"Unfortunately, Swarup's writing foibles have been magnified in this book. Also, the Texan character is pretty ludicrous."
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bookshelves: currently-reading, library
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by David Brin
I read the second and third books before this one. They are much better! In comparison, I thought that Sundiver was pretty terrible. ]]>
Mel
read and liked
Ev's
review of Slumdog Millionaire: A Novel:
"Good idea for a story. Poor, uneducated orphan kid wins a billion rupees (About $20 million USD) on a game show.
Other than that it was somewhat of a struggle to get through this book. I think it was all the Indian names. I know this book...more "
"Good idea for a story. Poor, uneducated orphan kid wins a billion rupees (About $20 million USD) on a game show.
Other than that it was somewhat of a struggle to get through this book. I think it was all the Indian names. I know this book...more "
bookshelves: library
First, I really enjoyed this book. The writing is vivid and engaging and the stories are compelling and often heartbreaking. The quiz show format was an interesting way to frame the stories, although at first I was worried that it would just be a gimmick. Fortunately, by the end it all ties together quite well. My enjoyment was marred a little bit by a few writing foibles that show up too often in literary fiction. The book was written in first person present tense, which I generally find annoying and distracting to read. There was also at least one section that was inexplicably written in past tense, making the transition back to present tense extra jarring. There were also a few instance where the author deliberately hides information from the reader. To some extent he can get away with it because Ram is an unreliable narrator, but I think it could have been handled better.
Anyhow, despite the flaws (which not everyone will agree are even flaws), this book was interesting enough that I finished it less than 24 hours after starting. ]]>
bookshelves: agriculture, library
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bookshelves: agriculture, library
Interesting little journal about a successful homestead. ]]>
bookshelves: library, writing
Lots of good pictures and inspiration in here. I got a little bit bored with the text, but the book was enough to inspire me to start a nature journal of my own. ]]>
bookshelves: agriculture, library, to-buy
It was really interesting to read about cutting-edge agricultural practice in the 1940s, especially since Malabar Farm is only a few hours away from where I live. I was already familiar with many of techniques from reading books by people who were influenced by this one, but there were plenty of nuances that were new. It was sad that so many of the poor agricultural practices that Bromfield observed still continue to this day. It's even more sad that some of the techniques and business models that he was so excited about have turned out to have worse consequences than the things they replaced. Still, it was a good book and there are still things to learn from it despite the flaws. ]]>