Six Degrees of Separation, from Born to Run to The Phantom of the Opera

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme, now hosted by Kate @ books are my favorite and best. On the first Saturday of every month, a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

This month we start from another non-fiction:

0. Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (An Autobiography)

Summary:

Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll.

Another book I haven't actually read. My strategy is very similar to the previous Six Degre, which is quoting from the starting book's Goodreads summary: "He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician." The words in bold and blue will be the key to my next chain:

1. The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

This book is a bildungsroman, telling the making of an artist from zero: Thea Kronborg. She's a talented, hard-working, and ambitious girl with unleashed desire to be great. Came from humble town, she worked relentlessly to reach her dream of becoming, first a musician which she thought was her talent, but later on, an opera singer, after a teacher found her real talent. But Thea is also a selfish girl. She chose an important performance rather than to be with her dying mother. Thea reminds me a lot of another egotistic heroine in this second chain:

2. The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton

Undine Spragg is a selfish spoilt girl from middle class background, but with an upper class taste. Her sole desire is always having the "best" in life. And to achieve that, she sacrifices lives of several people. Undine is a heroine we love to hate. Years ago I've read a book (which I didn't like) with a heroine with similar character:

3. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

How could I forget the reading experience of this book? While the story itself could be wonderful (to me), my dislike of Scarlett O'Hara marred my reading experience. However, this book possesses an unforgettable aspect that makes it memorable - one of the most legendary couples in literature: Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler! Especially if you're fan of vintage movies; Clark Gable and Vivienne Leigh are quite a charming couple in the 1939 adaptation! However, Scarlett and Rhett aren't the only legendary couple in literature. Way back in 19th century, we also have:

4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brönte

Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester! Mr. Rochester is probably one of the most swoon-worthy male characters in literature - do you agree? Personally I don't.. and it's all due to the lunatic wife of his, whom he hid on the attic! Now, hiding a lunatic spouse in the attic, to me, only means that someone wants to cover a present marriage to be able to marry another. The most appropriate place for lunatics is surely on an asylum, am I right? Just like in this book on my next chain:

5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

The story is about an asylum or psychiatric hospital ward, ruled by a dictatorial Head Nurse. What struck me most of this book, is the fact that most of the patients are as normal as we are. Some were committed, but some came there voluntarily. Voluntarily! They were rejected by the society because they were out of its standard, and therefore must be thrown out of its presence. And when there's injustice like this, there's likely to be... a revenge! My last chain's theme is about probably the grandest revenge of ONE rejected person, to the world:

6. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Here I quoted from my review:

"The opera ghost was indeed a real person called Erik. He was born deformed with corpse-like appearance and—as Christine Daaé put it—smelled like death. It saddened me to read how his mother rejected him because of that. I could not imagine growing up deprived of love. Add to it degradation and humility Erik must have experienced from his youth; and in the place of a supposedly loving and genius man, stands a really hideous monster. So, whose fault is it, if many years later what that man thinks is only revenge? It is inevitable."

And with that reflection, the chain is closed. This has been another satisfying chain in the making.

Have you read those books? If you do #sixdegree, how it worked out for you this time?