Rating: 
Summary: Pure Poetic Pleasure!
Review: The first time I picked up this book at a bookstore and started perusing the pages; it was love at first sight. Needless to say I bought it without any ado and devoured the book in no time. Since then I revisit the book whenever I'm in the mood for sheer bliss. Seth brings to poetry a simple charm hitherto not seen. His outstanding wit and intelligence make for compelling reading. 'The Golden Gate' is unique in it's sensitive portrayal of a myriad moods without being overtly judgmental. If not for it's philosophy this book is worth a ton for the sheer pleasure it's sonnets provide.
Rating:
Summary: what friends should have been
Review: the philosophy of romanticism has definitely moved into the twentieth century in operas and to a lesser degree in romantic comedies. it's also been in sitcoms, such as friends which will come into an end fortunately. but is there any way to write a novel in sonnets after eugene onegin? if you're vikram seth, the answer is "yes" and romanticism blends with twentieth century values. seth's epic poem "golden gate" honors, yuppie life, the search for love and economic strife, philosophy amd politics and the san fransisco lifestyle.
the novel begins with john brown, a twenty something single looking for love. with the help of his old time friend jan he meets lizz dorati, runs into phil, his old roommate phil, and lizz's brother ed. these characters will date each other with varying intensities throughout the next two years.
golden gate surveys the beauty of san fransisco, and these educated ordinary people with maturity on their sides and poetry in their hearts. while lizz and john hook up, we get a feeling that the romance may have triumphed too soon. and the readers are right. but seth keeps us guessing as to who will be happy with whom. what made me care most about these yuppies are their problems. most novels and comedies place fake crises in front of charcters so they can break up so they can be happy. but we get the feeling they have real problems and must come to a real solution. some are solved, while others are not. one couple break up because of politics and a cat- the other ceassefire because of religion.
there's so much in this book, it's hard to say all that is included. it's all about philosophy and politics, and strange to say- this "golden gate" is as relevant now as it was when first published, in '86. a lot of golden gate reminds me of another non american author who wrote about the californian lifestyle- anyone know william sorayan? there' s a lot to be discussed because we care so much about these characters, who they are and how they drudge through the primer of the daily life. i liked the first half of the book better than the latter, but both are sufficient. one may think that with such a comic ending there may be a full cricle with a likely ending, but seth drives home the loneliness and glory of the yuppie life with tragedy. even though it's been over a hundred years since eugene onegin, i'm glad there has been a relative rendition. highly recommended, even if you hate poetry.
Rating:
Summary: what friends should have been
Review: the philosophy of romanticism has definitely moved into the twentieth century in operas and to a lesser degree in romantic comedies. it's also been in sitcoms, such as friends which will come into an end fortunately. but is there any way to write a novel in sonnets after eugene onegin? if you're vikram seth, the answer is "yes" and romanticism blends with twentieth century values. seth's epic poem "golden gate" honors, yuppie life, the search for love and economic strife, philosophy amd politics and the san fransisco lifestyle.
the novel begins with john brown, a twenty something single looking for love. with the help of his old time friend jan he meets lizz dorati, runs into phil, his old roommate phil, and lizz's brother ed. these characters will date each other with varying intensities throughout the next two years.
golden gate surveys the beauty of san fransisco, and these educated ordinary people with maturity on their sides and poetry in their hearts. while lizz and john hook up, we get a feeling that the romance may have triumphed too soon. and the readers are right. but seth keeps us guessing as to who will be happy with whom. what made me care most about these yuppies are their problems. most novels and comedies place fake crises in front of charcters so they can break up so they can be happy. but we get the feeling they have real problems and must come to a real solution. some are solved, while others are not. one couple break up because of politics and a cat- the other ceassefire because of religion.
there's so much in this book, it's hard to say all that is included. it's all about philosophy and politics, and strange to say- this "golden gate" is as relevant now as it was when first published, in '86. a lot of golden gate reminds me of another non american author who wrote about the californian lifestyle- anyone know william sorayan? there' s a lot to be discussed because we care so much about these characters, who they are and how they drudge through the primer of the daily life. i liked the first half of the book better than the latter, but both are sufficient. one may think that with such a comic ending there may be a full cricle with a likely ending, but seth drives home the loneliness and glory of the yuppie life with tragedy. even though it's been over a hundred years since eugene onegin, i'm glad there has been a relative rendition. highly recommended, even if you hate poetry.
Rating: 
Summary: Not sonnets
Review: They're not SONNETS. The stanzas are based on those of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. They're not even pentamater, they're tetrameter. And yes, it does make a difference. You can call a deer a dog because it's got four legs, but there's a reason there are no seeing-eye deer. Sonnets are extremely balletic and compressed -- they carry emotion and symbols well, but they are hard to carry a narrative in.
Rating:
Summary: Anne Tyler walzing with Pushkin... a surprise, a delight
Review: This book is one of a nearly extinct breed: a novel in verse. In that form lie its unique pleasures as well as its uncertain reception at some hands. The poet James Merrill, in his epic trilogy "The Changing Light at Sandover" has claimed that "forms what affirms". Does this mean that the satisfaction of the novel can only come if the line-breaks are reliably marginal? Linguists Whorf and Sapir have suggested that language constrains our thought - not so much in the realm of vocabulary as, again, in that of form. The radically different forms of, for instance, Hopi or Inuit constrain "what is relatively easy to say" and hence, what is said. Perhaps so. You'd expect that rhyming sonnets would constrain the voice of a novelist, but Vikram Seth has certainly shown here that is not necessarily the case. Chalk it up to a mastery of both form and story, though, not to versification. His technical skills extend to both realms. Moving, then, beyond form, we wonder about content of such a novel. Will the book wander (or waltz) into the deeply allegorical, the disconnected, the imagistic? After all, aren't those the consequences of poetic license? Have you read your Ashbery? Oddly, this poem is quite prosaic in that regard, it tells a tight, comprehensible story in a manner that is fluid but not embroidered. (By way of contrast, consider that you can easily find yourself spinning away in a vortex of magical metaphor in the latest Rushdie.) Novels, it would seem, are pretty much what we make of them. As one who has never really appreciated the modernist redesign of the novel, I found "The Golden Gate" to be a much more satisfying story - notwithstanding its several-hundred sonnets. The book is a well-textured story about a number of folks living their lives and relationships - apparently in the 80's. (Some reviewers have made much of the story's use of timestamped phraseology such as the use of "yuppie" and the like. Perhaps. But I'd imagine that the term "Okie" was equally a well-understood, sometimes overloaded, term of the 30's which we, nevertheless, can comfortably accept from Steinbeck.) The lives, loves and trials of these folks are presented with the careful painting and pacing of Anne Tyler and J. R. Lennon. Seth's verse in this book has been called "masterful". It is, indeed. Consider that the odd rhyme is hardly ever at hand for most of us, much less available when called upon, as he was, thousands of times. But Seth is more than a rhymer - something I noticed by contrast. I'm pretty sure the sonnet scheme he uses is the so-called "Pushkin rhyme." I only know this since I just struggled through a marginal translation of "Eugene Onegin" and noticed the similarity. But the sing-songy'ness of the Pushkin was gladly lacking in the Seth. He uses true poetic craft, line breaks and punctuation and word choice, to allow the reader to flow between a fluid, songlike verse and a more prosaic tale-telling. In other words, he uses the strengths of both forms when they serve, best, the needs of the work and the reader. So. Don't be afraid of the form. But also don't expect it to seem natural unless you have seen it before. I came to this book via a recommendation of Tom Disch in his essays in "The Castle of Indolence" (a 5-star plug there), and from a background in having sought out and read quite a number of long poems, epic poems and verse novels. If you taste this book more out of curiosity than experience, good for you! But grant yourself the time to bounce through the first dozen sonnets in the singy-songy phrasing that so many of us learned to be necessarily poetic many years ago. Then, as the story captures you, you will notice that the verse, with the help of Seth's subtle crafting, both lifts and disappears beneath the story. I'll read it again, and again.
Rating: 
Summary: Friends in verse
Review: This book may be the cleverest thing I've ever tried to read, and I am sorry that in two MAJOR attempts to get through it, I have been unable to get past the first third of the story. Each sonnet is adorable, but after a while the witty word-play can't make up for the juvenile, boring characters. I felt as if I was watching a TV show aimed at a younger audience. Of course, Seth is sending up these affluent techies, but the satire isn't brisk enough to make up for the amount of time the reader has to spend with these people. I much preferred A Suitable Boy (where you certainly spend MORE time with the characters!) and An Equal Music. If you want to read another book in verse, I recommend Martha Grimes's Send Bygraves, which is bizarre but much more sophisticated.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, poetry and a lovely story.
Review: This is a wonderful story, full of life and detail, it is many years since I have read it, but I remember how I wept at a certain point in the story. This book is very readable, the use of verse makes the text flow any stays in my memory as a beautiful thing.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Superb!
Review: This is to all who has not read it. Be sure to read it friends! I have read it about six times now and believe me each time it is as interesting as it was the fiirst time. you feel that it is your story, somewhere around you it is happening.
Rating:
Summary: A splendid work!
Review: Vikram Seth has a brilliant style, where ordinary words, events and people stand up and potray emotions in delicate detail. His wit, and wordplay apart, this novel in verse is a fine story of love and loss. Once I read this novel, I found myself reading everything that the author has published yet. Each book written in a different style, and on different substance, Seth is both engrossing and endearing. I believe with Rushdie, Vikram Seth is perhaps the most erudite Indian writer in English of post-colonial world! Though unlike Rushdie, Vikarm speaks in soft and simple language, and addressing so many different styles (travel book, longest novel in English, poetry, novel in verse, novel set in 1950-60s India, novel set in San Fransisco, and London, and Tibet, etc) with such mastery is a mark of his genius.
Rating:
Summary: A bit hard to get into...
Review: Vikram Seth possess a heap of talent...he's a great poet, a clever wordsmith-and if you take his self-depricating asides in this and "A Suitable Boy" seriously, a nice guy. But this book didn't quite work for me. The basic plot line seemed silly and a little dated, and wrapping it all up in this poetry package couldn't change that. It's full of lattes, pet iguanas and yuppies, which gets a little tiresome. It just kept making me doze off at night. I'd read it out loud (better for the rhythm of this thing), after a while, the meter and the wording seemed forced, not clever.
|
