COMMENT
How would you rate the book in terms of difficulty?
What are other difficult texts you have encountered before?
Does taking notes help with the comprehension?
IN SEPARATE PARAGRAPH
Do you have suggestions for your classmates on how to approach this text?
REPLIES. Reply to at least one comment with your observations.
I would rate this book as somewhat difficult to read, just because of its written style. Dialogue was a bit harder to follow than an average book, and the lack of punctuation had me rereading paragraphs over. However, the overall story was fairly easy to follow. Other difficult texts I have read would be the old Greek texts such as Euripides Medea, The Aeneid, or The Odyssey of Homer. Although translated, they were all a hard read for me, similarly because of a writing style I was not used to.
ReplyDeleteTaking notes did help with understanding this text, because it helped me keep track of things that I found important to the story, or to myself. Reading this text with a rhythm, as suggested, helped me with my understanding, and would suggest others to do the same.
I completely agree with you and your point about punctuation. Most of the chapters seemed like they were composed of nothing but run on sentences when the proper grammar wasn't involved. It made it a bit more difficult to follow exactly what was going on with a bunch of words compiled together.
Deletei have read the same books The Odyssey and Homer and i believe those books are a lot easier then Christ in Concrete. taking notes did not help me either while i was reading
DeleteI agree with you completely Deric . The language is what made the book somewhat difficult . Rereading slowly helped me as well . Some older texts give me difficulty as well but rereading carefully as I did with this book has always worked !
DeleteI would rate this book as mildly difficult to follow. The book seems like it was composed of an array of adjectives, that described the scenes rather than a full sentence. It was difficult grasping certain plots when the writing followed this pattern, so rereading some parts of the book was inevitable. Some difficult texts that I have came across include Moby Dick and the Scarlett Letter. Much like Christ in Concrete, I found myself rereading parts of the book to better understand what occurred. Taking notes does in fact help with comprehension, especially since noting important moments helped me pinpoint the highlights of particular chapters in the book.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest reading the text slowly, as well as writing things that are not fully understood, in order to go back to it and make sure it is clear. I would also suggest allotting enough time to read and reread the book to get the gist of the text.
Reading slowly does help with understanding the text, but I couldn’t help but pick up my reading pace during the scene of destruction and death, as my adrenaline was pumping a bit. It really is up to you to find your own rhythm.
DeleteI fully agree that rereading the texts makes it much easier to understand. As you said, it helps a lot to take a break and try reading it again a second time when you have free time.
DeleteI absolutely agree with you. The best way is to read slowly. It helps to understand more and obviously that's what we want from the reading.
DeleteI totally agree with you guys, the best way to read this is very slow and keep on rereading it until you actually what is being said.
DeleteI found the book mildly difficult to read. The plot wasn’t that hard to understand, but all different terms and references really confused me. I am neither Christian nor Italian, so I was really thrown off by all the Christian and Italian terms. I do not recall ever reading a book similar to this. There are a few poems that I remember reading in high school that are similar, but no text comes close. This book will be a challenge for me. Taking notes didn’t really help me understand it. I reread anything that confused me, and that helped me understand things much better.
ReplyDeleteThe only advice that I can give you is to read slowly and reread paragraphs you do not understand. There are some paragraphs that are more confusing than others. Take things slow and you’ll start understanding (and even enjoying!) the book much more.
This book was on of the hardest dialogue to read. After watching the you tube videos and going back to the text I was able to find the rhythm and understand the text a little better. Taking notes has also helped me. I have read a little further since i was able to understand the story.
ReplyDeleteI personally think it is not an easy reading. I wouldn't say it was the hardest thing I've ever read, but not an easy one for sure. I would not lie I had to refer to a dictionary once in a while in order to understand some words. The plot itself wasn't that hard to follow, but I was rereading some parts.
ReplyDeleteTaking notes always helps. It makes you a slow reader, but a very attentive one.It clears up the whole picture and helps to understand more.
I would suggest to read slowly( like it was mentioned before).Also if you don't understand something just google it. And of course taking notes is the best( It refers to any reading you plan on working with and discuss). It might take time but it's the best way to clear the picture.
I totally agree with you I do not think it is the hardest I ever read, just the style that it is written in makes it a little difficult but still is not the hardest thing I ever read. You just have to take your time and read slowly to grasp the true understanding of the book which the like you said isn't that hard to follow. I completely agree with you, this is exactly how I felt.
DeleteThe book wasn't difficult to read. You just need to read slowly. Once you understand the style of writing, it becomes easy. It is not the hardest book I have read.
ReplyDeleteThis book was difficult for odd reasons. I felt like I was reading a play at times. The text is so detailed and deliberately paced. I felt like the author played tricks on me at times or my mind got so adapted to the flow that I psyched myself out. I would often read a line and then let it internalize and have to read it again just to make sure I read it correctly. I really got lost with who was talking and after a while it did not matter who was talking because I would get wrapped up into the pace. This reminded me of a movie called "Tree of Life" so much. Not the story, but if I could turn this book into a movie, it would look like "Tree of Life" to me. The pacing and visual reminded me of "Upstream Color" as well.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, the most difficult text I have ever encountered I actually enjoyed. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is by far my favorite book. The movie is dope as well, but the text just rips the movie and the movie swept the Oscars that year. That goes to show how it is a powerful book. The book just starts out trippy and rumor has it that the author was actually on LSD, so there is speculation of whether he lived this story or made it up. Nonetheless, the story is beautiful and magical. The characters are really thought out and the circumstance had to be brought out from LSD because it is really interesting.
Generally speaking, I hate taking notes when I am reading. Taking notes ruins the magic for me. I will say that taking notes helped me with comprehension because I needed to know which character was who. The story moves so quick that I needed to know which character was being talked about or referred to and how they relate to the story at that point in time. Once I started taking notes the story ended up being what it was to me. I placed the book as a movie and that helped me put everything into context and understand the pacing.
Hmmm... I would suggest that if my classmates do not have a clear thought of how to interpret this text after 2 or 3 pages to suit them, then it will become unclear the whole way through. For me, I interpreted the book as a movie and it made it easy for me to put into terms with my way of thinking. Maybe start with a genre and if that gets too broad then think of a hobby or interest and find a way to link the text with that such thing. Linking together the pacing, the words, the dialogue, or the action to something that you like will make it easy on yourself. I hope that helps.
This book is extremely difficult to understand. while reading this book i am never able to tell what character is talking to what other character or to God. The authors use of descriptive imaging was good but besides that i think everything in the book was very confusing and ambiguous while reading.
ReplyDeleteThis book was difficult to read , but the fact that it was so interesting made it easier . You want to understand the texts because the characters become a part of you . There is one book ( I cannot recall the name of ) that I read in a British literature class . It was a very old book and the language was so strange . It made no sense to me . I must have read that book three times in all. Taking notes definatly aids comprehension, whether mental or written.
ReplyDeleteI just remembered the name of the book . It was called " Anglo Saxon Attitudes "
DeleteThe book is indeed difficult to read because it set you to a scenery in the beginning and destroys it. It's hard to understand who is trying to speak and there's a lot of dialogue.
ReplyDeleteTo me Oedipus Rex from Sophocles is another book that I found really hard to read. It's because that the book itself is written in old English and most of the words and vocabularies are hard for me to understand.
Yes taking notes do helps in reading the book especially when you trying to read back and forth to understand the text thoroughly.
To me taking notes and spending extra time to read the book do helps me a lot to understand the text more. I would suggest the rest of the classmates to read the text when you have a lot of free time and spend more time to read it. And when reading the text, try to figure who's talking because it will helps you understand more.