Paris:

PARIS: Well it's true. The Beats' writing was completely self-indulgent. I have 1 word for Jack Kerouac: Edit.
JESS: It was not self-indulgent, The Beats believed in shocking people, stirring things up.
PARIS: They believed in drugs, booze, and petty crime.
RORY: Well, then you could say that they exposed you to a world that you wouldn't have otherwise known. Isn't that what great writing is all about?
RORY: That was not great writing. It was the National Enquirer of the 50's.
JESS: You're cracked.
PARIS: Typical guy response. Worship Kerouac and Bukowski, god forbid you pick up anything by Jane Austin.

The Beat Generation is a group of American writers who were popular in the 1950s, and the beat culture dealt with drugs, sexuality, eastern philosophy and of course, road trips. Jack Kerouac was perhaps the most famous of the beatnik era - and hence the reference. Bukowski is sometimes included in the list, but not considered a strong member.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Ep 2.21)

Here is another book alluded to in Lorelai's Graduation Day. It is the book that Jess is reading in Washington Sq Park when Rory visits him in New York. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is a book by Tom Wolfe that epitomizes the hippie culture of the 1960s. The author has used a mix of  journalism and historical perspective to write a true-blue book on Ken Kesey's (author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) bus trip filled with LSD, day-glo signs and rock music (The Grateful Dead rode in the bus). The very beginning of the psychedelic movement that created a very unique 60s/70s.

The book is quite intense, set in long monologues and descriptions which makes it quite difficult to read in one sitting - but it is perhaps the only first-hand reminder the new generation has of what an impact the psychedelic movement (and LSD!) had back in those days. It makes us wonder what our parents felt back in those days - they either loved it or hated it - there couldn't have been a middle path. Something I need to ask my parents when I meet them next.

Curiosity aside, the book features real-life anecdotes on some icons in literature and music. The Beatles, Neal Cassidy, Hells Angels, Jack Kerouac, Hunter Thompson, Aldous Huxley, The Velvet Underground, all feature in the book as real, live, breathing people, which lends the book an almost biographical air. I am reading Jack Kerouac's On The Road now, and his presence in the book was interesting - I suddenly placed together his journey with Neal Cassady (aka Dean Moriarty) in context and managed to find some sense from all the chaos of road trips, buses, LSD, wild parties and group sex.

A must read for anyone remotely interested in the real history of the psychedelic movement - definitely recommended before you decide to love (or hate) it.

The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Ep 3.1)

Season 3 is one of my favourite seasons of Gilmore Girls -  the romance between Rory and Jess the sweetest thing that happened on TV - so I am a bit partial to the books mentioned in it. It helps that I have seen each episode again and again in reruns as well!

I had high hopes for this book, what with there being a mother-daughter solidarity theme in it. A lot of inspirational material for the Girls I thought. But to be honest, I was a bit disappointed. I could feel no spirit, no parallels that got transmitted from the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to the Gilmore Girls. It was a book more about girl gangs and Louisiana food than anything else. I didn't feel any sense of camaraderie or even that of solidarity, reading through the 500 odd pages. The Girls have more emotion, sensitivity and real-life problems than the duo mentioned in the book. But I would still pick up the movie DVD for its portrayal of southern USA (having lived briefly in Arkansas myself) and, for, just plain-old curiosity of book characters-turned-into-actors sake.

Meanwhile, let's try and figure out the context of the lines..
Rory: But for now solidarity sister. / Lorelai: Ya-Ya.

Because I just don't get it.

Wuthering Heights (Ep 4.10)

After a couple of months spent on the Stieg Larssons and the Dan Browns of the world, it's nice to come back to the world of period writing.

I know Wuthering Heights is barely mentioned in Gilmore Girls, but I took it up mostly out of curiosity. As a student, I never got to read the book, and always felt guilty about it - not knowing what everyone was talking about! It was listed as the best romantic novel ever by Guardian, and the Twilight series New Moon has been apparently influenced by it. (I frankly don't see much resemblance beyond that Heathcliff leaves and returns, Edward leaves and returns, and for totally different reasons.)

It is truly one of the most miserable novels I have ever read. Whatever romance happens in the novel happens via ghosts, though there are passionate undercurrents throughout. But I do accept that it is probably a very accurate description of life in 1840 when diseases were rampant, lifespans were low, wars were frequent and huge wealth was associated with each house due to its surrounding land. The romance, though unattainable, is there - unheard, unspoken, unacted upon. Tragic, but at the same time touching to the extent that you are disturbed for days on end.

Well the novel is mentioned once in Gilmore Girls in the episode The Nanny and the Professor when Jason shows Lorelai his guest bedroom (and all its luxuries) and mentions that "there are hundreds of great books in here, ranging from the classics - Wuthering Heights - to the real classics - Valley of the Dolls".

It is interesting that you could ask anyone to pick one "classic", and you get the name Wuthering Heights. Especially strange because Emily Bronte didn't publish a single other novel. I have experienced that name dropping personally (and felt left out!). But now that I have made my baby steps into the world of classic literature (and blamed anyone remotely responsible for setting up my amateurish school curriculum decades ago), I am satisfied that I was better off surrounded by happily-ever-after romantic fantasies, rather than miserable romance literature.