Marnie

Marnie rated a book 2 of 5 stars

Shantaram
by Gregory David Roberts

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Have you ever been in a relationship that you were just done with but you were hoping they would end it and so you suffer through, day after day, rolling your eyes every time that person does that THING that you HATE and, yah, it was kind of fun at f...more Have you ever been in a relationship that you were just done with but you were hoping they would end it and so you suffer through, day after day, rolling your eyes every time that person does that THING that you HATE and, yah, it was kind of fun at first but if they keep doing that THING that you HATE, you are going to end up saying something really mean and you really don't want to do that because they mean well and are nice but they just drive you up the wall?

You know what you need to do? You need to save both of you more trouble and pain and just dump that person already, and frankly, that's how I feel about this book, so even though I'm nearly at the end, I can't take it anymore. I roll my eyes every few minutes, I dread turning the audiobook on. It had it's good moments and its merits but this is NOT the book for me.

This book is billed as a "semi-autobiographical" story. I'm not sure what to make of that, though I guess it's more honest than some authors are. The story feels a bit like a diary. While the protagonist is almost always the center of any story, this one is particularly so. The main character interacts with other people, and we get some back story on them, but they are always half hearted accounts and they only serve as conduits for learning more about the narrator. This format, wherein you only ever see as far as the main character comprehends the situation, can work, but it's done so lazily, here.

Throughout the book, the main character meets someone and then says something like "I don't know why but I _____ the person right away." Lazy. Lazy lazy lazy writing. People feel that way, but authors owe it to their readers to make THEM feel as though they don't know why but they ____ the person. The most atrocious example of this lazy writing is the love-at-first-sight nonsense. I do genuinely believe that people feel intense attractions to certain other people at the moment they see them, but, again, it's the authors job to paint a picture that tells us what he sees in that person. At best, he gives us a portrait of a woman he thinks is beautiful and that he doesn't understand, which means the only thing we feel is that there's some pretty woman with no personality and no complexity to speak of and we are supposed to believe she's worth pining over. These many people the author interacts with, drive the story forward and serve as motivation but, at least for me, I never understood why. I don't cry why people die, I don't feel bad when people leave. I don't know why one woman is more or less desirable than another. I am simply told that this is how the character feels.

While this issue struck me from the outset, there is a lot in the story that is interesting and compelling. I've only had a superficial, tourist experience with India, so learning more about everyday life and people there is wonderful, but just as I'd start to sink into the story, I'd be jarred by my second peeve about this book. The author, over and over again, stops the story to make some sort of metaphor about how some event or emotion is like some sort of grandiose, most important thing that has ever been (and pretty much everything is the most something that has ever something'ed). This isn't a case where he makes a particular point, once, maybe twice, that is central to the story. Nope, it's trite little sayings like "Truth is a bully that we all pretend to like" and "Silence is the tortured mans revenge" and "Guilt is the hilt of the knife that we use on ourselves" and on and on it goes, breaking up the flow of the story so the author can impress you with how clever he is. Like exclamation points and adverbs, this sort of mental masturbation needs to be applied sparingly, but it's constant and it wasn't too long before I started to get so focused on when the next detour down poetry lane would be that I simply stopped hearing the story, altogether. On the other hand, if you want to get really piss-drunk, try having a shot every time he pulls one of these gems out. You'll need your stomach pumped.

I'll concede that my concerns might be largely a stylistic preference. There are certainly a fair number of people who thought this story was wonderful and poetic. It's not for me, though, and I'm happier for admitting defeat on this. I'll never know how the story ends and I'm fine with that. I give it 2 stars because there really were times when I was engrossed in the story.(less)

Marnie rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Uglies (Uglies, #1)
by Scott Westerfeld

read in May, 2013

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Marnie rated a book 3 of 5 stars

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales
by Oliver Sacks (Goodreads Author)

read in April, 2013

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This is a book about brain disorders and how they shape people's perception of the world and themselves. It's an endlessly interesting topic and a bit scary to imagine how fragile anyone's hold on reality might be. The author, a neurologist discusses...more

Marnie rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Opium Fiend: A 21st Century Slave to a 19th Century Addiction
by Steven Martin

read in April, 2013

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This book opens with the author experiencing severe withdrawal from opium and then backs up to walk you through the years to get him to that point; from the obsessive collecting of paraphernalia, to dabbling in smoking and finally to full on addictio...more

Marnie rated a book 3 of 5 stars

The New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler

The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess
by Lou Schuler (Goodreads Author)

read in April, 2013

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I'm a bit on the fence about this book. Without a doubt, I think the diet plan is garbage. It's another take on the low carb, high protein diets that fall in and out of favor with the public. I just don't buy that the vast majority of people can comm...more

Marnie rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Neverwhere
by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author)

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Marnie rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape
by Jenna Miscavige Hill

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Marnie rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Responsive Web Design
by Ethan Marcotte

read in February, 2013

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A quick read with lots of visuals, examples and resources. As a person who only dabbles in CSS and HTML, it isn't quite comprehensive enough for me to use alone but it does give me a good understanding of the concept. I do wish it were bound in such...more

Marnie rated a book 4 of 5 stars

The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak (Goodreads Author)

read in February, 2013

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Marnie rated a book 2 of 5 stars Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts	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
Have you ever been in a relationship that you were just done with but you were hoping they would end it and so you suffer through, day after day, rolling your eyes every time that person does that THING that you HATE and, yah, it was kind of fun at f...more
May 14, 2013 05:42am · see review
Marnie rated a book 3 of 5 stars Uglies (Uglies, #1) by Scott Westerfeld 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
May 13, 2013 08:18am
Marnie rated a book 3 of 5 stars The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks (Goodreads Author) 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
This is a book about brain disorders and how they shape people's perception of the world and themselves. It's an endlessly interesting topic and a bit scary to imagine how fragile anyone's hold on reality might be. The author, a neurologist discusses...more
Apr 15, 2013 06:24am · see review
Marnie rated a book 5 of 5 stars Opium Fiend: A 21st Century Slave to a 19th Century Addiction by Steven Martin 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
This book opens with the author experiencing severe withdrawal from opium and then backs up to walk you through the years to get him to that point; from the obsessive collecting of paraphernalia, to dabbling in smoking and finally to full on addictio...more
Apr 06, 2013 03:59pm · see review
Marnie rated a book 3 of 5 stars The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess by Lou Schuler (Goodreads Author) 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
I'm a bit on the fence about this book. Without a doubt, I think the diet plan is garbage. It's another take on the low carb, high protein diets that fall in and out of favor with the public. I just don't buy that the vast majority of people can comm...more
Apr 02, 2013 12:01pm · see review
Marnie rated a book 5 of 5 stars Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author)	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
Apr 01, 2013 03:25pm
Marnie rated a book 4 of 5 stars Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape by Jenna Miscavige Hill	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
Mar 12, 2013 03:19pm
Marnie rated a book 4 of 5 stars Responsive Web Design by Ethan Marcotte read in February, 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
A quick read with lots of visuals, examples and resources. As a person who only dabbles in CSS and HTML, it isn't quite comprehensive enough for me to use alone but it does give me a good understanding of the concept. I do wish it were bound in such...more
Feb 27, 2013 06:05am · see review
Marnie rated a book 4 of 5 stars The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Goodreads Author) read in February, 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
Feb 27, 2013 06:02am

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