Have any of you read this? I picked it up after reading that it inspired a lot of authors...

Have any of you read this? I picked it up after reading that it inspired a lot of authors, for example Joseph Heller in the writing of Catch 22.I thought it was pretty good and was wondering if anyone would like to discuss it.

I ordered it a few days ago. Should be here by the 17th.

I read most of it a few years ago when I was really depressed and even though I found it funny it depressed me even harder I quit out after they fucked up offing the old granny and he delivered some whores baby. should I finish it? I'm not as depressed anymore. why didn't he just stay with the hookers in the USA lmao

Its pretty good

It's an experience, like never ending, numerous novels wrapped all in one. And it mainly feels like it's spoken. Truly interesting.

Céline pro here, ask me anything.

You should finish it for sure, probably best that you didn't when you were depressed because it just gets even more depressing past that point. Yeah i loved the way it shifted settings so often but never lost focus and the message always stayed consistent

Why should i ask you anything? What the point?

Why do all the french versions look like garbage?

Pretty good book, OP. I have Death on the Installment Plan [the next one] on my "to read" pile.

I didn't like the first 100 pages and stopped reading

OP here, i do too
I don't blame you for putting it down if you didn't like it at that point, it establishes it's style right away and if you didn't like it by then you probably wouldn't have liked the rest either

wrong

does he purposefully insert small scenes of idealised "good" to contrast with the usual grimy, dark usual narration?

the style's jarring for sure, but giving up before he gets to africa is a big mistake. the story really picks up

Read it after the book of disquiet. Great book but demoralising and not constructive. I found it very Jewish/modern, which is interesting because Celine hated Jews with a passion. I wonder if it was a kind of self-hatred. In any case, I realised that the only art I found meaningful was depressing Jewish social criticism, but that it doesn't help mankind to make this sick art. Anyone know this feel?

I read it because he needed money to buy a house

Great lad

The africa section is amazing for sure. The bits about how the Africans that gained status and power started shitting all over the common tribesman was depressing as fuck. You can kind of see it reflected in how other people with authority in the novel treated people like shit. Strange that Celine ended up being a Nazi supporter after some of the things that came through in this novel

"sick art" is an awful way to look at it. Most social critiques come from people that were shit on by society so the rise of Jewish pessimistic social critiques makes sense in my mind. We'll probably see even more writing like that now that Jews are being blamed for everything wrong with the US and even the world. You probably found the works meaningful because you felt that society was against you in some way. Also art like that can have a net positive impact , people read about the flaws evident in the current state of society and are inspired to make it better in some way.

I disagree, I think nothing good can come out of decadent modern realism unless it is infused with surreal/magical/occult elements

Ever read the Illuminatus trilogy? that's the first thing that comes to mind based on the things you listed

"A poor woman's ass is her gold mine."

I stopped a little after half the book. It got kinda boring. I think it was after he came back from the US and had a hard time being a doctor.

Good book -- can't judge style since I didn't read the original French. After about a year the scenes that stick out most in my mind are the intro with the colonels death, the Africa scene, and the final taxi ride... over all I enjoyed it but I didn't see air away any greater meaning from it. Seemed to highlight the grand meaninglessness of life.

I finished it last month during a stay in Paris.

The beginning and end I feel are the strongest parts. Great read overall.

...

...

>young man who thing about civilization should give up and enjoy life

This hit hard. It was in a scene at the hospital if I remember correctly. Should we also stop giving a fuck Veeky Forums?

how autobioghraphical it is exactly? Did he really leaved patients in death bed, did he know about planned murder?