Madeleine's Thoughts

Although I thoroughly disliked Open City, I can see how some people might enjoy the novel. Julius had some interesting thoughts while on his long, dreary walks. Speaking of his past life in Africa caught my attention as a good subject. It was addressed in a efficient manner that didn't bore the reader too much. The language that the narrator speaks with throughout the novel is too supercilious for high school students to appreciate. He talks in a condescending manner which I suppose younger readers find irritating. Julius seems to need to prove to his reader that he is an intelligent man by saying all these art movements constantly. He must have thought readers cared if Julius could pick out a Baroque piece out of all the other art movements in history. In reality, the readers didn't care. The facts spewed out by Julius were mostly irrelevant to the "plot" and distracted the reader. The plot was also nonexistent. There was no point to it. The ending especially was bothersome due to the fact the narrator was just saying more facts about random stuff; this time it was birds dying from the Statue of Liberty. With the lacking plot and the condescending language, I found this novel hard to appreciate.