"The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new."

I'm reading Murphy by Samuel Beckett right now. He's often regarded as the last of the modernists (which is most likely going to be my focus - major wise). It's the first Beckett book I've read, and I have to tell you: I hated it at first. I read half the book, and was just forcing myself to finish it when I decided, "I'm going to start over." I realized that I wasn't liking it because I wasn't getting it. I think, for me at least,  books of this era need to be read a couple of times before they can really be appreciated. They are dense; they are confusing; and they are worth every minute you spend looking up allusions and re-tracing sentences (modernists jump around a lot, use indirect speech and stream of consciousness, and their sentences are generally quite choppy or quite lengthy). I think that's what I love so much about Woolf, Joyce, and Conrad. They're brilliant and if you don't work, you aren't able to really read them. They aren't quick reads no matter how short they are (Ulysses for example. Nudge, Nudge.). I love that they are these little puzzles with complicated prose, lessons in philosophy, and beautiful insights into people. I've read Mrs. Dalloway five times, and each time I read it, it's a completely different book. 

But back to Murphy: I haven't even finished it yet, but I love it now because I gave it a chance. It's a cold and cynical book, and in that coldness and cynicism, it's a bit terrifying. It's essentially (from where I'm at) about Murphy's attempt to alienate himself (perhaps one could say in that alienation, he is really trying to find himself - I can't tell right now though), and the attempts of those around him to prevent him from doing so (for a host of reasons). 

The first sentence of the book reads, "The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new." Dark, right? But like, could you imagine constructing that sentence? It's dark, but it's beautiful. It makes you look at it a few times. "The nothing new" is a noun that the sun is shining on. I say: holy crap! 

Anyways, perhaps I'll write more later after I finish the book. I'm just procrastinating studying right now. 

Oh, and I have to admit: Murphy is so complicated that I just might be getting it totally wrong.