>>24529866 (OP)
>books that broke you
how? goodreads says theres little character development?

>>24530856
2/3

>>24530859
mustapha mond was right

>>24530862

>>24530866
didnt read the book, but this was a good film

>>24529866 (OP)
Just wait until you read the sequel

>>24529866 (OP)
Why? It's just your boilerplate 1920s science fiction/fantasy novel. What do you even mean by "broke you"? That you couldn't understand it?

>>24529959
The whole story is a process of becoming utterly disillusioned with the world. Maskull does virtually nothing but "develop" as a character. Or, rather, get grounded into nothing. He is never once validated.

>>24531426
Everything else feels stale and bland in comparison to this. They feel unserious, as if they shy away from something more base and terrible, hiding it behind paper maché flowers. Voyage is serious, merciless, and anything but boilerplate.

>>24530859
I read the short story. Was the longer one better? As someone who's on the spectrum, I felt like I could relate to the narrator in some way. I am also now more aware of the way people treat dumb people, especially children.

>>24531426
You, evidently, did not understand it if you think it is just a "standard science fiction/fantasy novel"

>>24531483
I didn't finish it becauseIhad other things to read. Coping midwit nigger.

>>24531489
>uh, I had stuff to do
And you say that I'm coping :skull:

>>24531493
>:skull:
Emojis don't work here, dumb zoomnigger.

>>24531501
Go get diagnosed for autism.

>>24531511
Already was diagnosed with Aspergers at age 7, zoom cunt.

>>24531472
It's a really depressing book. I won't say that it broke me, but it left me in a bad mood after I finished it. Just a bunch of terrible people and meaningless deaths and then it ends without actually explaining anything or giving any emotional payoff.

>>24531840
It does explain it. The green corpuscles are the part of people seeking to return to muspel while the white swirls are pleasure-seeking hounds clinging to the world. The book is all about asking what the point of pain is in this world and it drags almost all relevant atreams in human thought through the mud, showing that they are all just lies of crystalman. It is very anti-illusionary.
The author, through Krag, outright tells you that the meaning of this book is simple and clear to see, but you need to have an open mind to see it. It deals with more basic and raw aspects of life and holds none of it sacred. Love, beauty, hope, life are all rejected as being ultimately world/crystalman-serving.

>>24531840
Also, I doubt you thought all of the characters were terrible. But which ones specifically aside from the Nietzscheans of Ifdawn Marest, I guess? Spadevil? Corpang? Krag? Maskull himself?

>>24532245
Yes, I did like the first two characters that Maskull encounters when he wakes up on the planet. They were just kind crunchy hippies. Maskull is a total psychopath, probably the worst. Krag is a homosexual sadist. The guy who played murder music by manipulating the lake was godawful, as was the woman who abandoned her family to go be killed by the murder music. Most of them are terrible. I guess the guy who lived underground and prayed by the statues was alright. The book glorifies nihilism though, its one big bummer.

To be fair it was right after my dog died

>>24532312
It does not. Maskull is almost always under the influence of someone or something throughout the book. That's how it goes in this world. Krag is putting on a persona. He mocks Maskull because Maskull is worldly, but this also pushes him onward toward Muspel. Panawe and Joiwind live in blissful ignorance and worship the creator of this world without realizing the true extent of his hideousness. Lindsay was definitely not a nihilist. He believed in a transcendental realm and rejected this world entirely as being base and disgusting, which the book is trying in part to showcase. Earthrid is probably him riffing on Schopenhauer who claimed that artists, musicians especially, could tap into the eternal ideas. In the book, Maskul gets close to recreating muspellight, but fails. Also, do not mistake the woman as being foolish or bad. The entire book is littered with instances of people being inexplicably drawn toward something. Maskul is inexplicably drawn toward the painful light of Tormance's second moon, which sets his journey in motion. Corpang is also a seeker, as is the woman, who hears something that faintly resembles muspel, which, as the men of Sant say, is their true home. Maskul dying is effectively like the death of the ego, as we learn that Maskul is in fact Nightspore, who appears inexplicably after his death. Definitely not a nihilist. Just not someone who sings praises for samsara.

>>24532317
Did it really break you? Is it not uplifting?

>>24532331
I guess it didn't break me for more than a day, so no. It is uplifting because it has to be, can't have cancer and a dead dog without a happy-ish ending for NY times slop.
Still cried like a bitch that whole day.

>>24531840
Maybe you are or have been a terrible person in someone's eyes and you just don't realize it

>>24532350
Lol. You have a point. They're the literature equivalents of oscar baits in many ways.

>>24532328
>second moon
sun*

>>24532363
Yes they are which doesn't necessarily mean slop immediately, Good Will Hunting is still a good movie. But, to each their own.
The books itt look horrendously depressing and I am wondering if I have the stamina to read them.

>>24530866
Going to read this, I think. I like breaking myself.

>>24532312
>is a total psychopath, probably the worst.
The guy is overcome with rage at the sheer megalomania of the guy who turns people into trees. Though, granted, he is probably under the influence of the woman with him.

>>24529866 (OP)

There are a lot of PKD books that do this, but if I had to choose one it would be this.

This

>>24529866 (OP)
this tome broke my bussy

>>24529866 (OP)
the bible

>>24529866 (OP)
great book, i was reading something the other day (wish i could recall what it was but my memory's shot) and it strongly reminded me of the closing act of this book. i suspect it was more influential than it's usually given credit for

I can't... Comprehend... The color.... AuuAGGHGUGHHH I'm going INSANEEEEEEE - NIGGERMAN HELP MEEEE AUUUYGGGHHHHHH

My reaction was the same.

>>24529866 (OP)
Broke out laughing maybe. The way he powertrips from some vanilla pussy to complete lunatic is entertaining. Maskull ripping up the dwarf's frontdoor and the two staring at eachother has to be the single most funny thing I read in a book.

>>24533273
Twas valis for me. Had me cackling out loud throughout the read. The name Horselover Fat frequently pops in my head unwarranted

the book was a bit to scifiy for me with too many freaky colors and landscapes so i put it down about three quarters through

>>24531840
>meaningless deaths
Literally every death had potent meaning.
Nice bait?

Read it when I was twelve. Possibly ruined my potential.

>>24536933
kek same. from wikipedia:
>Hemingway struggled with the ending. By his count, he wrote 39 versions of it "before [he] was satisfied"
it could have been different :'(