“Tom McCarthy's "C," reviewed by Samantha Hunt - Washington Post” plus 1 more |
| Tom McCarthy's "C," reviewed by Samantha Hunt - Washington Post Posted: 13 Sep 2010 03:57 PM PDT Knopf. 310 pp. $29.95 The end of Tom McCarthy's extraordinary novel "C" takes readers back to its very beginning. Englishman Serge Carrefax arrives in Egypt as British rule is dissolving. He's an architect studying destruction among the sediment of the earliest civilization. The Rosetta stone mingles with the 1919 revolt. Cleopatra with the Ministry of Communications. Rather than complicate the novel, this mash of cultures serves as a decoder ring. Meaning, quite suddenly, is doubled, tripled. Scenes that were, on first take, merely finely crafted historical fictions are revealed to be the work of a mind entranced by refrains. Only the dullest of readers will be able to resist diving back into the text for a second look. Thoth, god of secret writing, is grafted on top of Serge's own boyhood preoccupation with codes and communication; Alexander the Great stands in for Alexander Graham Bell; and the Rue des Soeurs in Cairo harks back to a name for heroin, "sister," reminding us of Sophie, Serge's beloved and doomed sibling. Culture gets recycled in this novel, but rather than bore us with each reappearance, it provides the dizzying thrill of familiarity. What happens in "C"? Serge grows up in the early half of the 20th century. He leaves the silkworm farm of his childhood. He goes to war. He goes to Egypt. He does a lot of drugs, meets a lot of women. And "Ulysses" is the story of a man taking a walk . . . Shortlisted last week for the Booker Prize, "C" moves in circuits, forever closing in on its topics: radio, World War I, drugs, Egyptology, seances, sisters, spas and silkworms, to name a few. McCarthy's genius comes in convincing his reader of the connections between these distant planets. "C" traipses through such lush locales as a deaf school in the British countryside, a vaguely Eastern European spa, the air space above France during the Great War, and the spiritualist communities of London. McCarthy dwells in the historical, but he is hardly bound by the constraints of time. He selects events that, having once happened, reverberate infinitely. There is the sinking Titanic. There is Marconi sending his first "S" across the sea. And there are the hordes of tourists shuffling past the pyramids. This narrative method is reflected in one of Serge's Egyptian discoveries. Deep inside a tangle of tombs and burial chambers, he points to three ebony statuettes. "What are those?" His companion answers, "They're figures for the ka -- the soul -- to dwell in." "They look like the same person done in different sizes." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Growing Taller is not a Rocket Science - Zimbio Posted: 13 Sep 2010 05:20 AM PDT There are many advertisements on television, the radio and even on the Internetabout drugs and tricks to acquiring taller but before you pay a humongous sum of money to a certain pharmaceutical company that would give you the wonder drug to getting taller I suggest you read the basic facts on what affect tallness and how you very do grow taller. I recommend reading Grow Taller 4 Idiots Review. Growing taller isn't exactly that tough and you don't need a degree in wellness to fully understand the concept about how one person gets to grow tall than they already are. So let me tell you how to grow tall . Let us separate fact from fictions . First let me enumerate and explain the components of the human body that add to a persons' height. One most important part in your body is the spinal cord. The spinal cord is composed not only of bones but of ligaments as well that contribute to height and maturation. Even inter vertebral discs imbed in between the spinal cord help to grow taller height. Muscles and ligaments that surround your spinal cord must be strong enough to support the rapid growth of the bones. Any weakness would cause the spinal cord to curve that would greatly affect your height. Two: the process of ossification of mating of the bones that happens during adulthood stops you from growing and stops the growing of the growth plates that are located on the far ends of your long bones thus leave you at your finale height. There are also other conditions Apart from spinal defects that greatly affect how you become tall such as an abnormality of the legs which also affects your height to a great extent. To correct this of course you would need early physical care. Some of the tests done are to check what vitamin or enzyme is lacking in your body to correct the growth abnormality in your bones. If the condition is not corrected early, then surgical intervention is needed which is sometimes a resort for individuals with spine problems such as scoliosis. To grow taller, one must not only focus on the universal facts of the body but what the body needs to grow taller as well. One is your diet. The type of food, quality and quantity of what you consume affects your growth and height. Nutrition, vitamins and minerals greatly affect and have a vital role in the body to aid in growth and height. If you are looking for a unique, easy to follow and effective program to grow tall, Grow Taller 4 Idiots is for you. You will find the e-book and videos absolutely helpful in increasing your height. I am nonetheless using these techniques on day to day basis. For More Info visit:grow taller 4 idiots This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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