Sarah

Sarah rated a book 1 of 5 stars

On the Road
by Jack Kerouac

read in May, 2013

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This book fucking sucks and I hate it. I could probably be more eloquent and professional and talk about how meaningful it was to the Beat Generation and how it's a product of its era, but I don't really give a shit about that, so I'll just say this:...more This book fucking sucks and I hate it. I could probably be more eloquent and professional and talk about how meaningful it was to the Beat Generation and how it's a product of its era, but I don't really give a shit about that, so I'll just say this: This book fucking sucks. And I hate it.

No wonder the Beat idols (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Cassady, Burroughs et al.) were such a close-knit group: I doubt anyone else could stand them. They are all so goddamn obnoxious, and they treat everyone--including each other--like shit. And they're so goddamn hypocritical--when they go off and leave their girlfriends and find someone new to hang out with, they're just livin' the life, answering the call of the road, painting with the colors of the wind or whatever, and then when one of their girlfriends decides to do exactly the same thing, she's a stupid whore. Mmmm-hm. And don't get me started on Dean's disgusting pedophilic leering at and seduction of numerous underage girls--there's one scene where Dean just sits in a corner and leers at a thirteen-year-old girl and mutters "yes, yes, yes." Dean Moriarty sounds less like a progressive wild carefree tumbleweed and more like your creepy uncle who stares down your shirt and gives you kisses on the cheek even though you're not European and No One Else In The Family Does That.

I did, however, thoroughly enjoy Kerouac's/Paradise's hilariously pretentious white-boy antics, in which he identifies with Mexican migrant labor ("They thought I was a Mexican, of course; and in a way I am."...nope, you're not. Not at all.) and waxes poetic over how the "Negroes" have it best, with their wise old eyes and free spirits. I guess the racial stuff underscores my problem with the whole book: it's so superficial. Kerouac/Paradise is all about finding truth and seeing into the heart of America and understanding the road and so on, but he fails to even scratch the surface of any of that. It's all just pretentious ramblings and drug-induced nonsense. He's so obsessed with the false romance of the underclass, of transients, of poverty, of America itself, that he ends up completely missing the actual reality and meaning behind it all.

Honestly, the only honest lines in the book came from Galatea, who told Dean: "For years now you haven't had any sense of responsibility for anyone. You've done so many awful things I don't know what to say to you....you have absolutely no regard for anybody but yourself and your damned kicks. All you think about is what's hanging between your legs and how much money or fun you can get out of people and then you just throw them aside. Not only that but you're silly about it. It never occurs to you that life is serious and there are people trying to make something decent out of it instead of just goofing all the time." Of course, Sal immediately defends Dean, and it's Galatea who is the heartless square and Dean who is the victim. Well fuck that, frankly.

This book was a hell of a lot more radical and unique in the 1950s, so maybe I should give it more credit. But I got nothing out of it. I don't think it has much literary or even cultural merit. My copy of the book claims, on the back over, that "On the Road is the quintessential American vision of freedom and hope--vibrant, compelling, and full of wonder." Well, maybe for carefree Ivy League boys it is. But for everyone else, it's just depressing. Because we're the ones who have to clean up their messes.(less)

Sarah rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Father of the Rain
by Lily King (Goodreads Author)

read in May, 2013

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Wavered between three and four stars. I was a bit wary going in--charming athletic WASP-y father who is a drunken boor behind closed doors? It's not terribly original. But about halfway through the book I found I had a hard time putting it down. I du...more

Sarah rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth Wein (Goodreads Author)

read in May, 2013

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I have read an embarrassing amount of WWII historical fiction. Some of it is absolutely brilliant, some--actually, quite a lot--of it is rather cheesy and melodramatic. Code Name Verity is definitely one of the brilliant ones.

I cannot say enough good...more

Sarah rated a book 2 of 5 stars

The Orchardist
by Amanda Coplin

read in May, 2013

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Beautifully written but ultimately empty. You can only wax poetic about loneliness for so long before it becomes meaningless and a bit pretentious. I just felt like the author was trying so hard to write a hauntingly beautiful Great American Novel th...more

Sarah rated a book 3 of 5 stars

The Diviners (The Diviners, #1)
by Libba Bray (Goodreads Author)

read in May, 2013

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I am completely torn about whether or not I liked this book, and whether I'll read the next installment in what is obviously going to be a series. I just can't decide if the good outweighed the flaws.

The bad:
-I'm glad Bray did her research, but she s...more I am completely torn about whether or not I liked this book, and whether I'll read the next installment in what is obviously going to be a series. I just can't decide if the good outweighed the flaws.

The bad:
-I'm glad Bray did her research, but she shoehorned in way too much history to make it believable. First of all, the slang was so overdone and obnoxious, and it made me want to posi-tute-ly smack Evie in the mouth. Everything jake? Well not if the characters keep talking like that, no. Secondly, there's way too much history going on in this book: World War I, Prohibition, the eugenics movement, medical experimentation, jazz, race relations, millenarianism (or something similar), the Ku Klux Klan, Eastern European immigration, flapper culture....good lord. Certainly all that was happening in the twenties, and I'm glad Bray looked at some of the darker sides of the era, but all the historical context was overdone and too obvious. It got on my nerves.

-Evie was annoying, vapid, obnoxious, and I don't care about her at all, which makes it hard to care about the plot.

-The love triangle she's set up between Jericho and Sam is tiresome, and Jericho is supposed to be mysterious and angsty and instead comes off dull and pretentious. Sam would be tolerable if he wasn't such a typical charming con man type.

-Theta, Memphis, and those rando old ladies were clearly introduced because they're going to play important roles in the rest of the series. But are completely peripheral to the story Bray was telling in this book, and that made their sections horribly dull and frustrating to read.

The good:
-I do love the way Bray blends historical and fantasy fiction. It's creative, unique, and the 1920s is a wonderful era to play with.

-Bray does write quite beautifully, and she managed to keep my attention all the way through this rather hefty tome.

-Naughty John made a wonderfully creepy villain, and the religious and magical elements were really interesting and scary and vivid.

So yeah. I don't know how I feel about this one. I guess I'll probably read the next one, just to see if the characters get less annoying. I enjoyed the book overall, but it's definitely not without some serious flaws.(less)

Sarah rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Passion: A Novel of the Romantic Poets
by Jude Morgan

read in April, 2013

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3.5 stars. It was a very well-researched and well-written book, but I took off the 1.5 stars because:

1) The pacing could have used some serious work. I didn't get into the book until about 150 pages in. Then it got interesting, but there were still p...more

Sarah rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe by Alberto Alesina

Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of Difference
by Alberto Alesina

read in April, 2013

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3.5 stars. Clear arguments, plenty of supporting evidence, and an interesting thesis. The historical and political arguments are a bit hard to take seriously, since they are outside of the authors' economic backgrounds, but generally this book is eas...more

Sarah rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Mothers in the Fatherland by Claudia Koonz

Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family and Nazi Politics
by Claudia Koonz

read in March, 2013

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I was all set to give this book four stars, until I came across this sentence: "Sometimes, like Adam Goeth (portrayed vividly in Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally)...guards began to enjoy their work" (412). First of all, she's referring to Amon, no...more

Sarah rated a book 4 of 5 stars

A Mercy
by Toni Morrison

read in March, 2013

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This is the second time this year I read a Toni Morrison novel for class, and they've both been for history classes, which is interesting. I rather enjoyed A Mercy--a bit more than Beloved. It is beautifully written and there's something so quintesse...more

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Sarah rated a book 1 of 5 stars On the Road by Jack Kerouac read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This book fucking sucks and I hate it. I could probably be more eloquent and professional and talk about how meaningful it was to the Beat Generation and how it's a product of its era, but I don't really give a shit about that, so I'll just say this:...more
14 hours, 37 min ago · see review
Sarah rated a book 3 of 5 stars Father of the Rain by Lily King (Goodreads Author) read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Wavered between three and four stars. I was a bit wary going in--charming athletic WASP-y father who is a drunken boor behind closed doors? It's not terribly original. But about halfway through the book I found I had a hard time putting it down. I du...more
May 18, 2013 11:01pm · see review
Sarah rated a book 5 of 5 stars Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Goodreads Author) read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I have read an embarrassing amount of WWII historical fiction. Some of it is absolutely brilliant, some--actually, quite a lot--of it is rather cheesy and melodramatic. Code Name Verity is definitely one of the brilliant ones. I cannot say enough good...more
May 14, 2013 07:51pm · see review
Sarah rated a book 2 of 5 stars The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Beautifully written but ultimately empty. You can only wax poetic about loneliness for so long before it becomes meaningless and a bit pretentious. I just felt like the author was trying so hard to write a hauntingly beautiful Great American Novel th...more
May 13, 2013 08:40pm · see review
Sarah rated a book 3 of 5 stars The Diviners (The Diviners, #1) by Libba Bray (Goodreads Author) read in May, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I am completely torn about whether or not I liked this book, and whether I'll read the next installment in what is obviously going to be a series. I just can't decide if the good outweighed the flaws. The bad: -I'm glad Bray did her research, but she s...more
May 12, 2013 02:35am · see review
Sarah rated a book 3 of 5 stars Passion: A Novel of the Romantic Poets by Jude Morgan read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3.5 stars. It was a very well-researched and well-written book, but I took off the 1.5 stars because: 1) The pacing could have used some serious work. I didn't get into the book until about 150 pages in. Then it got interesting, but there were still p...more
Apr 11, 2013 02:37pm · see review
Sarah rated a book 4 of 5 stars Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe: A World of Difference by Alberto Alesina read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3.5 stars. Clear arguments, plenty of supporting evidence, and an interesting thesis. The historical and political arguments are a bit hard to take seriously, since they are outside of the authors' economic backgrounds, but generally this book is eas...more
Apr 11, 2013 02:27pm · see review
Sarah rated a book 3 of 5 stars Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family and Nazi Politics by Claudia Koonz read in March, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I was all set to give this book four stars, until I came across this sentence: "Sometimes, like Adam Goeth (portrayed vividly in Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally)...guards began to enjoy their work" (412). First of all, she's referring to Amon, no...more
Mar 30, 2013 09:32pm · see review
Sarah rated a book 4 of 5 stars A Mercy by Toni Morrison read in March, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is the second time this year I read a Toni Morrison novel for class, and they've both been for history classes, which is interesting. I rather enjoyed A Mercy--a bit more than Beloved. It is beautifully written and there's something so quintesse...more
Mar 25, 2013 09:57am · see review

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