Nik
Stoner is an odd book, but it is also remarkably amazing.
Odd because there is no drama, no adventures or suspense. Essentially, author spoils you the whole plot on the first page. It's about struggle, not the struggle we usually expect in fiction or history, but about different, ‘ordinary' kind.
This novel struck me so hard as almost no other book did. I've read books about war, camps and gulags that felt less devastating than Stoner. Those books show horror from the outside; Stoner quietly suggests that tragedy can happen to anyone, without any external conflict or intervention.
That kind of tragedy happens gradually. People don't notice it until it's too late, until nothing can be changed or done anymore.
Emma is a married housewife. Although her husband is caring and loving, he is still mildly boring in her eyes. She reads lots of love romances and dreams for that deep, adventurous romanticism that she sees in her books.
In that sense, her character is made our of texts: She must write love letters because that what novel characters do. Her affairs are disappointing partly because men don't live up to the scripts in her head.
It almost reminds me of some people today whose whole personality dictated by modern media. Instagram feed always shows you perfectly aesthetic places, constant traveling, unachievable bodies, lack of any hard work. Overtime it becomes a standard to some, and they get disappointed when their life differs from planted expectations.
Personally, even myself, I always feel inferior scrolling through social media. We compare our regular Tuesday to top 1% of others.
In book, Emma lives with that feeling of inferiority, it follows her constantly in everyday life. That's why I pity her. Her character is repulsive, selfish, lying and self obsessed - but still, I understand and feel compassion towards her.
This science-history work paints a vast yet grim picture of everyday life, culture, rituals, and the horrendous treatment of slaves in ancient Rome. It vividly describes the customs of gladiators -from their training, to the fights each bringing them closer to certain death, as well as the inhumane, shackled existence of ordinary slaves in the mines and fields. The average lifespan of Roman slave being 21 years old already tells much about cruelty and severity of their life.
Author resurrects Spartacus story - story of a gladiator and a leader of the greatest slave uprising in the whole Roman Empires history. The tale evokes admiration and sympathy to the unfortunate who righteously rebelled against their masters. While remaining historically accurate, Spartacus campaign feels as captivating and dramatic as something straight up from fantasy adventure novel.
I'm thankful to the author for collecting, analyzing and turning long chronological scriptures and texts into something so exciting and easy to read.
“He is a slave! But how does that harm him? Show me a man who isn't a slave: one is a slave to lust, another to greed, a third to ambition—and all are slaves to fear... No servitude is more disgraceful than that which is self-imposed.”
- Seneca the Younger, 60 AD
Perhaps, if I were living in post-WW2 Japan, I would connect more deeply with this book.
It stages a clash between two core principles: On one side, the pursuit of fame, glory, and the heroic death that is so celebrated in Japanese folklore. On the other, the westernized ideals of stability, consumerism, and domestic comfort. Two worlds clash psychologically between main characters, and symbolically between sea (glory, adventure) and the land (commerce).
While the ending was somewhat beautiful, I found characters too shallow. Instead of “living”, they functioned as walking ideological emblems. Such, I felt detached from the book on both levels: metaphorically, where ideas of glory and heroism is nothing I ever valued, and psychologically, where the characters never felt alive enough to invest in.
Long monotonous periods of time, amidst continuous repetition, shrink to terribly small sizes when one day is like all others, and all days become like one.
This is what happens to the main character of the novel, who arrives to visit his cousin at a mountain sanatorium for a few weeks but ends up staying there for many years.
Removed from the problems and concerns of people below, Hans Castorp, an unremarkable man and a natural-born phlegmatic, loses touch with the outside world.
No, he does not succumb to hedonistic tendencies or fall into apathy. On the contrary, during his stay, he seeks knowledge; philosophy, medicine, and the psychoanalysis of the soul become his main areas of study.
Through the character of Hans, the author demonstrates a search for the meaning of life, which ultimately leads nowhere.
Knowledge, profound feelings of love, music, and spiritual mysticism — none of these give Hans enough of a foundation, a lever, to finally leave the sanatorium.
Only war provides a strong enough reason for him to break free from the mire of constant, unanswered searching, thus giving him the sought-after answer.
In this way, within the vacuum of everyday life, the great question of life's meaning remains transcendent. Only action, an external influence, gives true meaning to the question itself and provides an answer.
This is a complex book, impossible to read quickly or “just for record.” Much time and energy will be spent — yet, worth it.
A very interesting and captivating insight into a tribal village in Niger, prior to euro-colonization, with all of primal rituals and superstitions. The problem is, the author lived a hundred years into same colonization, so we cannot fully rely for anything in the book to reflect an absolute truth or accurately represent a reality of those times.
It must be mentioned, that I liked author not taking sides in colonialist conflict, portraying both parties as awful.
If Chekhov's Gun was a book, this would be it. Sadly, Dickens carried the mystery of Edwin Drood to the grave. All that remains are subtle, scattered hints, leading to generations of speculation among experts.
Despite its incompleteness, the brilliance of the book shines in its own unique way. Yet, I have to admit, reaching the climax of such a masterpiece, only to be left without resolution, felt like a painful loss of something ought to be precious to my heart.
Andrei Chikatilo was a Soviet serial killer operating in 80-90's in Russia. Born in 1936, his childhood fell on World War II climax. A village he lived suffered severe famine, plain grass was a usual ration in his menu. It is reported that due to extreme starvation, Chikatilo's family resorted to cannibalizing his older brother. Andrei also been a witness to other atrocities; a mass civilian murder and rape of his mother, both committed by Nazi soldiers.
Sofia Avellino is a fictional serial killer depicted in “Fifty-Fifty” by Steve Cavanagh. In her childhood, she had been forced to play chess with her mother.
...Obviously, sadism of such extreme nature affected her personality, causing Avellino to suffer a serious trauma and developing sadistic, sociopathic tendencies.
A “legal crime mystery” genre aims to be as logical and consistent as possible in presenting details regarding the case. However, despite being presented as such, “Fifty-Fifty” surprisingly has many logical flaws.
If you know your killer rides a motorcycle, maybe, just maybe, care to check who of your suspects owns a driver license? It isn't exactly a rocket science.
Or it just baffles me how blind everyone to people being murdered around them. Someone butchered a clerk with an axe during his shift? - “Meh.. Probably some racists, not worth investigation.” A trial witness being murdered in broad-daylight in front of a persecutor? -“Nah fam, ain't nothing strange in it. Lets continue the trial tomorrow.”
Additionally, there is a strong misandristic subtext in the book. Every single male in the depicted idiocracy is either corrupt, racist, or just an asshole. The sole exception is the main character, who happens to be a mirror reflection of the author himself, showcasing how cool and non-racist he is. In contrast, all the women are depicted as strong, independent, and essentially flawless. Even the serial killer is portrayed as more pleasant of a person than many male characters.
Book ends as predictable as possible. Author tried so hard to convince reader that one of the sisters is a killer, that it becomes obvious that she is really not. All the suspense of doubt and “mystery” disappears at about 40% mark. But well, at least those pesky men got what they deserved. And the WAGE GAP had been addressed.
P.S. If so happens and Or from Bar Ilan uni recommends you a ‘cool' book to read - IT'S A LIE
Overall, the light and easy narration tone, coupled with humorous bits make this book a pleasure to read. The author's delivery transforms reading about algorithms into a treat after a long workday. Also, can't leave behind, the funny and simultaneously educational illustrations featured throughout the whole book.
However, a constant question troubled me the entire read: Why does it work? The book practically lacks concept proofs, complexity analysis, and anything remotely math-related. It feels like the author just lists algorithms and acknowledges their existence without any in-depth analysis whatsoever.
While I understand the book's purpose is to cover a big and complex topic in short and simple terms, the coverage is so simplified that it actually becomes annoying. Why are ‘omega' and ‘theta' complexities never mentioned? Why are AVL trees, Minimax, and b-trees not included? Why are sorting algorithms like quicksort and heapsort are never properly explained?
If the author could provide more in-depth analysis while preserving the current narration style, this book would rise to my top best.
As I progressed through the book my doubts about truthfulness of the author began to rise. Some events and details seemed surreal, almost impossible to exist in real life. But when I reached the final pages all my doubts crashed. The feelings author compressed into blank words and sentences, I would say even love, cannot be fictional.
Yes, GRU actually existed, and yes, Suvorov was its member. Although, surely the best decision for traitor-spy would be to avoid publicity as much as possible, author did the opposite. He wrote this book, extremely endangering himslef, for the sake of humanity. He believed this work could help in fight against communism globally and contribute in creating a better, post-communistic world.
No book has ever made me so viciously angry and frustrated that I wanted to beat the author with a stick, until now.
Absolutely ludicrous. The abusive usage of unnecessarily long sentences which still miserably fail to convey any meaning. Constant switches from 1st person to 3rd narrative, jumps between characters and different timelines, and a lack of division by chapters make it practically impossible to follow the storyline or understand what in the bloody hell is going on.
Honestly, I would prefer to read the great English-Kazakh dictionary instead, as it seems to be more sequential and coherent than this book.
I do acknowledge that complex and challenging writing styles are often used to convey a certain message or atmosphere, but this is not the case here. It seems like the narrative was purposefully complicated just to shift focus from an absolutely plain, boring plot and repulsive characters. (Though, my plot judgement is not so honest, as I'm still not sure what it's about.)
Regarding characters, I've read half of the book and still can't recognize any of them. Is Nicole Juan's lover? Is she the wife of the other guy whose name I forgot? Does she even exist? I have no clue. For comparison, orienting in the genealogical tree of 100 Years of Solitude was perfectly fine for me.
0/5. I have seen better-written Minecraft fanfics out there.
Positives: Some would jokingly say it's good for falling asleep. I tend to disagree. Reading this book made my blood boil so much that I couldn't sleep for another hour, thinking about how awful it is. The only ‘positive' I see is using it as a torture device for your worst enemies.
It's a pretty decent guide on forming and preserving habits. It would be an atrocious lie, to say, it hadn't taught me anything new. Author, mostly, doesn't delve deep into human nature or complex aspects of human biology. All the book claims are plain and straight-forward. I actually found myself agreeing practically on everything written without much of hesitation - and that's a problem.
In every book I read, I expect to find not many, but at least some poignant, interesting claims or phrases that usually strike me on a mental level. Those ideas trouble me for days as I repeat them in my head while relishing on uniqueness and greatness of learned. However, it didn't happen with this book. Sadly, it feels though there isn't much of interesting, view changing or crucial statements I can attribute to the book.
Семантически отнюдь не легкая книга. Научно литературная стилистика произведения тесно переплетена с человеческими переживаниями и жизненным опытом автора. Главной темой является эйдос фотографии, который автору предстоит найти. В своих поисках Ролан Барт затрагивает саму онтологию фотографии, что делает фото притягательным и какова роль личностных волнений в оценке того или иного снимка. Полное понимание книги требует медленного, скрупулезного анализа, наличие богатого словарного запаса, терпение и постоянного перечитывания. К сожалению, я не владею ни коим из выше приведенных навыков в совершенстве и от того не могу утверждать что понял книгу в полной ее мере и задумке. Я планирую вновь вернуться к данному манускрипту через X лет, более умственно и морально подготовленным, и тогда оценить произведение в соответствие с тем что оно по-настоящему заслуживает.
I'm really not a fond of “Telling one plot in 10 different unconnected stories” genre. Not only I find it very boring, but frankly, it makes me feel that the author aimed for quantity over quality. However, there are some good, exciting stories which I would've highly rated would they be published apart, by themself. In addition, author has a pleasant tongue, which he often uses in his beautiful narrative. Some lines in the book left me in awe.
Wouldn't exactly put it in a ‘horror' genre. Sometimes it plays with your nerves, but not in anyway equally compared to Lovecraftian literature.
Искренне сочувствую всем советским школьникам, коим пришлось подвергнуть свое душевное состояния испытанию “Мумувщиной”.
Сюжет этой незамысловатой, но очень печальная повести И. Тургенева, может быть охвачен всего в одном параграфе. Автор красочно растягивает простую истории, закладывая в нее многогранный смысл и подтекст. Сквозь строки прослеживаются комментарии, как на тему человеческой души, так и на Российское крепостное право.
Стоит отметить, что слой дворянства в книге, отображен не в лучших красках. Читателю предлагается встать на рабскую сторону крестьян и посочувствовать обычному дворнику. Такой отход от общепринятой литературной нормы той эпохи, располагает к чтению и вызывает уважение к автору. Не мудрено, что при публикации, царская Россия пыталась от “Муму” всячески избавится и не пропустить в свет, а в СССР она вошла в государственную школьную программу.
Несмотря на сравнительно низкий рейтинг, книжка мне понравилась. Проблема в том, что она не идет в сравнение с предшествующей ей работой авторов “12 стульев”. Да, в ней меньше остроумных шуток и любимых нами анекдотичных ситуаций, но я бы простил ей это. Что на самом деле повергло меня в ужас при чтении это тот мрачный дух, которым пронизана вся книга, она веет неизбежной экзистенциальной безысходностью. Чрезвычайно грубый конец как будто обрубается на полу слове, и не понятно почему именно так.
Возможно, та муза, что вдохновляла писателей, иссякла, они исписались. А возможно у меня были завышены ожидания при чтении. Ставлю себе в укор старую русскую пословицу; у всякого словца, ожидай конца.
Каноничная советская комедия в лучших красках своего жанра. Роман изобилует конгениальными эпизодами и оригинальными остротами. Некоторые реплики героев разошлись по всем республикам СССР и известны многим от малых да великих. Цитаты и шутки из книги стали неотъемлемой частью русской культуры и находятся в обиходе и по сей день.
Не раз, читая роман, я громко и чистосердечно смеялся так, что любому в соседней комнате не составило бы труда услышать мой затяжной хохот. История захватывает, а концовка будоражит нервы. Настойчиво рекомендую к прочтению как средство для релаксации и комедийного отдыха.
Обскурно-мрачная но интересная история. Рассказ, даже при своей текстуальной лаконичности, умудряется оставаться многозначитаельным. История связывает три основных мотива; деспотизм, эгоизм и слепую веру. Каждый из мотивов может восприниматся как один из углов общего тругольнка, также известного как монархия. Конечно можно пойти дальше и распознать более личную, человеческую сторону “пороков”, но эту задачу я оставляю вам.
1.
Have you ever caught yourself during discussion, sensing the fallacy or insolvency of some argument, but not being able to quite put your hand on exact mistake? This book might help you.
It teaches all about navigating through different kinds of debates as well as identifying ‘dirty' methods and techniques sophists tend to use. It is scary how much of dishonest rhetoric mentioned in the book we can observe daily. From news to street slogans, it's all been already described in this century old classic work.
Thanks to S. Povarnin, now I feel more resistant to, as well as meticulous in accepting all kinds of crude and manipulative statements.
2.
Second part of the booklet dedicated to a skill of a book-reading. It not only takes a talented author to produce a great book, but also a skillful reader to comprehend it.
“The dear good people don't know how long it takes to learn to read. I've been at it eighty years, and can't say yet that I've reached the goal” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Author provides a set of rules, sort of commandments, reader should follow to make most of his reading. You will be guided through process of picking the right book, to ‘parsing' it in a most efficient way.
Describing each tool Povarnin introduces and provides to reader in this review, would be pointless, as it requires deep delving into the topic, reading-methods breakdown, supported by examples on top of it - which is done by the author in the booklet itself. However, if I had to summarize the main idea of a guide in a short concentrated sentence it would sound like this: The more elements of your spiritual life gets involved into a work of reading, the more connections are being established between what we read and what we already have in our mind and feelings, and the deeper a reading.
3.
In conclusion, I wish I had read this work earlier in my life. It is highly recommended to everyone, not as enjoyable literature but as important component contributing to the most noble of goals there are - self development.
Author predicted Chat-GPT back in 1953. I ain't even kidding, lol. He describes a “computation machine” similar to a calculator, but instead of numbers you have semantic questions and answers. It parses a question by words and gives answer based on the summary of each one - exactly like Chat-GPTs' LSA algorithm works. Not gonna lie, that stuff kinda blew my mind.
Antony Beevor doesn't divide to “good” and “bad”, he just tells the ugly truth. It's a chronography of battles and events that occurred on the southeastern front during WW2. The book not only manages to maintain historical accuracy but also captivates readers with its vivid portrayal of the lives of regular soldiers. It delves deep into their thoughts, emotions, and the harrowing challenges they faced on the battlefield, making it emotionally engaging to read.
Much of the passages left me with goosebumps, as well as deep sorrow for unfortunate soldiers.
“Stalingrad” is a powerful testament to the resilience and sacrifices of those who served, making it a must-read for history enthusiasts and anyone looking for a gripping account of the human side of war.
Какое приятное совпадение, читать данное произведение сразу послу “Что Делать?” Чернышевского. “Что Делать?” является некой опорой, научной и философской базой, необходимой для полного понимания данного романа (Хронологический порядок прочтения обеих книг может быть обратен). Оба романа прекрасно дополняют друг друга. Тем не менее, исходя из одного и того же русла, принцип которого лучше всего выражен словами героя Е. Базарова: “Я ничьих мнений не разделяю; я имею свои”, авторы выбирают следовать по разным течениям.
“Отцы и Дети” имеет красочный и обширный литературный фундамент. Героям отдано немало страниц описывающих их глубокие чувства и эмоции которые резонируют в умах читателей. По этим причинам я считаю что Тургенев превзошел своего соотечественника по мысли.