Lawerence

Tight noirish gripping beginning held for a few hours in very detailed page turning?, tension.

Then the book seemed to change to less original more cliched, and increasingly predictable until I lost interest except for plot resolution.

I thought that perhaps a ghost writer took over or an editor said make it much longer and the author lost the mood and his focus.

Anyway, it was interesting for the writing process and the way the characterization was very good and distinct for quite a while.

Surprisingly enjoyable and Interesting to see how relevant the twist and turns of this allegory still are. I remember that 30+ years ago I thought the concept of the book was great but the details were boring. Now, in part due to listening and in part due to living through lots of examples in modern history to compare it to, I felt the flow of the political satire and truth behind the sarcasm. All in all a pleasurable read and one can see Orwell on his way towards 1984.

This long short story is one of the greatest ever written. While not really modernist in the sense of Woolf, Faulkner, etc, I found myself in a 'symbolic' state of dreamy, beautiful imagery & thought the whole way. This is a journey near the end of a basically proper classic intellectual European life that turns into a quest for the nectar of the gods at a distance. Lolita is clearly prefigured here. You will think of Durrell and Nabokov and so many others who must follow and the myths and so many who are encompassed. I felt like Death in Venice was one of those works that will stay in my mind the rest of my life.