Nina

The 2 stars is me being generous. It was just so meh, I was finding excuses not to have time to read it. This year, I will DNF the books that I don't enjoy and won't be pushing myself to finish everything.

I DNFed this book, for a few reasons. One of which is that I didn't realize it had a first-person POV and I'm very picky when it comes to these books. If I can, I avoid them. Which doesn't mean I think it can't be done well, but this book just wasn't one of them. The writing style didn't click with me, it was way too flowery and descriptive, which didn't make sense considering we were reading someone's inner thoughts. The main character was also very insufferable and annoying. I was very disappointed because the premise of the book was very interesting. It had potential, but it was wasted on the first-person POV. It would have been much better with maybe a close third-person POV. I read about 50 pages, but it felt more like a chore than entertainment.

I enjoyed this book, although it was a hard read. It's very slow paced, and I can understand that it's not for everyone, but I loved the flowing language and all the references. As someone who was obsessed with Greek mythology as a child, these stories within the story were awesome. Fabulous retelling.

Great collection of essays. My favorite was the one about Dali. Orwell is a great essayist. I can't wait to read more from him.

DNFd after 50 pages. As a Hungarian, the use of random Hungarian words were very distracting. The writing style was fine, the story typical of the genre.