Rating: 
Summary: do you like stream of consciousness?
Review: Put this on the shelf next to Ulysses. It's sort of a parallel universe to that style, loosely speaking. But the other similarity is that it is fairly hard to read. If you read A LOT, then probably you will really enjoy this book. If you just want something that gets to the point, don't read this. It may be the best example of a novelist with "misinformation" as an intent. By that I mean that trickery and deception are part of the writing itself, and Barnes is really good with prose- it's likened to poetry for a reason. Still, I'm left unsatisfied.
Rating: 
Summary: An elegant classic
Review: There are few books that can be safely called classics--and out of those, fewer are as deserving of the term as Djuna Barnes' 'Nightwood'. Elegant and mesmerizing, difficult and beautiful, it is a measured and balanced work of art.Another reviewer said this wasn't a 'celebration of lesbian love'--this much is true. What makes this book truly remarkable is that it *doesn't* set any boundaries--hearts are fickle, hearts are cruel, and every character in the novel is inflicted with his/her own brand of emotional anxiety. Barnes makes no distinction between 'lesbian' love and any other--it is as normal, and as abnormal, as any other human affection. That alone makes this book a classic (but of course, the writing too is intoxicating). In fact, what is truly surprising (to me, at least!) is that despite her exquisite elegance, Djuna Barnes manages to take such a no-nonsense approach to human emotions. She never seeks to simplify anything--and makes her work difficult for the reader in the most rewarding of ways. (I mean that she doesn't let us get away with pre-conceptions or romantic illusions. She manages to make the imperfect reality as arresting as the myth of perfection.) Most of us, in our lives, don't *really* know what we're doing, or what we feel. Barnes makes her characters real by putting them through the same confusing maelstrom of experiences--where one emotion often morphs into another--love into indifference, respect into insecurity, and so on. There are no answers--there is only endurance--endurance of others, endurance of ourselves. I don't want to be more specific and give out details of the plot. This book has to be experienced to be believed...
Rating: 
Summary: after an arduous beginning, elexir
Review: There is nothing like this book anywhere. Lucid, real, horrific, delightful. I particularly agree with the previous reviewer. However, I might recommend skimming the first chapter or so. They're really quite awful, grating, jarring. But the rest...we call it poetic only because there is no true word.
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