:: Oh, Look, A Tumbleweed ::

:: Monday, April 26, 2010 ::

I started rereading Microserfs today for what has to be the, like, thirtieth time. That book is so dog-eared and the plastic is peeling off the front cover. I honestly can't remember a time it wasn't like that. Again, I've read it a lot.

I've always enjoyed the kind of post-modern, nihilistic aspects of the novel, while appreciating how relatively light-hearted the book is. There's a lot of serious stuff in here (The whole Jed thing that looms over Dan, etc.), but the book always feels brisk.

Anyways, I guess my point is that while I've always enjoyed the novel for whatever reason, reading the first fifty pages today elicited a new response from me: I could relate to the characters.

Approaching the end of my college career, I guess I understand what it's like to feel trapped in an all-consuming environment, working your ass off for what seems like nothing, ultimately feeling completely disaffected and just kind of lost. It's like Dan's time at Microsoft is an accurate depiction of how I've felt for the past couple of years in the art department. I mean, even down to the house the characters live in. That was my house last year.

I don't know. It's weird. I usually go to Microserfs for that book I read whenever I'm feeling particularly weary or just need to read something, and apart from just plain liking it, I've never quite understood why. It's interesting, though, to look at it now. I'm in the same age group as most of the characters and I feel like I've been going through what they go through in the first hundred pages.

It's weird, to say the least.

I need to read more.

:: Nick Monday, April 26, 2010 [+] ::