bookshelves: currently-reading
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bookshelves: currently-reading
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This is the second time I have read 'Wicked', and I enjoyed it just as much.
Wicked opens with the birth of Elfaba 'The Wicked Witch of the West' from L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz', and Ends not long after the house falls on her sister.
In the space between, we are told of her childhood, her days in University, and of her involvement in trying to rid the land of Oz of the Wizard Dictator, who has trapped the Ozma Regent (The queen of Oz), and taken over rule.
In writing this book, Gregory McGuire has written the history, mythology and geography of Oz, and the characters of the famous story. He has taken many fairly one dimentional characters (with the exception of the wizard, all of the characters are either ery good or very bad, with no in between) and given them lives and relationships, and paints the wonderful Oz as being not so wonderful for some. It is very well written with a lovely narrative style.
This is a gem of story, and one which I reccomend to anyone. ]]>
"Re-reading this book, it is fantastically written, and puts a whole new slant on our perception of '0z'"
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This book is a really interesting mix of crime, history and human interest. It's focus is a trial in which a Japanese man who lives on an island in post-WW2 America is accused of the murder of another islander. As th story of each person part in the trial is told, we are also told of their shared histories. The book discusses the deportation of Japanese citizens during the war, and of the different opinions of the other members of the small community. It deals with the fairly open racism during that time in a honest way, which made me feel uncomfortable, but is essential to the story, and the discomfort perhaps adds to the understanding of how the more characters viewed the sitiation.
I don't often read crime fiction, but the portrayal of human nature, and of the people relationships in this kept me reading, and I really enjoyed it.
The writing, and mix of real life situations and fiction setting are quite Capote-esque, and there are elements, especially the language used and the narration that remind me of Steinbeck. ]]>
by Joan Didion
I read this last year, and I loved it. It is written with real honesty, and Didion's strength of character shows all the way through. ]]>
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bookshelves: to-read
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bookshelves: to-read
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