Friday, February 8, 2008

Sex and Format

I thought it was really interesting how the book starts with the issue of pregnancy and procedures that are somewhat controversial in our society without much warning. Even on the second page of the book there is an entire page where they openly talk about miscarriages, abortion, sexual problems, surgeries, and other such notions that are highly debated in our society. The picture of the male and female anatomy also caught me by surprise at the beginning of the book. I don't know if you noticed all of the little entries dedicated to monkeys masturbating and some other strange facts about certain species, but it's pretty clear that this is somewhat of an issue for the author. I think it's really interesting and cool the way that this book is written and I like how little (if at all) the author holds back before saying something. It feels like a train of thought and the commentaries are sometimes random and sometimes really subtle. I'm not sure what they are supposed to mean sometimes.
Also, I've never read a book that is written in this highly unconventional format and thought at first it is kind of difficult to get into the reading, it's rather refreshing to read something original and interesting... especially after reading We.
I like how it is somewhat of a psychological trip via square and that the format of the book is in congruence with what is actually discussed.
I don't feel like I've read enough yet to have a substantial point to make, but I just thought the book so far looks pretty interesting. I hope it develops better than We did.

2 comments:

Kyle Caffey said...

It is interesting how sex is presented in Vas. It is presented scientifically. This is quite different than how our society views sex. Society presents sex more mystically. I wonder why the author chooses to leave out the mystical, romantic side of sex.

Brian M said...

I've wondered about this as well. The author could be relating sex to the simplicity of the environment. Everything is flat, at least it appears that way, and somewhat simplistic. What do you think about this?