tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post2327872213408427134..comments2023-09-20T17:55:43.908-05:00Comments on BookLust: Musings: LondonersAartihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-76867940757793700032012-05-14T08:57:52.726-05:002012-05-14T08:57:52.726-05:00Just finished this book about a week ago and I com...Just finished this book about a week ago and I completely agree with you: I was haunted by the stories. I'm about to write a review of it on my own blog!Jill S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15624462611697778401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-16995867610376500142012-02-15T01:35:26.635-06:002012-02-15T01:35:26.635-06:00As with any city (or anywhere in life), you have t...As with any city (or anywhere in life), you have to find your own small community or 'village' - make the city human-sized again.Tracyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03070070360087765540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-81651738724083494912012-02-13T18:42:29.960-06:002012-02-13T18:42:29.960-06:00Oh my God YAY. This sounds amazing. I am not surpr...Oh my God YAY. This sounds amazing. I am not surprised at the dislike for Eastern Europeans -- when I lived in England (not London!), a lot of people talked trash about (particularly) the Lithuanians. It was weird.<br /><br />Also, I moved to New York from elsewhere and I do not think it would be ludicrous to live anywhere else. Many places are lovely!Jennyhttp://jennysbooks.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-16290498234335744962012-02-13T14:01:58.718-06:002012-02-13T14:01:58.718-06:00Haha, fair enough! After spending just one summer...Haha, fair enough! After spending just one summer in New York, I came to the conclusion that people born and brought up in New York aren't nearly as obsessed with it as are imports from other areas of the country. Everyone I knew in New York that moved there from elsewhere was vehement that it was the greatest place in the world and that it would be ludicrous to live anywhere else. People who had lived in New York much longer, though, or had moved there when much younger, were much more moderate.Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-81349347135126082842012-02-13T14:00:49.644-06:002012-02-13T14:00:49.644-06:00Haha, well, some of the stories were happy! But i...Haha, well, some of the stories were happy! But it seemed like a lot were just sad, too. It was an interesting collection. Didn't make me not want to return to London at all- just made me not want to LIVE there :-)Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-5141149053040595692012-02-13T14:00:11.694-06:002012-02-13T14:00:11.694-06:00I suppose that's possible, but the book mentio...I suppose that's possible, but the book mentioned much more than just the jobs thing. There was a lot about Eastern Europeans being dirtier, making shabby products, and harassing women. That implies a much deeper-seeded distrust than just the fight for jobs.Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-51433748717533884832012-02-13T13:08:57.938-06:002012-02-13T13:08:57.938-06:00As I read the very beginning of this post, I was t...As I read the very beginning of this post, I was thinking, "This could be a book about New York," so I agree with you that it is probably relevant to any big, urban city. However, New Yorkers would probably omit the essays about hating and leaving it. Because "real New Yorkers" find no cons of the city and judge those that leave. (This is me being a snarky NYC resident.)Karihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03858788786888440257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-72622195892089442682012-02-13T11:25:35.173-06:002012-02-13T11:25:35.173-06:00Normally, I'd be all over a book like this. Bu...Normally, I'd be all over a book like this. But it sounds too glum for me...I want to be convinced that I need to return to London right now! :-DAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-35910378512585363242012-02-13T09:54:14.482-06:002012-02-13T09:54:14.482-06:00I love London but if you have to be out and about ...I love London but if you have to be out and about all day it can become overwhelming. And it can feel a little lonely, but then with all the running about due to the speed of everything that's expected. Some of London feels quite different though. The thing about Eastern Europeans is that there have been a lot of them coming at once and the lack of available jobs and housing for people already here means that people worry that those who have been here longer/all their life will suffer. So it's more an issue of the ability of the country to be able to provide for everyone rather than the people themselves.Charliehttp://wormhole.carnelianvalley.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-19277074462659329442012-02-11T23:46:52.691-06:002012-02-11T23:46:52.691-06:00Hi Susan, really insightful comment! Yes, the aut...Hi Susan, really insightful comment! Yes, the author interviewed all kinds of people. Interestingly, there aren't THAT many generations-long Londoners left in the city, but he did find a few to talk to.<br /><br />I don't know if I believe that newcomers live on the "surface" of a city. I think people experience cities differently based on many factors - location, income level, language, community and many other things. So while someone who has lived there for his whole life may know one area really well, or one topic really well, that doesn't mean that his experience of London is so much deeper than a recent immigrant. At least, in my opinion :-)Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-69935053944041765282012-02-11T23:44:29.414-06:002012-02-11T23:44:29.414-06:00Aw, I doubt your life can be THAT humdrum, Stu! Y...Aw, I doubt your life can be THAT humdrum, Stu! You read really interesting books, at the very least :-) Have you ever read any Studs Terkel? I think you might really enjoy him, too, if you liked this one.Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-9326230847936456152012-02-11T23:43:52.755-06:002012-02-11T23:43:52.755-06:00That's really insightful. I don't mean it...That's really insightful. I don't mean it to sound like I had a horrible time in London. I loved the culture and the food and the parks and the arts. But I didn't have many friends there, and so I can completely understand how overwhelmed people feel there. But you're right- maybe if I had met some great love, I would have felt differently :-)Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-5439481802610936932012-02-11T23:42:51.715-06:002012-02-11T23:42:51.715-06:00It is! And the book really was very interesting.It is! And the book really was very interesting.Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-27336455603864565612012-02-11T23:42:34.742-06:002012-02-11T23:42:34.742-06:00Yes, it's interesting how our perceptions are ...Yes, it's interesting how our perceptions are formed, isn't it? As a Chicagoan, I feel much the same way about New York, but found that the city really does have many smaller neighborhoods that make you feel like you are not in a massive city- but each building has so many stories of tiny apartments! I enjoyed New York, but Chicago just feels friendlier to me. That could be because I am from there, though!Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-47560774045831756742012-02-11T22:09:42.760-06:002012-02-11T22:09:42.760-06:00I read your review with curiousity, as London is m...I read your review with curiousity, as London is my favourite big city. I love the history of it, and the places of interest and beauty, and yet what the literature that features London has, is this great loneliness about it. Like the people who live there, it's so big that they feel invisible,like the story you quoted. I'm thinking of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, which was about the hidden other side of London - not the seamy side, but the hidden fantasy side, that is found only by certain people,often lonely. It was a lonely book too, in many ways. I wonder what exactly it is about London that makes it this way? Yet it's so fascinating to go visit, and there is so much to London. I wonder if the problem is so many newcomers live on the surface of London? Did the author interview anyone who lived there all their lives, and came from people who had been there for a few generations?Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09095246748581382752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-77624423437138926342012-02-11T16:03:37.705-06:002012-02-11T16:03:37.705-06:00I read this and loved it I loved how craig had com...I read this and loved it I loved how craig had compiled the interview into a cycle london is such a large city I always pleased to leave it as it is tiring to spend time there as it seems like a sprint to my hum drum life ,all the best stustujallenhttp://winstonsdad.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-17160891248519907002012-02-10T21:32:18.515-06:002012-02-10T21:32:18.515-06:00I like the idea of having such a variety of experi...I like the idea of having such a variety of experiences shared about the same place; I would imagine that, if you were still living in the city, and your experience wasn't confined to such melancholy memories, that different stories would "speak" to you at different times, if you were to re-visit and re-read them as time passed.Buried In Printhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00808249065026802365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-64257754875837407042012-02-10T14:15:32.210-06:002012-02-10T14:15:32.210-06:00I think this one actually sounds fascinating. I th...I think this one actually sounds fascinating. I think the dynamic of large cities is so interesting.Melissa (Avid Reader)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02119628715475021774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-10095024686669805282012-02-10T12:13:33.085-06:002012-02-10T12:13:33.085-06:00I've lived in two large cities in Britain (one...I've lived in two large cities in Britain (one in the North, one in the Midlands), but not London - and I wouldn't be tempted to live in our capital because my perception too is <i>the city is too fast, too large, too unfriendly. That you need a thick skin to live there because no one is going to look out for you except you.</i><br />But then I get the same impression about New York.Tracyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03070070360087765540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-35903642629738497312012-02-10T11:50:50.775-06:002012-02-10T11:50:50.775-06:00That's exactly how I thought the lumping of im...That's exactly how I thought the lumping of immigrants in London harkened back to. It sounds as if they all have their 'native' identities, much more than we do in the US.Carrie Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15585975894624687972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-13907256798886995592012-02-10T11:26:34.862-06:002012-02-10T11:26:34.862-06:00Yeah, or we can make a Studs Terkel book our next ...Yeah, or we can make a Studs Terkel book our next buddy read :-)Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-78687293823029023252012-02-10T11:26:06.680-06:002012-02-10T11:26:06.680-06:00Yes, I was fascinated by the same thing! It's...Yes, I was fascinated by the same thing! It's so interesting how they define immigrant and minority there (or at least, how one person defined it) and how it really seeps into their interactions with other people. It seems even more isolating that way, really, to differentiate so minutely. But that's how it was here, too, earlier on, so maybe in another few generations, Europeans won't differentiate in that manner, either.Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-40101355367343932752012-02-10T11:24:39.996-06:002012-02-10T11:24:39.996-06:00Yes, it was interesting, but I don't meant to ...Yes, it was interesting, but I don't meant to imply there were no happy stories. Some were pretty funny! Or maybe the stories that stood out to me more were the melancholy ones. But I appreciated that it was honest. And I think I'd want an honest portrayal of my favorite city, too. Granted, an honest portrayal of my favorite city would have no bad chapters ;-)Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-34653397545009651192012-02-10T11:22:05.164-06:002012-02-10T11:22:05.164-06:00Hahaha, well, thanks for being honest.Hahaha, well, thanks for being honest.Aartihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02354873119188597611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7343567357202223317.post-90111007707261979012012-02-10T09:36:03.880-06:002012-02-10T09:36:03.880-06:00Oh yes, that quote about the rickshaw driver reall...Oh yes, that quote about the rickshaw driver really makes me feel glum. It seems that Londoners see things in a very different way than a lot of other people do, or it might just be that they are incredibly open and honest about the way they feel about different races and classes. I can imagine that this book might have been a bit upsetting to me as well. It seems like it draws a pretty bleak picture, but it is of interest to me. I would like to read this one at some point, and I really loved reading your perceptions on it, even though it was a darker book.Zibileehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07443338685890187334noreply@blogger.com