Summarise a Novel in 25 Words

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Ullysses by James Joyce

Leopold Bloom wanders around Dublin, reminisces, frets about Molly's adultery, eats, tries to make a buck, masturbates. Crosses paths with Stephen Dedalus. Molly masturbates. Yes!

Glenn Davis, Tuesday, 2 March 2004 20:23 (twenty years ago) link

The reader is repeatedly made aware that the rhythm will get him/her. Monosyllabic jabberings commence, and then the rhythm actually gets him/her. End.
--- Rhythm Is Gonna Get You by Gloria Estefan

Tim Hutari, Tuesday, 2 March 2004 23:06 (twenty years ago) link

The Razor's Edge

Young man damaged by war, hangs out with coal miners, farmers, prostitutes, yogis. Enlightenment ensues. Ex-girlfriend still pissed.

bob, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 01:43 (twenty years ago) link

Of Human Bondage

Self-conscious med student falls for waitress. Everyone knows she's going to use him, which she does. Repeatedly. He ends up happy, despite never going to Spain.

bob, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 01:43 (twenty years ago) link

The Fall (Albrt Camus)

I'm Jean-Baptiste. Modern man: fornicates and reads the paper. I did too, now I'm conceited. Did I mention I let a woman drown? My bad.

cunctipotent cunctator, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 01:55 (twenty years ago) link

1984 - George Orwell

Think rebellious thoughts, drink, hide from TV, drink, snog [more dumb than revolutionary] redhead, drink, hate BB, drink, get rats on face, love BB, drink.

Virginia McCarthy, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 02:22 (twenty years ago) link

The Bible

I am the boss. Do exactly as I say. Don’t think. Be good until I tell you to kill, then act like it didn’t happen.

aha, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 04:27 (twenty years ago) link

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

I just don't get the doppelganger thing at all ...

captain gay, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 06:13 (twenty years ago) link

1984:
When in totalitarian dystopia--big brother behind every screen--and love starts to make you question state ideology, remember: hold your shoddy commie cigarettes carefully!


:::?
human experiment subject / concentration camp escapee singlehandedly challenges british dystopia; conscientiously objecting intuitive cop takes LSD to track him down; vi veri veniversum vivus vici.

vi2pr8r, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 06:19 (twenty years ago) link

Wonderland, Joyce Carol Oates

Dad SUUUUUCKS! Grandpa sucks. These weird eater people suck. Being a resident sucks. My kid sucks. Thinks I suck. Acid sucks. This ending sucks.

captain gay, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 06:41 (twenty years ago) link

The Witches by Roald Dahl (aka the first book I ever liked reading)

Witches covenent decides to kill all English children with cursed sweets that turn them into mice and kill them in mousetraps. Cursed mouse-boy recalls tale.

mouse-boy is one, hyphenated word. shut up. shut-up.

Bog, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 06:51 (twenty years ago) link

The IluvBooks 25 words or less synopsis of Ulysses is encapsulated withing the Scylla and Charybdis chapter:

"Life is many days. This will end"

B. Michael Payne (This Isnt That), Wednesday, 3 March 2004 07:12 (twenty years ago) link

Nobody Walks in LA by John Bwarie

A Native Angeleno drives LA's freeways, experiences the City, recalls his past, finds true love (and himself), and reveals the metropolis's true nature.

D. Winchell, Wednesday, 3 March 2004 15:53 (twenty years ago) link

Utopia

Thomas More blueskies a creepy, sixteenth-century Singapore, radically re-inventing society. (Later executed for conservative views.)

Nigel Burke, Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:28 (twenty years ago) link

120 Days of Sodom by Sade

Buggery by numbers

Nigel Burke (Nigel Burke), Thursday, 4 March 2004 01:36 (twenty years ago) link

1984 - George Orwell

Winston Smith does his job. Listens to Will Young in the pub.
Then appears on pilot for 'I'm a celebrity' doesn't get out.
Gets very depresssed, can't trust anyone again. Julia was a bitch.

manc_frank, Thursday, 4 March 2004 08:12 (twenty years ago) link

This thread is mentioned in today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/webwatch/

Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Thursday, 4 March 2004 11:31 (twenty years ago) link

that's either really cool or really scary. i dunno. i'd like to know where this thread was linked to as well. i'm guessing it was linked somewhere cuz i don't recognize a lot of the people posting. (people posting as of the 28th of Feb). It's all good though! Carry on. Just curious.

scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:26 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.ilxor.com/log.php?board=54

Scott, scroll down for the top referrals ever bit (Metafilter, basically).

Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:19 (twenty years ago) link

Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto

Woah, too many characters! Best make poem 1500 pages long. Stab, charge, slaughter! Rivers of blood ensue.

(or: Dynasty for the Renaissance)

Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:37 (twenty years ago) link

Mason & Dixon

Northerner, Southerner, draw territorial line across America, slaves, talking dogs, robot ducks, murderous intentions, hissy fits, and then they all die. It is sad.

Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:44 (twenty years ago) link

Fight Club
So you're a miserable, alienated young man. Stop beatin' youself up about it.

ziggy, Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:53 (twenty years ago) link

The I Love Books Summarise a Novel in 25 Words

Simple concept becomes popular. Loads of new people contribute. 300 posts and still going strong. Mention in the Guardian. Guardian Readers contribute. Thread dies.

Mikey G (Mikey G), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:58 (twenty years ago) link

Tofu-eating cockheads, you mean?

Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 4 March 2004 14:11 (twenty years ago) link

Blade Runner by Philip K Dick

Man hunts androids, illegally on earth to lengthen their pre-programmed short, doomed lives. Kills three, falls in love with the fourth. Short-lived.

Margo B99, Thursday, 4 March 2004 15:00 (twenty years ago) link

cool, Tico. thanks. that's very interesting.

scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 4 March 2004 15:18 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe rebellion is freedom. I hate Big Brother. I love her. Rats, rebellion is slavery too. I hate her. I love Big Brother. I die.

Ihavewonthevictoryovermyself, Thursday, 4 March 2004 18:51 (twenty years ago) link

>> Ihavewonthevictoryovermyself

That's a one word description of Fight Club.

PuzzleMonkey, Thursday, 4 March 2004 19:51 (twenty years ago) link

Fight Club

(Paraphrasing an earlier post) The first rule of Fight Club is you don't summarise Fight Club.

PuzzleMonkey, Thursday, 4 March 2004 19:53 (twenty years ago) link

I met tiny people
I met humongous people
I met clever people
I saw barbaric savages

Guess what? People suck in any shape or form.

Gulliver's Travels

PuzzleMonkey, Thursday, 4 March 2004 19:58 (twenty years ago) link

Bad Feng Shui for the continent, pioneer style (and George Washington on homegrown dope!).

Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

PuzzleMonkey, Thursday, 4 March 2004 20:05 (twenty years ago) link

The Outsider by Albert Camus


Its hot, my mother dies, its hot, I kill someone, its really hot, I get sentenced to death. Who cares? I do. Or do I?

The Campbell, Thursday, 4 March 2004 20:28 (twenty years ago) link

I’m just an ambitious boy. I had to kill her to fulfill my American Dream. This trial shows that it’s a ‘no-win’ from every angle.

Illiteratti, Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:03 (twenty years ago) link

Any Philip K Dick novel

Dude is really confused about stuff. Sage reveals all, except more weird stuff happens. Dude gets really freaked out, and goes and gets a Coke.

RodgerDodgertheLeopardSkinnedLodger, Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:31 (twenty years ago) link

All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque

German WW1 soldier is really hungry and miserable. Gets shot at, but has some good sociable craps in the sunshine with his mates. Goes home.

RodgerDodgertheLeopardSkinnedLodger, Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:37 (twenty years ago) link

Proudly, I live a Rabelaisian life but am stuck in mid-twentieth century New Orleans. After many picaresque adventures and despite my repulsiveness, I find love. (J. Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces)

Illiteratti, Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:42 (twenty years ago) link

So, what's your point?

(Kafka, The Trial)

paul trevor, Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:53 (twenty years ago) link

Last 2 (this party's over):

Hey, the ape can talk! And he thinks that by speaking elliptically I will learn how to live righteously in the world. God, he’s smart! (D. Quinn’s Ishmael)

Life as a World War II orphan is grim, but I survive savage landscapes like a medieval fairy tale character without a ‘happily ever after’. (J. Kosinski’s The Painted Bird)

Illiteratti, Thursday, 4 March 2004 22:15 (twenty years ago) link

White woman kisses black man. Southern trial. Atticus defends, loses, Tom dies. Boo scares Scout and Jem. Boo gives gifts. Boo saves Scout. I cry.

Katelynne, Friday, 5 March 2004 00:32 (twenty years ago) link

Yanks go to Spain,drink, attend bullfights. Man with penile problem pines for tramp. Fights Jewish guy. Drinks more.

-- The Sun Also Rises

beerzieboy, Friday, 5 March 2004 02:03 (twenty years ago) link

A bunch of upper-class English bores hang out on the beach and eventually walk to a lighthouse.

-- Woolf, To the Lighthouse

beerzieboy, Friday, 5 March 2004 02:06 (twenty years ago) link

andrew andrew andrew robertst

andrewandrewanderw, Friday, 5 March 2004 03:19 (twenty years ago) link

sorry for the long post. I thought it said 2500 words or less.

A skinhead Hamlet, Prince of Denmark


ACT I SCENE I
The battlements of Elsinore Castle.
Enter HAMLET, followed by GHOST.
GHOST: Oi! Mush!
HAMLET: Yer?
GHOST: I was fucked!
(Exit GHOST.)
HAMLET: O Fuck.
(Exit HAMLET.)
SCENE II
The Throneroom.
Enter KING CLAUDIUS, GERTRUDE, HAMLET and COURT.
CLAUDIUS: Oi! You, Hamlet, give over!
HAMLET: Fuck off, won't you?
(Exit CLAUDIUS, GERTRUDE, COURT.)
HAMLET: (Alone) They could have fucking waited.
(Enter HORATIO.)
HORATIO: Oi! Watcha cock fuck!
HAMLET: Weeeeey!
(Exeunt.)
SCENE III
Ophelia's Bedroom.
Enter OPHELIA and LAERTES.
LAERTES: I'm fucking off now. Watch Hamlet doesn't slip you one while I'm gone.
OPHELIA: I'll be fucked if he does.
(Exeunt.)
SCENE IV
The Battlements.
Enter HORATIO, HAMLET and GHOST.
GHOST: Oi! Mush, get on with it!
HAMLET: Who did it then?
GHOST: That wanker Claudius. He poured fucking poison in my fucking ear!
HAMLET: Fuck me!
(Exeunt.)
ACT II SCENE I
A corridor in the castle.
Enter HAMLET reading. Enter POLONIUS.
POLONIUS: Oi! You!
HAMLET: Fuck off, grandad!
(Exit POLONIUS. Enter ROSENCRANZ and GUILDENSTERN.)
ROS & GUILD: Oi! Oi! Mucca!
HAMLET: Fuck off, the pair of you!
(Exit ROS & GUILD.)
HAMLET: (Alone) To fuck or be fucked.
(Enter OPHELIA.)
OPHELIA: My Lord!
HAMLET: Fuck off to a nunnery!
(The exit in different directions.)
ACT III SCENE I
The Throne Room.
Enter PLAYERS and all COURT.
I PLAYER: Full thirty times hath Phoebus cart...
CLAUDIUS: I'll be fucked if I watch any more of this crap.
(Exeunt.)
SCENE II
Gertrude's Bedchamber.
Enter HAMLET, to GERTRUDE.
HAMLET: Oi! Slag!
GERTRUDE: Watch your fucking mouth, kid!
POLONIUS: (From behind the curtain) Too right.
HAMLET: Who the fuck was that?
(He stabs POLONIUS through the fucking arras.)
POLONIUS: Fuck!
HAMLET: Fuck! I thought it was that other wanker.
(Exeunt.)
ACT IV SCENE I
A Court Room.
CLAUDIUS: Fuck off to England then!
HAMLET: Delighted, mush.
SCENE II
The Throne Room.
OPHELIA, GERTRUDE and CLAUDIUS.
OPHELIA: Here, cop a whack of this.
(She hands GERTRUDE some fucking rosemary and exits.)
CLAUDIUS: She's fucking round the twist, isn't she?
GERTRUDE: (Looking out the window) There is a willow grows aslant the brook.
CLAUDIUS: Get on with it, slag.
GERTRUDE: Ophelia's gone and fucking drowned!
CLAUDIUS: Fuck! Laertes isn't half going to be browned off.
(Exeunt.)
SCENE III
A Corridor.
LAERTES: (Alone) I'm going to fucking do this lot.
(Enter CLAUDIUS.)
CLAUDIUS: I didn't fucking do it, mate. It was that wanker Hamlet.
LAERTES: Well, fuck him.
ACT V SCENE I
Hamlet's Bedchamber.
HAMLET and HORATIO seated.
HAMLET: I got this feeling I'm going to cop it, Horatio, and you know, I couldn't give a flying fuck.
(Exeunt.)
SCENE II
Large Hall.
Enter HAMLET, LAERTES, COURT, GERTRUDE, CLAUDIUS.
LAERTES: Oi, wanker: let's get on with it.
HAMLET: Delighted, fuckface.
(They fight and both are poisoned by the poisoned sword.)
LAERTES: Fuck!
HAMLET: Fuck!
(The QUEEN drinks.)
GERTRUDE: Fucking odd wine!
CLAUDIUS: You drunk the wrong fucking cup, you stupid cow!
HAMLET: (Pouring the poison down CLAUDIUS'S throat)
Well, fuck you!
CLAUDIUS: I'm fair and squarely fucked.
LAERTES: Oi, mush: no hard feelings, eh?
HAMLET: Yer.
(LAERTES dies.)
HAMLET: Oi! Horatio!
HORATIO: Yer?
HAMLET: I'm fucked. The rest is fucking silence.
(HAMLET dies.)
HORATIO: Fuck: that was no ordinary wanker, you know.
(Enter FORTINBRAS.)
FORTINBRAS: What the fuck's going on here?
HORATIO: A fucking mess, that's for sure.
FORTINBRAS: No kidding. I see Hamlet's fucked.
HORATIO: Yer.
FORTINBRAS: Fucking shame: fucking good bloke.
HORATIO: Too fucking right.
FORTINBRAS: Fuck this for a lark then. Let's piss off.
(Exeunt with alarums.)

Bill Shakes, Friday, 5 March 2004 05:12 (twenty years ago) link

The Recognitions, by William Gaddis:

The ship's surgeon was a spotty, unshaven little fake. So is everyone else. Wyatt kills Brown. Stanley brings down the house.

Pavel Jerdanovitch, Friday, 5 March 2004 06:37 (twenty years ago) link

Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle:

Karass, my ass! Is it cold in here, or is it just me?

Tagggart Hodge, Friday, 5 March 2004 07:14 (twenty years ago) link

Re: Skinhead Hamlet. Very funny - but remarkably similar to the Skinhead Hamlet in one of the 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' books back in the early eighties. Why don't you acknowledge your source?

Martin Pratt, Friday, 5 March 2004 08:20 (twenty years ago) link

Daddy-o! I’m so clouded by reefer and wine I honestly think I can shed my bourgeois mentality and wrap myself in the truths of Buddhism. (J. Kerouac’s Dharma Bums)

Illiteratti, Friday, 5 March 2004 15:56 (twenty years ago) link

Command me, Wanda. You aren’t in charge, Severin; YOU can’t command me. I must punish you. Ahhh, I love the way you love me, baby. (Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs)

Illiteratti, Friday, 5 March 2004 17:35 (twenty years ago) link

Dropout wanna-bes with visa cards hidden under coconuts play poxy soccer, get biten by sharks in perfect island. Miss moisturizers. As usual, American fucks up.

victor alisbani, Friday, 5 March 2004 17:47 (twenty years ago) link

The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams:

Y'all are one serious buzzkill. I'm out.

sixlayerkate, Friday, 5 March 2004 19:28 (twenty years ago) link


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