I read the first book in the trilogy in two sittings. It is the best, the most disturbing and most extraordinary book I've read in years, maybe ever .I read the first book in the trilogy in two sittings. It is the best, the most disturbing and most extraordinary book I've read in years, maybe ever ...!...more
The Notebook is my favorite of the three, it is just exceptionally good writing. But all of this is great. A rawness that takes your breath away. A deThe Notebook is my favorite of the three, it is just exceptionally good writing. But all of this is great. A rawness that takes your breath away. A deep investigation into the nature of identity, and a very deep questioning of whether there can be such a thing as a collectively agreed upon Truth. ...more
To me this is not a literary mystery, I would rather call it a piece of urban nature writing. Pochoda creates wonderful senses place, and she is also To me this is not a literary mystery, I would rather call it a piece of urban nature writing. Pochoda creates wonderful senses place, and she is also very good with characters, making them strange, but still ... trustworthy....more
Heartbreakingly sad, almost unreal, but still a wonderful read.
After having read it all I still wonder: How is it possible to to become an independenHeartbreakingly sad, almost unreal, but still a wonderful read.
After having read it all I still wonder: How is it possible to to become an independent person when you're never allowed to think for yourself? How is it possible to become a scholar and writer when your family does nothing but sabotage your development? How is it possible to become free when you have been soaked in fear all your life?
“First find out what you are capable of, then decide who you are.” ― Tara Westover, Educated...more
Excellent writing! I am especially impressed by the way Ward gives voice to the children in her story - and let them carry the narrative, making room Excellent writing! I am especially impressed by the way Ward gives voice to the children in her story - and let them carry the narrative, making room for magic - the supernatural - in a very natural way. As has been noted before; Ward places herself confidently in the tradition of Toni Morrison and William Faulkner, but she is without doubt also a very contemporary writer, placed in a specific time & place....more
Wonderful; fantastic, grand, howling, marvelous, terrific - it's all I can say, it's all I have time to say ... before running out to do some serious Wonderful; fantastic, grand, howling, marvelous, terrific - it's all I can say, it's all I have time to say ... before running out to do some serious sketching....more
I do not believe in quick-fixes, especially not in the field of writing … or personal development. Actually, I have spent most of my time developing &I do not believe in quick-fixes, especially not in the field of writing … or personal development. Actually, I have spent most of my time developing & nurturing a rather darker outlook on life. I guess this, my own skepticism verging on grumpiness, is the reason why I was taken by surprise by Louise DeSalvo’s Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives. The thing is; I don’t only find her book interesting –
Sometimes I'm reluctant to read books that are highly praised. Almost as if praise is in itself is dubious, a warning sign. Teju Cole's Open City has Sometimes I'm reluctant to read books that are highly praised. Almost as if praise is in itself is dubious, a warning sign. Teju Cole's Open City has been such a book for me. A book everyone seemed to like, a novel I was sure I would find wanting. (I did not - !)
Here is what i found:
Open City is a book of - I'm tempted to say: universal themes (even if I am aware of the problem of defining something as universal - as also is a theme in the novel), but even so I would like to use it, because this book deals with existential issues in a way that transcend individual differences. It is a book on history and on our everyday world, a book about the US, but also about Nigeria, Germany, Belgium & Japan. About trying to belong, and not wanting to belong. A book about class, race & gender.
And it is also to a high degree a book about music - rarely have I read a more beautiful musical ekphrasis than Cole's rendering of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde - rarely a novel where art more powerfully transgress individual differences (showing us ... the universal quality of art???)
And I have to to mention something which might seem personal and unimportant, but which I believe to be of great importance: I am everything the narrator is not - I'm middle-aged, I'm white, I'm a women, I'm married, I'm a mother and I am living in a different corner of the world. Still I can recognize myself in Julius - and I guess you can too. This is, I believe, a sign of Teju Cole's rare literary talent.
And then of course there are the details: language, tone & rhythm, all the really difficult things that transform good ideas into great fiction. ...more
There is no better way to celebrate The International Women's Day than listening to Eve Ensler perform The Vagina Monologues. There is no better way to celebrate The International Women's Day than listening to Eve Ensler perform The Vagina Monologues. ...more
McEwan's talent for discussing the moral life in a literary language - through art - is unparalleled!McEwan's talent for discussing the moral life in a literary language - through art - is unparalleled!...more
A beautiful rendering of the artist's life. I find it especially interesting that the author is a mature woman, a women weaving motherhood and ordinarA beautiful rendering of the artist's life. I find it especially interesting that the author is a mature woman, a women weaving motherhood and ordinary chores into her life as an artist, giving us a fuller picture of what is to live an artists life.
"I yearn to express what it is to be human."...more
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