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What's a book you read that you now think you weren't old enough to fully appreciate? (alien.top)

submitted 9 months ago by justkeepbreathing94@alien.top to c/books@metacritics.zone

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When I was 9, or mybe even 8, I read White Fang by Jack London. As I kid I felt so grown up for having read what I considered an "adult book" at that age. In class we could read a book then on the class computer we could take a multiple choice test on it for points. Childrens books were usually 2 or 3 points, but White Fang was 22 points. I don't remember exactly how I did, but I remember being happy about the score, and I was in the advanced program in elementary school, so I'm assuming I did pretty well. Who knows though.

But anyways, I'm positive that the themes, and motifs, and life lessons, and philosophies in that book went right over my little head. I probably only cared about the mother wolf raising the cubs and White Fang fighting the Bulldog.

Now looking back at it, there's so much depth. Family bonds, identity, a sense of community, effects of abuse, and on and on. Examining it now as an adult feels like it's a completely new book, and I wasn't old enouigh to appreciate it and understand it the way I can now.

That leads to this question. Are there any books that you can appreciate and delve into the layers of more now that you're older and maybe even wiser?

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[–] Psweens@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago

The Stranger, but it definitely did not help that I read it in French and was still learning. Even then though, I feel like even once I understood what was being said I didn’t really understand what it was trying to do, and just thought it was weird.

[–] lissawaxlerarts@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago

Tale of Two Cities. Dickens’ descriptions are long but they stack. The next time he describes the same place he builds on his previous metaphors. It reminds me a lot of “Hamilton” where Lin Manuel Miranda will have 3 different meanings in a phrase.

Lin Manuel is the new Dickens.

[–] Massive-Refuse7631@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. Read it when I was 14 and didn't fully grasp what the characters were going through, I especially disliked Midori and thought she was outright annoying. Until I re-read it as a young adult, it suddenly hit me that she felt insecure beneath the outspoken and rebellious appearance. I read the book a few more times in my adulthood and every time still brings me new perspectives.

[–] Leopold_Bloom_@alien.top 1 points 9 months ago

I read Tropic of Cancer too young, lol. It was shocking. It is still shocking, but it was shocking too.