This is a very hard book to review as there isn't really a plot or rather the plot is un-summarisable. Basically this book is stream of consciousness meets poetry written in a couple of un-punctuated sentences at a time. Sometimes these thoughts are linear although often they aren't, some of the passages are extremely beautiful and some of them aren't. The Best way I can think to represent the book is by quoting some of my favourite lines: 'past moments old dreams back again or fresh like those that pass or things things always and memories I say them as I hear them murmur them in the mud''the people above whining about not living strange at such a time a such a bubble in the the head all dead now others for whom it is not a life and what follows very strange namely that I understand them''all that always every word as I hear it in me that was without when the panting stops and murmur it in the mud bits and scraps I say it no more and now what to end if there anything left before going on and ending past too leaving only part three and last yes all alone alas''things said to me said of me to whom else of whomelse clench the eyes try and see another to whom of whom to whom of me of whom to me or even a third clench the eyes and try and see a third mix up all that''only me in any case yes alone yes in the mud yes the dark yes that holds yes the mud and the dark hold yes nothing to regret there no with my sack no i beg your pardon this no no sack either no not even a sack with me no'I appreciate this book isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. but if you like how the above extracts are written I think you'll enjoy the rest of the book.I found it a little difficult to get into the rhythm of this book, but once I went with the flow of the book I found it really easy to hurtle through. (In that way it really reminded me of my first reading of Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce).The book '1001 Books to Read Before You Die' talks of how difficult Beckett wanted this book to be, 'nothing occupied Beckett so much as the idea that his writing should be as difficult t imagine and to desire as it possibly could be'. 'But read this book for what it does to how language is and to how we are in consequence. In its most suspended animation, Beckett's prose turns into poetry', which sounds quite pretentious but I completely agree. This is a very hard book to rate but I will say although I really liked this book, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I loved Waiting for Godot also by Beckett (which I gave 5/5) so I've decided to give it 4/5.
The 7th Beckett novel that I've read and similar to his The Unnamable (3 stars), this has no plot and told in first-person narrative. Unlike that novel though, this has a structure: divided into three parts that feels like past, present and future. It's just that the setting is all in mud or murky place where the narrator suffers like in the cell of Malone in Malone Dies (5 stars). The narration has no punctuations and it somehow signifies to me the continuity of the suffering like it does not need to have a period and it is free-flowing and unstoppable.Having no plot, this is hard to me to review. I do not even know what's the meaning of "Pim." If it is a person that the narrator meets in Part I and loses in Part II and then in Part III there is no mention of him and the mud but the mood of the narration is still sad, bleak and lonely. My take it is that this can be similar to life. Part I is when we were single and our life has no clear directions as we just party every night then we meet our spouses. Part II is when we try to have our marriage work and it is not easy since life is not easy anyway. Part III is when we are already old and have lost our spouses and we are dying so we are excited to reunite with our spouse its just that we are lonely to leave our children, other relatives and friends.But I am just guessing. Beckett here, like in his almost all of his novels, tells his story in a poetry-like way. You have to interpret his phrases to get whatever he wants to convey. The good thing is that his lyrical prose in engaging witty form is something to behold. You trying reading this short (compared to Murphy or Watt) novel and you will appreciate how beautiful this work is.Beckett is just uncomparable. One of his kind.
What do You think about How It Is (1994)?
I really couldn't get much out of this. I found it very difficult to understand because there is no punctuation just a series of short paragraphs which don't perform as paragraphs do in most writing. I found it very repetitive and rather banal. I got no understanding of story or character and the setting is a surreal sea of mud. The only thing I was able to hook into really was a feeling of existentialist angst. Perhaps if I had read it as a teenager I would have got more out of it. Definitely not a good read for me.
—Philip Lane
this novel is brilliant how brilliant one might ask well brilliant enough to make a Beckett fan out of me I would respond read this book if you want a challenge but a challenge that is very rewarding it is somewhat trance like when you get towards the end of the book open read page by page you will find yourself understanding the vague syntax or lack thereof as your mind digresses into the stream of consciousness flow through the three stages of the journey of the mudman part one before Pim part two after Pim and part three after Pim with poetic majesty any Beckett fan who adores the avant-gardist elements of his writing with forays into experimentation and minimalist themes will love this bookyou will find the book somewhat purgatorial at times which is what Beckett was aiming for out of nowhere don't be surprised if you hear the panting what panting that panting the shudders and moves down the line fifteen feet fetal position opens bag and brings out food something wrong there
—Christophe Bassett
My favorite Beckett. This is a must-read, but not easy by any means. This novel doesn't have punctuation. It may or may not have characters. Setting: mud. Props: sacks with a few things in them. This book is life-changing, and I feel it to be one of the best articulations of human cruelty in existence. An amazing glimpse, one might argue, into Beckett's ethics. Does really interesting stuff with notions of authorial voice/presence/conception of time. If he would have published it as a poem, he could have gotten away with it. Will break your heart and temporarily ruin your life. A good book to obsess on.
—Kim
