Céline and Journey to the end of night

Currently reading pic related. What's your take on Céline and Journey to the end of night?

It's just ranting.

He ran away from the war like a bitch, I can understand why Lola left him, I stopped reading after that.

This. I stopped reading at this point too. All Quiet on the Western Front was a better book regarding WW1.

You saw too much of yourselves in it?

He's trying to put war under new light. He refrained from romanticizing and glorifying war as it had been before. Instead, he sheds light on cowardice and the ugly sides of war. He also seems to use irony. In the beginning of the book he says that when war comes to France, he will gladly die for his nation, but when war arrives he just wants it to end and is afraid of dying.

I like fascists.

Enjoyed Celine's work but don't expect much in the way of plot resolution. I appreciated his observations on the basic nihilism surrounding war, politics, death, and love. Prose was pretty good in parts -- I'm reminded of the early scene when the colonel is killed off so matter-of-factly by artillery. It's wonderfully vivid in its absurdity.

I loved how it started but as it went on it got worser and worser, so somewhere after the half point I dropped it.

I personally loved the cynical 500 page rant, but hey, that's just me.

The purpose of the book isn't even to discuss WWI

>/r9k/: The book
I love it though. Even if it might actually be his worst novel.

He's the Proust of the proletariat.

This thread had a really rough start.

In what ways did you find it worsened?

I personally enjoyed the Detroit and Doctor bits -- not too mention the time spent in the psych hospital.

If I had a criticism it would be the unreality of his counterpart who's name escapes me at the moment eventually dying from a gunshot spin on the taxi home.

Damn iPhone correct -- I meant the unrealistic nature of his friend who always appeared in the unlikeliest places during the novel. It felt hand jammed into the plot for structure and continuity

>All Quiet on the Western Front was a better book regarding WW1.
I don't usually go there, but this is what you get for reading Céline in english. Simply comparing the two, quality-wise, is ludicrous.

>Prose was pretty good in parts
Haha... pretty good in parts. Céline is one of the great « prosateur ». The prose is stellar, highly poetic.

I thought it was a great comedic element, nothing more really. I mean, Céline, in this thread alone, gets accused of both not having any plot and hand jamming said unexistent plot.

Agreed

Could it say something about the ineluctable faith of soldiers ?

Solid 3/5 book. I agree with others it got a little lost along the way. It was a good book if it didn't at times feel like a chore; the botched murder, war efforts and his reoccuring friend were highlights.

I found the paranoid boat scene overrated.

Saying that, the part when he reflects about if there should be a mark between the good and the bad, regarding the selfless sacrifice of the man for the little girl faraway, got me in the feels.