It's a day since I finished this book, and it's decidedly one of the most depressing things I've ever read. Some people say The Wow. Where to start...
It's a day since I finished this book, and it's decidedly one of the most depressing things I've ever read. Some people say The Road is bleak, but it ain't go nothing on The Panopticon, well, except a Pulitzer.
Despite the misery of the whole thing - child abuse, dead mums, teens doing drugs, suicides, kids fucking dogs (I kid you not!) - I am glad I read it. Anais (named after one of my literary hero's Anais Nin) is a believable character. She's got presence, soul and a heart. She's also completely fucked.
An institutional teen who grew up in foster care, Anais dreams of a better life, but the choices she makes and the people in her life keep holding her back. At 15 she finds herself in a panopticon for teens (which is basically a prison where you can be seen at all times), after being accused of putting a policewoman in a coma.
Some angles of the story are never fully developed, and while this can be annoying at times, it's also very much like real life. I mean how often do we find out everything? How often do we discover the end of every thread of every story?
I also generally dislike stream of consciousness writing, I had a very bad experience with Virginia Woolf, but I think it works well here. I can't imagine the yanks getting on very well with the heavy Scottish dialogue, but for me it made it all the more authentic and helped me give Anais a voice. Don't get me wrong, in places where she was whacked out of her head on drugs, which actually happened quite a lot, the prose got quite loose, but considering the situation Anais was in it seemed legit.
There's loads about The Panopticon I didn't like that much - the generic friends she found in care which seemed like they'd been picked out of a who's who of stereotypes - the cutter, the whore, the angry one.. blah, it's been done too many times now!
Oh, and although this panopticon place is meant to be a prison, how come they can go in and out at all hours? Seemed a bit contrived to me. But hey, on the whole I loved Anais. I loved how 'real' this felt, and I hated how sad it made me feel that this is happening to kids in the real world right now.
If The Martian isn't a million dollar blockbuster in the next 5 years, Hollywood have missed a treat. I read the entire thing in one sitting, making iIf The Martian isn't a million dollar blockbuster in the next 5 years, Hollywood have missed a treat. I read the entire thing in one sitting, making it probably the best way to pass 8 hours that I can think of. Maybe it helps that I came to the book with no expectations, except the hope that I might get my next 'fix' for my inner space geek.
Well, what a fix! The story is a fast-paced, compelling adventure across Mars and offered everything I wanted and more. I was behind Mark Watney the whole way, from the moment he wakes up alone with his crew gone, to his eventual rescue attempt. It helps that Mark is a great character with a hilarious internal dialogue, I warmed to him quickly and found myself rooting for him as I turned the pages.
Yes, this book is sciency, but it needed to be. That's what makes it feel so authentic. It's the kind of book I'd like my future children to read, to help them understand the importance of science. It offers a perfect demonstration of how something seemingly dry and theoretical can have practical applications, and even save your life.
This book isn't for everyone, there are no little green people roaming the surface of Mars or any Roland Emmerich style hi-jinx, so leave your fantasy head at home. But if you like your sci-fi realistic and plausible then you're in for a real treat.
I'm not in the habit of giving 5 star reviews out often, The Martian really is something special....more
Quite simply this book is gorgeous. It's the kind of book that makes you fall in love with reading all over again - love, hope, tragedy, loss, joy - aQuite simply this book is gorgeous. It's the kind of book that makes you fall in love with reading all over again - love, hope, tragedy, loss, joy - all depicted with language so vivacious and alive that I could practically feel the story in my gut.
I'm not massively into the classics, I haven't read The Iliad, on which this book is based, but of course I know the story of the Trojan War, or at least I thought I did. The relationship between Achilles and Patroclus is beautifully portrayed, and is just as relevant today as it was back then. Heck, even in 1200 BC there were controlling mothers in law.
I won't go into the story itself, because I'm assuming most of you will know it, but you won't find a better re-telling. No wonder Miller has won countless awards, I stayed up well into the night with this one. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I just couldn't put it down, and that's the hallmark of some great storytelling.
Warning - DO NOT pick this book up if you're planning on doing anything other than reading and peeing, with an occasional hasty snack, in the next 24 hours. ...more
I'll start this off by saying that I'm probably one of the few people in book land who has never read anything by J K Rowling before The Casual VacancI'll start this off by saying that I'm probably one of the few people in book land who has never read anything by J K Rowling before The Casual Vacancy. I've always wanted to read the Harry Potter books, my ex-boyfriend even gave them me for Christmas a few years ago, but we split up and I forgot to take them with me. I will get round to them eventually, maybe when I have children of my own. Anyway, I digress.
First of all I've got to say the synopsis for this book really doesn't do it any favours and neither does the cover. I'm guessing Rowling wanted to go with a very "adult" looking cover to emphasise this definitely isn't a children's novel, but there's no excuse for the dreary description. It put me off the book a little but I was so determined to read a J K Rowling that I disregarded this and I'm very glad I did.
This book is about so much more than a local election. It's like a rich tapestry illustrating the living, breathing life of a small town and the relationships of its colourful inhabitants. In reality there's good and bad in everyone (albeit different ratios) and the Pagford residents illustrate this superbly. No-one is simply "good" or "bad", Rowling explores the characters past, their motives and reasons for acting the way they do.
My favourite character is Krystal Wheedon, a 16 year old with a drug addict mother and absent father who is holding her family together by a thread. Despite some of her actions I really felt for her, she is the kind of person society needs to help, yet instead she is vilified by a lot of the Pagford residents and thought of as almost a second class citizen. The way Krystal was treated really made me feel disgusted and there is a powerful message in the book of tolerance. You might think you understand someone, but really you have no idea. At least not in J K Rowling's world.
For the first 75 pages or so I was quite disappointed, all that had really happened was the death of a local councillor and it's retelling to various Pagford residents and their reactions. At the time I found this quite dull, but looking back I see how necessary this character building was in order to learn the history of the characters, their allegiances and their enemies. So please, if you're just starting this book and don't find it to your taste PERSEVERE, it does get better!
By the end of A Casual Vacancy I was fully embroiled in Pagford life and local politics. I really didn't want this book to end and read the last 200 pages in one sitting well into the night. The story really is spell-bounding and I loved how the separate threads all link together in the end and leave a very satisfying conclusion. ...more
I picked this up for free on my kindle as the title interested me, and well, it was free. To be honest I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, I meanI picked this up for free on my kindle as the title interested me, and well, it was free. To be honest I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, I mean if the book is being given away for nothing its best not to have high expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Methos has a masterful way of building suspense and I found the themes explored in the book to be really interesting. I love a good disaster story, but only if its done right and constructed in a believable way. And this was. I found myself imagining what would happen if the same thing happened today, a seemingly unstoppable worldwide epidemic. That's the thing that gets me about Plague, it really could happen. As Methos points out 99.99% of all the species that have ever existed are extinct. What makes us think that we'd be any different?
My main criticism is the ending, it's like you're driving along and everything is going great, then BAM, the next thing you know you've hit a brick wall. And that's it. It's over before it should be, no finality, no goodbyes, no nice clean cut ending, just a rushed few pages...more
I heard somewhere that Murakami is the favourite to take away the Nobel prize for fiction this year, and naturally I wanted to see what all the fuss wI heard somewhere that Murakami is the favourite to take away the Nobel prize for fiction this year, and naturally I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I wasn't disappointed.
Imagine a literary version of David Lynch, that's probably the best way to describe Murakami. After Dark isn't so much a story as it is an experience.
Set on a winters night in central Tokyo, After Dark follows several individuals whose paths criss-cross over the proceeding 7 hours. The stories are slowly merged chapter by chapter until they form a cohesive whole. The result of this process illustrates in turn, both the dichotomy and harmony between the individual and the collective.
I read After Dark mainly at night, which definitely suited the mood of the book and added to its charm. Murakami has an enviable ability to make the mundane come to life. A winters night becomes a magical playground full of experiences, meaning and realisation. Maybe anything can be interesting if you look at it in an abstract enough way.
This is my first Murakami but definitely won't be my last....more
Quite simply, The Snow Child is the most gorgeous piece of fiction I've read in ages. It's everything a fairy tale should be - complete escapism into Quite simply, The Snow Child is the most gorgeous piece of fiction I've read in ages. It's everything a fairy tale should be - complete escapism into a vivid fantasy world that feels so real it's almost tangible. Very rarely does a book allow me to completely shut out the world and escape, but The Snow Child did just that.
If you're stressed and could do with some time out this is the perfect antidote. Ooh, and it could be quite an expensive read for me too as it's seriously made me want to go to Alaska.
Eowyn Ivey is definitely an author to watch and I can't wait to read her next book. Incredibly this is her début novel, what a talented lady!...more
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