Customer Reviews

Nexus (Flamingo Modern Classics)

5 star:		(8)
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2 star:		(1)
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What strikes me about the Rosy Crucifixion (and Nexus in particular) is that, even at its worst, it is unbelievably striking and poignant. Perhaps it is how human every aspect of this book is (down even to the flaws), it writhes and rears its head like the humanity that created it. Miller is, beyond anything, a man that is mired in the mass that constitutes this humanity and, from that vantage point, is a writer that creates pure genius.
Even though the book is loosely based around his tumultuous years with his wife (referred to as Mona in this trilogy) before leaving for Paris, the reader gets far more than that. Miller uses this concrete platform to churn out ideas on most anything else in existence. His writing is lucid, thought-provoking, and intelligent here, some of the best he has ever created.
Overall, a fantastic summation of the points articulated throughout the Rosy Crucifixion and Miller's own life. This is an absolutely amazing writer at his best, not to be missed!

It is tough describing what is that keeps me so attached to this trilogy, specially this book where Miller describes his pain and his feelings in such a straightforward way. I believe it is his honesty and his bravery to say things one would never even dare to think of. Words come and go smoothly, an so my mind when I read this man. Helps opening up.

I owe Henry Miller a great debt. It was his writing, the way he combined sex and philosophy, that really got me into reading all sorts of different things. Now, 50 years later, I am still impressed by what he has written, and I'm still reading all sorts of different things. What we read becomes a part of us, helps define who we are, what we understand of others and of ourself. So what Henry Miller has written is a part of me and when I go back and reread various things he has written, that helps me remember who I am and that I am still continuing to become who I am.

Henry Miller has influenced me more than any other author ever did. I remember the first time I took to reading one of his books -- The Black Spring. I was only about fourteen -- it seems so long ago -- and, instantly, I was "hooked". There was simply no other writer in the past century that could combine words like Miller did. Eventually, I graduated to his more profound, challenging works, and The Rosy Crucifixion is one of them, Nexus in particular. The finest, most chalenging book in the trilogy, it is filled with not only Miller's so own mumbling, but with something much deeper -- philosophical contemplations on everything from the Western world we live in, to art, relationships, society and suffering. Suffering so typical in America, yet very few authors were able to achive its description as fine as Miller did. Along with The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, Nexus is the must read for any Miller fan. Immortalizing the one woman who made it possible for him to become "the" writer he is, is only a part of the story, enabling us to pull the thorn from our side and see the world with clearer eyes is the best gift he could have given us. Highly recommended, but please read the entire trilogy. Starting with book three would be like eating the cake first, without appreciating what went to the dough.

Miller's account of how he wrote the Rosy Crucifixion touched me. The part where he smashed the cheesecake on the wall after Mona and Stasia had left him to go to Paris, then fell asleep only to wake up hungry,and having to eat that same cheesecake is one of the sections of the book which I regard as the finest narrative piece of writing I have read. A must read!

Miller's most mature work is a hemorrhoid at white heat illuminating the depravity of heart and soul. This is a fire that smells of life.

The final book in Miller's "Rosy Crucifixion" trilogy chronicles the beginning of the dissolution of his marriage to ephemeral second wife Mona/Mara (aka June Smith) as she embarks upon an affair with the mercurial, possessive and possibly schizophrenic Anastacia Annapolis (aka Jean Kronski).

Due to the nature of its subject matter, "Nexus" is some respects darker in tone than the two preceding entries in the trilogy, but Miller retains his trademark mixture of sardonic commentary, cynicism and bawdy humour; it's a testament to his honesty, rigour and fortitude that he was capable of transcending the poverty and heartbreak of this time and alchemically transforming it into the raw materials from which he would forge one of the most fascinating literary minds of the 20th century.

Brilliant, poignant and ultimately uplifting.

I love his trilogy Rosy Crucifixion. Nexus is the last one. Miller told us everything about his life struggles without any reservations. When I read this book, I was agreed, cried, laughed like a happy lunatic. Every time I reread this enchanting book, I became as happy as a baby god. He depicted his jealous of his wife's lesbian lover. He followed his wife and studied her every movement. He started questioning for his manhood because of his wife's lover. He constantly thought how to get rid of his wife's lover. One day he was shocked to see that his apartment was empty since Mona and her lover went to Europe without him.
What the most impressed me in the book was Miller's struggles for being a writer. I admire his determination to be a writer to heaven. He taught me that one should not give up even though nobody recognizes him. When one believes in himself entirely, miracles will occur someday. It is a wonderful sensation to read Nexus. Miller knew even in his abortive periods that someday he would be recognized if he persisted in writing.
I love the last chapter the best. I completely understand how high spirit he was in before he went to Europe. He wanted to escape from America so long and finally he could do it. From the morning, he was singing and so happy because of his imminent escape. He decided to take a look at America last time where he had suffered so much. He tried to nice to a beggar and offer friendship to him, but he could not understand Miller's frolicsome joke. Miller finally decided to say good-bye to America....
This is not an ordinary book, but this is a human document and contains Miller's true feelings. Miller showed me that everything is possible if one believes himself ultimately.

Boy it feels good to finally be done with Henry Miller. And I don't mean just this book - I mean completely done with Henry Miller. No, I haven't read everything by him, but I've read the "essentials" (the two Tropics and the Crucifixion trilogy). And if these are his best books, I really don't want to see what the other ones are like.

My goodness he is tedious. Reading this last installment of The Rosy Crucifixion was like eating the last Pop-Tart in the package. You don't really want to eat it after already having eaten two of them, but you figure you might as well finish the last one so you can throw away the carton. And then about half-way through it you start to feel nauseous.

Henry Miller deserves a fair amount of credit for breaking down barriers in literature that no one really challenged before him. He made it acceptable, even fashionable, to discuss sex explicitly. He made it safe for future writers to be ruthless in their attacks on established societal institutions. And he opened the door for countless pseudo-intellectuals to put their ideas down on paper, even if they weren't trained in the fine art of writing. So with all due respect, I pay my regards to him.

But that doesn't make him a good author. And that doesn't mean we have to read him.