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| 0451528824
| 9780451528827
| 0451528824
| 4.31
| 1,008,978
| Jan 01, 1908
| May 06, 2003
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it was amazing
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“Oh, I don’t mean just the tree; of course it’s lovely—yes, it’s radiantly lovely—it blooms as if it meant it—but I meant everything, the garden and t
“Oh, I don’t mean just the tree; of course it’s lovely—yes, it’s radiantly lovely—it blooms as if it meant it—but I meant everything, the garden and the orchard and the brook and the woods, the whole big dear world. Don’t you feel as if you just loved the world on a morning like this? And I can hear the brook laughing all the way up here. Have you ever noticed what cheerful things brooks are? They’re always laughing. Even in winter-time I’ve heard them under the ice. I’m so glad there’s a brook near Green Gables. Perhaps you think it doesn’t make any difference to me when you’re not going to keep me, but it does. I shall always like to remember that there is a brook at Green Gables even if I never see it again. If there wasn’t a brook I’d be haunted by the uncomfortable feeling that there ought to be one. I’m not in the depths of despair this morning. I never can be in the morning. Isn’t it a splendid thing that there are mornings? But I feel very sad. I’ve just been imagining that it was really me you wanted after all and that I was to stay here for ever and ever. It was a great comfort while it lasted. But the worst of imagining things is that the time comes when you have to stop and that hurts.” I swear this is a rare French edition of Anne of Green Gables: [image] I jest, but Anne's motormouth gabbing at Green Gables almost unmanned me. Not only does she never shut up, the twee nonsense she was carping on and on about made me cringe so hard I thought I was going to morph into an accordion. Fiddlesticks indeed! I did consider dropping the book after a few pages of Anne’s mind boggling loquaciousness but something about the book grabbed me when I wasn't looking. There is something rather compelling about the narrative which I could not quite put my finger on at that point, so I kept on reading. I am glad I did. This is going to make me sound terribly ignorant but I never heard of Anne of Green Gables until I read that Netflix was about to air a new adaptation of it. This piqued my interest because it is clearly not a kickass show like most of their recent series. Then I looked up the book on Librivox.org and I found that they have an audiobook of it, read by the excellent Karen Savage. That sealed the deal for me; it is free to read (or listen to) after all, there is no risk in giving it a shot. First published in 1908 Anne of Green Gables is about an orphan named Anne Shirley who is adopted by an old woman called Marilla Cuthbert and her brother Matthew. They wanted to adopt a boy to help Matthew with his farm work but through some kind of snafu, the orphanage sent them a girl instead. Marilla wants to send her back immediately but kindhearted Matt enjoys listening to Anne’s crazy-ass chatter. Soon, however, Anne’s peculiar charms begin to get under her skin and she changes her mind. So Anne gets to live with them at their Green Gables house in Avonlea, a little town on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Pastoral mayhem ensues. [image] Anne and her BFF Diana, art by Kasia1989 It took longer with me than with Marilla but Anne eventually got under my skin too. In spite of being bloody irritating she is interesting and her “joie de vivre”, fearlessness and optimism are infectious. I also enjoy the episodic scrapes she gets into over several chapters: almost breaking her neck, almost drowning, accidentally dyeing her hair green, breaking a slate over a boy's head etc. In George Elliott's lovely Silas Marner Elliott mentions an “unfolding of the soul” that resonates with me, it describes the life-changing effect that the introduction of a child into your life has on your perspective, your attitude, your behavior, and your very soul. There is an identical process going on in Anne of Green Gables with the hitherto terse and practical Marilla. I love this theme and enjoyed reading about her gradual transformation. As for Anne’s nonsensical chatter I become desensitized to it after a while and I was happy to let Anne be Anne. The timeline of the book also spans more years than I expected, I thought it was going to be about Anne getting into scrapes after scrapes until the book ends somehow, and that would have been alright with me. However, it turns out that the book depicts Anne’s coming of age, her gradual development from the age of eleven to sixteen. By the end of the book, Anne is much more mature and not so manic. There is a lighthearted and warm tone to Lucy Maud Montgomery which is a pleasure to read. This is “a book for all ages” so it is not exactly challenging to read. The characterization is very well done. The central characters are all believable and even lovable. The book actually becomes quite poignant towards the end and I closed the book with a happy sigh. There are eight sequels to this book I doubt I will read them all but I would be quite happy to check in on Anne again before too long. [image] Notes: • I am a fan of Ms. Karen Savage’s audiobook narrations, she has such a pleasant reading voice. Her narration of Anne of Green Gables is her best yet. Her love for this book really comes through in her enthusiastic and passionate delivery. I am ever so grateful. (Download page). • Anne of Green Gables became so popular and such an important symbol of freedom in Poland that the Polish army issued a copy to every soldier before WWII. • Anne of Green Gables is a sort of Canadian Secret Garden or Silas Marner. • This book is not as widely read as I thought, my extremely well read BFF Cecily has never heard of it until this review, which probably means at least 50% of the world's reading population haven't. Have a look at the Netflix trailer, see if it's your thing (though there's more angst in the TV show than in the book). • Ten things Anne of Green Gables taught this Guardian journo. • Netflix’s adaptation (called Anne with an “E”) has been described as “gritty”, the grits are of their own manufacture; there is about as much grit in Anne of Green Gables as you would find in an average glass of milk. Amybeth McNulty who plays Anne is a fantastic young actress, her portrayal of Anne is top notched. The show looks good but I have to say I don't like the additional dark materials they put in, I think it is tonally at odds with the spirit of the book. I have seen a couple of episodes so far and a fairly minor incident in the book is blown up into a huge melodrama with a galloping horse chasing a train! (See message #17 by Tracey below for more details. Thanks, Tracey! 🤗) [image] • It is called Anne with an “E” because that is her badass spelling of it, and she insists the E is always included even when people are vocalizing the name. • A minor complaint. Anne’s acrimonious relationship with Gilbert Blythe (who she whacks on the head with a slate) goes on too long on too trivial a basis to be reasonable or believable. I mean, he calls her carrot once and that started five years of animosity? [image] [image] Quotes: “The long platform was almost deserted; the only living creature in sight being a girl who was sitting on a pile of shingles at the extreme end. Matthew, barely noting that it was a girl, sidled past her as quickly as possible without looking at her. Had he looked he could hardly have failed to notice the tense rigidity and expectation of her attitude and expression. She was sitting there waiting for something or somebody and, since sitting and waiting was the only thing to do just then, she sat and waited with all her might and main.” “Listen to the trees talking in their sleep,” she whispered, as he lifted her to the ground. “What nice dreams they must have!” “Matthew, much to his own surprise, was enjoying himself. Like most quiet folks he liked talkative people when they were willing to do the talking themselves and did not expect him to keep up his end of it. But he had never expected to enjoy the society of a little girl. Women were bad enough in all conscience, but little girls were worse. He detested the way they had of sidling past him timidly, with sidewise glances, as if they expected him to gobble them up at a mouthful if they ventured to say a word. That was the Avonlea type of well-bred little girl. But this freckled witch was very different, and although he found it rather difficult for his slower intelligence to keep up with her brisk mental processes he thought that he “kind of liked her chatter.” But they shouldn’t call that lovely place the Avenue. There is no meaning in a name like that. They should call it—let me see—the White Way of Delight. Isn’t that a nice imaginative name? When I don’t like the name of a place or a person I always imagine a new one and always think of them so. There was a girl at the asylum whose name was Hepzibah Jenkins, but I always imagined her as Rosalia DeVere. Other people may call that place the Avenue, but I shall always call it the White Way of Delight. [image] Japanese book cover [image] Anime ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 08, 2017
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May 20, 2017
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May 20, 2017
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Paperback
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| 0375753737
| 3.64
| 53,835
| 1913
| Aug 17, 1999
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it was amazing
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I had no idea what to expect of Sons and Lovers as I went in. I had no idea what the book is about, presumably multiple sons and more than one lovers
I had no idea what to expect of Sons and Lovers as I went in. I had no idea what the book is about, presumably multiple sons and more than one lovers are involved. With the public domain books just knowing that it is a classic is usually enough. I also had no expectation of D.H. Lawrence, I knew he is the author of Lady Chatterley's Lover, which I have a vague impression of being some kind of Edwardian porn (though it probably isn't). Diving in with no expectation is often fun and rewarding. The first impression I had while reading the first chapter is that Sons and Lovers is some kind of misery-fest of Thomas Hardy proportions. The novel is centered on a seemingly dysfunctional family, the Morels. The father, Walter Morel, is a good for nothing drunkard. The mother, Gertrude, is no pushover, she is always able to defend herself and her kids against her husband’s abuses. That is nice for her, but their frequent arguments and fights do not make for a very peaceful household. I read the early part of the book with morbid fascination, guessing it is going to be just a family drama. However, as I read on beyond the first couple of chapters I began to get the impression that these characters seem very real and believable. There is more to Walter Morel than just being drunk and abusing his wife and kids. Sometime he regrets his behavior, sometime he is nice to his children. Like most human beings he has more than just one facet to his personality; he is still a lousy husband and father though. Sons and Lovers spans about two decades, as the Morel children grow up, the second child, Paul Morel, becomes the central character. After the eldest son, William, leaves home in Nottingham to work in London Paul becomes the centre of his mother’s attention. This is where the novel reverberates hard with me. I have a similarly close relationship with my dear old mother and, like Paul, I fret when she is ill. There is a scene of Paul and his mom spending an afternoon together when nothing significant happens, this scene is a thing of beauty as the book suddenly sparkles with happiness. Warmed my cockles it did*. What surprises me most about this book is how fascinating the seemingly ordinary lives of these characters are; as my friend Cecily remarked, “It’s the quotidian that sucks you in”. Once you get to the point where the characters seem like real people and you feel invested in their lives and wellbeing you don't even need a plot to hold your interest. This is just as well because Paul Morel vacillates such a lot between two girls Miriam and Clara, with both of whom he has an awfully discordant relationship. At the end of the day though it’s his mother, Mrs. Gertrude Morel, that is the glue that holds the Morel family, and indeed the entire novel, together. (view spoiler)[ After her demise everything falls apart (hide spoiler)]. I finished Sons and Lovers almost with regret as I have to take leave of these characters I have been observing for the past couple of weeks. Forget FedEx, DHL really delivers! _____________________ Notes * Unfortunately the term “Oedipus complex” rears its ugly head in some analyses of the book that I read after finishing the book which spoil it for me a little. I read the audiobook of Sons and Lovers from Librivox.org. Wonderfully read by Tony Foster. Thank you. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 05, 2015
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Oct 21, 2015
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Oct 05, 2015
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Paperback
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| 0486424545
| 9780486424545
| 0486424545
| 3.96
| 91,002
| Oct 18, 1910
| Oct 29, 2002
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it was amazing
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I vaguely remember seeing the film adaptation of Howards (no apostrophe-s!) End decades ago. I don’t remember much about the plot, I just vaguely (mis
I vaguely remember seeing the film adaptation of Howards (no apostrophe-s!) End decades ago. I don’t remember much about the plot, I just vaguely (mis)remembered it as a story of some mad old biddy giving a house to Emma Thompson. I suppose if you must give away a house to someone Emma Thompson is not a bad choice, she is pretty cool. Anyway, after recently reading A Room with a View and The Machine Stops I have added E.M. Forster to my much coveted list of favorite classic authors (he missed my sci-fi list by a hair, having written only one novella, albeit an excellent one). The nice lady who gives away the eponymous Howards End house is not an old biddy at all. She is roughly the same age as myself and is actually one of the least annoying characters in the book so I will retract both “old” and “biddy”. She is in poor health though and after spending some time with the kindly, friendly, clever and generally awesome Margaret Schlegel decided to write a note in pencil expressing her wish to give the house to her friend upon her death. This sounds like a ridiculous premise for a novel but Forster knew very well such a note would not be legally binding and the book is not about some kind of legal battle for the house, besides Margaret has no idea of the brief existence of the note until almost the end of the book. What Howards End is really about (unless I am very much mistaken) is social classes and their perception and relation to each other. The central characters represent the intellectual, the materialistic, and the poor. Their interactions in this book are on the whole not a happy one even though Margaret marries the stuffy businessman Henry Wilcox (whose wife – who is not an old biddy –snuffs it fairly early in the book). The book is not particularly densely plotted and any further description of the storyline seems like spoiler to me. Certainly it is full of themes and symbolisms about social classes, culture vs practicality etc. but as a reader I am more interested in the readability of it, the themes always come after the story for me. I find Howards End to be immensely readable and never drag at any time even though nothing much seems to happen in it; quite a triumphant achievement by Forster I think. I enjoy reading Forster’s observations of different kinds of people, their “lights and shades” as he puts it. The awkward romance between the two main characters who have nothing in common is peculiarly charming, especially when Henry, a man devoid of passion, tries to express touchy feely sentiments. The prose is characteristically top notch. I like Margaret’s notion of taming the stiff upper lipped Henry: “She might yet be able to help him to the building of the rainbow bridge that should connect the prose in us with the passion. Without it we are meaningless fragments, half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches that have never joined into a man.” It can’t be easy constructing rainbow bridges. I don’t have a lot more to say about Howards End really because it is all about the characters, even the titular house is a character of sorts. Once you get to know these characters, their idiosyncrasies become quite absorbing. Anyway, I have no problem recommending this book, I enjoyed it from beginning to end. If you like characters study novels set in the Edwardian era this one is for you. ______________________ Notes Audiobook: I listened to the free Librivox edition, beautifully read (as always) by Elizabeth Klett, who is one of the very best readers on there. Thank you very much! I feel like I ought to rate it at 4 stars because I'm always throwing 5 stars about, but I can't think what to deduct the one star for. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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not set
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Aug 13, 2015
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Paperback
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| 0141439831
| 9780141439839
| 0141439831
| 3.80
| 129,383
| 1847
| Apr 29, 2003
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it was amazing
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Vanity Fair is a big surprise for me. I was expecting a story about the trial and tribulations of a couple of plucky lady friends what I discovered wa
Vanity Fair is a big surprise for me. I was expecting a story about the trial and tribulations of a couple of plucky lady friends what I discovered was a witty, satirical novel that made me laugh several times, engaged my attention always and even moving at times. On the surface Vanity Fair is a story of the two main characters Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, two childhood friends from the opposite ends of the moral and intellectual spectrum. Becky is ambitious, conniving and smart, Amelia is humble, kind, simple, and rather dim. [image] The novel concurrently charts Becky’s rise from her humble station in life to the rank of the fashionable high society, while Amelia meets with several misfortunes and becomes penniless. It is quite a lengthy novel of more than 800 pages with a large cast of characters who revolve around the lives of the two protagonists. The most interesting feature of Vanity Fair is how meta it is. Thackeray often breaks the fourth wall to address the reader directly with sly and humorous asides, making light of the novelist’s omnipotence. [image] Thackeray’s satirical self-portrait The characters are very well drawn (in more ways than one), particularly Becky who is basically a femme fatale but still manages to show the odd flashes of conscience. Amelia is too virtuous for her own good yet unintentionally takes advantage of a man who has an unrequited love for her. [image] Nice but dim Amelia It is an interesting trope of a lot of fiction that the nicest, kindest man is immediately friend-zoned by the love of his life. This is very much the case for William Dobbin the man who longs for his (dead) best friend’s girl Amilia like a Norwegian Blue parrot pining for the fjord* My only minor criticism of the book is that some of the characters are just a little too stupid to be realistic. Amelia is well aware of Dobbin’s love for her but feels unable to return his love because she feels that she would be betraying the memory of her dead husband. Although Amelia is naïve, dimwitted and does not care for him Dobbin – an intelligent fellow – cannot get over his obsession with her. Amelia’s brother Jos is even worse, he has seen with his own eyes that Becky is dishonest, mercenary and cannot be trusted but he still falls for her entrapment. His stupidity is surprising because he is described as talented and singlehandedly recues his father and his sister from extreme poverty. Thackeray’s writing is wonderful, excessive usage of the word “prodigious” notwithstanding. I don’t think I have read anything this witty since The Picture of Dorian Gray. Like all long novels it is something to sink into and live with rather than just passively reading. The book makes me reflect that being virtuous is not enough to be of much use to the world if the virtue is not supported by intelligence and wisdom. On the other hand being clever like Becky and achieving wealth and fame is a hollow accomplishment if you are left with no genuine friends and family and viewed with disdain everywhere you go. [image] Becky being Sharp One of my favorite Victorian novels, if you like reading the classics Vanity Fair is a must. _________________________ Notes For a change the free audiobook does not come from Librivox.org, they have their own edition but it is read by multiple readers several of them are very bad. The edition I listened to is from Lit2Go, beautifully read by Amanda Elan. My favorite quotes are not included on GR’s quotes page for this book so I’ll drop them here: LOL: “Though he was familiar with all languages, Mr. Kirsch was not acquainted with a single one, and spoke all with indifferent volubility and incorrectness.” Meta: “If, a few pages back, the present writer claimed the privilege of peeping into Miss Amelia Sedley's bedroom, and understanding with the omniscience of the novelist all the gentle pains and passions which were tossing upon that innocent pillow, why should he not declare himself to be Rebecca's confidante too, master of her secrets, and seal-keeper of that young woman's conscience?” * Hi Cecily! ;) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 21, 2015
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Jul 16, 2015
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Jun 21, 2015
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Paperback
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| 0451530179
| 9780451530172
| 0451530179
| 4.14
| 58,145
| 1915
| Jan 02, 2007
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it was amazing
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So I have been living with this book for almost ten days. Not so much reading it as living with it or perhaps even living in it. It is strange that I
So I have been living with this book for almost ten days. Not so much reading it as living with it or perhaps even living in it. It is strange that I was led to read this novel by Philip K. Dick’s science fiction novel Dr. Bloodmoney where Of Human Bondage is mentioned quite a few times. I have also noticed that this book is ranked at 44 in the Guardian’s “The 100 best novels” list, so that clinched it for me. A more direct (but inelegant) title for Of Human Bondage would be “The Life and Times of Philip Carey” because that is basically what it is. A “Bildungsroman” chronicling the life of the novel’s protagonist from his childhood to his adulthood, in a similar vein to Dickens’ classic David Copperfield. What a life though! I was hooked pretty much from the first chapter to the last. The book is fairly long at 684 pages, but not a single page is wasted as far as I am concerned. It is not divided into major parts like most long novels but it could have been, the parts would cover his childhood and school years, his life as an art student, his life as a medical student, Mildred!, his destitution, his (view spoiler)[recovery and redemption (hide spoiler)]. Among the episodes of his life Mildred looms as the largest figure. Described by Philip Carey at one point as “that vile woman” Mildred somehow manages to derail Carey’s life whenever she appears. He falls madly – and inexplicably – in love with her while she is happy to string him along for the convenience. His obsession is in explicable even to himself: “He did not care if she was heartless, vicious and vulgar, stupid and grasping, he loved her. He would rather have misery with one than happiness with the other.” “The other” referred to in the above quote is Norah Nesbit, a kindly, loving and intelligent woman Carey meets after Mildred seems to have gone out of his life and helps him to rebound. Unfortunately Mildred comes back into his life and he immediately dumps poor Norah. His crazed passion for a girl who is obviously extremely bad for him (or any man) makes me want to strangle Philip sometime, as if he is a real person. That is worth italicizing because it is the chief strength of this powerful novel, everything feels so real and vivid. The novel is clearly a character study of Philip Carey, Mildred and other colorful characters he comes across. The reader lives inside Carey’s head, feeling his pain, his shame and even his insane passion. Mildred is something of a femme fatale but she is so well depicted by Maugham that you cannot really blame her for the cruel treatment of Carey. She is unsophisticated and cold, but she never even pretended to love Carey, in spite of being well aware of this he is swept along by his own mad passion. She is who she is and makes no pretense of being virtuous. Any semi-sensible person would stay well away from her, but Philip Carey is not anywhere near the neighborhood of sensibility when she is around. Beside his disastrous dalliance with Mildred, Carey also makes quite a few more extremely bad choices, throwing caution to the wind unnecessarily, at one point he almost dies of starvation! This is a much more painful novel to read than David Copperfield because Carey is a deeply flawed human being. Phil does mean well generally, his mistakes stem from searching for himself throughout most of the book, often barking up the wrong tree. He does not know what he really want until the very last page. You cannot help but root for him a little. The ending is very nice if a little too pat, W. Somerset Maugham is no Thomas Hardy so I finished the book with an added spring in step. One day I am going to rewind it all and go through the wringer with Philip Carey again. Before that I will certainly read more W. Somerset Maugham. ____________________________________ Note on the audio book: Very nicely read by Tom Weiss, for free as part of Librivox’s collection (download link). Thank you sir! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 18, 2015
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Jun 05, 2015
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May 18, 2015
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 3.86
| 356,259
| Jul 02, 1814
| 2003
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it was amazing
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I generally avoid romance novels like the proverbial plague but, for some reason, I keep coming back to Jane Austen. I love her prose and dialogues bu
I generally avoid romance novels like the proverbial plague but, for some reason, I keep coming back to Jane Austen. I love her prose and dialogues but her tales of “conjugal felicity” are usually less than riveting for me. Still, I keep coming back for more of her romantic shenanigans so I guess – for me – her prose is more important than her plot at least where Austen is concerned. So I started Mansfield Park with some trepidation, once again wondering why I bother. The Telegraph’s declaration that this is “Jane Austen’s least-loved novel” did not bode well for me, but lo and behold!, as early as Chapter One I found myself digging the book, in other words I was happy to give it my complete approbation. “Least-loved novel”? Tcha! Upon my word! etc. I think with this book Austen was firing from all cylinders, telling an interesting and psychologically complex yarn through her reliably gorgeous prose. Like all Jane Austen novels Mansfield Park focuses on a single female protagonist, Miss Fanny Price on this occasion. What confounded my expectation immediately is that her childhood in the first chapter is one of privation. When she moves from her crappy family home to live with her rich aunt she is a fish out of water and regarded by the residents of her aunt’s house (the eponymous Mansfield Park) as something of a plebeian; what with her inability to play any musical instrument and ignorance of geography etc. The only kindness she receives is from super nice boy Edmund Bertram who can immediately be identified as the book’s romantic interest. Still the circuitous route to the eventual romantic relationship is even more circuitous than usual. Fanny Price has a much harder time of it than other Austen heroines, though Thomas Hardy’s heroines would have scoffed at her difficulties. Mansfield Park is populated with quite a few colorful characters, there is the womanizing cad Henry Crawford who is a stock Austen antagoist, his sister Mary who is an evil sultry seductress, a nasty “I think it ought not to be set down as certain that a man must be acceptable to every woman he may happen to like himself.” I think this is a key passage that nicely encapsulates her attitude. Much as I like the book I do find the ending quite predictable, Austen seems to always resort to an “elopement crisis” to create a climactic drama, and while there are some signs that Henry may reform through the love of a good woman he reverts back to his traditional Austen villain role. I would really like to see an unconventional ending to what is already an unconventional Austen adventure. Still I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can – for once – recommend it unconditionally. [image] * Mrs. Norris is a nasty piece of work, but within Jane Austen's limited scope of nastiness. The worst thing I can imagine doing to an Austen villain is to waggle my finger at them with extreme prejudice. Notes I read/listened to the free audiobook version beautifully read by Karen Savage, in her soothing and pretty voice. Thank you Ms. Savage. If you (for some reason) like this review, kindly check out my other Austentatious reviews: • Pride and Prejudice • Sense and Sensibility • Emma • Persuasion • Northanger Abbey Whovian corner (dedicated to my dear friend Cecily) Billie Piper as Fanny Price: [image] ‘Nuff said! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 13, 2015
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Apr 29, 2015
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Apr 13, 2015
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Paperback
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| 3.86
| 63,287
| 1886
| Mar 27, 2003
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it was amazing
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If Thomas Hardy's Wessex region was a real place the British government would probably have to nuke it as nothing but misery seems to go on there, as
If Thomas Hardy's Wessex region was a real place the British government would probably have to nuke it as nothing but misery seems to go on there, as recounted in Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure, The Return of the Native and other bleak-fests (I am excluding Far from the Madding Crowd here because I find it quite cheerful by his melancholic standard (only a few tissue papers required instead of a whole box of Kleenex). The Mayor of Casterbridge is Hardy at least wonderfully mirthless best. A sign reading “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” would do just as well for the border of Wessex as Dante’s gate of hell. The Mayor of Casterbridge, subtitled “The Life and Death of a Man of Character” is the story of Michael Henchard the (sometime) eponymous mayor of the town of Casterbridge. A bad tempered man with incredible mood swings who specializes in making very poor decisions. He starts off in fine form with selling his wife and child to an unknown sailor for the bargain basement price of five guineas (better known today as a fiver or GBP 5) while inebriated (pissed out of his mind in fact). After losing his wife for the price of a Big Mac he somehow manages to get his act together and works his way up in the world from a lowly hay-trusser to becoming a successful merchant and the town’s mayor (some suspension of disbelief is required here). After almost twenty years his poor sold wife shows up in town and reconciles with him, all seem to be going well until the fecal matter hits the fan. Seriously if they had electrical fans in Wessex I would stay well away from them as fecal matters would always make a beeline for these things, and spanners are always thrown into the works. Most of Henchard’s troubles are of his own making but the universe also seems to have it in for him as his bad decisions are always compounded by misfortunes. Henchard is Thomas Hardy’s most interesting protagonist, bad tempered, cynical, violent and pessimistic, yet energetic, well-meaning (sometime), and honorable (usually); but don’t make him angry, you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. He is often despicable yet oddly sympathetic and I could not help but wish things will work out well for him, but his worst stroke of luck is probably to find himself in a Thomas Hardy novel so that is not going to happen. This is the fourth Hardy novel I have read and it is definitely my favorite. I am a sucker for tales of redemption or at least contrition and I felt an unmanly lump in throat several times towards the end of this book. Hardy was a master at creating complex and vivid characters, his prose is always a thing of wonder. However, it is always best not to become too attached to his characters as he usually put them all through the grinder and make sausages out of them. In his defence he does not do it out of malice but to illustrate the pitfalls and vicissitudes of life. If only people would be more open and honest with each other, if only they do not let secrets fester in their lives. Henchard’s step daughter Elizabeth-Jane is a good example of this, she survives being in a Hardy novel relatively unscathed* by virtue of her humbleness, honestly and resilience. For example: “So she viewed with an approach to equanimity the now cancelled days when Donald had been her undeclared lover, and wondered what unwished-for thing Heaven might send her in place of him.” Attagirl! Likewise Henchard’s unintentional antagonist and rival Donald Farfrae who is always kind and forgiving. The Mayor of Casterbridge is a beautiful and moving novel in spite of its bleakness. There is always something you can take away from a Hardy novel, usually about your interrelationship with people around you. Now I’m going watch some cartoons… * Though it was touch and go for a while when she is attacked by a crazed bull (!). ______________________________________ Audio book credit: I "read" the free audiobook version from Librivox, beautifully read by Bruce Pirie. Thank you sir! ...more |
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Mar 22, 2015
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Apr 03, 2015
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Mar 22, 2015
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| 3.88
| 1,169,978
| Oct 1915
| Mar 01, 1972
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it was amazing
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“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” This very effective opening sent “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” This very effective opening sentence entirely encapsulates everything I knew about this story prior to reading it. I remember as a teenager watching a few minutes of Steven Berkoff’s televised adaptation and shortly changing the channel for some greener posture. I remember there was this bloke contorting on the floor pretending to be an insect and I just did not want to know any more. Before I read The Metamorphosis had no idea what to expect, I thought perhaps some PKD weirdness, something surreal, probably with some kind of message. The weirdness is definitely there (though not in PKD style) and Gregor’s cavalier reaction to his transformation is quite surreal. What I did not expect though was how sad, poignant and tragic this story is. In spite of being amply bizarre, the strangeness of the situation almost seems to be beside the point. After waking up to find that he has morphed into a horrible giant insect overnight Gregor seems to take it all in stride. Not one to waste any time WTF-ing Gregor rallies like a champ and simply gets on with his insectile life. He worries more about how his situation will affect his family’s welfare than how horrifying his predicament is. What a guy. Gregory lives in a shabby apartment with his parents and a younger sister. Initially they are all sympathetic of his condition, but as time goes by and their financial position deteriorates their patience and sympathy begin to evaporate. I don't want to elaborate any more on the plot as it is a short story (novella). Throughout the story Gregor retains his goodness, even through the gradual loss of his humanity. The opposite seems to be the case for his family. His sense of alienation and isolation is very palpable (especially as I was reading the story in a very quiet environment). What befalls Gregor is so tragic Thomas Hardy probably wishes he had thought of it. Even the “happy ending” makes me sad. Of course the entire thing can be interpreted as an allegory, there is a school of thought that it is all in Gregor’s mind and he has simply gone completely cuckoo one fine morning (working in textile will do that to you). As a sci-fi nerd I reject this hypothesis and choose to believe that the poor fellow does metamorphose during the night. Probably due to a stray cosmic ray from another dimension, or just a demented Dalek having a laugh at his expense. In any event this is a story that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Note: Thanks to Glenn for recommending this book to me. ...more |
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not set
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Mar 01, 2015
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| 0143037617
| 9780143037613
| 0143037617
| 4.02
| 109,777
| 1853
| Jan 06, 2006
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it was amazing
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Bleak House the novel is – as you would expect – pretty bleak, but Bleak House the eponymous house in the book is one of the happier places to be foun
Bleak House the novel is – as you would expect – pretty bleak, but Bleak House the eponymous house in the book is one of the happier places to be found therein. In any case this being a Dickens novel you should not expect a wall to wall bleak fest. You would need to pop over to Hardyverse (also called Wessex) for those. Bleak House is difficult to synopsize, it is about so many things and so many people. It has a very large cast of characters and a lot of intrigues. However, don’t let that put you off Dickens knew how to structure and narrate his novels in such a way that it can be followed without much confusion. At the centre of the novel is a lawsuit called “Jarndyce and Jarndyce” (the “Vs” is not used in those days), a case that just drags on and on for decades with no end in sight. The details are so serpentine that nobody can make head or tail of and several interested parties are driven insane by the wait for its conclusion. The protagonist of Bleak House is Esther Summerson who narrates at least half the novel in the first person. The rest of the book is narrated by an omniscient narrator (but you can call him Charles). Esther is from Dickens’ stock impossibly nice ladies who seem to always put the interest of everybody else ahead of herself. In spite of a sad and lonely childhood and not knowing who her parents are she is mostly quite chirpy and optimistic. A major aspect of the novel is the secret identity of Esther’s mother. I won’t tell you anything about her except that in the recent BBC adaptation she is played by Gillian Anderson, best known as “Scully” from The X-Files, just so you know she is not to be trifled with (she is also on the book cover). There are so many plots and subplots in this book and I would be here all day if I were to mention them all. The book is highly flavored with myriad elements, comedy, tragedy, whodunit etc, there is even a spontaneous human combustion! That last one knocked me for a loop. [image] As usual Dickens populates Bleak House (the novel not the house) with a cast of colorful characters, many of them with funny names like Jellyby, Pardiggle, Skimpole, Smallweed etc. Dickens is often accused of creating unrealistic cartoonish characters usually defined by one quirk. However, he actually based most of those on actual people he knew and satirized them, and they are very entertaining to read about. I must make a special mention for a Harold Skimpole. Initially I thought he was a prototype hippy or freeloading surfer dude, but as the novel progresses he becomes increasingly pernicious, with an “ingenous (not ingenious) simplicity” that is quite infuriating when you realize what his game is. There is also a policeman called Inspector Bucket that reminds me a little of Hercule Poirot (though he is not French). In spite of being quite tragic at times I find Bleak House vastly enjoyable and would recommend it to fans of Victorian fiction. Those new to Dickens should start with the shorter and less complex Great Expectations. My enjoyment of the book is much enhanced by the freebie audiobook from Librivox. This one is read “solo” by the wonderful Ms. Mil Nicholson who has graciously read several Dickens novels for the public domain. She is one of the very few Librivox volunteer readers who can match the best of professional readers from Audible.com, with voices galore. I must remember to send her a thank you note. [image] Addendum: A word about the prose style, I think Dickens' writing skill is not so much a talent as a superpower. However did he come up with those turns of phases? The quotes I have chosen are not the pithy, inspirational ones people tend to highlight, just the ones that made me laugh: ""Upon my life," said Mr. Skimpole, shrugging his shoulders with his engaging smile, "I have not the least idea what he is to do then. But I have no doubt he'll do it". This is Skimpole's way of saying that he does not give a shit about whether a sick boy will live or die if left in the street uncared for. "Writing was a trying business to Charley, who seemed to have no natural power over a pen, but in whose hand every pen appeared to become perversely animated, and to go wrong and crooked, and to stop, and splash, and sidle into corners like a saddle-donkey. It was very odd to see what old letters Charley's young hand had made, they so wrinkled, and shrivelled, and tottering, it so plump and round." Esther's lovely description of teaching her maid to write. “I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies.” Ha! Skimpole for President! [image] Note: Most of your favorite Dickens tropes are present and accounted for! [image] ...more |
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Jan 28, 2015
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Mar 06, 2015
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Jan 28, 2015
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| 037575718X
| 9780375757181
| 037575718X
| 3.88
| 38,953
| 1878
| Feb 13, 2001
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it was amazing
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“Hurt so good Come on baby, make it hurt so good” - John Mellencamp WUT? Well, reading Thomas Hardy novels always poses this kind of challenge. They hur “Hurt so good Come on baby, make it hurt so good” - John Mellencamp WUT? Well, reading Thomas Hardy novels always poses this kind of challenge. They hurt, and yet I keep coming back to him because they are indeed good and this kind of hurt is like a good exercise for your EQ. In term of language, I don’t think Hardy’s writing is particularly difficult to access. The more challenging aspects of his books are the initial meticulous scene setting and characters introduction chapters and, of course, the miserable situations that his characters get into. “Tragedy When the feeling's gone and you can't go on It's tragedy” Sorry, I just had a sudden attack of Beegeesitis. Anyway, I am always glad(ish) to be back in Hardyverse, better known as Wessex, a fictional region somewhere in the south of England. A lot of pastoral mayhem seems to take place here so it is probably not an ideal vacation destination (non-existence notwithstanding). In The Return of the Native Hardy again depicts what bad marriages can do. Clym Yeobright, the returning native of the novel’s title, marries the almost preternaturally beautiful Eustacia Vye who is very discontent with her rural surroundings. She yearns for the bright lights, big cities, iStores etc., preferably in Paris. However, she is not a femme fatale, she does her best to be a good, loving wife. Unfortunately her best is of a disastrously low standard and tragedy ensues. Much of the tragedy stems from people being unable to speak their minds, to be honest, sincere and – most of all – forgiving. Where this novel really resonates with me is the relationship between Clym and his mother. They have a very close, loving relationship until Eustacia (inadvertently) comes between them. The mother, Mrs. Yeobright, has some very strong prejudices about people of ill repute and is very quick to pass judgment on them, her unyielding mentality eventually leads to her downfall. Eustacia’s inability to settle down, to compromise with her circumstances also leads to a lot of grief and much gnashing of teeth. As usual Hardy’s characters are very believable and vivid, and it is interesting that there is no actual villain in this book. Some characters become antagonists of sort merely through very unwise decision making and impropriety. The hero of the book is also not Clym the protagonist, but a sincere, helpful and humble man called Diggory Venn who is a “reddleman” by profession. Basically, he goes around marking flocks of sheep with a red colour (a mineral called "reddle"). Not much call for such services these days I imagine, but it makes him a fair amount of money and also causes his entire body to be red coloured. It plays hell with his attempts at courting a certain young lady, but he eventually finds a way. According to Wikipedia Hardy had a tack on a happy ending for commercial purposes so not all the characters are down in the dumps by the end of the book. Left to his own devices he would rather depress the hell out of his readers. Over all this is a typically depressing book by Thomas Hardy. Yet I really like it and recommend it for people who are not overly sensitive or those who are too insensitive and need to emote a little. “Life's a piece of shit, when you look at it Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true You'll see its all a show, keep 'em laughin as you go Just remember that the last laugh is on you” - Monty Python Well, after all that I don’t have any room left to quote an eloquent passage from this book. There are always plenty of those in a Hardy novel (so that’s hardly novel!). ...more |
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Dec 02, 2014
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Dec 15, 2014
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Dec 02, 2014
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| 3.87
| 1,645,780
| 1818
| 2003
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it was amazing
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It is almost a pity that the story of Frankenstein is so well known because far too many people neglect to bother reading Mary Shelley’s novel under t
It is almost a pity that the story of Frankenstein is so well known because far too many people neglect to bother reading Mary Shelley’s novel under the assumption that they already know the story. This is a shame because Frankenstein is beautifully written, very dark and scary but also quite poignant. Most people have an image of Frankenstein’s Monster as a shambling massive thing with bolts on its neck, going around mumbling GAAHHH GAAAAAH!!! and snapping people’s necks because that is how he rolls. Some people even call the Monster “Frankenstein” which is really a faux pas as that is the name of Victor Frankenstein who created him (though if things had turned out differently and Victor had adopted The Monster as a family member then he would have been rightly called Mr. Frankenstein!). What happens to Victor’s nearest and dearest is quite horrifying even though all the violence happen “off screen” in that the Monster’s murderous rampage is not described in the narrative, the reader is only shown the final result. Somehow this makes the story even more believable and creepy. [image] Classic illustration by Theodor von Holst, pilfered from Wikipedia The way I see it the real monster of the story is Victor, not The Monster. Imagine how things would have worked out if, instead of making a run for it when the Monster wakes up, he welcomes The Monster into the world, make him a nice cuppa tea, and help him to find a place in society. If he is really so ugly just buy him a mask and a hat or something. His reaction also seems to be illogical, while he was stitching the Monster together he must have noticed how fugly the poor thing looks, how is it that he only realizes it as the thing was waking up? How the Monster learns to speak, read and write entirely from observing some neighbors is also not quite believable, it reminds me of Tarzan figuring out how to read all by himself in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes; rather preposterous. That said Mary Shelly’s prose is so beautifully written I was quite willing to suspend disbelief. [image] Victor is an obsessed mad scientist who runs away from his responsibility and in spite of advance warnings still endangered his family and friends. The Monster is surprisingly eloquent in his speech and comes across as very pitiful and poorly treated by everyone he come across; by his “father” most of all. One point he often comes back to is that he never asked to be born and that if he can not get the love he yearns for he will take revenge as a substitute: "Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed.”Poor bastard. There are myriad themes in this book, but the most salient one for me is prejudice based on physical appearances. The Monster wants to be loved and accepted can only take so many rejections and abuse before he goes berserk. Victor gave him life but denies him everything else, he is the real villain of the piece. Mary’s Shelly’s prose is lyrical to the point of being flowery at times. Besides being a morality tale Frankenstein is also a prototype science fiction book, it is amazing that it is written by the wife of a famous poet. It is a terrible shame that she did not write more novels of this kind. Children may find the language a little too flowery and the narrative does go to some very dark places. However, I would recommend this book to just about everybody else. Certainly I would like to read it again one day. [image] Notes: • This book was “listened to” in audiobook format, nicely and graciously read by Caden Vaughn Clegg for Librivox.org (free public domain audiobooks). Thank you sir! (Download link) • Paul McGuigan, the director of Victor Frankenstein (2015), said that Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is "as dull as dishwater", what this indicates to me is that McGuigan has no understanding of subtlety or nuances. The simple fact that he made a movie based on a book he neither fully understand or respects is enough for me to avoid it like the plague. • On a similar note. The Sun (UK tabloid) accuses snowflakes of misunderstanding Frankenstein – while misunderstanding it themselves. [image] Graphic novel cover ...more |
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Oct 07, 2014
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Oct 18, 2014
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Oct 07, 2014
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| 3.89
| 529,560
| 1895
| Oct 01, 2002
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it was amazing
| “Any real body must have extension in four directions: it must have Length, Breadth, Thickness, and—Duration. But through a natural infirmity of th “Any real body must have extension in four directions: it must have Length, Breadth, Thickness, and—Duration. But through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which I will explain to you in a moment, we incline to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives.”Ah! The original wibbly wobbly timey wimey novel (well, Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court predates The Time Machine, and perhaps some other books as well, but never mind, you can put me right in the comments section if you want). Certainly it is the first one that I ever read as a wee lad. Last week I was looking for a short free audiobook for a bus journey and for some read on I thought of H.G. Wells and picked The Time Machine as it is my favorite. The only problem I have with reading this book is that it is already “spoiled” long before I read the first paragraph. I remember all the major plot points very well, and what sci-fi fans have never heard of Elois and Morlocks? What I have no memory of is Wells’ prose style and his narrative talents. As the above quoted passage shows he was an eloquent writer with a rare ability to make scientific expositions sound elegant. Wells was also an amazing story teller, the story may seem like old hat now but if you imagine that you have never heard of this story and never read anything like it before it is quite an astounding and riveting story. Consider the world building of his Dystopian far future with the two sub species of the human race. It is a beautiful piece of social satire and a thought provoking metaphor for social classes which are still prevalent today hundreds of years after the publication of this novel. There is not much in the way of characterization but that is perfectly fine for a book this short, besides the Elois are all hippy-ish airheads and the Morlocks are not interested in conversations. The protagonist does not even have a name. The last couple of chapters may well be the most atmospheric. Wells’ depiction of an even further future beyond the Elois and Morlocks era is a little surreal and quite eerie. Those crab things seem like something out of H.P. Lovecraft. The conclusion of the novel is also nice and mysterious, mystical even. If you think H.G. Wells is old hat but never actually read any of his books I urge you to give him a try. Certainly I intend to reread The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man etc. before too long. Yes, they are all old hats but they are great hats! Classic headwears never go out of fashion. Finally I would like to bookend this review with another favorite passage: “You know of course that a mathematical line, a line of thickness nil, has no real existence. Neither has a mathematical plane. These things are mere abstractions. Nor, having only length, breadth, and thickness, can a cube have a real existence. So most people think. But wait a moment. Can an instantaneous cube exist?I have no idea but it sounds great! Note: I read the free Librivox audiobook version, read by Mark Nelson, the reading is excellent. ...more |
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Sep 03, 2014
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Sep 06, 2014
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Sep 03, 2014
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| 0439227143
| 3.91
| 439,786
| 1903
| Jan 01, 2001
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it was amazing
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Novels narrated from a dog’s point of view are rarities. I distinctly remember reading two, Fluke by the late great James Herbert, and Cujo by Stephen
Novels narrated from a dog’s point of view are rarities. I distinctly remember reading two, Fluke by the late great James Herbert, and Cujo by Stephen King (only partly from the dog’s POV). If the author’s talent is up to the task, it is quite a nice change in perspective (though I am sure you wouldn't want to read fiction from a canine perspective all the time unless you are a dog, even actual dogs don't want to do that, I have asked a few). Set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, The Call of the Wild is narrated in the third person but almost entirely from the dog’s point of view. The protagonist is Buck, a huge St. Bernard-Scotch Collie. [image] At the beginning of the book he is living a happy life as a pet of a judge but is soon stolen by the judge’s gardener and sold to dog traders, one of whom beat the stuffing out of him to teach him his place in the world (as the trader sees it). After this traumatic and transformative experience he is soon sold off to Canadian mail dispatchers. The story of his life as a sled dog is quite harrowing, featuring a fight for supremacy among his teammates, being sold off again to inhumane ignoramus and almost starving to death. Buck goes through the wringer and survives admirably thanks to his tenacity, cunning, fortitude and general badassery. The title of the book The Call of the Wild only becomes a theme toward the end of the book, but I won’t spoil the book by elaborating on this. The book is generally very well written though but there is very little dialog, as the dogs are not Disneyfied / anthromorphosised talking animals. The hardship and abuse endured by the sled dogs is quite harrowing. If you think you’ve got it bad try being a sled dog (though if you are reading this the contingency is an unlikely one). The author Jack London clearly has a lot of affinity for dogs and feels a moral outrage at the abusive treatment they often receive from human beings. He also has an insight into dogs’ mentality as this passage demonstrates: “But the club of the man in the red sweater had beaten into him a more fundamental and primitive code. Civilized, he could have died for a moral consideration, say the defence of Judge Miller's riding-whip; but the completeness of his decivilization was now evidenced by his ability to flee from the defence of a moral consideration and so save his hide.” “In short, the things he did were done because it was easier to do them than not to do them.” Ah! I wish my dog was so eloquent! The process of “decivilization” of Buck is a fascinating one, in order to survive he has to turn feral and it later transpires that Buck has some kind of primordial instinct for turning wild. That said he also has an almost conflicting desire to be loved by a human master, and for doing the best job he can as a sled dog, and later as a bodyguard and companion. What he also has above all other characters in this book is an indomitable will to live, and eventually to be free. If you love dogs this is a novel not to be missed. It is quite short, only about 170 pages, and there is an excellent free audiobook version from Librivox, very well read by Mark F. Smith (thank you sir!). [image] Art by nikogeyer ...more |
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Aug 28, 2014
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Sep 02, 2014
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Aug 28, 2014
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 4.14
| 315,758
| May 01, 1989
| 2005
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it was amazing
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Kazuo Ishiguro, there seems to be a dichotomy between the author's name and the subject matter of the novel. I did not know anything about Mr. Ishigur
Kazuo Ishiguro, there seems to be a dichotomy between the author's name and the subject matter of the novel. I did not know anything about Mr. Ishiguro before reading this book (I am not as well read as I pretend to be) but I have heard of the 1993 award winning film adaptation of The Remains of the Day starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It seems like a quintessentially British story and when I looked up some info about the source material I was intrigued by the author’s name. Anyway, Wikipedia cleared all that up, Ishiguro has been living in the UK since the age of five and received his degrees from British universities. According to The Times, he is one of the greatest British writers since 1945. Moving on from the author's name, The Remains of the Day is a fascinating look at the life of a butler “Mr. Stevens”. The novel starts with the framing “present day” narrative of Stevens working as the butler for an American gentleman Mr. Farraday, his embarking on a road trip holiday by himself and episodic flashbacks to his years of loyal service to Lord Darlington, with emphasis on his working relationship with the housekeeper Miss Kenton. I find this to be a very thought provoking novel it really taught me a few things about the almost extinct profession of butlering. Not how to make a decent cucumber sandwich or anything like that, but the philosophy of butlery. I have always wondered why any intelligent person would want to be a manservant of any kind. Serving meals and drinks to a single household, or worse still, a single individual does not seem like a dream job. Well, according to Mr. Stevens when a butler is serving a great man who does great things for the country you are facilitating that greatness. So vicariously he is also doing great deeds. Whether this is a fact or one man’s misconception is debatable, but it a plausible motivation. Another fascinating thing about the traditional Jeevsian butlers is their eloquence, mannered speech, and unflappability. Very few people speak like Jeeves or Mr. Stevens these days, more is the pity. Their convoluted yet precise speech is music to my ears, and the way they seem to almost teleport by moving about extremely quietly is just wonderful. Mr. Steven’s aspiration to be a great butler means that he has to suppress his emotions at all time, practically turning himself into a super efficient robot. Maintaining a stiff upper lip at all times can lead to an entirely stiff body and soul; being the best at something always comes at a price. During the first half of the book, I did wonder what the point of the novel is as it seems to amble along amiably from page to page never actually boring but the point of the story escaped me. However, around the halfway point, I found myself smiling as I was reading a certain scene and realized that the story and the characters have charmed me. By the end of the book I understood the central themes of ambitions and regret and I was moved. My the audiobook edition is beautifully read by the late great Nigel Hawthorne whose diction of the classic English butler dialogue is just the thing for Anglophiles. Kazuo Ishiguro’s sci-fi-ish novel Never Let Me Go seems very much my kind of thing, we will see how that goes. As for The Remains of the Day, may I be so bold as to respectfully suggest that sirs and madams set aside your undoubtedly valuable time and suspend all telephonic communications to read this particular publication forthwith? ...more |
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Jun 26, 2014
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Jul 05, 2014
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Jun 26, 2014
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Paperback
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| 0321107217
| 9780321107213
| 0321107217
| 3.55
| 69,734
| 1854
| Oct 09, 2003
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it was amazing
| "Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everythi "Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the mind of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them."Roger Waters' lyrics could almost be a direct response to Mr. Gradgrind's ridiculous world view. The worst thing about Hard Times is the title, very off putting. You get the feeling that the book will indeed give you a hard time and should be avoided like the plague; particularly if you have never read Dickens before and assume that his books are hard to read. As it turned out Hard Times is one of the easiest Dickens books to follow, neither the plot or the prose is particularly convoluted. It is also one of his shortest and most concise, clocking in at a measly 350 or so pages instead of 1000+ like most of his novels. The major theme, as far as I can discern, is the effect of stifling upbringing and overly rigid fact-based education at the expense of allowing children to cultivate their imagination. Facts and figures are essential for the development of intellect but they need to be balanced with fanciful stories and leisurely pastime. The novel’s protagonist Louisa was raised and homeschooled by her father to only be concerned with “facts facts facts!” and tales of fantasy, circuses etc, are boycotted. This has the effect of turning an innately decent loving girl into a living refrigerator. The effect on her brother is even worse, as he grows up to be a dissipated, deceitful and generally useless individual. This being a Dickens novel the plight of the poor and the injustice society inflicts on them is depicted with a fierce passion. Both “the masters” (factory owners) and trade unionists are portrayed in very poor light. To balance the unsavory characters Dickens also introduces us to his stock “nice”, simple and honest characters and several eccentric ones. Also, even with the serious issues, Dickens wants to bring to your attention in this book, he never forgets his storytelling duties, Hard Times is well paced, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and never drags. The reason I enjoy reading about Dickens’ characters is the reason his detractors criticize him for. His supporting characters tend to be colorful in appearance, behavior and speech. However, they are also frequently cartoonish and unbelievable as real people. This is perfectly acceptable to me because I don’t think Dickens’ intention is to write ultra-real gritty fiction. The crazy characters are there to entertain and also function as caricatures of certain types of people for metaphorical purposes. For example Josiah Bounderby one of the antagonists seems like some kind of angry red balloon, all bluster and extreme arrogance. His housekeeper Mrs. Sparsit is super aristocratic and a real nasty piece of work. James Harthouse, a total cad with the seduction of Louisa in mind. His slick patter is very amusing and brings to mind one of Oscar Wilde’s more outrageous “motormouth” characters. Dickens also gets a lot of flak for his melodramatic sentimental plots and “deus ex machina”. All true but without writing a tedious defence of the great man I would simply say that I am OK with it all. I always find his fiction to be accessible, entertaining and poignant. His prose is also a work of art, sometimes sardonic sometimes lyrical. Again the haters find him verbose, and again I enjoy his verbosity. My audiobook version is superbly performed by actor Martin Jarvis, definitely not just a narration, but an actual dramatic vocal performance with tons of different voices and accents. In conclusion, this alleged review seems more like an exercise in Dickens fanboying (now that's something you don't see every day!) than a proper review. Ah well, it’s the best I can do at this time of night. Last words go to Mr. Sleary, circus manager extraordinaire (who speaks with a lisp) "People mutht be amuthed. They can’t be alwayth a learning, nor yet they can’t be alwayth a working, they an’t made for it. You mutht have uth, Thquire. Do the withe thing and the kind thing too, and make the betht of uth; not the wurtht!"This. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 15, 2014
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Jun 25, 2014
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Jun 15, 2014
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 140990329X
| 9781409903291
| 140990329X
| 4.07
| 17,637
| Nov 1909
| Apr 25, 2008
|
it was amazing
| “You talk as if a god had made the Machine," cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that. “You talk as if a god had made the Machine," cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that. Great men, but men. The Machine is much, but not everything.”E.M. Forster could have been talking about Steve Jobs and iPhones! I don't know how widely read The Machine Stops is but I think it ought to be required reading for all sci-fi aficionados. I don't know this for a fact but I suspect it is very influential; I can see echoes of it in sci-fi classics such as Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Asimov’s The Caves of Steel, the classic short story “Nightfall” and even in something as recent as Hugh Howey’s Wool. Perhaps even Iain Banks’ Culture series to some extent. This is a proto-dystopian sci-fi story first published in 1909. Here we have the human race all living underground to avoid exposure to a polluted poisonous Earth atmosphere (though things may not be as they seem). Mankind is totally ruled and nurtured by a global AI Overlord simply called The Machine. Everybody’s material needs and creature comforts can be conjured as needed (presumably backsides are also wiped). So what happens when the entire human race is totally reliant on a single supercomputer* to the extent that their muscles have atrophied and decadence has set it? I'm not going to tell you obviously but this is a brilliant prescient story that I hope you will read. Pity E.M. Forster only wrote this one sci-fi story, he really had a knack for it. He is of course best known for classics like A Room with a View (which I have read and reviewed) and A Passage to India (which I read years ago, and is very good) etc. The Machine Stops is so good that it makes me want to read more of his books regardless of genre. This story is in the public domain and you can find a free e-book edition at Manybooks.net and a free audiobook at Librivox. Now all you need is an hour or so to soak it all up! [image] * The word "computer" does not appear anywhere in the text of course, 1909 y'know, that makes his prescience even more remarkable. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 02, 2014
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Jan 07, 2014
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Jun 07, 2014
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0684830493
| 9780684830490
| 0684830493
| 3.80
| 1,184,799
| Sep 01, 1952
| 1996
|
it was amazing
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I love the short classics, practically instant lit cred! Still, even the short ones can be hell to get through if you don't care for them. Joseph Conr
I love the short classics, practically instant lit cred! Still, even the short ones can be hell to get through if you don't care for them. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a case in point, it was a titanic struggle for me to get through and you won't find my review of it because I don't have the temerity to dis a classic. They have been around all this time and will still be around long after I have shuffled off the ol’ mortal coils. It is basically like sometime good food doesn't agree with me. Now what was I reviewing before I started rambling? Oh yeah, The Old Man and the Sea. On the face of it this seems like a simple story of Santiago, an old fisherman going out into the sea in his little skiff, encountering a mega fish of XXL proportions and goes off chasing as if he is channeling Captain Ahab. He manages to hook the fish only to find that it is piscine equivalent of Arnold Schwarzenegger when it begins to drag him and his skiff far out into the sea for days. Quite a lot happen after that but I will leave it for you to find out for yourself, it really is quite a ripping yarn. The plot is just the surface of it though, you can read it through in a couple of hours and have a pretty good time with it. However, to get the most out of it you would have to think about what it all means, the themes the motifs the symbolism and whatnot. The themes about man’s indomitable will, man against nature, obsession, loyalty etc. are fairly evident, but the religious themes, motifs, and other allegorical subtexts are more profound and I had to look up online analyses to fully appreciate them. There are only a couple of characters in the book (excluding the fish). Beside old Santiago there is the loyal and good hearted boy Manolin who appears at the beginning and the end of the novella, he is the most compassionate character in the story and is possibly the heart of the book. Santiago himself is very believable though he becomes a little eccentric when he is alone at sea. He even gives the phrase “talk to the hand” a new meaning. The reading experience is wonderful though, the powerful narrative is absorbing and atmospheric. I was listening to this in audio book format while commuting to work (an hour journey) and for a while I felt like I was peacefully alone at sea instead of stuck in traffic. Definitely a book I will be rereading in future – several times. Note: I actually found the audio book on Youtube, I am not sure about the copy right aspect of it so I won’t provide a link. If you are interested just search for “The Old Man and the Sea - Narrated by Charlton Heston”. Yes, Charlton Heston! I half expected him to part the sea and drag the fish out by hand but that is a different book I guess. [image] Art work by RHADS on Deviant Arts ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 02, 2014
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Jun 03, 2014
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Jun 02, 2014
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0140620192
| 9780140620191
| 0140620192
| 4.15
| 172,922
| 1855
| Jan 13, 1994
|
it was amazing
|
For some reason I confused this novel with the John Jakes book of the same title and I wondered why a young female Victorian author would have written
For some reason I confused this novel with the John Jakes book of the same title and I wondered why a young female Victorian author would have written a book about American Civil War. Any way, when I started writing this review I sat for minutes staring at the blinking curser wondering how I should begin. The first paragraph is often the hardest as there is no momentum to speak of. So I thought I would cheat a bit and have a look around other GR reviews for inspiration (or something to rip off). Interestingly practically all of them mention the BBC's 2004 TV adaptation. The BBC's mini-series is very popular and highly rated (see IMDB), it basiaccly brought North and South back in vogue. The only snag is I have not seen it so the novel just made a transition from my reading bucket list to my DVD one. OK, that is enough shoehorning of the BBC thing, I got my first paragraph. North and South is a social / romance hybrid novel, if Dickens had collaborated with Austen they may have come up with North and South, especially if Thomas Hardy e-mailed them some suggestions resulting in a number of deaths to put our protagonist through the wringer. The book starts off inauspiciously with some old ladies discussing desirable marriages. This Austenesq scenario almost sent me packing there and then but as I was only a couple of pages in I thought perhaps I should give Ms. Gaskell more of a chance. It is well that I did because North and South soon become much more meaningful and heartfelt. Our heroine Margaret Hale has much more to do in this story than looking for a suitable husband. She has to move with her parents from a picturesque agricultural town to a busy smoky industrial one. This requires considerable attitude adjustment. To make matters worse her nearest and dearest start dropping dead like flies. The only bright spots seem to be her meeting stuffy but interesting industrialist Mr. John Thornton and making some working class pals. Her eventful life in Milton includes inadvertently getting involved in a violent factory workers strike and almost getting stoned to death for her troubles, not to mention unintentionally causing stiff upper lipped Mr. Thornton to fall violently in love with her. What makes this book special is the characterization. The characters are very vivid, complex and believable. Starting with the protagonist Margaret Hale who is of the “still water runs deep” archetype; hardly an original characterization but she is so well developed that you cannot help but become emotionally involved in her plight. Then we have Mr. Thornton who seems to be a graduate of the Darcy School of Haughtiness. His mother is wonderful, a tough as nails lady with a heart of gold who I cannot help but visualize as looking and sounding Kathy Bates. There are too many characters to mention and every one of them come alive through Gaskell’s narrative. Equally important is the plot, the social aspect of the story. The trade off between profitability and the welfare of the workers. The communication failure and misunderstanding between employers and employees. Both sides are often at war because they assume the worst of the other and act on those assumptions without attempting negotiations. Such problems still exist today though they were much more severe in the 19th century. I suspect 90% of the trouble and heartaches in Victorian fiction would never occur if people, workers and lovers alike, would only speak their minds, make it their top priority to clear up misunderstandings. The only problem with that is that we would end up with nothing left to read. North and South is beautifully written and overflowing with pathos, be sure to have a box of Kleenex within arm’s reach should you attempt it. There are minor flaws in the plot contrivances such as several characters suddenly dropping dead in fairly rapid succession just to serve the plot, not from any contagion either. The romantic wrap up at the end is also a little too rushed given the very gradual buildup throughout the book. Still, I love books that push “the feels” button and this book does that beautifully. Read it and weep my friends. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 24, 2014
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Apr 07, 2014
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Mar 24, 2014
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Paperback
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| 3.83
| 288,550
| 1891
| Jan 30, 2003
|
it was amazing
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“I felt a little like a man reading a very grim book. A Thomas Hardy novel, say. You know how it’s going to end, but instead of spoiling things, that
“I felt a little like a man reading a very grim book. A Thomas Hardy novel, say. You know how it’s going to end, but instead of spoiling things, that somehow increases your fascination. It’s like watching a kid run his electric train faster and faster and waiting for it to derail on one of the curves.” Stephen King, 11/22/63When I was reading King’s 11/22/63 I noted down this line because I was planning to read Tess of the d'Urbervilles soon and from its reputation and the two other Thomas Hardy novels that I read I expected that it will probably make me at least a little melancholy, if not downright miserable. Why read it then? Just as books by Neal Stephenson is a workout for the mind I think that Hardy’s books are a good workout for the emotion (or what we on the interweb call the feels these days). The initial plot trajectory from the moment Tess meets the obvious degenerate (and proud of it) Alec d'Urberville with his fancy [image] — Nastassja Kinski As Tess (1979 adaptation) — It is clearly telegraphed by the author and you just know it is not going to well for poor Tess. After being turned into “damaged goods,” she puts up a brave face and soldiers on with her life, taking a minimum wage job as a milkmaid. As luck (or misfortune) would have it she meets Angel Clare a nice young man who relentlessly courted her and she falls in love with to devastating effect. Tess of the d'Urbervilles is a character study and also a social commentary of the time of Hardy’s writing. The characterization of the main protagonists is quite complex. Tess herself starts off a naturally beautiful naïve girl who Hardy puts through the wringer and emerges no less beautiful in spite of spiritual damage. The only truly indomitable thing about her seems to be her beauty. She makes a one poor decision after another and the goodness of her heart is eventually her undoing as misadventures are heaped upon her by the author (shakes fist at Hardy). As for Angel Clare, the romantic lead of this tale of woe, although he evidently a good man he is in some ways worse than Alec d'Urberville. The devastation he wrought upon Tess on the basis of his self-righteous conception of morality makes him entirely unsympathetic. While Alec is basically just a garden variety womanizer Angel is what Monty Python once described as a “silly bunt” (if that makes no sense you may want to google it). [image] Gemma Arterton As Tess (2009 adaptation), again with the strawberry! So as expected it all ends in tears, this novel is no less miserable than the mirthless Jude the Obscure (if you want to read a relatively happy Hardy you may want to check out Far from the Madding Crowd). Thomas Hardy’s writing flows as beautifully as ever but if he was still alive today I probably wouldn’t want to invite him to a birthday party. I have The Return of the Native in my TBR though. Like Tess, I must be a sucker for punishment. Anyway, highly recommended; read this and you may never laugh again (LOL!). _________________________________ Note: I read the audiobook version of this book, beautifully narrated by Davina Porter, got it really cheap from Amazon at $0.99! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 07, 2014
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Jan 23, 2014
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Jan 07, 2014
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Paperback
| |||||||||||||||||
| 0375757856
| 9780375757853
| 0375757856
| 3.91
| 94,416
| Aug 01, 1868
| Sep 11, 2001
|
really liked it
|
Rereads generally work very well for me, as I have memory like a sieve. However, some books are more rewarding when re-reading than others and I usual
Rereads generally work very well for me, as I have memory like a sieve. However, some books are more rewarding when re-reading than others and I usually only find out once I have committed to the reread. I first read The Moonstone decades ago and I enjoyed it very much, unfortunately even my poor memory still retains the outrageous denouement to the central mystery of the theft of the eponymous diamond. Still, I was curious to reread it as I remember enjoying it so much. [image] The Moonstone is about the theft of an Indian diamond from a country house on the night of a birthday party for eighteen-year-old Rachel Verinder. The theft and its continued disappearance have serious repercussions for the two main characters of the novel throughout the book which spans about a year. It also, directly and indirectly, causes the death of several characters. First published in 1868, this novel is deservedly lauded as the “proto-detective” novel. The novel is structured in the epistolary format where multiple characters narrate sections of the story through their written accounts of their involvement in the case. The different narrative tones are very skillfully written, with the distinctive personality of each narrator coming through clearly. Some of the narrators are rather eccentric and unreliable and this adds a lot of flavors and humour to the narrative. I particularly like the grumpy butler Gabriel Betteredge who uses the book Robinson Crusoe as if it is The I Ching , the fanatical evangelist, and – best of all – the almost Sherlockian Sergeant Cuff who would have solved the crime single-handedly if not for the stupid meddling kids (basically the two main characters Franklin Blake and Rachel Verinder. [image] There are quite a few other colorful characters I could mention but, if you are interested to read this book, the less you know about it the better. There are a couple of issues with this book for me, the solution to the mystery stretches believability, but I suppose that is what makes it so memorable. The other issue is the depiction of Indian characters as inscrutable, sinister people, too foreign to be understood, not to mention evil. Racist much? [image] Sinister foreign types on this edition’s cover. Neither flaws are too injurious to the overall quality of the book, it is a product of its time after all, and even ahead of its time in some ways. If you have never read Victorian literature before The Moonstone may be the ideal starting point, it is very readable even for modern readers who are not familiar with Victorian prose style. Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White is even better than this (a lot better I would say) so I would recommend that as a starting point also. Rating: 5 stars for the first read, 4 stars for the reread. [image] Note: I mostly reread this book in audiobook format, provided free by Librivox . As with the printed edition the book has multiple narrators, unfortunately, this is to the detriment of the audiobook as some readers are better than others; ranging from perfect to awful. The Mrs. Clack chapters are particularly hard to listen to. Ah well, can’t complain, they all graciously narrated the book for free, for which I am grateful. Addendum: I just found an alternate Librivox edition narrated by a single reader, Tony Addison, it does not sound like an improvement on the multiple readers one to be honest, but you may want to listen to some samples. [image] Quotes: “the nature of a man’s tastes is, most times, as opposite as possible to the nature of a man’s business. Show me any two things more opposite one from the other than a rose and a thief; and I’ll correct my tastes accordingly.” “Sergeant Cuff never laughed. On the few occasions when anything amused him, he curled up a little at the corners of the lips, nothing more.” “Cultivate a superiority to reason, and see how you pare the claws of all the sensible people when they try to scratch you for your own good!” “The cook looked as if she could grill Mr. Superintendent alive on a furnace, and the other women looked as if they could eat him when he was done.” [image] Sergeant Cuff is awesome! ...more |
Notes are private!
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Jul 11, 2017
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Aug 27, 2017
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Nov 16, 2013
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Paperback
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my rating |
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| 4.31
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it was amazing
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May 20, 2017
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May 20, 2017
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| 3.64
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it was amazing
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Oct 21, 2015
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Oct 05, 2015
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| 3.96
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it was amazing
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not set
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Aug 13, 2015
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| 3.80
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it was amazing
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Jul 16, 2015
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Jun 21, 2015
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| 4.14
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it was amazing
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Jun 05, 2015
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May 18, 2015
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| 3.86
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it was amazing
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Apr 29, 2015
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Apr 13, 2015
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| 3.86
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it was amazing
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Apr 03, 2015
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Mar 22, 2015
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| 3.88
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it was amazing
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not set
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Mar 01, 2015
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| 4.02
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it was amazing
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Mar 06, 2015
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Jan 28, 2015
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| 3.88
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it was amazing
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Dec 15, 2014
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Dec 02, 2014
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| 3.87
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it was amazing
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Oct 18, 2014
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Oct 07, 2014
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| 3.89
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it was amazing
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Sep 06, 2014
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Sep 03, 2014
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| 3.91
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it was amazing
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Sep 02, 2014
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Aug 28, 2014
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| 4.14
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it was amazing
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Jul 05, 2014
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Jun 26, 2014
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| 3.55
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it was amazing
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Jun 25, 2014
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Jun 15, 2014
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| 4.07
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it was amazing
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Jan 07, 2014
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Jun 07, 2014
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| 3.80
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it was amazing
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Jun 03, 2014
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Jun 02, 2014
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| 4.15
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it was amazing
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Apr 07, 2014
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Mar 24, 2014
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| 3.83
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it was amazing
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Jan 23, 2014
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Jan 07, 2014
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|||||
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| 3.91
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really liked it
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Aug 27, 2017
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Nov 16, 2013
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