Being There by Jerzy Kosinski
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Book Reviews of Being There
Book Review: A road to success
Summary: 5 Stars
Being There, written by Jerzy Kosinski, is a book about the life of Chauncey Gardiner, a gardener. He has worked all his life in a garden of an Old Man and has never left his "paradise" up to the day the Old Man died. When he leaves the house with its beautiful garden a totally new life begins. He is injured by a car of Elizabeth Eve Rand, wife of an influential financier. She feels pity for Chance and wants him to stay at her house. EE and Chance become friends and because of this friendship she introduces Chance to her other friends. Chance is introduced as a business man by a misunderstanding. From now on he becomes more and more famous. He meets many influential people, e.g. the President of the United States. His road to success has an unusual ending... Being There is an amusing book full of funny parts and a lot of misunderstandings. It is a mirror of today's society. It shows how a normal person can become famous by doing nothing.Book Review: In the land of videots
Summary: 5 Stars
Jerzy Kosinski brilliantly links Chance--the product of television--with the age we so gracefully are entering. Perhaps, it is not Chance that is the videot; he has flourished from little bud to a flower by the end of the novel. Maybe, then it is the people surrounding him that Kosinski is more concerned about. Those who created Chauncey Gardiner, and those who continue to create their presidents and beliefs in objects that appears well on television. It is an interesting novel to read as it was written in the 1970s, and is almost prophetic of what the world has become today. There are many gaps left by Kosinski to allow the reader to read between the lines of this seemingly "simple" novel. In the land of videots, it would be Kosinski's dream that by chance, you see what most do not.Book Review: From the garden you are isolated of the outer world !
Summary: 5 Stars
The garden is sinister metaphor where Gardiner finds his particular matrix . In this garden he simply exists and his codes are so naive and plenty of ingenuity that makes us smile .
But for those ironical twists of fate the life -which has much more imagination that anyone of us- will lead to this pleasant and primary man in a weird chain events that will become him in a neo Icarus.
Powerful, intriguing and bitter parable about the triviality in which we are inmersed .
Read this outstanding novel and many things will appear before your eyes : and please don't forget the phrase of Morpheus to Neo in Matrix:
Ignorance is bliss!
Book Review: Strangely prescient - a piece for the "post-partisan era"?
Summary: 5 Stars
Both during and after the election, I was reminded of this excellent novel. With the "light, less-filling" pronouncements of our president elect, it was time to return to "Being There".
While not 100% aligned with the recent election (no one would claim that Obama is not intelligent) it highlights how, when listening to carefully crafted rhetoric, we apply our "insightful" interpretations or biases.
Mr. Kosinsky experienced the horrors of facism and communism. Here he warns us of the danger of quick, easy-to-swallow solutions for complex problems.
Book Review: The chance of modern society
Summary: 5 Stars
I think the novel "Being There" describes well a problem of our modern society. The book has an interesting plot and tension is created all the time. Funny misunderstandings are a leitmotiv throughout the book. Also for young people it is easy to read because the language is not too difficult. Of course the speaking name of the protagonist called "Chance" absolutely fits him. When you read it you have to watch out for many hidden surprises. All in all it is a good book, read it.