Anna
I did not enjoy the writing style of this book. I felt that there was a lot of side-tracking, repetitiveness and unnecessarily detailed descriptions (no need to describe a bedside glass of water as lukewarm - twice - everybody's familiar with the concept of room temperature water).
The pace of the narrative was at times numbingly slow, at times chaotic. Countless cliffhangers felt annoying: “that's when I went crazy” and then pages later “that's when I went very crazy”.
Overall I found the story very interesting, but it could've been delivered much more condensed, and instead I could've read more about recovery.
It's a light read, the kind of book with a log of dialogue where pages flow easily. It's entertaining and keeps you engaged until the end.
At times it's funny. Some jokes are good, but some are the kind where you give a short laugh out of politeness, others the kinds where you feel embarrassed and pretend you didn't hear. Some jokes were good until they were repeated a few times too many.
The problem I have with Backman's writing—and that's my personal opinion—is that I find many of his characters unlikeable. Not in a villain sense, but like a Ben Stiller movie, where each new embarrassment makes you cringe, instead of rooting for the hero.
The book does offer depth (unlike Ben Stiller movies), as it covers important topics, such as mental health and depression, and digs several layers deep into complicated family relationship. I felt it offers quite a realistic view on human relationships—and anxieties, as the title implies.
Based on the blurb I was expecting a deep psychological novel exploring love and relationships on a deep level.
What I got was a cross between a sci-fi and something philosophical. I love a good sci-fi, but this was not it and I ended up disappointed. The book was short so I powered through just for the sake of being done with the book.
There are obscure pieces of code scattered throughout the book. As someone who writes (and reads) code for a living I can assure you that these snippets make no more sense to me than they do to you. Their purpose still puzzles me.
Some characters were introduced without enough details or sufficient background, yet the narrative moves on so confidently, I felt sure I must have missed something detrimental to the plot and had to double back. Turns out I hadn't — the author just chose to confuse me.
Some of the character interactions and relationships are crafted to be interesting and engaging, yet the main plot line with the ant is just purely weird. To me it felt like a half-hearted attempt at a sci-fi. Like the author was trying to decide between a full-fledges sci-fi and an emotional novel and ended up failing at both.
Parallel plot lines are an interesting concept when they are well crafted, such as in Paul Auster's 4 3 2 1. This novel however is an example of how to make things even more confusing.
It was not all bad. It was interesting to read the same events from the perspective of different characters, to see hhow the same physical events provoke completely different emotional reactions in different people, how they end up remembering different details or completely missing the significance of the event and the connections another person has made.
I would have liked to see more exploration into the relationships between different characters. Most of them were interesting and had potential to make a captivating novel. Different timelines having different effects on family compositions and emotional ties would have been an interesting read. And no ants or rocket ships or implants.
I had mixed feelings about this one.
I liked how it approached the topic of abortion from different angels, providing real knowledge and context stories. It also touched on the topic of race, but I felt that it could've been explored more.
However, the way the plot was being told backwards did not feel captivating enough. From the beginning you know how the story end with only one end left open until the last chapter. And with that one open end on my mind reading all the backstories felt like a chore. There were a couple of plot twists mixed in there, but I felt that they did not make up for the mostly “spoiled” ending.
All in all I think the back stories for the characters were well crafted, but the execution of the story was lacking.
I felt that the story was too slow and painfully predictable. It's obvious even from the blurb how the main characters are going to end up. Then there's a painfully slow buildup to finding out why they got separated in the first place, for unknown reasons it takes them forever to finally come clean about their breakup, and when the author finally shines light on that night the whole thing is too predictable.
I liked the general message of the book regarding nationalism rearing its ugly head all over Europe. I agree with the author on the importance of the topic and the need to stop the hatred and love thy neighbour. I enjoyed the thread of plot woven throughout the book with MacLean crossing paths with the same characters over and over.
What I really dislike was the writing. Lengthy, boring and seemingly irrelevant descriptions made me think of my school papers where the word count was just a third of the required amount after I'd put in all the facts and I would proceed with filling the text with meaningless prose. I feel like the message of this book could have been compressed into half the volume and it would've made a more enjoyable read.
Also, Russians don't toast with na zdorovie. Consider using something else than Hollywood films for linguistic and cultural references in the future. Russians say za zdorovie which translates as “to your health”. Na zdorovie is the Polish version, in Russian it means “you're welcome” as in a response to someone thanking you.
I honestly didn't get this one. The beginning is thrilling, the setting is original, the ending is unexpected. But between the initial suspense and the climax there's not much happening. Several characters develop unexpected relationships with each other, a few come with some sort of self-discovery. Apart from some funny details and a few interesting interactions the novel just drags on and on, I found I had to really struggle to plow through.
This book left me with as lot of strong emotions. On the top is awe at how good the story is, how well written and how beautifully it all comes together.
There is sadness for all the children who have been—and still are—being robbed of their childhood, their families and their homes. Khaled Hosseini gives us a peak into the world that is so atrocious feels like it should exist lightyears away in the past. But in reality it existed in out lifetime and it exists still. The story references the history of Afghanistan, but doesn't dig deep. I found myself needing to consult other sources to understand the setting better.
There is wonder at the beautiful picture of Afghanistan of the boys childhood. The way it is painted makes me want to go there and see it for myself—it if still existed.
There is incomprehension of how human history births such abominations over and over and how we manage to survive as a species despite it.
And there is the warm feeling of adoration for all the sweet and innocent parts of this book, the ones filled with manifestation of love and kindness. Khaled Hosseini knew how to write this sad and terrible story in such a way that still leaves you believing in goodness of people and in love.
I can't believe I waited almost 20 years to read this book! This book blew my mind and I can see why it's been called the best science fiction novel in history.
The world Herbert has created is immensely rich in detail. He has put an immense amount of thought into the planet Arrakis, its landscape and ecosystem, the political and religious setting of the world around it. By the end of the book I feel like Arrakis is a real place I have seen.
Dune has it all: fighting and laser guns, politics and conspiracy, superhuman mental abilities and witches, a likeable protagonist-a hero, a barren planet with a rough climate where only the toughest and the strongest survive and huge worms. And spice.
I can't wait to see the movie that's supposed to come out this year and I hope it does the book justice.
Maybe the best book I've read in 2019, definitely among the top three.
Dalton describes gruesome subjects like child abuse, drug dealing and dismemberment with such lightness and comedy that can only be achieved by viewing these subjects from the naive perspective of a child. Despite the dark setting Dalton's protagonist gives the impression of a normal, happy and curious kid. It's impossible not to root for him.
The story revolves around the two boys and is woven together beautifully. The children get hurt, stumble and fall, get up and continue to try and make the world a better place. And they succeed! For me it radiated with a feeling on hope and love for the universe.
Fascinating mystery thriller, a real page-turner. An arson murder investigation is conducted and a tight group of people involved in the accident and their actions are being examined and analysed. As each layer of lies is shed we are shocked at what we find, but feel like being closer than ever to solving the mystery. But all what was revealed turns out to be lies as well with the next shocking revelation.
Angie Kim demonstrates how subjective the truth can be, how each fact taken out of context can be twisted in any amount of ways, how biased we are as people. The lawyers manage to present the same set of facts in such contradicting ways they make the same person look in turn like a villain and like a saint.
A lot of difficult emotions and complicated family situations give depth to the story. There's unconditional love for one's children, but this love has it's limits and boundaries. There's the pain of not fitting in, loneliness, jealousy, obedience, loyalty.
I wonder how realistically the American judicial system is portrayed here. After reading this book I got the illusion they gather just enough evidence to make a case and sit on it for a year-while the rest of the evidence rots away. When each party finds new evidence, which might be part of a bigger puzzle and lead to more evidence, it is kept silent about so it can be thrown into the other party's face in court at an unexpected moment. I sure hope it is not always like that.
This book was a very quick read and I enjoyed it a lot! I kept laughing out loud while reading it and had to quote passages to my mom when she would ask what was so funny.
It's full of dark humour, but still reads light despite the tragic circumstances (no spoilers here, the title says it all). While reading you might feel irritation or even anger at the carelessness, childishness and egoism of the two sisters. Yet you still end up with a fuzzy warm feeling towards them (at least I did). Love concurs all, especially when it's the unconditional kind reserved for closest family members.
This novel arose a lot of mixed feelings in me. The tale starts out as a sweet story of a bunch of kids in some kind of a boarding school, but the reality of their lives becomes increasingly harrowing and dreadful with each page. The protagonists were described in great detail, the pictures of their personalities painted very real. I could not help myself rooting for them, but at the same time l kept wondering why none of them ever tried to rebel against such a reality. It felt almost painful to keep reading about these kids bowing to their fates with such devotion and acceptance.
I like the writing style of Kazuo Ishiguro. I have previously read his The Remains of the Day. Both of these books have a troubling aspect to them and both cause the reader to question reality-fictional in case of this book. Never Let Me Go-despite being a work of fiction-felt so realistic that it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. How can such a world exist?
I absolutely loved this book! The plot makes it impossible to put down. I had seen the movie a few years ago and I remembered the general ending, but no details. This didn't spoil the book for me at all, the story is woven with such detail you cannot stop reading even if you have guessed what is going to happen next. I enjoyed how richly the main characters were painted, how deep were their emotional portraits.
I can highly recommend the audiobook, narrated by Julia Whelan and Kirby Heyborne.
I was not impressed with this book at all. It got my interest because of all the travel involved. In reality the book does not paint an interesting picture of all the places, instead it focuses on the constant dissatisfaction and whining reminiscences of a middle-aged loser. It feels like despite having traveled almost around the world he has learned nothing, gained no perspective and grown in no way as a person. The ending was disappointing and unbelievably cheesy.
The first part of the book is very slow-paced. In fact it took so long for the story to really get going that it was a DNF for me over a year ago. A week ago I decided to give it another go and started where I left off-about a third in-and from there the story actually got so interesting that I couldn't put it down.
Some plot twists were predictable, but overall I was positively surprised by how much suspense was kept until the very last page. Love scenes were kept to a very reasonable amount unlike some YA reading. YA fantasy is not my genre, but this book felt quite mature to me and I enjoyed it greatly.
Loved this book! I heard it was a must read and I wasn't disappointed. I was already familiar with some great quotes from the book and finding those in the text felt like rediscovering something dear and precious.
It's a light read with a lot of great jokes. Word of caution: you end up laughing out a lot and having to explain to people around you what's so funny. But there's also deeper stuff here, Adams manages to keep it hilarious but also hits the nail.
Definitely recommend this one to everybody, doesn't matter if you like sci-fi or not. Read it!
This book didn't live up to my expectations. The narrative felt slow-paced and wasn't a magical story I had expected. It felt too slow-paced and the plot was too simple. After finishing the book I was left with a feeling that it still made no sense to me.
I enjoyed the setting. I liked learning about Burma and it's history. Sendker manages a very realistic description of the third-world country, the poverty, the superstitious peasants inhabiting it. What sets this novel apart is that the people in the story are good-natured. You don't have to cringe with every new page. The protagonist faces hardships, but people around him are caring and helpful, there is an air of love.
At the same time I felt like some of the characters were too good, like they were not even human. As if by behaving in such an impeccable way they cast a shadow on the rest of us who are mere sinful humans.
What I loved about this book were all the intimate insights into the daily life of rural Indonesians. It is not easy for an average traveler with no knowledge of Indonesian language to venture so deep into the rural parts, but thanks to Elizabeth Pisani we can get a glimpse! The book provides a ton of hilarious anecdotes about local traditions and customs, most of which warmed my heart towards the Indonesians, but also got me wondering if we are truly in the same century.
What I didn't love was the unnecessarily complex structure of the text, which made it a tedious and slow read. The narrative itself was easy to follow even with non-linear timeline due to woven-in references to Elizabeth's prior trips a decade or two earlier. But I felt like there were many unnecessary details and over-complicated language structures without which I would have enjoyed the book twice as much!
