The Book of Questions

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Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda, was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician. Cryptic and intriguing, these brief answerless riddles… ask the sophisticated question of the innocent child—’Is the sun the same as yesterday’s / or is the fire different than that fire?’—and probe what it means to be human.” — Library Journal Would it disturb you much if, upon your death, your body were simply thrown into the woods and left to rot? Why?" William O’Daly’s fine translations of the Nobel winner Pablo Neruda’s posthumous books… are gently astonishing, the way good poetry should be.” — Crossroads

My kneejerk reaction is to lose the use of one of my hands. However, if I can’t drive, I could bicycle to a lot of places. The question needs to be more clear though. Would this scenario eliminate ALL motorized vehicles or would I only be unable to operate one? Other questions are disturbing and encroach on our basic liberties as consumers. Take Question 002 to illustrate this point. The gist of that one is that your 6-year-old daughter’s favorite toy starts telling her that she needs to buy a new toy from the same company’s line. Why only include roughly 217 questions, Gregory? Doesn't that seem a little limited in terms of effort, or is this really all of the questions you could think of? Did you know I read this on the toilet in one sitting? Did I just gross you out? How does one apologize in question form? Could I be any sorrier? Pablo Neruda is one of the world's most popular and famous poets, and in The Book of Questions, Neruda refuses to be corralled by the rational mind. Composed of 316 unanswerable questions, these poems integrate the wonder of a child with the experiences of an adult. By turns Orphic, comic, surreal, and poignant, Neruda's questions lead the reader beyond reason into the realms of intuition and pure imagination. The Nobel laureate’s poems evoke pictures that make sense on a visual level before the reader can grasp them on a literal one. The effect is mildly dazzling… O’ Daly’s translations achieve a tone that is both meditative and spontaneous.” — Publishers Weekly Some top questions . .. (1) If you could get honest answers to any questions you asked, what would be your top three and why?; (2) If you caught your father holding hands with another woman and he asked you not to tell your mother, what would you do? What if your mother confided it was eating her alive b/c she felt your father was cheating on her?; (3) would you like to know the precise date of your death?; and (4) If 100 people were chosen at random, how many more do you feel would be leading a more satisfying life than you?Copper Canyon Press, a Pacific Northwest nonprofit publisher who has been devoted to the enhancement and appreciation of poetry for nearly 30 years, leads the way in poetry translations… These new translations magnificently present Neruda’s late work.” — Source Weekly The Book of Questions… contains 316 questions asked with the poet’s childlike sense of wonder—questions that demand no rational answers, only sincere thought. O’Daly’s work is a must for anyone interested in Neruda’s poetry.” —Elliot Bay Booknotes Would you recommend this book to someone? Why or why not (or with what caveats)? What kind of reader would most enjoy this book?

When Neruda died in 1973, The Book of Questions was one of eight unpublished poetry manuscripts that lay on his desk. In it, Neruda achieves a deeper vulnerability and vision than in his earlier work; this unique book is a testament to everything that made Neruda an artist.

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Did any part of this book strike a particular emotion in you? Which part and what emotion did the book make you feel?

From your point of view, what were the central themes of the book? How well do you think the author did at exploring them?

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Highly recommended. I dare you to tell me you did not answer at least one of the above questions automatically! You know you will die of an incurable disease within three months. Would you allow yourself to be frozen within the week if you knew it would give you a modest chance of being revived in 1,000 years and living a greatly extended life?" Have you stopped beating your wife? Follow-up questions: Have you quit smoking yet? Do I look fat in this? Do you think she's pretty? There are some poems one must simply take in visually and revel in the imagery they invoke discarding their literariness. Given two equally terrifying alternatives as presented in several of these questions, which one would you choose and how would you live with the consequences? Don't you find your answer as interesting as I do?

The subject of the question is a rose, a common symbol of beauty in poetry. The poem personifies the rose, imagining her as a woman. Then we are to consider the rose’s appearance: is she naked or wearing a dress? This is a question about beauty and appearances. If the rose is naked, she is concealing nothing. Her beauty is intrinsic to her being, and she simply is, without mystery. What if she is wearing a “dress”? It would have to be her “only” dress, as roses don’t change their petals to suit different occasions. If she is wearing a dress, the implication is that she is hiding something under the surface—that reality is concealed. This could also be a question about human perception. What do we see when we see a rose? Do we see the real rose "itself," or only the appearance of the rose? Is the beauty of the rose intrinsic to it, or something that we humans create? In this seemingly simple question, the poem poses one of the most profound questions about the nature of reality and beauty, placing it in the realm of philosophy, of metaphysics and aesthetics. It may also be an indication that Neruda read the Critique of Judgment by the philosopher Immanuel Kant, which considers the rose as a subject to explore human judgment of beauty. Surrealism/magical realism? Unanswerable, paradoxical, the logic of a child’s ever-expanding universe of curiosity, which continues in those who remain artists and writers and scientists and children forever. Q#163: Would you get a tattoo the size of a dinner plate if you knew it would somehow save the lives of a busload of innocent tourists who'd otherwise die? If so, what tattoo design and location would you select?

Customer reviews

Was there any part of the plot or aspects of the characters that frustrated or upset you? If so, why? Did you find the author’s writing style easy to read or hard to read? Why? How long did it take you to get into the book? I've known Pablo Neruda since my teenage years when his romantic love poems kept me awake at night. But this set of poems presented as questions touch me even deeper. It is just a statement that a human being do not stop to answer questions even after long long life.. It is published posthumously, and he died in a year i was born. So it is like an invisible thread between the times for me. Eternity... When we're confronted with almost any demanding situation, the act of questioning can help guide us to smart decisions in the face of uncertainty. But the questions must be the right ones; the ones that cut to the heart of complexity or enable us to see an old problem in a fresh way. This is supposed to be a book of questions that will tell us about ourselves if we approach them...introspectively and thoughtfully. I can see groups of people sitting around looking at this book maybe at a party and discussing eachother's answers.