G170 E-Reading Book Review of The Modern Man By Cristiane Serruya

Name of Book: The Modern Man

Author: Cristiane Serruya

ISBN: 9781489524553

Publisher: Createspace

Type of book: Poetic, philosophic

Year it was published: Originally 1988

Summary:

A philosophical divagation about the evil banality of daily acts.
With this subtitle, the author dedicates herself to dissect a few hours of a man's thoughts, feelings and life, in his non-functioning world, which is habitually regulated by tic-tacs, and the consequences of his previous acts.
Awarded with Honors by the Law School, PUC RJ. This work was originally published in Portuguese, in 1988. It was translated by the author herself in 2013.
The ebook and paperback is bilingually written in English and Portuguese.

Opinion:

I honestly have difficulty in deciding where to place this book, or rather what outline to use. It may be fiction, but its a sparse story that reminds me of reading The North China Lover by Marguerite Duras. The story is poetic and somehow when I was reading it, I experienced something eating away at the virtues and capabilities for good in the anonymous man's mind. I surmise that its something like this; a man lives in a dark place, probably jail or by himself, and he is reflecting a bit on life and on everyday actions he does, although I don't think I'm correct. I would probably need a lot of times to read it in order to understand the meaning and its writing. There is also something creepy about the writing, at least for me. In mini-paragraphs after mini-paragraphs, the senses of the men are dying, taking away the world he knew, and eventually time ran out, I would guess, because there is importance of time and the clock towards the end. Eventually it will be up to the reader to make up his mind, whether or not a positive ending is possible for this anonymous man. Also, its a very powerful piece of writing that will last a long time after you're done reading it.

Quick Notes: This is a review for Making Connections.

5 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)