Henry Miller - The Tropic of Cancer BOOK REVIEW

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[@nuritardif563]

Hi Cliff, Nuri here. You're so very welcome. I'm so happy the book made it to you. Thank you so much for all the years of great content, I always look forward to your videos; this one in particular just made my day!

[@BetterThanFoodBookReviews]

Hey Nuri my pleasure, thanks for commenting and stopping by! And thank you so much for the book - so glad you got to see the review.

[@JoannaDeVoe]

Henry's strength was not in being a deep thinker but in being a deep feeler who wrestled around with words in an attempt to capture life's messiness and ecstasy.

[@oggymation3875]

being 16 not many people my age are into reading especially it being 2024 but i’ll unashamedly admit this youtube page put me on to many of my favourite authors, i’m making a tuna melt listening to this and awaiting a copy of tropic of cancer in the mail taht cost me all of 5$ i can’t wait to start it

[@JohnnyComelately-eb5zv]

Reading Orwell's essay on Tropic of Cancer called 'Inside the Whale' puts the book in proper context.

[@greggoat6570]

Please keep reading and NEVER let anyone (a peer, anybody) try to tell you that reading is unimportant. Getting ahead of the game with reading more challenging material already will only help you. Keep reading!

[@doctorquid]

Any entry point is the correct one. But this is a great gateway. I was reading before Cliff... but the recommendations? Good stuff

[@matthewjaco847]

True story, when I first read this book a few years back, the opening pages inspired me to write a raunchy love letter that sealed the deal on a woman I had been “wooing” long-distance. A damn fine novel.

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

What a cool story! Glad it worked out haha

[@Skyjacker_]

Cancer and Capricorn were life-changing books for me. It was only after reading Celine's, Journey to the End of the Night that I realized how much influence this book had on Miller. Journey is also really funny and has dozens of incredible one-liners. Between Cancer and Capricorn, I'd have to say that Capricorn is my favourite. It was written after Tropic of Cancer, but describes his life in New York before managing to get away to Paris. Nobody can ever look at the Brooklyn Bridge again in quite the same way after reading Capricorn. This was the first book of Millers that I read, when I was 18, and it changed my outlook on life. It's been in my top-3 books ever since. Tropic of Cancer is a book that I'd recommend to anyone feeling despondent/suicidal, as it's life-affirming, to a degree like nothing else I've even known.

[@EthanBird]

I can't comment on your written work, but it certainly seems like you've found your unique voice when I watch your videos. There are many book review channels, but I only subscribe to one. It wasn't an accident.

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

Couldn’t agree more. He’s incredibly personable and I feel like one can get deep on his channel without it feeling awkward.

[@barbaralemon4170]

I recently had a book purge, but, I made a rare exception for my Henry Miller collection. Henry Miller is a treasure.

[@Autodidactz]

I get the need to do a book purge but sense you had a beautiful library in the making (1,000) books +).

[@christopherpaul7588]

I think in Sexus, he mentions that he was trying to find his own voice, imitating other writers he admired and this woman he was in love with told him to write like he spoke. Because he was apparently a great orator and would give great speeches to his friends over dinner. Eventually she asked Miller- Why don't you write like you speak? - and that changed everything.

[@ondeckanimations]

I love you cliff, you got me into reading a year or two ago. Your reviews always show books I would’ve never read without your input on it, you’re great at explaining why it’s a good read!

[@joniheisenberg]

I love this book. It has been many years since I read it.

[@pandaredemption]

Just picked this one up today, and I already enjoy it a lot. Thanks for the recommendation, Cliff

[@jayarrington240]

What a terrific introduction to Miller. Thanks Clifford. I really enjoyed it. Kudos !

[@reaganwiles_art]

Huge Miller fan. This is my least favorite of his books. Capricorn is magic, and as Miller matured his love of Life and I dare say of God (Freedom?) grew. Thanks for the review. 🎉❤😊 PS: I read Miller early in life. I read Céline later. I turned up some history on Miller somewhere, that he had Cancer written then read Journey to The End of The Night and scrapped Cancer and rewrote it. Having read most of Céline's work it is clear to me that Miller's style (but not attitude to life) was transformed by Journey and Mort á crédit.

[@meesalikeu]

its fun to see you young fellas getting into the classics like henry -- my fav of his would be colossus of maroussi

[@mavispice3966]

Colossus of Maroussi was my favourite book along with Camus' Stranger back in my highschool years

[@meesalikeu]

@@mavispice3966under the rooftops is also very good 🎉

[@JohnnyComelately-eb5zv]

George Orwell's essay on Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer amongst other things is a classic which gives proper context. It's called Inside the Whale.

[@meesalikeu]

i wish cliff would do down and out in paris and london

[@JohnnyComelately-eb5zv]

@@meesalikeu He's a liberal so he probably wouldn't get it.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

This novel is wild, been a fav of mine for years

[@ichirofakename]

Thanks for reading us a key passage.

[@jdlc-df1ue]

I just finished this book and it’s left a huge hole in my soul. It was extremely alienating. Subscribed!

[@adrianstumpp5883]

Can't wait for Hart Crane. Maybe the most underrated American poet ever.

[@meesalikeu]

cleveland's finest -- come check out hart crane park in the flats

[@christopherpaul7588]

Tropic is definitely hallucinatory. It came out around the time Surrealism was getting going. I think that had an influence on his style.

[@patricktoole3687]

I was hoping you would do this book for years!

[@nothingoldcanstay12]

When you said “body to body, job to job” I said “Swans” aloud. Then you confirmed it hahaha

[@1siddynickhead]

Hi Cliff, I think you have a very distinctive voice. Just going by your book chats, the way you express yourself is singular.

[@gavinyoung-philosophy]

A wonderful review! I’d just bought this book a little while ago and now I’m going to read it.

[@brynleyjones3635]

You got me into Flannery O'Conner after your Wise Blood review, and I would love it if you reviewed The Violent Bear it Away.

[@DavidGivenSchwarm]

SWANS rreference! I saw them at the LODGE on Sunday--two and a half hours of pure gold. Thanks for all you do!

[@mavispice3966]

i recently read all of Anais Nin and Henry Miller's letters. one of the best things i ever laid eyes upon

[@KirstyMcCarthy-pe2qr]

❤

[@christopherpaul7588]

Great review of one of my favorite writers. But I disagree that Miller's optimism makes him less of an intellectual. Have you read the Rosy Crucifixion Trilogy? You would be surprised by Plexus, part two of the trilogy. It's different than Miller's other work.

[@EmmanuelMartinez-ud6lx]

I'm reading it for the second time and I just bought the same edition you have, and I got and 80's print of Tropic of Capricorn from Amazon as well

[@HeroOfTheDay99]

Some of the best novels I've read in the last few years have been due to your channel. The Moviegoer, The Sun Also Rises, Wise Blood, The Talented Mr. Ripley. And so on. Can't wait to check this one out. Cheers, Cliff.

[@cirquedude123]

I first read this in 2019 right after I broke up with my co-parent. Perfect timing lol! I own Black Spring havent read it yet. Thank you for all your videos!

[@nikkivenable73]

Omg I've never been first!! Hello Cliff and fellow bookworms!

[@billyb6001]

Hi

[@Margie75]

Hello 👋🏽

[@meesalikeu]

congrats

[@oblomovtheunknown]

What a cool vlog/review. I was in Paris and was like HM short of cash. I showered in the showers on the Isle - 20 mins, ate from the Vietnamese snack bar and so on. Drank a bit too much. Partied when I could - and lots of my friends were into Hem and HM. I once did a mini guide of Hem in Paris. Met Anaïs Nin's nephew on Sundays. Quite a character - Paris was in 2000 quite something. Johnny Depp popped in at Shakespeare and Co where I slept on and off for two years. Wild and exhilarating but it was tough. So I can appreciate HM's take on his time. We all wanted to throw out Koans after a few Tsing Taos.

[@HeavenSentHoney]

Oh goodness if you could ever find the time to discuss more of Anaïs Nin's books that would be a godsend.

[@Margie75]

Hi Cliff, I read this book years ago. But I may have to read it again. Right now, I have a copy of Tropic of Capricorn. Please do a review of this book when you can. Have a great day 👍🏽

[@chadvonswan]

The vocabulary in this book is wild

[@lussyisbabby892]

Having read the diaries of Anais Nin and her relationship with Henry Miller, consider me interested in picking up this book.

[@AdamWilliams-up2dx]

Just found your videos, amazing analysis and very watchable! Thank you for mentioning Georges Bataille, I'd never heard of him before and if he can exist in the same sentence as De Sade and Ganet I think he'll be worth a read!

[@JonathanRossignol]

Dude, I just added this to my bucket list the other week. Nice.

[@counterpointtv4088]

Awesome review!

[@ryanmainardi3611]

The diaries of Anaïs Nin are some of the best things I ever read. I strongly recommend, if you liked Henry Miller.

[@DemeterTelphousia-Erinyes]

I read it last year after having it on my shelves since 1995! I enjoyed it, but it’s best read in small doses. Looking forward to your review.

[@rozacielo7792]

you're brilliant... love your reviews .... mentally stimulating .... best book review channel on YT

[@maxkproductions]

I literally read this book like, a few weeks back, and you do a video on it!

[@jeanvanderstegen]

hello Cliff, Jean here, from Belgium. Did you know that Henry Miller was a huge admirer of Louis-Ferdinand Céline ? As a matter of fact, he totally changed his style when he read Journey to The End of the Night, translated into english in 1933, a year before Tropic of Cancer. Miller is the first American author to admit he owes everything to Céline, then Bukowski, Kerouac and others admitted the same… all the best

[@marknewton6984]

I briefly met Kerouac in Florida '68 at a bookstore. He was reading "Tropic of Cancer."

[@joejs7659]

Celine is a true inventor, reading Journey and Death saved me in many ways. I respect him highly and also enjoy some of his later works where he seems to channel some schizophrenia elements in his style and where the words are like ballerinas swaying in the reflections of a dance-school mirror that still stands among a fragmentary and destroyed world, as Joyce did as well with Simon Daedelus in Ulysses, these type of writers are few and far between, they manage to write poems on every page of their novels, they cannot be thanked enough.

[@jeanvanderstegen]

@@joejs7659 couldn’t agree more…

[@joejs7659]

@@jeanvanderstegen just finished Normance haven’t read anything like it, pure action, constant slaps and heart-felt hugs. The endig where the papers fly from his blown-out apartment made me cry. Strong stuff. Also he hits me like no other with his paranoia…

[@eadamic17]

22:58 Sounds like my kind of man! This will be my next read.

[@TeatroGrotesco]

Found Tropic of Cancer in the early 1990's and it still felt like I was sneaking something I wasn't supposed to be seeing. Along with Bukowski, it was stunning that stories could be about such things...these were not the stories of Hero doing heroic things...

[@mulefa1]

Miller, Bataille, Ballard… Who’s the fourth?

[@TheSalMaris]

Tropic is far more interesting than The Sun Also Rises, but then I'm not a Hemingway fan. Thanks for this.

[@meesalikeu]

not really, but henry or hem for that matter too are not for everybody

[@jamescooper9529]

You never disappoint, good sir.

[@billcook4768]

I keep wanting to read this. But some joker has had it checked out of the library since the 70’s.

[@cecethompson914]

It’s George’s fault!

[@bogdanbogdan3462]

Best HM books: Colossus of Marroussi, Plexus, Tropic of Capricorn.Also read Anais Nin's journals to see a woman's perspective on Miller. Very interesting books

[@smithywerbenjagermanjensen]

Been a while a since i read tropic of cancer but i remember laughing my ass off at the whole ending sequence. Reading tropic of capricorn atm, Henry Miller is so infectiously shameless, reading him just makes you want to go out and be alive.

[@joejs7659]

Nicely phrased.

[@billyb6001]

He’s vulgur in the best way

[@stefandwars5632]

Great review

[@kathleenrivard2881]

My bookcase almost fell on me last week… not good. I tried to move it without taking out the books… pulled it towards me…The Darwin Award club tried to take me. My dogs said: “well shit”. My cat said: “damn, that should’ve worked.”

[@BloopyBloop-gs1to]

Cliff, what your wife said about women being places in literature reminded me of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. It's a great book but it lacks narrative. Still, you might enjoy reading it. It's very short.

[@doctorquid]

Cancer and Capricorn🎉

[@gamayun6102]

Seems with me being almost 31, I really need to read this book. Wasted too much time in life, maybe this can help.

[@corycastleman6351]

Been meaning to read this for a few years now, even owned a copy I found for like 2$ once, and got rid of it 😅. I’m gonna have to prioritize lol

[@persianreactor]

One of my Fave books, i read it and also recommend listening to IAN MCSHANE Narrated Audio Version

[@MoonDoon]

"when i look down on this C___ of a W____" Well hot damn!

[@zachharris3040]

His writing style feels powerful. It’s crass and rambles but also flowery. Yet, unlike some stream of consciousness type narratives, this isn’t hard to follow. I want to get a oomaharumooma tattoo.

[@Buffalohump77]

Watching your review and enjoying it quite a bit... Opus Pistorum is really not worth reading, I would avoid it. It has none of what makes Miller's work so wonderful and enduring. He wrote it for money. The Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, however, is absolutely worth reading and falls directly beneath the two Tropics and Black Spring as his best work. Also recommend 'Air-Conditioned Nightmare', 'The Colossus of Maroussi', 'Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymous Bosch'. If you're particularly interested in the Paris era, check out 'Quiet Days in Clichy'. Also worth finding Brassai's book on Miller: 'Henry Miller, the Paris Years'.

[@iCirith]

Hi, Cliff! The section around 20:45 talking about "woman as place" is really interesting to me. My favorite philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, talks about this idea a bit in one of his interviews with Claire Parnet in the series "L'Abcedaire de Deleuze". ("D" for Desire). The way Deleuze talks about wanting to experience another almost as one experiences a location--to be wrapped up in the folds of another, etc. -- is just so interesting to me. Anyway, cool parallel I thought I'd point out. Love the videos!

[@shrelpshrelp]

you need to get to the colossus of maroussi, the best work of his imo. but i think you should read tropic of capricorn first

[@jcdenton2907]

Please review Culture of Critique

[@cathypeters4947]

Sometimes a cigar is just that.

[@omarwjwiippa8726]

I've been listening to Gibson's neuromancer. Do you have an opinion of audiobooks or bolano or Fowles' Magnus? My wife just 2 books she's "kept" for me.

[@omarwjwiippa8726]

I couldn't get into neither t.o.c. or its companion. I did enjoy the film henry & june. I saw it in the theater & my first what was XXX film & could hear people "adjust" during most risque films.

[@KirstyMcCarthy-pe2qr]

💖

[@Andy2kk]

Wow that's a long one

[@andyalam5074]

You are beginning to look like Hemingway 👍

[@user-sq5si3en4m]

didn't he marry Marlyn Momroe at one time?

[@kankanishere]

No he didn’t

[@MetalVolcano]

I'd say everything by Miller up to The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945) is worth reading. Black Spring (1936) is his masterpiece. Could not get through The Rosy Crucifixion because he regrettably adjusted his style and made these long books unbearably boring reads.

[@bobcabot]

ja Cliché is a real village in France, people forget...

[@4-dman464]

6:25 Maybe even if Miller was the amalgamation of his favored influences, that composite style transcended any one derivation. Finding a unique voice is a miraculous thing, like telepathy. Think of it. If some new Kurt Vonnegut piece is found & published - - like 'The Last Tasmanian' in SUCKER'S PORTFOLIO 12 years ago - - & you showed one anonymous para that had no obvious unique identifiers in there - - no ref to Indianapolis or Dresden or the family etc - - I'd know before the para ended who the author is. How is that possible, out of all the authors in the world? He's not my countryman, he's not my generation, he's not my class, his university education is not my field, our life experiences are vastly different, & we never met... how is it possible that I could recognise his authorial voice without any clues? You have found your unique voice not when a friend says of your writing, "Oh that's so *you* ," but when a total stranger across the Atlantic says it. If we don't have a unique voice, we might still be an excellent writer well worth reading. We just wouldn't be in that rare echelon whose style enables us to be, at least while we're reading, telepathic.

[@aliprcdmrn19]

When it's a hi

[@flxmdn]

I don't know this book, but Lana del Rey read it for sure.

[@Fiona-wn4rm]

Why do you think that?

[@aliprcdmrn19]

Endeared

[@thenakedbooktuber-gg4uw]

Tropic Of Cancer is okay, but it ain’t great. If you want to hear an intelligent, well-balanced critique of TOC which doesn’t merely consist of the usual rote, clichéd piffle, look up Richard Leiter’s book review entitled “Henry Miller’s Tropic Of Cancer: Flashes Of Brilliance But….” I’ll wager that it will change your view of the book significantly. Cheers.

[@luisventura8651]

IMMIGRANT*

[@user-ze8zo5uv2s]

Hi Cliff, lose that ridicules mustache and shave.

[@YourFathersDad]

Can you do flannery O'Connor

[@andyalam5074]

He did.

[@YourFathersDad]

@@andyalam5074 when?