The Gonzo Intelligentsia

Listening to :- Emperor Tomato Ketchup - Stereolab

After not having mentioned any books for two weeks (because that is how long it took me to read Watership Down) I have finished another book in two days simply because it demanded to be finished. I have been meaning to read Time's Arrow since it came out ten years ago and never got around to it. My daughter won a prize which we had to go to the library to pick up and while I was looking for another Richard Adam's book (which I also found) I saw Time's Arrow. I started it on Friday night and finished last night. The conceit of the book is that of a detached consciousness in the body of a Doctor. This hobbyhorse mind is created with a full set of faculties and intelligence at the point of the Doctor's death and experiences the life backwards, retaining its detached air throughout. If you want to know what happens in any more detail then read the reviews on Amazon but in best Empire magazine manner I will add - Warning Spoilers. My review here can only cover how I reacted to the problem of reading a book that described the whole of someone life backwards - really backwards. For ease of understanding, each sentence is written forwards but the order is reversed so the narrator is performing some form of interpretation but he hears the words backwards. People walk backwards and the doctor himself when acting professionally does things in reverse - putting bullets into bodies with tweezers, re-attaching legs etc. The horrific centrepiece cannot be more shocking if you do not know it is coming.

Immediately after reading a section, it is difficult to come to terms with the world in the right direction. For split seconds I found myself thinking that the correct direction of time was strange. It is difficult to explain but read the book and you will find out for yourself.

I had a dream about the rabbits of Watership Down two nights ago. I am not going to bore you with details mainly because I cannot remember them - I should have a notebook close at hand for making notes - but the one detail is that Thlayli - Bigwig was standing in some sort of election. He had been "humanised" and had had posters put up. I am not sure why I mentioned this. As I dreamed it, this seemed powerful and to have meaning but now it just sounds silly. I promise that I will keep any Dream Diary out of this blog. I hate going back and deleting posts unless they are really naff so Bigwig stays.

Poetry at Lunchtime - maybe.