Annalisa has
726 books
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| # | cover | title | author | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages | avg rating | num ratings | date pub | date pub (ed.) | rating | my rating | review | notes | recommender | comments | votes | read count | date started | date read |
date
|
date purchased | owned | purchase location | condition | format | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0679731725
| 9780679731726
| 4.08
| 53,723
| Jan 01, 1989
| Jul 15, 1990
|
While the pace of this novel is slower, as classic fiction often is, and the themes subtle, I got where Ishiguro was going with all of Steven's philos...more
While the pace of this novel is slower, as classic fiction often is, and the themes subtle, I got where Ishiguro was going with all of Steven's philosophical wanderings and was never discouraged. What Stevens is really asking with "was I good butler?" is "was I good man?" Was it worth the sacrifice of his own autonomous life, his own feelings and thoughts (that are only implied), to be the ultimate servant? What gives a human being's life meaning and worth? The climax where he sits with Miss Kenton at twilight, pondering the meaning of his life and what remains of his days, was so sad and poignant. It was worth sticking through all his questioning for that moment. There is a juxtaposition of his limited understanding and values and what we the reader, knowing the magnitude of feeling and reward life affords, see. I loved the underlying vibe in his narrative, the difference between what Stevens elects to tell us and what we infer. He never lets loose from his stiff butler perfection, but we can see the blooming romance, the pain at his father's death, the loss for him that he never quite manages to address in all his justification that having been the perfect butler he had a good life. I found it interesting that his employers never demanded that level of devotion from Stevens. Had he opted for a personal life on top of his career, had he voiced his own opinion when asked, had he done anything for himself, his employers would have been reasonable and accommodating. One of the moments that stuck with me was the romance book he was reading solely to expand his conversation skills. Even in his personal time and space, he viewed everything as work and couldn't give himself the luxury of reading a book for pleasure. What Stevens failed to see was that having a personality and life would have give him the skills he so longed for and made all his interactions and even his work life that much richer. There is also a strong theme of the changing of time, which is addressed a little more above surface as Stevens laments the loss of dignity and honor in the butler profession. England beyond WWII is not quite the world it was in the prime of his life and career. It is a common middle-age theme that readers can relate to, but even more powerful here as his profession, the one thing in life he clings to, dwindles, and he is left with little in his life to commit to. It made me feel his loss and misplacement all the more. If you're not turned off by a slower paced novel where the themes are mostly undercurrents instead of active plot points, I'd recommend this one.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Mar 21, 2013
| Mar 24, 2013
|
Mar 21, 2013
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 1608195228
| 9781608195220
| 3.77
| 7,350
| Aug 30, 2011
| Aug 30, 2011
|
About 3/4 of the way through this book, I remembered I had no obligation to read every word and started skimming what was supposed to be the interesti...more
About 3/4 of the way through this book, I remembered I had no obligation to read every word and started skimming what was supposed to be the interesting part of the story. The story is well written, the writing beautiful at times, and the characters strong and vibrant, but I just didn't care for any of them. The only part of the story that I was into was when Skeeter enlisted Esch's help in his robbery plan. I think that's because for a minute there I found Skeeter interesting, but in the end I found him too self-involved and lost interest in him too. As a main character, I found Esch to be a bit of a contradiction. I also expected the book to be more about Hurricane Katrina and it's aftereffects than about this family's life beforehand. In it's way that's still a huge part of the story: the type of people that were affected by the hurricane with national perception of them and how they dealt with the unexpected devastation. I wondered about the staying power of this book. With the dad talking about how FEMA usually offered assistance within a few days and the book just sort of ending after the hurricane without any real resolution or indication of how bad and widespread the destruction was, I wondered what people would think years down the road who didn't live through the live news and know what really happened. In the end, I think it's a case of not for me. Between Esch giving it up to anyone who asked, the language, injury to extremities (a huge paranoia of mine), and dog fighting, there were several turn offs for me. (And I'm not a huge animal lover, so I can only imagine how disheartening the dog fighting would be for someone who is.) I can certainly see why some people would enjoy this story, but it didn't touch anything in me.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Mar 04, 2013
| Mar 13, 2013
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Mar 14, 2013
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 1400067111
| 9781400067114
| 3.81
| 60,267
| 2009
| May 26, 2009
|
None
| Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Nov 06, 2012
| Nov 13, 2012
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Nov 14, 2012
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 1594489580
| 9781594489587
| 3.82
| 91,923
| Jan 09, 2001
| Sep 06, 2007
|
These are the reasons I'm abandoning this book: 1. It's crude. And it's not just the overuse of the f word I'm over. The sex and violence is crude too....more These are the reasons I'm abandoning this book: 1. It's crude. And it's not just the overuse of the f word I'm over. The sex and violence is crude too. There's love that's personal and emotional and touches something deep down inside. And then there's banal sex that devalues human connection and emotion, the kind of thing someone who was desensitized to real relationships in preference of porn would write. This is the later. Even inexperienced Oscar's interest in women is banal and of no depth. 2. It's a whole lot of telling without much showing. All the "and then this happened" started to wear on me without getting at the heart of Oscar. 3. The tone is condescending and antagonistic and it made me defensive. I didn't enjoy reading this. I was interested in the Dominican history (if it wasn't fictionalized, not sure) and somewhat curious about what made Oscar's life brief, but not enough to wade through a bunch of trash to get there. I asked for spoilers at my book club from the only person who managed to make it to the end (nobody else liked it) and it doesn't sound like the ending is rewarding enough (or at all) to suffer through it. Oftentimes I shelf a book on my did-not-finish shelf and think maybe someday I may return to it, but not this. I'm done.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Aug 27, 2012
| Sep 20, 2012
|
Aug 27, 2012
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0307477479
| 9780307477477
| 3.62
| 71,773
| Mar 08, 2010
| Mar 22, 2011
|
My feelings about this book are rather schizophrenic and range from "I'm giving this 1 star because I'm so annoyed this drivel got a Pulitzer" to whip...more
My feelings about this book are rather schizophrenic and range from "I'm giving this 1 star because I'm so annoyed this drivel got a Pulitzer" to whipping through half the book in one afternoon. I get why it's supposed to be so innovative. A loosely connected cast of characters dissected over a period of time in a non-linear fashion that reads more like collection of short stories that a fluid novel. I wish I'd known that going into it. I can't exactly do a powerpoint in Goodreads, but here goes my reactions AVftGS style (imagine lots of circles and boxes that have nothing to do with my line of thought). Found Objects Kleptomaniac who wants to stop->Intriguing->Strong beginning. The Gold Cure What? Not Sasha's POV?->I will patiently wait for her to return. Ask Me If I Care Still no Sasha->Grunt in frustration. 3rd person past tense->1st person present->Don't like it. Story/Characters: Annoying->Irrelevant->Don't care. I quit.->I need to read this for book club. I read.-> I quit.-> I have to read. Phew. The story's done. Safari Further back in time. More irrelevant. I care even less. Why am I reading this again?->Oh right, book club. I commit to make it to page 100. You (Plural) Familiar characters! Oh, it's about Lou.->Blah. I didn't like him.->Don't care (view spoiler)[that he's dying. (hide spoiler)] X's and O's Shouldn't it be Xs and Os? Why is it possessive? Wait! More familiar characters.->Scotty brings Benny a fish.->Awesome. A to B Bennie again->Meh. Felon brother, irrelevant rock star, (view spoiler)[scandalous bobby pin (hide spoiler)]->Finally a story I can mull over. Selling the General Is it wrong that I keep picturing Dolly Parton? PR for a dictator->Haha->Love it. Forty-Minute Lunch... Ooh, Jules will be vindicated. Wait, what?->He totally deserved to go to jail. Why did she defend him?->I guess I don't get it. Oh, yeah, and I'm skipping the footnotes.->I guess I'm not loving it. Out of Body Second person->Oh gag. Save me now. Hmm, Rob is kind of interesting. Oh. (view spoiler)[He doesn't survive. (hide spoiler)]->Okay, the 2nd person makes sense.->I retract my gag statement. A strong story. Goodbye, My Love Ted, my friend, you are one sorry character.->At least Sasha is kind of there. Meh->A little rambling. Not as good as Rob's story. Great Rock and Roll Pauses. Powerpoint->gimmicky->eye roll. Pros & Cons: -Conversations are better in sentence form. +Kids these days are powerpoint savvy. -Some of the pages are hard to follow/pointless. +I'll get through this novel quicker than I thought. -Not great character development.->Not interested. I'll skim. +Wait. Autism. Obsession with music pauses.->Powerpoint kind of make sense. ~I still think it's gimmicky.->Therefore, so is this review. Pure Language. Hooray! The last story. This will tie it all together. Be epic. Huh? Speculative fiction feel?->Doesn't fit the rest of the novel. Who are these people?!->Oh, there's the weak connection. Yawn. Wait, more characters I know. There's my favorite, (view spoiler)[Scott the rock star (hide spoiler)]->a reference to Bosco's failure=bonus. Time to make me contemplate "time is a goon."->There have been moments of brilliance. Reaching, reaching->pulling it all together->ending deep and satisfying and thought-provoking---> No. The last story is the most irrelevant of any of them. The last 100 pages=fizzle and fail. And just when I thought I might like it.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Jun 12, 2012
| Jun 18, 2012
|
Jun 12, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0749080973
| 9780749080976
| 4.06
| 17,979
| Jan 01, 2008
| 2010
|
3.5 stars I've been on a historical fiction kick lately and although this is a little cheesy and chick lit-y, it filled my craving for it. I love learn...more 3.5 stars I've been on a historical fiction kick lately and although this is a little cheesy and chick lit-y, it filled my craving for it. I love learning about times in history I don't know much about (and especially loved the tidbits of Scottish), but I do have strict standards about what is altered to fiction, most importantly the events and life of real people, and for that, the ending was not my favorite. (view spoiler)[Serious spoiler warning! Moray is a real individual who died around the time of the battle in France. To say he was married in a secret marriage is bad enough, but to add that he came back under an inherited name to live a long life and father children didn't settle right with me. It doesn't seem to respect the memory of a real person. I would have much preferred if Moray were a fictional character with which Kearsley could do with whatever she pleased. (hide spoiler)] In the beginning, I enjoyed Carrie's story, but as time progressed, I definitely enjoyed Sophia's more. I felt the connection and growth of her relationship (view spoiler)[with Moray (hide spoiler)]. I thought Kearsley tried to piggyback too much of Carrie's rushed relationship to Sophia's to give it strength and sometimes grew tired of her pointing out once again how they paralleled. In the end, I found the story a little too tidy for my taste, but probably right on for those who love happily ever after endings. (view spoiler)[I'm not sure how I felt about Sophia and Moray giving up their child to hide who he was. A part of me thinks that if they wanted her enough they could have come up with a solution (such as a dead relative, the same way Sophia grew up), but another part of me thinks had Kearsley come up with a solution it would have been unbelievable to me and there only to satisfy that happily ever after ending. (hide spoiler)] I was a little leery of the ancestral memory aspect of the story, but I think Kearsley made it believable enough that I could suspend my disbelief (view spoiler)[until the ending. To add that Graham was also a descendant of Moray who was also tapping into the same ancestral memory was a little much for me. There didn't seem to be much purpose to this other than to tie things up a little too neatly and to once again connect Carrie's love story to Sophia's. (hide spoiler)] Overall, I was into the story and setting and couldn't wait to get back to it. It's a good, solid, clean read that I would recommend to most of my friends.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Oct 29, 2012
| Dec 21, 2012
|
Apr 05, 2012
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0316175676
| 9780316175678
| 3.94
| 24,058
| Feb 2012
| Feb 01, 2012
|
I never would have read this book if it weren't my goodreads friends' glowing reviews. While the description didn't grab my attention, the intertwinin...more
I never would have read this book if it weren't my goodreads friends' glowing reviews. While the description didn't grab my attention, the intertwining literal and metaphorical interpretations were right up my alley. I'm glad I read the book, and I'm glad Ivey chose a lesser known fairy tale to bring to life. The lyrical writing was perfect for the fairy tale and magical realism aspects of the story; the untamed Alaskan frontier too. Reading it on this cold, dreary January, the winter setting really came to life for me. I felt for Jack and Mabel's encompassing loneliness and scarred grief, but I didn't connect with Faina at all. I'm not sure if that was intentional on Ivey's part, to make the snow child more mystical and unreachable, but it felt more like she didn't have time to develop her with her constantly running out the door whenever Jack or Mabel showed affection. All she could do was reiterate how much they felt for her to connect us to her, which rung a little false and forced for me. The snow child's persona wasn't what was central to the story for me though (it was more about Jack and Mabel as parents). When the snow child entered the story, I wanted to know how her story would end, but more importantly, I wanted to know if Ivey intended us to interpret her mystically or realistically. I loved that the story alternated between the two and that as Jack and Mabel wavered between the two, so did I. Every time I leaned toward one or the other, Ivey reminded me of the evidence for the other. As the story progressed and my urgency to know which of the interpretations was right, what I really wanted was for Ivey to leave it open and let her readers decide. As Faina grew, I was a little surprised by some of the plot turns (although I liked the metaphorical hint to them), but my qualms only intensified through the conclusion. The epilogue felt anti-climatic without giving me a chance for the ending to settle in. I had some confusion about the way--more accurately when--Ivey chose to end the story, but my biggest disappointment with it was that Ivey didn't leave the interpretation open. What was a solid 4 read, lessened to more of a 3.5, but to explain my nitpicking, I have to include some major spoilers. (view spoiler)[At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about Faina's relationship with Garrett. It jarred a little bit with the mystical aspect of her personality, but I liked the interpretation that growing up, losing your virginity, becoming a parent, "melts" the fragile beauty of innocence. It epitomizes the spirit of the fairy tale. Upon further reflection, I think it worked nicely to give a magical realism feel to her literal interpretation and showed Faina battling both aspects of her persona. I liked the foreshadowing of the fairy tale in the letters, and that with the multiple endings, I wasn't sure which interpretation Ivey would settle on. I liked that Ivey included the fox being killed (even if it didn't factor into why she "left"). I realized early on that she was going to use choosing mortal love in conjunction with staying too long into spring, but in the end it confused me. If the snow child would melt if she stayed through the summer, why would she wait until winter to melt? At that point, I thought she'd survived and finally balanced the mystical and literal aspects of herself to find her spot in the world, that she'd chosen mortal love and in the process would lose the mystical part of her character and that's where the loss would come in. With the fever and infection aspect, Ivey once again mixed both interpretations, which I liked, but in the end, she didn't leave it open, which I didn't. In the beginning, I think Ivey relied a little heavily on the literal interpretation of Faina to counteract the reader's natural expectation of a mystical story. I liked that Ivey gave her a father and a history, but I wish she would have left the photographic evidence out to still leave it somewhat open. I could have excused away the father as a lie or another lonely soul the mystical child appeared to, but with the picture, I couldn't as easily. I was also disappointed when Esther and George saw the child. I had loved the hint that Faina had been borne out of Jack and Mabel's imagination and we the reader wondered about her existence. In the end though, I think Ivey relied too heavily on the mystical interpretation. If Mabel had been unable to find Faina's nightgown, anything of hers, I could have held onto some hope, like Garrett, that Faina had wandered off into the forest because she couldn't hack being tied down to the literal part of her. But I felt like Ivey dismissed that option. Even through the summer, Mabel kept an eye on Faina, worried about her heating up too much, but she seemed to hold back, unsure of which interpretation to settle on. But when Faina disappeared, they didn't search for her. They knew she had melted because she was a mystical creature. I would have loved the option to wonder if Faina were off wandering the Alaskan landscape as the free spirit she was. ETA: I had a conversation with my friend after she finished the book. Her interpretation is that it wasn't Garrett who loved her too much (or she loved too much) but her baby. I've been mulling that over all day and all that implies. I keep going back to the image of Mabel reaching for the cold child and her running away from the fear of the "warmth" of love. It brings the story back full circle to Faina having a child who loved her unconditionally, who she loved so much she couldn't ever adequately express it, and that "melted" her heart. It gives Ivey too options for the ending: one that love melts the snow child in Faina and she is left solely with her human form or the way she ended it with love melting her because she was a mystical creature and couldn't separate that part of her. I still think I would have liked a more open ending, but I love all that this interpretation implies and the metaphor of love it brings to the story. (hide spoiler)] Ever since the site lost my review when I tried to save it, I've been apprehensive to rewrite it and miss a point I'd originally made, but having to go through my thoughts again and organize them into a cohesive review, what I had originally settled on as 3.5 stars has gone back to 4 stars. In fact, I'm even wondering if it deserves 5.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Jan 06, 2013
| Jan 16, 2013
|
Feb 26, 2012
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0385534639
| 9780385534635
| 3.99
| 153,809
| Sep 01, 2010
| Sep 13, 2011
|
2.5 stars I wish I'd been able to review this when I finished it. My impressions aren't crystal clear anymore, but I've also had more time to digest my...more 2.5 stars I wish I'd been able to review this when I finished it. My impressions aren't crystal clear anymore, but I've also had more time to digest my overall feel, so I'm arranging this review by bullet points. -Setting: I'm not a circus fan, but I thought the night circus was a fun idea. The black-and-white tents, the midnight dinners, the carnival food, the clock. Although Morgenstern faulted on the side of too much description, she did set a mystical ambiance that gives the book a certain charm. (I can visualize book clubs having fun with their own Night Circus nights.) Having said that, I struggled with it. The promise of a magical battle barely strung me along through the first half of the novel without moving forward enough. The book was all over the place and there wasn't enough going on for me to be drawn into it as I would have liked. It felt like the point of the book was more about marketing a black and white circus than the story. -Mixing Narrative Voices & Non-sequential Storytelling: Not a fan. I get that Morgenstern wanted the circus to come alive for us with the second person, but anytime an author dictates what I do or feel, I stubbornly resist. I skimmed most of the second-person sections. At least they were short. The non-sequential storytelling felt too scattered for me. By the climax, I didn't mind the story jumping back and forth-- although I didn't think there was enough explanation why the parallel climaxes took place a whole year apart--but a lot of the book I didn't pay attention to the dates at the top of the chapters and had trouble piecing it all together and understanding why it was told that way. If she wasn't going to use a linear storyline, I would have liked more of grasp of the passing of time from one chapter to the next, an effect that this was different from then and how the scenes affected each other. -Magical Competition: I loved the idea, and while I can see why the conclusion could be disappointing for some readers, I actually enjoyed Morgenstern's solution to the unsolvable problem. However, I felt like the showdown was a lot more promise of what was to come and then skimming through years of what could have been some powerful and beautiful displays of magic, so that the conclusion wasn't as powerful as it could have been. For all that description Morgenstern spent setting up the circus, when it came to how the magicians battled each other, I found a lot lacking. In fact, I found a lot of key points in the novel lacking in adequate description. Which brings me to my next point. -Mystery: In beginning there was enough draw in the mystery to pique my interest and in the end there was too much mystery to satisfy me. I can understand trying to keep people in suspense, but in the climax when Morgenstern was still keeping readers in the dark, I got frustrated. All those little questions she planted in my mind started to pile up and not all of them were adequately explained. The more pressing items were answered to my satisfaction and everything wrapped up beautifully, but I still had these nagging questions when I closed the book. -Romance: This was my biggest disappointment. I liked what Morgenstern was going for, but there was no chemistry, no growth, no passion between the lovers to pull off a powerful and beautiful resolution. I also never felt the danger or anxiety for them that I should have. Often I was more interested in Bailey's story than Marco or Celia's. Morgenstern should have saved some of that description of the carnival for its participants' plight. Instead, the circus became the main character of the book. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but where the romance is so pivotal to the story and showdown, a better executed one could have turned this 2-star-shifting-toward-3 book into a 4-star one for me. Morgenstern can be eloquent and beautiful and I would read her again. This was a rather ambitious novel that didn't reach its potential, but still rather accomplished for a first novel.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Feb 03, 2012
| Jul 13, 2012
|
Dec 20, 2011
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 145637754X
| 9781456377540
| 4.37
| 68
| Feb 25, 2011
| Feb 25, 2011
|
This is my friend's book, but that isn't why I stayed up until 4 am to finish it. Sometimes an author's raw emotions bleed onto the page to give us a...more
This is my friend's book, but that isn't why I stayed up until 4 am to finish it. Sometimes an author's raw emotions bleed onto the page to give us a story that is so much more than just a story. That is definitely the case here. The pain of grief is so real it made me cry. It's beautiful and sad and real and after I finished Andria's story I couldn't get her out of my head for days. (less)
| Notes are private!
| 1
| not set
| Feb 2009
|
Feb 25, 2011
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0375714367
| 9780375714368
| 4.24
| 128,186
| 2009
| Jan 26, 2010
|
This had the potential to be amazing, a sweeping epic history of Ethiopia ala The Poisonwood Bible, but for all of Verghese's description, he failed t...more
This had the potential to be amazing, a sweeping epic history of Ethiopia ala The Poisonwood Bible, but for all of Verghese's description, he failed to paint a powerful picture of Ethiopia. I expected so much more from him. He wastes 20% of the book describing the first day, but most of it I found pointless to the novel. I would much rather all that description give me something of the setting, of the characters, something powerful and enduring. Either that or cut it by a good 200 pages. But I wouldn't cut the medical procedures. They gave me the setting Ethiopia did not. They also painted a picture of the characters. The coldness of Thomas Stone, the dedication of Sister Mary Joseph Praise, the drive for Hema, the heart of Ghosh, the genius of Shiva, and the preciseness of Marion. All of it can be described by the medical fields they practiced. I think Ghosh was my favorite character. I can picture his hearty laugh now. I enjoyed Marion's relationship with Shiva and in the end that's what's fundamental to the book, their love, their distance, their painful understanding of each other. I liked Marion as a protagonist. I connected with his methodical and inactive responses. Genet was the character I struggled with the most. Of all the characters, she was the least fleshed out for so long, and yet, the most important to Marion, our protagonist. I struggled with the scene of her getting all hot and bothered by Shiva talking about sex. Only a man would write that and I didn't believe it. A lot of what she did was a little too convenient to maximum Marion's story and she didn't feel organic to me. Every time she showed up in the book, I knew something tragic was going to happen that didn't feel right for the story. In the end, I liked the book. Somewhere around 400 pages I didn't want to put the book down. But it shouldn't have taken me 400 pages to get there. I should have been drawn in by the first 50, or the very least the first 100. The characters should have been stronger, the setting, the fake history (I would much rather real events had been intertwined with the story). None of it was as strong as the medicine.(less) | Notes are private!
| 1
| Aug 02, 2011
| Sep 10, 2011
|
Feb 23, 2011
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0060559152
| 9780060559151
| 3.82
| 5,561
| 2005
| Dec 26, 2006
|
I really liked the idea of this book. A wronged teenager waits years to plot revenge on the school that excluded him, that ruined his life, that was t...more
I really liked the idea of this book. A wronged teenager waits years to plot revenge on the school that excluded him, that ruined his life, that was the symbol of everything he could not be. After seeking employment with the school, he sets out to sabotage the school's reputation and the teacher's control in hopes of destroying what has always been for him and iconic foundation. An old school master on the verge of retirement, the teacher who is the greatest symbol of tradition at the school, is the power force this new teacher has to overthrow in order to bring down the school. But the old school master isn't going quietly. Like a game of chess, the game they play to undermine and destroy each other, is all done under the surface. I had issues with the POV in this book, issues that I should have never had. It took me forever to straighten out the narrators. Initially I thought both were Straitley, one a bitter old school master and one a hopeful young school boy, but then quite a ways into the book the young narrator mentions seeing Straitley in passing. I was completely thrown and had to readjust everything I thought I knew about him. After that, I felt like I were walking on weightless air without a structure to credit any of the scenes. I started to wonder if there were three POVs: one Straitley, one the villain, and one the boy. Eventually I worked it out that one was Straitley, out to save the school, and the unnamed villain, out to the destroy it, but it shouldn't have been that much work to figure it out. Of course, I could have read the blip on the back cover, but I shouldn't have needed it. Even once I figured out the narrators, every time I started a new section, I was reading on that weightless air until I worked out if the scene belonged to Straitley or the villain. Near the end of the novel, I noticed that while the sections weren't named, the chess pieces that started each section altered between in black or white, depending on who the scene belonged to. I'm brilliant and very observant. Or maybe I just don't like chess, so I ignored those icons and focused on the words to tell me the story. I would have made a brilliant detective. But that's not why I didn't figure out the mystery. Harris tricked me. The omission of a rather large detail didn't bother me; it was the misdirection. Ambiguity would have been one thing, but I have the distinct impression that the POV was worded to make me eliminate that possibility. I could be wrong, since I was so misguided in the beginning about something Harris never intended to confuse me with, but during the big reveal scene when I was starting to suspect, even then, especially then, she worded things to make that assumption impossible. Trickery never sits right with me. I would have made that assumption anyway without her forcing me into it, and then she could have made some big to-do about my prejudices and assumptions, and it would have had a bigger impact. It was a good story, and if it weren't so long and windy (you know how literary fiction can be), I'd probably read it again now that I know the mystery. The writing was good, but the punctuation... for the love. A semicolon is not a comma. In a few months, my frustration will wither away and I'll just remember that I liked the story. Right now I'd probably give it three stars, but I have a feeling I'd come back and up them so I'll just save myself the trouble and give it four stars now.(less) | Notes are private!
| 1
| Oct 20, 2010
| Nov 29, 2010
|
Oct 20, 2010
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
| 038566530X
| 9780385665308
| 3.63
| 101,481
| Aug 07, 2008
| Feb 10, 2009
|
Cleave wrote this book to expose conditions in British detention centers, and he got me with the detention scenes, made me feel the indignation for ch...more
Cleave wrote this book to expose conditions in British detention centers, and he got me with the detention scenes, made me feel the indignation for change he was going for. I read so much of Cleave in Andrew's character, so much so that I pictured him as Andrew, the journalist overwhelmed with wanting to tell this story. Even though the detention center is such a small facet of the book, it works. Cleave can write and when he wants impact, he gives us impact. I enjoyed Little Bee. The scenes from her POV are often powerful and moving. I loved her voice and her thoughts and her struggles. She gave me a lot think about and a new world to explore. I felt Africa when reading her chapters. She was someone I could root for, someone whose story I wanted to follow. But I didn't like Sarah. I don't even think I got Sarah. On the one hand, she's a shallow editor for a fashion magazine who doesn't care about anyone but herself (and when it counts, her son). She doesn't want to be troubled with other people's problems or anything serious. But on the other hand, she wants to be a journalist that makes a difference. She wants to change the world and be the person who would make the tough decisions, sacrificing herself enough, to save the world. These two halves are too much at odd and never meld into a viable person. Sarah was not a conflicted person, but a bundle of contractions. The scene where you finally discover what happens on that Nigerian beach was a disappointment for me. It wasn't as gruesome as I expected. I wasn't sure why, because it is gruesome, but I didn't believe it. And then I realized it wasn't what happened to Bee or her sister that I didn't believe. It was Sarah and her reactions. Instead of saving Little Bee's story for me, she ruined it. Had her story been as strong as Little Bee's, I may have loved the story, but she not only ruined the beginning, she ruined the ending too. As a sidenote, I'm glad I didn't bother reading the foreword. I'm not a fan of pretentious declarations of importance. Read the book, not its self praise.(less) | Notes are private!
| 1
| Oct 08, 2010
| Oct 18, 2010
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Oct 08, 2010
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 1594489866
| 9781594489860
| 3.98
| 9,600
| Jan 01, 2008
| May 15, 2008
|
My favorite part of this book was the discussion of Sarajevo's role in starting the first World War with an assassination. "When the world thought of...more
My favorite part of this book was the discussion of Sarajevo's role in starting the first World War with an assassination. "When the world thought of Sarajevo, it was as a place of murder. It isn't clear to him how the world will think of the city now that thousands have been murdered. He suspects that what the world wants most is not to think of it all." I was in high school when the siege on Sarajevo began. And honestly, I didn't know, or at least had forgotten, about Sarajevo's role in WWI, because when I think of Sarajevo, I do think of murder and a time the world didn't want to think about them as it collectively held its breath and waited for the shooting to be over. Just like with Warsaw, I want to think about the rich culture and beauty that was destroyed, but my mind automatically goes to the worst of it. Why is it that it's always the worst moments that defines us? The Cellist of Sarajevo gives us a picture of four people stuck in Sarajevo during the siege. One stuck for hours at an intersection targeted by a sniper as he tries to head to the bakery where he works for a meal. Another risking his life to race through intersections and across bridges to get water for his family, both of them hoping they would not be the ones targeted by snipers. One is a fictional account of the cellist who played out in the open for twenty-two days in honor of twenty-two victims of one attack. And my favorite voice, a female sniper with a sixth sense, trying to understand her hatred and how it differed from the men on the hill killing them. The other voices were just glimpses, but hers we really get inside her head so I could feel for her and root for her. Other than the glimpses in the media of brutality in the streets, this was my first glimpse into the real Sarajevo and the fear of its citizens trapped inside. And it's told beautifully.(less) | Notes are private!
| 1
| Aug 07, 2010
| Aug 12, 2010
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Aug 11, 2010
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0345455932
| 9780345455932
| 3.78
| 4,807
| Jan 01, 2004
| Mar 29, 2005
|
A charming collection of stories detailing the residents of a farmhouse in Cape Cod spanning two hundred years. It took me several stories to realize...more
A charming collection of stories detailing the residents of a farmhouse in Cape Cod spanning two hundred years. It took me several stories to realize that the book followed the house not the people, but once I understood that, I stopped trying to connect their stories and enjoyed the vivid setting. I could see and smell that New England charm as Hoffman breathed life to generations of American culture.(less)
| Notes are private!
| 1
| May 19, 2010
| May 22, 2010
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May 19, 2010
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0747562598
| 9780747562597
| 3.96
| 62,653
| May 06, 2003
| May 05, 2003
|
I'm struggling to pin a rating on this book. Atwood, as always, is a beautiful writer. The first fifty or so pages I drank up her language, her descri...more
I'm struggling to pin a rating on this book. Atwood, as always, is a beautiful writer. The first fifty or so pages I drank up her language, her description and setting. But I have to confess that I didn't like the book. Part of that could be as a parent (of an 8-year-old girl no less) there were parts of Oryx's history that I struggled to read. Child pornography (and abuse) is about the only thing that makes we want to get violent and start castrating guys. After reading that section, I struggled to keep my personal feelings out of the story. For much of the book I thought the grittiness of these characters overdone, graphic for the sake of being graphic. By the end of the book I got it. Atwood is comparing the depravity of society with a engineered race that asks the question what is better: innocence without substance or depravity with the complexities of the human mind that include creativity and appreciation for beauty? Does the human race deserve to live with the power we have to destroy our planet and ourselves? When is artificial too much? Image alterations, genetically engineered animals, or even mankind? What are the repercussions of the world we are now creating? I think the concept was interesting and certainly got me thinking. Snowman is left to care for the genetically engineered children of Crake after a lab-produced virus wipes out the human race. Most of the book takes place in disconnected memory, making it slow to read. Even Snowman, while I initially liked him, didn't warrant much sympathy from me. He seemed so emotionally disconnected and didn't value or open up to the myriad of women he slept with. The middle especially dragged for me. I wanted to skip through all the grittiness to the answers Snowman was building up to. And I wanted more from the characters she brushes through. In Margaret Atwood style, we don't get answers as much as questions about society. I was okay with an open ending, but I wanted to know what Crake's intentions had been. We get Snowman's assumptions, but I wasn't a hundred percent sold on his view. I guess that's not the point of the book, though. Does it really matter what intentions people with too much power have when destruction is the same. I'd say the book is a good one for Margaret Atwood fans. I wouldn't say it's as good as Handmaid's Tale, but along the same alley. I may come back and up my rating once the grittiness of the characters is shed and the impression of the novel is left.(less) | Notes are private!
| 1
| May 2010
| May 13, 2010
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May 01, 2010
| Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0385527691
| 9780385527699
| 3.66
| 1,704
| Jan 01, 2010
| Jun 15, 2010
|
I loved Parkhurst writing, how she so precisely describes human emotion where I can connect with the moment and say "yes, I know what you're talking a...more
I loved Parkhurst writing, how she so precisely describes human emotion where I can connect with the moment and say "yes, I know what you're talking about; I've felt that too." I love it when a book captures my own epiphanies and experiences in life and feeds them back to me. It is because of this that I connected with Octavia Frost. Battling regrets in her personal life, she writes a novel compiled of the endings of her previous works with new endings. On the day she is submitting the project to her editor, she learns that her estranged, rock-star son has been arrested for the murder of his girlfriend. I think I enjoyed Milo's character more than Octavia's, not because I liked him more but because I didn't. He was a complex character I enjoyed exploring as much as Octavia did from outside his inner circle. As she sets out to redevelop a relationship with him and delve into his innocence or guilt, her story is dispersed with the excepts from this novel of regrets. As a literary device, showing that Octavia had regrets and that an author always puts herself in her novels, I enjoyed the excerpts, but it didn't always work realistically. The excepts worked as summaries of these fictitious novels so I never believed they were actual excerpts of last chapters. They seemed more like discarded ideas that weren't enough of a story for an entire novel. My other issue with the excerpts were the interruption. The shorter ones I did not mind, but a couple of them were lengthier tandems that I would have liked. My other complaint about the book would be the ending (no spoilers). It wasn't bad, but after Octavia's comment (which I can't find right now) that an ending should not be predictable but the reader should feel like it was the only logical conclusion, I was expecting that sort of conclusion. Instead I was given an ending like the excerpts, a summary that wasn't inevitable. It read more like an epilogue. I get the correlation to the excerpts and that Octavia did have to accept the ending her life was heading toward, that she could change her regrets, but I would have preferred to be wowed. They are few and minor complaints. Since this was an ARC, there were also several mistakes, mostly with punctuation, but I expect will be fixed by the release. Even though it took me a good week to read this story, I was into it and savored much of it. Overall, I think Parkhurst is a very talented author. I will be checking out her other books, which I rarely am inspired to do. When I can find them, I'll come back and list some of my favorite quotes.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| May 30, 2010
| Jun 05, 2010
|
Apr 30, 2010
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 1742014887
| 9781742014883
| 4.09
| 74,777
| Jan 01, 2008
| Jul 01, 2008
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None
| Notes are private!
| 1
| May 31, 2010
| Jun 17, 2010
|
Apr 07, 2010
| Audio CD
| ||||||||||||||||
| 1594202494
| 9781594202490
| 3.30
| 264
| Apr 01, 2010
| Apr 01, 2010
|
I love books about China, particularly about how Chinese culture impacts women. In this tale, three Chinese-American sisters, their mother, aunt, and...more
I love books about China, particularly about how Chinese culture impacts women. In this tale, three Chinese-American sisters, their mother, aunt, and grandmother travel to China for one last chance to bond the way a family should but they never have. Each chapter is told through the point of view of a different woman, all in third person, which at times was hard to follow, but for the most part I liked getting the different perspectives and what they thought of each other. Strangely enough, I didn't care for one of these cold women, in fact I disliked most of them who had no reason to be unhappy and somehow managed to push anything good away and force themselves to be unhappy. But I cared so much for their journey that they somehow did not bother me and still interested me until I grew to understand them and how decisions and personalities affected them for generations. Here's my take on the characters: Lin, the grandmother, was a revolutionary in China, but left her husband after the government fell to the Communist party and came to American. She's closed, bitter, and lashes out at her children and grandchildren when they choose family over career. She is so blinded by her cause, that she can't bare to see how it could have failed her because if she does, she is nothing. Irene, the mother, is a nagging wife and mother who lost her husband the night he left her, and although annoying is inherantantly good hearted if she can just find the will to accept her choices and her difference from her mother. Susan, the aunt, is the only weak character in the bunch (that annoyingly dependent weak) who in her selfishness sees none of her faults as her problem, or even faults, and has trouble committing herself to anything for fear of failure. She's the only character that I felt didn't grow through this process and didn't think she deserved a kind, pampering husband when she cares so little for people herself. Nora, the oldest daughter, works on Wall Street and refuses to accept her boyfriend's proposal in fear that he will someday disappoint her, so instead she is cruel to him and pushes him away. It is her own high standards that set her up to fail, if she can only learn to live for what she wants instead of what she thinks people expect of her. Kay, the middle daughter, is an indignant student in China out to save its women from sexual exploitation. She won't let anyone close to her, including the guys she fools around with and then shoves away when they ask anything too personal. Fei uses her as platform, more than once, to rant about the discrimination of Chinese-Americans, but that platform is important to show her own insecurities and her need to embrace her Chinese culture and decide where she belongs in the world. Sophie, the youngest daughter, is self-conscious of her weight and sick of being the baby. She was the least fleshed out character. I felt like I was told about her more than shown much. She's just graduating from high school so her course in life is yet to be set, but will have to work through the same traits of indecision and trust. The setting in China falls secondary to this character-driven story, but it still holds an important key to their growth, and Fei manages to throw in some Chinese history through Lin's and Kay's stories. The plot is sometimes repetitive and wandering, but Fei had beautiful moments with her writing, moments like "infected her with a languor" or "the tidal waves of migrant workers." I'm impressed that this was a first novel.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Apr 19, 2010
| Apr 22, 2010
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Apr 01, 2010
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 1933372605
| 9781933372600
| 3.67
| 59,367
| 2006
| Sep 02, 2008
|
Everyone knows someone that is so negative and condescending and bitter that it makes you feel insecure and angry too. Now imagine being in the head o...more
Everyone knows someone that is so negative and condescending and bitter that it makes you feel insecure and angry too. Now imagine being in the head of two of these people whose only distinction is age (which I didn't find plausible) wandering around their thoughts where much philosophizing and not much plot progression is going on. Yes it was beautiful in a literary sense and some of those wanderings were very thought provoking (I wish I had marked it for good quotes), but I didn't want to believe this book was anything more than Barbery's alter ego dumping her own prejudices and theories into a pointless novel. Plus, if you're going to mock the misplacement of a comma for pages on end, don't use commas to stretch out run-ons throughout your novel. That's just me letting that bitter mockery get to me and turning it back on the author. I can't say that the book was delightful and fun to read, or at least not most of the time. But sometimes an ending can save a book (no real spoilers here). It's not so much that the characters were pitiful and not so much hateful of others as much as hateful of themselves and I therefore couldn't hate them, although that helped (even if I couldn't quite see their bitterness as beautiful like the author wanted me to). And it's not so much that it had that depressing French ending that was beautiful and hopeful, although that helped too. It's that I realized that the main lesson in the book is about seeing beyond yourself. So many people go through life so wrapped up in themselves that they don't actually see anyone else. I like to watch people in the grocery store, at the bank, places where people are distracted and see the difference between those that see people and those that don't. People that see others are happy and helpful. People who don't are unhappy and mean. It's a concept I'm rather obsessed with and to see this invisible vs visible, blind vs observant concept so thoroughly portrayed made me almost gasp when I realized that that was the point of these insufferable characters. So I guess the book wasn't mean and superior after all. It was sad and beautiful and had a great lesson. So start seeing people.(less) | Notes are private!
| Lori
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1
| Dec 2009
| Dec 18, 2009
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Nov 02, 2009
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 1555974988
| 9781555974985
| 3.49
| 369
| May 13, 2008
| May 13, 2008
|
I keep wondering how to rate this and how to feel about it and I'm conflicted. On one hand, I like the idea of a theme being the connection to the sto...more
I keep wondering how to rate this and how to feel about it and I'm conflicted. On one hand, I like the idea of a theme being the connection to the story like a symphony, but on the other it felt so disjointed and pointless. Somethings tied together too neatly and others are thrown in with no relevance or conclusion. On one hand, some of the writing is beautiful and thought-provoking and on the other all that introspection with no character development. We never understand anything about the characters and why they do the things they do. The only character I liked in the book was the grandson. I understood his pain and anger and could sympathize with him, but everyone else, everything else, didn't go anywhere or mean much of anything to me. (less)
| Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Sep 16, 2009
| Oct 07, 2009
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Sep 19, 2009
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0312427085
| 9780312427085
| 3.75
| 13,654
| 2003
| Apr 29, 2008
|
Approaching the end of his life, Trond Sanders leaves tragedy and his identity behind to live alone in a remote Norwegian village where he is haunted...more
Approaching the end of his life, Trond Sanders leaves tragedy and his identity behind to live alone in a remote Norwegian village where he is haunted by the summer that defined his youth and set the course of his life. He mulls over the events of those months as a fifteen-year-old trying to make sense of the unanswered questions held within, especially with a father he did not know very well. A highly introspective tale, the story wanders seamlessly from the elderly man's physical surroundings to the memories of his teenage life, where we the reader never really leave his mind. These seemingly disconnected scenes serve to define him, emotionally or metaphorically. The strongest of these metaphors is the contrast of the elderly man in winter and the youth on the brink of manhood in summer. I loved the difference of the elderly wisdom in his reflections and the naivete of his youth, both told with that stoic Scandinavian voice. The breath-taking scenery expands with an almost oppressive serenity that seems to mold and define this quiet, work-heavy nation. The backdrop often tells this tale as the surroundings divulge the emotions of this man of few words. Every scene is so simple on the surface and yet holds swirls of meaning under the surface if you but take the time, like Trond, to stop and ponder them. My favorite scene is the log cutting where you can feel the emotion of Trond, his father, and Jon's mother and father all seeing this scene through the eyes of their own tragedy and emotional well. I kept turning pages waiting for a big revelation, but was somehow not disappointed that after all these years he did not understand his father any better than he did the last time he spoke to him. The long, wandering prose fit the story perfectly, even if I did often find it tiring to read a paragraph that ran for two or more pages and sentences that seemed to never end. I'm not sure if the run-ons in particular are Petterson's style or Norwegian sentence structure, but they certainly carried on way too long. Nonetheless his language is beautiful in its simplicity. There are some fabulous thought-provoking passages told in the mind of Trond in his later years, even if some of those scenes were lengthy without reason and could have been cut. I felt so connected with this older gentleman, often seeing my own tendencies or observations in his life and therefore enjoyed his musings. Maybe it's my own Swedish heritage, but more than anything I enjoyed this quiet picture that seems to perfectly capture Scandinavian lifestyle. (less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Jul 17, 2009
| Jul 18, 2009
|
Jun 15, 2009
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 051722285X
| 9780517222850
| 4.06
| 33,964
| 1987
| Apr 06, 2004
|
I need to stop reading long arduous books in the summer when I have little time to commit to them. This book is so slow developing that by page 200 (a...more
I need to stop reading long arduous books in the summer when I have little time to commit to them. This book is so slow developing that by page 200 (and it's over 500) I was ready to give up because the story still didn't seem to be about anything. But everyone was giving it 5 stars so I knew there must be a story in there somewhere. Regrettably the only way I made it to the end of the book was to start skimming the descriptive paragraphs that were just not grabbing my attention. It wasn't until after page 400 when the story finally delves into Penelope's past that I found myself committed to the outcome. What I liked from the beginning was the juxtaposition of how each character saw themselves as well as each other. The characters are so well defined and humanly flawed. By the time the story picked up though the characters did get a little too Bohemian for me. All the lovable characters were artistic free-loving spirits and the unlikable ones pretentious prudes. But I felt an attachment to Penelope and wanted to hear her story. While I didn't agree with her lifestyle, I still liked her because she took the consequences of her life with an extremely forgiving nature and loving spirit. She could have been bitter, but instead she tucked away her hurt with incredible strength and lived her life the best she could. When Olivia is looking at her mother's things and you can see the meaning of them all to Penelope as well as the futility of them to Olivia, I finally decided I loved the book. That quiet scene was so powerful. There are several scenes that just ring of life. I still think a lot of the description could have been cut, but I like the slow pace after all and think it fits the tale and allows you to really get the characters, flawed and all. It is a beautiful story, which if I had to sum it up, would be about living: taking what life gives you and making the most of it to find joy and fulfillment in the ways that touch you. Life is beautiful when it is lived. (less) | Notes are private!
| amy
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1
| Jul 07, 2009
| Jul 21, 2009
|
Jun 11, 2009
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0451523601
| 9780451523600
| unknown
| 3.84
| 36,103
| 1874
| Jan 01, 1961
|
This book was torturous to read. In a week I could not get past page 25. Every time I picked up the book, I fell asleep or found an excuse not to read...more
This book was torturous to read. In a week I could not get past page 25. Every time I picked up the book, I fell asleep or found an excuse not to read. It was at times beautiful written, but it just wasn't grabbing my attention. The only way I finally finished it was to skim over lengthy paragraphs that I knew were bound to put me to sleep in search of the meat of the story. I did enjoy the descriptions of the lovesick characters. I know people picked spouses quickly back in the day with little personal knowledge, but I still found Gabriel's obsession with Bathsheba unwarranted. Here is a gentle, thoughtful, patient man who is blinded by a narcissistic girl whose only redeeming quality is her beauty. No girl is that beautiful to put up with years of mistreatment without dampening your level of servitude. Maybe her independence is redeeming, but I not enough to make me like her in the slightest. I wanted to care about her fate even a little but I was rooting against her. The only time she ever showed interest in her pursuers was when they failed to fall at her feet. For all she went through, she never learned or grew. In the end she still remained convinced that guys need to woe her without her encouragement and obsessed with those who don't. I can't help but feel that what is supposed to be a happy ending, one that she did not deserve, is just the beginning of misery. Once Bathsheba has her conquest, she will grow weary of it and look for the attention she is used to getting. I think she got everything she asked for with sgt Troy and think they were perfect for each other. They could have lived happily every after making misery and drama for each other. For as much as I disliked Bathsheba though, Troy can't blame her for his wishy-washy behavior. He wanted a challenge just as much as she did instead of the sure thing waiting for him. He was a jerk and some of my favorite parts of the story are their cruelty to each other. I didn't feel bad for either of them, only for the people whom they left in their wake. He never should have taunted the loser. For as cruel as Troy was, Boldwood was insane and was glad Bathsheba narrowly escaped him. Being lovesick is one thing, but intensity of that level is innate. I felt horrible for him the way Bathsheba toyed with him at first, but by then end when he physically holds her down and forces her to commit to him while she's bawling and trying to leave was too much. Nobody deserved to marry someone they don't like as retribution. And when they cleaned out his closets I was a little creeped out. And onto the only character in the book I actually liked: Gabriel. When he found the dog having run his sheep off the cliff, I was heart-broken for him. And to watch the way Bathsheba continually used and degraded him, I was sad for him. How humble to go from the prospect of wealth to his acceptance of poverty and hard work for other people's benefit. I enjoyed the parallel to him as the good shepherd and found myself wishing a caring, loving girl would steal his heart away from the drama queen. I wish I had been more involved in the story to appreciate all the references in the book to the Bible, Shakespeare, events of the day, but by the end I just wanted to be done. While it was a frustrating read, it did evoke a lot of passion in me. When I was done, I wanted to throw the book at the wall I was that dissatisfied with the conclusion. I guess I'd rather have an unhappy ending then an undeserved happy one. But it made me think and feel and become quite involved in the character's outcome and for that I liked it. (less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| May 12, 2009
| Jun 02, 2009
|
May 11, 2009
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0739341367
| 9780739341360
| 3.90
| 107,027
| Sep 16, 2003
| Aug 01, 2006
|
The prose in this book is beautiful. What also added to the novel was listening to the Indian-accented dialogue on the audio form. Normally I don't li...more
The prose in this book is beautiful. What also added to the novel was listening to the Indian-accented dialogue on the audio form. Normally I don't like female readers and where the main character is male it seems a train wreck waiting to happen. But where Gogle is so introspective, her quiet take on a quiet read was the perfect match. For me, this book was more than anything about finding out who we are and where we belong in life. When you throw culture displacement into the mix, you find that you don't really belong anywhere. Ashima and Ashoke are Indian-born living in New England and trying to hold onto the culture and language that defines them and ties them back to the families they so rarely see. But for as complex as their inability to find roots is, the problem is compounded in the next generation. Gogle looks Indian and can speak (but not write) his native tongue, but his culture is true-blood American. When he visits his relatives in Calcutta, he feels out of place, but when he dates Maxine whose roots go back to deep New York money, he doesn't fit there either and wants to keep his relationship with her separate from his Indian culture and relatives, something that just can't work. Gogle is constantly keeping his parents and culture at bay because he is not yet ready to embrace their world when he does not feel inundated in American culture enough. Even his marriage with another American-born Indian feels out of place when their bond is centered on this mutual out-of-place feeling; what they both are looking for is somewhere they belong. This double nature is beautifully analogized with the tradition of a pet name and good name in India. Babies are given nicknames at birth and sometimes not even given an official name until documents are required for school. Lost in this new country they do not quite comprehend Ashoke and Ashima put their son's pet name on his birth certificate and without quite explaining the tradition to him, try to enroll him in school wtih his good name Nikhil. In the confusion the poor boy grows up with a goofy name until he is old enough to officially change his name. But just like he can't shed his Indian background, he can never quite become Nikhil, abolishing Gogle to his past. Instead he must come to appreciate both names (and cultures) without ever fully becoming one. There were times I wish Lahiri had delved further into the relationships, but overall the emptiness of the interactions is in someways the appeal of the book.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| not set
| May 10, 2009
|
Apr 27, 2009
| Audio CD
| |||||||||||||||
| 1582432678
| 9781582432670
| 4.02
| 44,132
| Jan 01, 2003
| Mar 25, 2003
|
This book explores the question of nature vs nurture. If you raise a psychopath was he born that way or did the fact that you never bonded with him tu...more
This book explores the question of nature vs nurture. If you raise a psychopath was he born that way or did the fact that you never bonded with him turn him into one? I could see so many classic behaviors in the book, relationships I have witnessed, characteristics in people I know, that I chewed on the consequences and effects quite a bit as I read. In the end, I wasn't left with a satisfied feeling, but an empty, frustrated, almost evil one. Welcome to Eva's life. Here's what I think: the fact that Eva never wanted Kevin affected him. I think a child knows that before its born. The boy was brilliant; he had to have known from infancy that his mother's touch was cold and to know that you are unlovable certainly leaves it mark. When the only attention a child receives is negative, they'll manipulate that anger because that strength of passion is the closest thing to love they feel. But that doesn't mean that Kevin would have had a cheery happy disposition if Eva had only showered him with love. I think Kevin was born with a tendency toward the negative and Eva only expounded that. Many of these exasperated parents fall into the wrong patterns when their children push them to the edge. It is not easy to love a difficult, angry child, but to expound the situation with anger and withholdings of love is always the wrong answer. When that infant was placed in Eva's arms and she decide at that moment to play power struggle with him, she set the boundaries for a game she could not win, even if she did. And even when she realized the battle was unwinnable, she still let Kevin set the rules and drive the game instead of relenting and reevaluating the way she dealt with him. She didn't decide she loved Kevin because she was tired or lazy; she gave up the battle because he finally conceded. She won at a horrible price. I don't think Eva ever realized just how much Kevin loved her. His hatred and desperate attempts to gain her negative attention was a manifestation of that love and her rejection of it. His rejection of his father had less to do with his shallow inane attempts at a relationship and more to do with the realization that those behaviors are what earned Eva's love. Eva shared the same disdain for life and people that Kevin did, but she was the one person who say how he was and truly rejected him for it. It must have seemed so hypocritical to him. I wanted to feel sorry for Eva, but I found her culpable. I'm not sure how much blame I place on Franklin for never listening to her concerns about Kevin and how much I think she dug her own grave. Certainly I felt her frustration and understand what it's like to feel out of sorts by disdainful personalities, but I do not exonerate her or excuse away her self-centeredness either. If Eva had tried, then Franklin would not have defended Kevin so fiercely and met her halfway. The scene where she takes Kevin to dinner and then avoids him because he trashes on her hypocrisy wanted to make me shake her. It was the one scene where I found Kevin lovable (other than when he was sick) and instead of swallowing her pride and using the opening to forge a relationship on his terms, she dismisses him. That's not to say that I could have done much better. There were times when I wanted to slap that boy and devised my own plans for power play. But I think I would have tried to love or at least understand him and experimented with different attempts at a relationship. Going through the motions was never an attempt with Eva. Every child is lovable on some level aren't they? The writing is awfully pretentious, and it's not even the most pretentious thing about the book. All these books were inspired by Columbine. We all know that. So to write a book about school violence that takes place ten days before Columbine as if Shriver's character was the one who pushed Harris and Klebold over the edge did not sit right with me. Obviously the fictitious event had to take place sometime, but to claim that it affected history embedded in American memory is pretentious. Plus there's supposed to be a twist at the end that I found blatantly obvious from the beginning and sometimes had to reread Eva's passages because they didn't seem congruent with what I knew was coming. It doesn't always quite line up, these long-winded explanations to her husband who experienced them too. It made the writing feel more pretentious. Shriver also pushes the envelope with her language and violence in a way that I found unnecessary. Obviously there are going to be scenes with Kevin, but the graphic nature of them was at times too much. What I found shocking was more than Shriver's distasteful way of representing the sordid details. I found it so backwards the way Eva excuses away allowing her 5-year-old to watch Braveheart, thinking he's calloused because he's stoic. A lot of Kevin's inappropriate behavior (language, disrespect for sex, disdain for life) were traits he was raised to have. The way Eva feels she is accepting and open for not setting moral boundaries is unfortunately not that uncommon. Those kids from the sixties who rejected their parents' religion and morality don't realize that those guidelines shaped them and to not offer the same universal questions to their children means that they will take their rebellion even further, to a world I can't imagine these hippie kids would embrace. It is these greater moral questions that Shriver through Eva never addresses. The leniency with which many parents raise their children has an adverse affect. They don't feel gratitude for not having restrictions; they take the dismissal of morality for granted to an alarming amount. It is the lack of morality and boundaries that I wish had been shown as just as culpable as the lack of a mother's love.(less) | Notes are private!
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| not set
| Apr 15, 2009
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Apr 16, 2009
| Hardcover
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| 0307454622
| 9780307454621
| 3.82
| 36,049
| 1961
| Nov 25, 2008
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Sometimes a book is not as much enjoyable to read as it is to ponder and analyze. The book ends with a comment about gifted flowers that were discarde...more
Sometimes a book is not as much enjoyable to read as it is to ponder and analyze. The book ends with a comment about gifted flowers that were discarded and I thought it was a fantastic metaphor for the story. After the climax I didn't think the book could wrap up so beautifully, poetically and subtly, but there it was, making me satisfied as I closed the book. The characters all put themselves out there, but with everyone concentrating on their own unfulfilled lives, nobody would reach out and take the souls within their reach and give them proper nurturing. I have this picture in my head of the characters standing with their arms open offering themselves and nobody taking. And vice versa, the characters all had the possibility of happiness within their reach if they only understood what to do with seedlings of hope offered them but the miscommunication and manipulation leaves them standing with nothing but useless dreams. April and Frank Wheeler find themselves at a point in their lives where they wonder why they made the decisions that brought them together and having many of the discussions that are prevalent to married life. April's inability to be honest with herself and her husband about why she's trapped in her life and Frank's inability to soothe his wife emotionally or admit his own inadequacies cause a pool of manipulation between them until they could not fix their problems with the intellectual conversations that used to make them feel superior and bring them together. What they end up doing is placing all their hopes and focus on one dream after another so they don't have to think about their own unhappiness. When one dream failed, they would surge up for the next knowing it was only a shell of a fantasy. The author described his book as a book about abortion moving from one aborted venture to the next. In the wake of each failure the characters became more self-aware of their own unhappiness. One of the things I enjoyed about the book was how blind the characters were, especially to each other. The noisy control-freak real estate agent whose son is mentally ill thinks the Wheelers are too crazy for her son because they make unconventional choices. The Campbells think the the Wheelers are snobby because they wish they were snobby enough. April talks about her own neglected childhood while she does the same to her own children. Frank thinks its amusing to take a company job just like his dad because he's too good for the mundane until he becomes the epitome of a company man. The crazy son not adept at social contact is the only one who truly understands the instability of the Wheelers. While not fun and light-hearted, the book was interesting and thought provoking, and well-written. (less) | Notes are private!
| Midge
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1
| not set
| Mar 17, 2009
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Mar 10, 2009
| Paperback
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| 006079156X
| 9780060791568
| 3.94
| 15,719
| Jan 01, 2006
| Feb 06, 2007
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There is nothing wow about this book, but that's not a bad thing. Sometimes it's nice to read a good thoughtful read without any gimmicks. It's a well...more
There is nothing wow about this book, but that's not a bad thing. Sometimes it's nice to read a good thoughtful read without any gimmicks. It's a well written dissection of class separation in India. Through the tragedies in life, we see how illiteracy and lack of money expound problems, as do the expectations that we set on people. But more than that I was left with the impression that we never know what is going on in other people's lives, especially the people we envy, admire, or even feel vaguely close to. What we see on the surface is rarely what is swimming below the surface. Sometimes the people whose lives we are the most envious of are not as easy and happy as it appears. This book has no happy solutions that tie everything up with a bow at the end, just everyone dealing with their own problems in their own ways and how that affects other people's lives and what they see in us. It's beautifully written and the characters certainly felt real to me. (less)
| Notes are private!
| none
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1
| not set
| Apr 24, 2009
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Feb 20, 2009
| Paperback
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| 0802132758
| 9780802132758
| 4.07
| 40,202
| 1967
| Jan 21, 1994
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I watched this movie years ago and thought it was hilarious so I thought I'd check out the play that inspired the film. It's the ramblings of Rosencra...more
I watched this movie years ago and thought it was hilarious so I thought I'd check out the play that inspired the film. It's the ramblings of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern while Hamlet goes unnoticed, or at least misunderstood, by them in the background. In far over their heads, both in thematic prose and plot progression, what makes this play so hilarious is the irony. One of the few times irony can truly be claimed: the reader is aware of a humor lost on the characters when we have the foreknowledge of the well-known fate of Rosen & Guild. My favorite part is the detached and indifferent discussion of death between Rosen & Guild when they think it's Hamlet forthcoming end but we the readers all know that it is their deaths they are tumbling towards unknowingly. Their part-insightful, part-idiotic discussions on chance, fate, death, friends, and word play is amusing. One of my favorite lines "A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself" is humorous because it is spoken by a seemingly nonsensical insane Guildenstern trying to appear intelligent about a Hamlet who is "stark raving sane" trying to appear unintelligent. The humor of self-evaluation in "talking nonsense not to himself" is lost on Guild. I loved the questions game they played where they weren't allowed to make a statement, only ask questions and the rhetoric it produced. The incorrect assumptions they take on the mundane, taking nothing for given, even previously established facts was amusing as well. Such as: "The old man thinks he's in love with his daughter" received questions such as "He's in love with his daughter?" and "The old man is?" going back and forth until "Hamlet in love with the old man's daughter, the old man thinks" sets them straight. While their conversation is often idiotic, it is sometimes insightful, and amusing in both instances. But while very witty, it was a little bit hard to follow at times, particularly the stage directions. It made me want to pull out Hamlet and reference the correlating scenes. It may be useful to have read Hamlet recently. I forgot what a great play that is. With the quick conversation and the double plays, I think the movie is a better forum for this and I'm putting this movie on my queue for a rewatch (and it was excellent once again). But what an original idea. Very funny. Give it a read or better yet go watch the movie. A few of the quotes that struck me: We're actors! We're the opposite of people. A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself. Or just as mad. . .Stark raving sane. Shouldn't we be doing something... constructive? ... What did you have in mind? A short, blunt human pyramid? A Chinaman of the T'ang Dynasty - and, by which definition, a philosopher - dreamed he was a butterfly, and from that moment he was never quite sure that he was not a butterfly dreaming it was a Chinese philosopher. Envy him; in his two-fold security. Everything has to be taken on trust; truth is only that which is taken to be true. It's the currency of living. There may be nothing behind it, but it doesn't make any difference so long as it is honoured. One acts on assumptions. What do you assume? In reponse to I don't believe in England: Just a conspiracy of cartographers? We're still finding our feet ... I should concentrate on not losing your head. Life in a box is better than no life at all, I expect. You'd have a chance, at least. You could lie there thinking, "Well, at least I'm not dead. We move idly toward eternity without possibility of reprieve or hope of explanation. If you're not even happy, what's so good about surviving? Death is not...not. Death isn't. You take my meaning. Death is the ultimate negative. Not being.(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| not set
| Aug 2008
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Jul 19, 2008
| Paperback
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| 1400076196
| 9781400076192
| 3.56
| 28,067
| Jan 24, 2005
| Apr 11, 2006
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I'm bored; I'm done. I loved Atonement so much I had to check out whether or not any of McEwan's novels were as powerful. The thing is, the slow descr...more
I'm bored; I'm done. I loved Atonement so much I had to check out whether or not any of McEwan's novels were as powerful. The thing is, the slow descriptive pace works for Atonement because of the subject matter. The over-examination had a purpose. But here we have the life of a middle-aged typically cocky doctor and we examine an entire day in his life. Some people's lives may be worth the slow pain-staking analysis, but his, I just don't care about. But that's not even why I quit. I got fed up with the abundance of f words. Strong language plus a story that isn't grabbing my interest isn't a good combination. If you want to read a good story that has the same effect, read the short story The Swimmer by John Cheever. It's been many years since I read and loved this story, but I remember enjoying the parallels of his day and his life. And it's a lot shorter. (less)
| Notes are private!
| none
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1
| not set
| Dec 17, 2008
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Jul 15, 2008
| Paperback
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| 0140086838
| 9780140086836
| 3.69
| 7,007
| 1977
| Mar 04, 1986
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I only remember clips of this book. I had to read it in college. I remember feeling sad, even annoyed, at the aimlessness of the main character. I rem...more
I only remember clips of this book. I had to read it in college. I remember feeling sad, even annoyed, at the aimlessness of the main character. I remember the general feeling of blaming white men but doing nothing to improve their lives, just floating through existence because they had been wronged. I remember a lot of the Indian folklore. And I remember the writing was at times slow. It probably isn't a book I'd pick up by myself, particularly since native American literature does not interest me, but I did find the story interesting once I finally got into it.(less)
| Notes are private!
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1
| not set
| Jan 1994
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Jul 15, 2008
| Paperback
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