I don't think "In Our Time" is in OUR time any longer...

So i just finished reading "In Our Time" by Ernest Hemingway (just in the knick of time!). Unfortunetly i was not as in love with this book as i was with Cuckoo's Nest. I found the layout pretty slow and the dialogue/way the book was written was flat out boring. The first few "short stories" followed the life of Nick Adams through his time in WWI, and his various experiences in the war as he slowly, oh so slowly, grows up. If i had to pick one of the short stories that i somewhat enjoyed it would be the one, "Soldier's Home". This was about a soldier, named Krebbs, who was fighting in the war and came home a little too late for anyone other then his family to care. His stories were already heard, and his lies about the war were not good enough lies. He likes to admire the local girls, but doesn't feel that he wants to marry any of them. With a plot line like this, i was expecting an exciting ending, especially when there is a minor confrontation with his mother at breakfast when he tells her he cannot find love, and answers "no" when she asks if he loves her. I thought maybe in an ironic twist, he leaves after telling her this, and then gets killed some minor way, ironic because he survived the war and would be killed by something so petty. Although harsh, this would make an exciting ending....but no. It ends with him going to his sisters softball game that he was invited to earlier. This story at least made me hope for an exciting ending, and altough just a tease, it was better then the others, where i knew it would be boring throughout. Overall, i was not a major fan of this book.

I Went Cuckoo For One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I LOVED OFOTCN (thats the abbreviation). It was by far the best book i have read all year. I will admit that at first it took some getting used to, with the weird narration of Chief Bromden, constantly flashing back to memories of his childhood, but, as the story progressed, i felt attached to the characters, really visualizing McMurphy and the Chief and Billy Bibbit and Harding and the whole gang. I found the symbolism easy enough to understand too, without all the detailed analysis of the class next year. I can not wait to see the movie now, which apparently swept the Oscars in 1975, being only the second movie ever to do that. The first i do not know, but the third was Silence of the Lambs. Anywayyyy, really loved the book, and i am glad i did not have to drag it out to a class pace, over analyzing until i lose interest, like most class books, except for a select few like Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies, where i found the analysis interesting. I was almost sad when i was through, because of the connection i felt with the characters, and the way the story ends. It was disheartening to see MsMurphy after his lobotomy, such a difference from the fun loving, gambling large Irish jokester i came to know. It was also sad that Billy had to kill him self and everyone else leave the ward, but it all came together at the end when the Chief "flys the coop", in the way his dear friend had taught him.