Imi
I'm going to call this 2.5 stars, but rounded up, because I think my rating suffers from the fact that I've read a lot of similarly themed books recently (realistic fiction about dreary, depressed small-town folk) and many of them were much, much stronger than this. I can't help but compare the character of Olive to Pearl in Anne Tyler's [b:Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant 77699 Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Anne Tyler https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1401953526s/77699.jpg 75046], which I read very recently. Both characters grow to be bitter old women who treat their families awfully and then are surprised when they find themselves rejected by family members who are fed up of being treated in such a way. But despite both these characters being unlikable for similar reasons, I found Pearl to be a fascinating character and I felt a lot of sympathy for her at times, while with Olive I couldn't bring myself to care for her in the slightest throughout the whole book. I think the difference here was that Tyler's characterisation of Pearl's was much stronger than what Strout did here with Olive.Thankfully, having read Strout's novel [b:Amy & Isabelle 19639542 Amy & Isabelle Elizabeth Strout https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387684871s/19639542.jpg 3356874], I know that Strout can really do better as a writer on all accounts. In this other novel, everything, including characterisation, prose and plot development, was much tighter than in Olive Kitteridge. There were glimpses of what I really liked in Amy & Isabelle, some secondary characters that interested me much more than Olive (Henry, Winnie, Julie...), but overall Olive Kitteridge did not feel like a complete, polished piece of work to me. For one thing, the structure was awkward and gimmicky. This is not as the subtitle says “a novel in stories”. It's a short story collection, pure and simple. In several of the better stories, Olive is barely even involved. Indeed, if she is mentioned, it feels forced. She is the maths teacher, interfering neighbour or passerby, as if she has just been edited in just to be involved, to make this a “novel”, rather than simply a collection about different people living in a similar part of the world.Overall, I can't say I'd recommend this book to others, because Olive did not work for me as a protagonist or as a focus to make this a “novel”. The stand out stories, in my opinion, and the ones I'd recommend reading, didn't actually focus on Olive herself: Pharmacy, Basket of Trips and Ship in a Bottle. These 3 stories certainly demonstrate Strout's talent and insight as a writer, and for this reason I'd have been much more satisfied with the book if it had been marketed as a short story collection and avoided using Olive as a gimmick.
“You think we're a family,' Cody said, turning back. 'You think we're some jolly, situation-comedy family when we're in particles, torn apart, torn all over the place, and our mother was a witch.”
Books about dysfunctional families are my favourite. This is my first book by Tyler, but it definitely won't be my last. The plot is quite simple, as Tyler's focus is the day to day lives across the years of this American family. She superbly intertwines the perspectives of four distinct characters, a mother and her three children, as they grow together and then later separate and continue their individual lives. Tyler writes fantastically; her dialogue and use of narrative voice is incredible. Tyler's depiction of family dynamics really rang true (some parts were painfully too close to home for me personally..) and in particular I was impressed with how well she demonstrated that despite the fact that the three Tull children grew up in the same household, they all remembered their childhood and their mother very differently. My opinion on Pearl changed throughout the novel and it would be fantastic to discuss her character with someone, as her character is so rich and complex. My only disappointment of the novel is the fact that Jenny's character seemed far less developed than her brothers'. The dynamics between the brothers was certainly interesting, with Cody's bitterness, envy and arrogance, and Erza's increasingly pitiful passivity, but I also found Jenny's situation very interesting and wanted to learn more about her. I felt that in comparison to the rest of family, I never got to truly know Jenny. It was like Tyler just didn't think she was as important. Despite that one complaint, I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading about complex characters and family dynamics.
An atmospheric, inventive and absorbing fantasy, in a wonderful setting, that I certainly enjoyed and was pretty much set on giving a respectable 3 stars right up to the end. Logan has created a fabulous fantasy world, covered in water after a monumental flood, leading to the formation of new class divisions of the human population; the lucky few known as landlockers who live on the tiny scrapes of remaining land and the damplings who live on water. The language could be beautiful, but I also found the phrasing slightly repetitive at times. My biggest complaints were with the characterisation and the weak ending. Although I like both the protagonists, North and Callanish, and very much enjoyed their relationship, most of the secondary characters were so flat and underdeveloped that they brought little life to the novel and this was a shame for such a novel with such fantastic promise. Above all the author too often told the reader about the characters and their relationships, rather than showing this through their actions and experiences. I think, ultimately, this debut novel needed a little more work to make it truly something special, which was demonstrated by the fairly weak ending. SpoilerThe ending should have been a tragedy for North and her reaction to the bear's death was no where near strong enough. I think there were a couple of problems here. Firstly, the ending was simply rushed towards the “happy ending” barely a couple of pages after the tragedy. Secondly, North's reaction was completely out of character. Finally, and most importantly, the reader never really believed the relationship between the bear (which was never even named?) and North as we were only ever told how wonderful it was, never shown. I think the inclusion of bear only highlighted the novel's weaknesses in characterisation and depth, and the novel would have been a lot stronger without it. I much preferred every other aspect of the novel, such as the story of the gracekeepers, North and Callanish's meeting and Callanish's family history.
This multi-generational family saga of interwoven stories, perspectives and characters has a lot to get your teeth into. Tricky family dynamics, hopelessness and grief, justice and revenge, Native American history and culture. What was done well was fantastic, but too often I found myself feeling oddly detached while reading this and struggled to engage emotionally during certain parts of the novel and with some of the characters. On the other hand, during other parts, I was enthralled. I loved Erdrich's way of going back and forth in time, finding links between the generations and their ancestors. Some of the characters and their storylines captivated me, such as Maggie's which was completely heartwrenching, while other's either bored me or left me feeling slightly disappointed at their lack of development (LaRose the fifth (?) and his mother Emmaline, who were just a bit too perfect by the end in my opinion). I also had mixed feelings about Erdrich's prose, which at times was beautiful, but could also drift aimlessly, and I was also slightly irritated by the lack of quotation marks. Sometimes this can work well, but here too often I found the dialogue blurring with the prose, which is never a good thing. Ultimately, I think there were too many odd diversions, slightly unnecessary subplots and perhaps simply just too many characters for me to get the most out of this novel.
Read as part of the Summer 2016 LTWF group read
I was hugely impressed by just how skillfully crafted and well balanced this collection is. Too often short story collections can feel uneven and disconnected, but this collection felt very well thought out, structured around deeply personal and devastating issues faced by girls during childhood and young adulthood, such as death and illness, guilt, loss, jealousy, peer pressure and finding one's identity. Of course I had my favourites, and then a few of the stories that didn't resonate quite so much with me personally, but overall I think each of the nine stories were a good fit and deserving of their place in the collection.
None of these stories are particularly cheerful. In fact, perhaps ironically, the collection is named after the only story in the collection to be in any way particularly hopeful. All of these girls are struggling with personal problems, as they try “to breathe underwater”, often trapped and isolated in desperate circumstances. The titular story was without a doubt a favourite of mine, thanks to the this beautiful sense of hope within the protagonist who I truly admired. That is not to say the other stories aren't excellent, simply that when story after story ends on such sadness and lack of hope, it can be difficult to keep reading.
Despite this difficulty, I admire Orringer's ability to convey such dark and disturbing themes. Her stories were powerful, and many of the scenarios and characters will stay with me for a long time. They've got me thinking and certainly sparked some interesting discussions between those who read this as part of a group read. A must read for fans of well written short stories, especially if you are interested in the trials and tribulations of growing up, but be prepared for a dark and difficult read.
3.5 stars. This book was delightfully charming and started fantastically, although I have to say it did begin to trail off towards the end and I don't think the some of the later narratives were as strong as the beginning. I love that this was a book about family and friendship, and how people are tied together, and there were some wonderful characters, all distinct and realistically portrayed. I loved trying to guess how and when past characters were going to appear in the new locations and narratives. All in all, a wonderful book to spend a bit of time with.
I wasn't expecting to be so blown away by this. It easily could have been terrible. I'm not usually a fan of novels told from a dog's perspective, which are usually overly sentimental and also require the reader to suspend disbelief at the “dog's” very undoglike thoughts. Alexis dealt with this problem thanks to the novel's imaginative and highly original premise; the Greek gods Apollo and Hermes have a bet over what will happen if you give human consciousness and intelligence to fifteen dogs. Their test subjects are no longer truly dogs, but not human either, and through the fifteen distinct characters of the chosen dogs, Alexis is able to explore the age-old questions and contradictions of what it means to be human.
I honestly can't think of any other book like this. Not only is it rare in its originality, but it's gripping, hugely entertaining and thought-provoking. It's unsettling at times, especially earlier on, where the pack of dogs are faced with a fight for survival and power, but there are also moments that are breathtakingly beautiful and touching. My favourite of the stories were the friendships between Bella and Athena (Spoilergone too soon! I certainly teared up at their end!), and between Majnoun and Nira, which was perhaps the story with most insight and depth into questioning the meaning of life, language and love.
A simply remarkable book, and certainly one of my favourites of the year so far.
Not for me. Pretty much the whole first half was spent detailing the protagonist's affair with a stranger, and I was very close to DNFing, because this just doesn't interest me at all. However, I was hoping for a good mystery storyline to appear, so I kept going. The middle section Spoilerdealing with the aftermath of the rape was probably the most well done part of the novel, where Yvonne was most sympathetic Spoilerand important issues on how rape victims are viewed by society were raised, but then that part was so dark and so difficult to read that again I almost DNFed at times. Finally, it turns into a long, drawn-out courtroom drama, with no real mystery in sight, as most of the evidence that was raised the reader already knows. Disappointing, but it was a fairly fast read and it kept me interested enough that I wanted to find out what would happen to Yvonne at the end.
Although set in small town America in around 1970, this is a story about emotional isolation and a mother and teenage daughter's troubled relationship, that could have easily taken place today. This a fine example of character driven and superbly crafted realistic fiction, where even the secondary characters, the neighbours and friends in this small town, are multidimensional, authentic and well developed with their own stories and problems. I really loved how, despite the focus of course being on the protagonists, little observations the author made about the other characters told so much about their lives, and Strout's writing is insightful and full of empathy. Highly recommended for fans of realistic fiction.
An exceedingly fun and surprisingly accessible mystery, although perhaps of its time in that (especially considering the solution/ending) the mystery itself was slightly over-the-top, ridiculous and unrealistic. But does that really matter? If you enjoy the mystery/detective genre then you should certainly make time to read this classic. The story is a page-turner and it features a magnificent cast of characters. The novel is told by a series of different narrators, and my one major complaint was that not all the narratives are as strong as the others. This was a particular problem in the middle where there is a collection of several shorter narratives, which honestly seemed to me fairly unnecessary both to moving the story forward and to maintaining any intrigue in the reader. Fortunately, the longer narratives (told by Gabriel Betteredge, Franklin Blake and Erza Jennings) are by far the strongest, most satisfying and informative. I'd have liked to have seen a stronger middle section and perhaps Rachel as a narrator, but overall this far outdid my expectations.
I listened to this reading on youtube while reading along simultaneously.
It's about time I read one of the most influential works in Russian literature! Especially as I visited St. Petersburg myself at the end of last year. This narrative poem is a celebration of the city, which I was expecting, of course, after hearing so much about it, but I was not expecting what happened at the end of this little story!
This is very short, but very much worth your time if you want to give it a read, although I'm unsure what would be the best English translation to go for.
A slow and thoughtful book, less about artificial intelligence itself, and more about the human stories behind the invention. This is a very unique addition to the sci-fi genre, and something I can see people who aren't usually drawn to that genre enjoying. Unlike some sci-fi novels, Speak is very much character centric, and perhaps the reasons for the developments in this changing society are less important. By the end, I came to the conclusion that there wasn't really much of a plot and most of the mysteries were left unexplained.
But then I don't think the point was to tie up every loose end and resolve every storyline. Told through several different narratives, it's more like a snapshot into the lives of several people from varying points in history, who have been effected by the development and introduction of artificial intelligence into society. Each narrator is distinctive and unique, both in their personalities, backgrounds and in the way their story is told. One is a diary of a girl in the 1600s, one a memoir of a disgraced inventor, several are letters and chat transcripts from online bots. Not surprisingly for a novel told by multiple narrators and through such a mix of styles, the shift between the perspectives can sometimes seem jarring and disjointed, but the book shines when you begin to consider how these stories are connected to each other and the overriding themes.
Saying that, there were two loose ends in the plot that I would have liked to have been explained more. SpoilerWhy exactly was Stephan Chinn sent to prison? I understand his invention had dire impacts on society, but I felt certain there was more to the story than that. His storyline in particular felt like it ended too abruptly. Secondly, what exactly caused the “freezing” of young girls without their babybots? How did that come about? Were any of them really “cured”? I appreciated the focus on the narrators as characters, but Hall also raised an interesting speculative vision of the future, when the connection between artificial and human intelligence and communication becomes too tightly entwined, and I wanted a deeper exploration of that.
An ambitious and imaginative novel, that I'd say Hall mostly pulled off, although I would call it slightly uneven. The beginning is a little slow and the ending could have been stronger, but I will be thinking of its characters and the issues it raised for some time. I cannot wait to see what Hall does next.
This peaked at the quirky title. Any of the jokes that were vaguely amusing at the start of the quickly lost their charm as they were repeated again and again throughout. None of the characters or themes were developed in any meaningful way, and most of the attempts of humour felt cheap, unoriginal and stereotypical. All the characters in this family were bitter and petty in a way I just found infuriating rather than sympathetic or amusing. Also by the end the broken English was really grating on my nerves. Perhaps if you find it funny when non-native speakers make mistakes in English this would appeal to you more. For me it just fell flat.
Despite having a few issues with [b:Bel Canto 5826 Bel Canto Ann Patchett https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352997328s/5826.jpg 859342], the flashes of brilliance made me very excited to try another book by Patchett. I'm so glad I did, because this was fantastic, superbly enjoyable, and wonderfully put together.The story itself is slightly bizarre, but then that's what makes it such a fun read. A multimillion drugs company sends employees to Brazil to track down a rebel scientist in the Amazon jungle who has gone AWOL while developing a drug that will supposedly extend the age of fertility of women. I can't say all of the science or ridiculous plot-lines were downright believable, but I love Patchett's ability, as in Bel Canto, to come up with such imaginative scenarios and run with it. It certainly makes for a good page-turner! I also appreciated that the book raised some important ethical issues around the consequences of researching for such drugs, although perhaps, if I'm being picky, I'd have liked those to be explored further rather being only mentioned in the passing.Where the book really shines is the characterisation. I really sympathised with the protagonist, Dr Marina Singh, who despite being clearly hard-working and successful in her career, has many insecurities, worries and fears over the the direction her life has taken, and regrets over past decisions earlier in her career. It's great to read a novel centred on such a character; female, middle-aged, successful, but also highly insecure, low in self-esteem and completely believable. Then of course there is the dynamic and imposing Dr. Swenson, a character everyone looks up to, but also slightly fears. Even though she may not be particularly likeable, she is a force to be reckoned with and really stole the scene anytime she was present. Finally, there are characters likeable in all the ways Dr. Swenson isn't: Easter, an intelligent and loving child, seemingly abandoned by his tribe for his deafness; Milton, the ever helpful taxi driver/personal assistant/interpretor/instant best friend (SpoilerMarina, you were right you should have run off with Milton!! You deserve way better than Mr. Fox.); and even Barbara, who I was surprised to feel so strongly for by the end of the novel (Spoileralthough I couldn't help but laugh at her husband just quietly vanishing from the action never to be heard from again).All in all, with a twisty and fun plot, well written, fantastic characters, and a wonderful setting, this is one to put at the top of your list if you need an engrossing book easy to really lose yourself in.
A note at the very end of the book says that this was originally published in Korean as 3 “novellettes”, before being compiled into a novel. That makes a lot of sense. For such a short book it feels terribly disjointed and unbalanced.
The first of the three “novellettes”, simply called The Vegetarian, was without a doubt my favourite and on its own could have been 5 stars. Narrated by the husband of Yeong-Hye, the woman who is the central focus of the novel, despite never giving her own perspective on events, this first part is bizarre, vivid, disturbing, but also the most realistic and powerful of the three parts.
However, in the second part, The Mongolian Mark narrated by Yeong-Hye's brother-the-law, and the third, Flaming Trees narrated by her sister, the tone and rhythm completely shifts. In fact, I'd say these 2 parts feel almost like sequels to the main event, which is the opening section that describes Yeong-Hye's rapid descent from an obedient house wife into silent madness. By the time you reach the second part, you have already read the novel's climax, and the following sections feel like mere after-thoughts.
I can see the value of the final section, Flaming Trees, which beautifully explores deep sadness and hopelessness of Yeong-Hye's sister. The middle part, The Mongolian Mark, however, made little sense to me, perhaps because I had little sympathy for or interest in Yeong-Hye's brother-in-law or, perhaps, because it felt like such deviation from the main topic at hand, compared with the other 2 sections which are more clearly linked. I'd have loved to have seen more from Yeong-Hye's own perspective, instead of this section with her brother-in-law, but perhaps her silence was part of the point...
Despite its flaws, there is a lot worthy of praise here. Han Kang is clearly a writer with fantastic talent and imagination. This is a very quick read, concise and to the point, which manages to be exceedingly unsettling and critical in its approach to some heavy topics; mental illness, gender roles, identity, responsibility, and what makes life worth living. It's also very graphic at times, which is something to be forewarned about. Finally, I believe the translator deserves some praise, as the translation is beautifully done. (As an aside, if you are interested in translation, the translator wrote a wonderful article on her experience translating this novel, which you can find here as well as an interview here.)
As the title indicates, this is a personal and very human account of ordinary lives in North Korea. Nothing to Envy is clear, concise and written in such an engaging and riveting manner that it nearly impossible to stop reading at times. Based on the author's extensive interviews with six defectors, after they've made it to South Korea, Nothing to Envy builds a picture of what life is really like in a country that has cut itself off from the rest of the world. This is supplemented with a brief history of North Korea and its politics, but the focus is always on the individuals themselves, the people who suffer the consequences in their everyday lives. Above all, I think Demick was very respectful of the people she was writing about when it came to describing how they survived the famine and how they made their escape. Highly recommended.
Having really enjoyed [b:The House at Riverton 1278752 The House at Riverton Kate Morton https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356452218s/1278752.jpg 1267740], I really thought this would be a safe bet for an easy and compelling historical mystery. Sadly I was left disappointed. This book is most certainly way too long (by about 200-300 pages I'd say) and the majority of it was dull and dragged terribly. In comparison with The House at Riverton, The Secret Keeper seemed flat, lifeless, predictable and formulaic. I very nearly gave up on it, but I decided to keep reading only because I was expecting some good twists and turns. The ending was certainly the best part of the book, but it wasn't worth the hard work getting to that point.(I might change my rating to 2 stars later, as 1 star might be a bit harsh, but due to pure disappointment 1 star is my gut feeling at the moment.)
It took me over half the book to work out why this wasn't quite working for me. This is exactly the kind of genre I love: a historical family drama spanning the years and exploring the various difficulties and secrets between relations. My biggest complaint was the author's decision to make our narrator, Amaterasu, omniscient, all-knowing and able to describe exactly how other people felt, exactly what they saw and what they were thinking, simply through reading a few letters and diary entries. If Copleton wanted to write about all the characters' thoughts, then she simply shouldn't have written this in first person, in my opinion. It makes Amaterasu's account seem disingenuous or dishonest, and I think this is the main reason I failed to connect with her family's story as much as I'd hoped.
In addition to that, I didn't find most of the plot believable and some of it was overly melodramatic. I'm also slightly confused over Sato's character, as personally I think he is despicable without any redeeming qualities, but I get the sense we are meant to feel some sort of sympathy for me.
Despite not loving this one, I would like to thank the publisher for sending me the review copy, especially as it is one of best formatted review copies I've ever received (not that I've received that many but still). Usually ebook review copies look fairly unfinished, but that wasn't the case here and it looked very professional.
Maybe I've just read a lot of books on the longer side recently, but it felt like I read this very quickly. I loved the use of multiple narrators, telling the life story of Sophie Stark, an eccentric film director, from their own unique perspectives. If you love unreliable narrators, then this is definitely a good book for you. Here, there are 6 of them! This is fantastic character study, despite the fact that by the end of the novel, you are still unsure who Sophie really is. It feels like none of the narrators truly understand her, and in the same way it's impossible for the reader to get full picture of what makes her tick. Is she inhuman, manipulative, or is she simply misunderstood, unable to understand social norms, an outcast? SpoilerI predicted her fate completely, so I can't say I thought the ending was brilliant, but overall this was a super compelling and quick read that I'd highly recommend.
If I'd known this novel was mostly about motherhood, I probably wouldn't have picked this up. I have nothing against that as a theme, but reading about every single detail on raising a baby doesn't really interest me personally. I liked the symbolism between the wolves being reintroduced to Cumbria and the protagonist Rachel's personal life; borders, the wilderness, freedom... It also helped that this is set very close to where my family lives so I got a bit of a thrill reading about very familiar places! The strongest parts of the novel were Hall's beautiful and vivid descriptions of the wolves and the wilderness, along with a few very touching moments between Rachel and her family. Unfortunately, I really wish the plot had been tighter and better paced. Too often it felt like Hall was simply rambling or getting side-tracked. A shorter, more focussed novel might have kept my interest a little longer.
Ben is the father of Jonah, a severely autistic 10-year-old boy, and is struggling to cope with both this huge responsibility as a newly single parent to his son and pretty much every other responsibility in his life. Above all this is a book about father/son relationships. Jonah is incapable of both communicating effectively or showing affection, while at the same time Ben has never felt truly loved by his own father, Georg.
I was really moved to read as these three characters grew to understand each other. Georg and Jonah in particular were wonderful characters. Ben is never particularly likeable and it's clear that he has made some very poor decisions due to his lack of self-esteem and motivation, but it's easy enough for the reader to emphasise with him in this situation. My one compliant with the characterisation is that I felt that the female characters should have been a lot more involved in the plot. Emma, Ben's soon-to-be-ex, and Ben's mum (was she even named?) were portrayed as very one-dimensional in the few mentions we get of them, and I just don't believe that to be realistic in this situation or fair to these characters. I never really understood the relationship between Ben and Emma, and how it felt apart, because we are never really shown what they were like together early on or how they fit together as a couple. It makes it hard to sympathise with them when you don't really understand the hows and whys.
Overall, this was a simple, but very touching story on family life and the importance of communicating with one another.
I really enjoyed this in parts, but I also was slightly bored in others, which I think was perhaps because I have very little knowledge of the history of music and composers. I felt most of the references went right over my head and this definitely caused some parts to drag. However, I loved the descriptions of musical pieces, the comparison between music, bio-chemistry and technology, and most of all the story of the protagonist Peter and his relations with others, particularly his daughter. This novel is a really a fantastic mix of many different ideas and definitely worth reading, even though some parts were certainly less easy for me to read.
This was a bit of an odd one. Maybe my expectations were too high after all the praise I've heard about it, but I didn't find myself connecting with this in the same way that others have. Too much was left unexplained, meaning by the half way mark I was beginning to lose my patience, and I really struggled to see where the story was going. The ending itself left me mystified. I didn't realise going into this that there would be so much on religion, as it follows a devoutly (I would say fanatically) religious community. Perhaps this is way I struggled to relate to it much. It's also a hard book to describe; not quite creepy enough to be called horror, and lacking a satisfying enough plot to be a thriller or mystery. Saying that I really liked how the author wrote the characters, who were all well developed and realistic to the point that I took a real disliking to certain characters! That was really well done. The relationship between the two brothers and their way of communicating was also really touching. Ultimately, I'm not sure whether I'd recommend this or not. It didn't quite work for me personally, but that doesn't mean I think it's a bad book or one that others won't enjoy.
This will be a short review, simply to confirm that, yes, you do need to read this book. It was so much more than I was expecting and reading this has taught me so much, more than I can I even process right now. I can tell I will be pondering all this information for a long time to come. Taking you through a rapid summary of the history of homo sapiens, Harari covers on pretty much everything about who we are, where we came from and where we're heading, and what it means to be human. Biology and evolution, the invention of culture, the creation of states, identity, the meaning of happiness, the myths our societies are built on... It's incredible how much information Harari crammed in, while still creating a book that is readable, accessible and perfect for complete beginners in this area. Some parts and theories were more familiar to me than others, but there is so much here from many different areas of research that I guarantee, whoever you are, you will learn a lot from reading this book. There also were the parts that really shocked and disturbed me. Harari really doesn't hold back and at first I found it really difficult to stomach his seemingly cynical and harsh view on humanity. I still need time to ponder what I've learnt, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense, and this could very well change how I view us as a species. Truly eye-opening.