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"A lucid and moving debut novel on the interconnection between work and life, loneliness and kinship, and the projects that occupy our time. How do we take stock of a life--by what means, and by what measure? This is the question that preoccupies Alice, a Taiwanese immigrant in her late thirties. In the off-hours from her day job, Alice struggles to create a project about the enigmatic downtown performance artist Tehching Hsieh and his monumental, yearlong 1980s performance pieces. As Alice roots deeper into Hsieh's radical use of time and his mysterious disappearance from the art world, her project starts metabolizing events from her own life. She wanders from subway rides to street protests, loses touch with a friend, and becomes a caretaker for her stepfather, a Vietnam vet whose dream of making traditional Chinese furniture dissolved in alcoholism and dementia. Moving between present-day and 1980s New York City, with detours to Silicon Valley and the Venice Biennale, Activities of Daily Living is a startlingly precise, vivid, and tender examination of the passage of time"--Provided by publisher.… (altro)
This book is a meditation on the intersections of life and time – how we pass time, spend time, waste time, and consume time through activities of daily living. There are two main storylines. Narrator Alice analyzes the life of performance artist Tehching Hsieh and his “projects.” He believes that performance art seems acceptable to others only if it is called a project or an experiment. Alice and her sister are arranging care for their stepfather, who is declining mentally due to dementia. These two storylines are woven together in an almost mesmerizing way.
It is told in a fluid stream-of-consciousness style and is not for anyone looking for a straightforward story. The timelines are constantly shifting, and random characters enter the narrative without introduction or context. Alice and her sister deal with their stepfather’s gradual decline, and these sections are heart-wrenching.
The parts related to Hsieh’s performance art are not directly connected to the family drama; however, his one-year performances highlight the passage of time and how it is intricately tied to the living of a life. It seems to be pointing out how the everyday activities contain the most meaningful moments, and this observation informs the relationship between Alice and her stepfather. I found it unusual and creative, bordering on philosophical. I am not sure exactly why this book works, but it certainly worked for me. ( )
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi.Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
Why do people want to do a project at all, instead of just living on into the future unfettered by projects? The following answer can be given to this question: above all else, each project strives to acquire a socially sanctioned loneliness. —Boris Groys
Real duration is that duration which gnaws on things, and leaves on them the mark of its tooth. —Henri Bergson
Dedica
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi.Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
For EKH
Incipit
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A dock outside Philadelphia on a still night.
Citazioni
Ultime parole
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"A lucid and moving debut novel on the interconnection between work and life, loneliness and kinship, and the projects that occupy our time. How do we take stock of a life--by what means, and by what measure? This is the question that preoccupies Alice, a Taiwanese immigrant in her late thirties. In the off-hours from her day job, Alice struggles to create a project about the enigmatic downtown performance artist Tehching Hsieh and his monumental, yearlong 1980s performance pieces. As Alice roots deeper into Hsieh's radical use of time and his mysterious disappearance from the art world, her project starts metabolizing events from her own life. She wanders from subway rides to street protests, loses touch with a friend, and becomes a caretaker for her stepfather, a Vietnam vet whose dream of making traditional Chinese furniture dissolved in alcoholism and dementia. Moving between present-day and 1980s New York City, with detours to Silicon Valley and the Venice Biennale, Activities of Daily Living is a startlingly precise, vivid, and tender examination of the passage of time"--Provided by publisher.
It is told in a fluid stream-of-consciousness style and is not for anyone looking for a straightforward story. The timelines are constantly shifting, and random characters enter the narrative without introduction or context. Alice and her sister deal with their stepfather’s gradual decline, and these sections are heart-wrenching.
The parts related to Hsieh’s performance art are not directly connected to the family drama; however, his one-year performances highlight the passage of time and how it is intricately tied to the living of a life. It seems to be pointing out how the everyday activities contain the most meaningful moments, and this observation informs the relationship between Alice and her stepfather. I found it unusual and creative, bordering on philosophical. I am not sure exactly why this book works, but it certainly worked for me. ( )