tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post5082160235782533816..comments2024-02-14T01:50:56.112-06:00Comments on The OF Blog: Blogger Book Club Review: Thomas Disch, Camp ConcentrationLarry Nolenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-24476080707003966172008-10-15T19:49:00.000-05:002008-10-15T19:49:00.000-05:00The more I think about it, it might have been even...The more I think about it, it might have been even crueler and darker to have Louis "survive" and to watch his "body" die - Death still will get him, eventually, and how he is inhabiting another's form. Very dark and cruel joke indeed, even if it isn't hinted as much as it could have been in the preceding scenes.Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-34367464636413387252008-10-15T17:59:00.000-05:002008-10-15T17:59:00.000-05:00Blogger ate my comment last night (or perhaps I ju...Blogger ate my comment last night (or perhaps I just shouldn't post right before bedtime since I probably hit "edit comment" instead of "save" from the preview or something silly like that).<BR/><BR/>I do agree that disjointed is a better term for the ending. Last night I started to say that I thought the protagonist overcoming great odds to triumph seemed out of place with the "cruel joke" aspect of the novel you discussed. With such a dark book, I expected a darker ending. Yet it did fit with being a cruel joke - just in the end, the joke was on the experimenters instead of the guinea pigs. I'm not completely convinced it wouldn't have worked better with a different ending, but I at least think the ending is better than I thought when looking at it from that perspective.<BR/><BR/>I'm having far more fun discussing this book than I did reading it. :)Kristenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01700004253248186101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-77754740447635090332008-10-14T19:34:00.001-05:002008-10-14T19:34:00.001-05:00Thanks, Simon! I'd have to say the others who par...Thanks, Simon! I'd have to say the others who participated did just as much as I did. It is a meeting of the minds, no? :DLarry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-43413120159718971572008-10-14T19:34:00.000-05:002008-10-14T19:34:00.000-05:00I don't think of it as much as a "cop out" as it b...I don't think of it as much as a "cop out" as it being rather disjointed from the rest of the story. I still do, to an extent. It's as if genre conventions of the Hero/Protagonist overcoming great odds to triumph overwhelmed the more mimetic tradition of "if there's a deadly virus loose and the Hero/Protagonist is infected, s/he will die by novel's end." But yet the notion of the inmates figuring out how to subvert the system, cruel and as pointless as it was appearing by the halfway point of Part II, that is intriguing as well and it might be that I overlooked part of what Disch was aiming to accomplish there.Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-58894944123623554162008-10-14T19:29:00.000-05:002008-10-14T19:29:00.000-05:00Great review Larry. It seems like you put a lot of...Great review Larry. It seems like you put a lot of energy into it... Very interesting.Sihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05511327186979724348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-71991568311445145462008-10-14T19:18:00.000-05:002008-10-14T19:18:00.000-05:00Excellent review. I found it interesting that you...Excellent review. I found it interesting that you found the end to be a cop out the first time you read the book but not on rereads. This was my first time reading the book (in fact, I'd never even heard of it until it was an option for the book club) and the ending did seem out of place with the rest of the story to me. After finishing it, I did wonder how much my view on the ending would have changed had I known how the story would end from the beginning.Kristenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01700004253248186101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-23653107390553495382008-10-14T10:52:00.000-05:002008-10-14T10:52:00.000-05:00Fábio,Looking forward to seeing what you concluded...Fábio,<BR/><BR/>Looking forward to seeing what you concluded about the book and then seeing what comments may arise from it.<BR/><BR/>Braulio,<BR/><BR/>I suspect Louis's last name might be a mystery, but it certainly does conjure up some negative memories of 20th century US History, no?<BR/><BR/>Niall,<BR/><BR/>Interesting discussion there. Might link to it in my other thread, so others can see that discussion as well.Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-22239283710859131462008-10-14T05:16:00.000-05:002008-10-14T05:16:00.000-05:00I was rather less impressed by the book, and discu...I was rather less impressed by the book, and discussed it as part of an earlier book club <A HREF="http://community.livejournal.com/instant_fanzine/131950.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-13690307631301387352008-10-13T23:54:00.000-05:002008-10-13T23:54:00.000-05:00Larry: I tried to find some allusion in Louis Sacc...Larry: I tried to find some allusion in Louis Sacchetti's name, but found none, apart from a poet and a painter in Italy - nothing that clicked in a special way. But I think that "Sacco and Vanzetti" sounds like a good guess. Sacchetti is a conscientious objector and, as a prisoner, he shares with S&V the same semi-guilty, semi-innocent condition.Braulio Tavareshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05278198384274988294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-55964708327467899572008-10-13T22:32:00.000-05:002008-10-13T22:32:00.000-05:00I don´t know, maybe both. I picked up part of my c...I don´t know, maybe both. I picked up part of my comment to fuel my review-in-the-making. I thinks that´s a quite agreeable process after all, very healhty insofar as we all can exchange opiniões and benefit from them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-29700473192744387192008-10-13T20:25:00.000-05:002008-10-13T20:25:00.000-05:00Oh, I can agree with much of that, as I was thinki...Oh, I can agree with much of that, as I was thinking beyond Louis's own hell-sinking and into how it could be interpreted as a societal malaise of sorts that Disch was relating in the form of Louis's notes. I do agree that there is much sadness in the story, even though the end negates some of it. <BR/><BR/>I wonder if we need to start analyzing that conclusion in the comments here or on one of the blog entries?Larry Nolenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16001420558511460998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8068873.post-41951719309659513352008-10-13T19:58:00.000-05:002008-10-13T19:58:00.000-05:00I´m halfway through my review, but I would like to...I´m halfway through my review, but I would like to start the comments saying that I don´t know if I agree with you. I think Sachetti diary is a veritable descent to hell (an image with which he is obsessed, BTW, and he opens 334 with Dante´s description of it), and that descent includes his total disintegration, in language as well as in spirit. The first half of Camp Concentration seems to me a study in hubris, in the sense that it is oh-so-smart. But soon Sachetti finds out the bitter truth. Even knowing what was to become of him, I was very saddened when I read these pages - almost as sad when I learned of Disch´s death.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com