Author Topic: Steve Toltz new dark satire: Quicksand  (Read 955 times)

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Nation of One

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Steve Toltz new dark satire: Quicksand
« on: October 27, 2015, 08:59:24 pm »
Keep your eyes open for Quicksand.  I can't recommend it yet as I haven't read it, but I enjoyed Fraction of a Whole immensely ... dark humor, nihilistic ... hugely philosophic.

My shelf is full.  I may have to hit the library.   Wow, it's been a long time since I needed the library.  I tell you, I am finicky when it comes to fiction.  Toltz has got a very dark sense of humor. 

I tried reading Infinite Jest ... I even read some companion books to motivate me. 

Anyway, I put in a good 12 hours of quality learning, and I think I should quit while I'm ahead so as not to kill my rekindled enthusiasm for mathematics and programming.  I know there are the nihilistic and philosophical works ... the companions to Schopenhauer ... the verbose French philosophers, I know ... Maybe I'll just stare at the moon. 
« Last Edit: October 30, 2015, 12:15:12 pm by H »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

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Nation of One

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Re: Steve Toltz new dark satire: Quicksand
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2015, 12:12:35 pm »
The library was able to track a copy of Quicksand down for me.  It has been a long time since I have been drawn to a novel.   Late in the middle of the night I had started to read Hunger by the Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, published in 1890.  I like it. 

I am looking forward to getting my hands on Toltz's new book.  I confess that I am a fan of his philosophical humor.  I hope that his attitude corrupts me.
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Nation of One

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Re: Steve Toltz new dark satire: Quicksand
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2015, 07:59:44 pm »
Quicksand was a quick read, which I guess means it held my attention.  The one character wants so much to die.  I guess I'll leave it at that.

I will give you one line.  The novel is filled with philosophical one-liners: 

"I had it wrong all this time.  Suicide is not saying 'I quit,' but rather 'You're fired.'"
« Last Edit: November 06, 2015, 08:25:51 pm by H »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Nation of One

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Re: Steve Toltz new dark satire: Quicksand
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2015, 03:49:36 pm »
Even though I finished reading Quicksand in just a few days, I find that some of the lines of one of the characters go through my mind under the threshold of consciousness, like a reference to the paradox that those who appear to be "doing nothing with their lives" rarely fall to sleep before 3AM ...

Nothing that is so, is so ... the 6 sacred words.

What are you DOING with your life?   Nothing.

I am very busy doing nothing with my life.  ;)
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Nation of One

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Steve Toltz's upcoming dark satire: Here Goes Nothing
« Reply #4 on: December 31, 2021, 09:48:59 am »
Fans of Absurdist Fiction might want to postpone their suicides until the at least the Spring.   Steve Toltz, author of Fraction of the Whole, often compared to Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, will be releasing a new novel, Here Goes Nothing, in May 2022.

If we all don't starve to death by then, I look forward to reading this, Abraxas willing and the creek don't rise.
« Last Edit: January 01, 2022, 01:09:52 am by Half-Crazy Nobody »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

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Re: Steve Toltz new dark satire: Quicksand
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2022, 03:29:38 pm »
In December 1983, The Times asked Samuel Beckett for his New Year's resolutions and hopes. Beckett responded with a brief telegram:

”RESOLUTIONS COLON ZERO STOP PERIOD HOPES COLON ZERO STOP BECKETT”.
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.