Tyler Kieft
I didn't really enjoy it at all. What a slog.
I can appreciate that the author was trying to experiment with form and text, but it comes off as gimmicky to me. Certainly nothing id want to see adapted in other books. Using form to create experience and emotion dulls the power of the bare words to do that
I also didn't really think the book was scary. It's basically a long-winded tone about anxiety, plumbing the deep depths of your mind. If you don't allow that to get to you, and remain detached, then you can kind of just watch it go by. Maybe doing that made me miss an opportunity to engage more deeply, but I don't really need any more anxiety in my life.
I also didn't really like the parodying of academic writing, I appreciate truth and the search for meaning, and making it all seem meaningless was deflating. Because it's not meaningless
3.5 stars, guess I'll round up. J.K. Rowling really, really needs an editor - there was so much unnecessary fluff to this book. At times, reading it felt like a chore. But the end pulled things together really nicely, and I am definitely still excited to see where the series goes.
The sexual tension between the two main characters is starting to feel tired. I empathize with Rowling's plight, if they actually get together than we lose a key factor keeping readers interested, a key motivating device for the plot. But the constant references to how much each of them would like to make a move yet continue to tiptoe around each other just felt repetitive –– we get it already!
Interesting currents continue to recur in Rowling's writing: - A fascination with, and seeming relish to depict, various British accents or tics of speech (lisps) - Poor families living in squalid conditions, mental illness / retardation (think of the Gaunts in Harry Potter, serving a very similar narrative purpose as the Athorns) - Feminism, sexual assault, the difficult choices women must make on a daily basis to succeed in a male-dominated world - The tendency of evil to hide in plain sight, disguised (think of Barty Crouch Jr. as Mad Eye Moody) - The nature of parent-child love, and what happens when it is absent, or replaced with cruelty. Lifelong effects of childhood trauma. - Birthdays - Fate, destiny, things which are “written in the stars”
I had this on my shelves for the longest time, and finally got around to reading it. I was surprised at my experience of this book vs. how much publicity and excitement I remember it getting when it was released. This is clearly a first novel, there are touches of John Irving-esque genius and writing style, but the book is overall unsatisfying and leaves more questions than answers.
This felt surprisingly dated, the prose reminded me more of H.G. Wells than modern science fiction / horror. A lot of actual “science” which is kind of laughable given how much more we know nowadays. Also, the “maleness” of the narrative and attitude towards women is concerning by 2021 standards.
I'm not quite sure why this is a “classic” if you will. Especially when looked at next to a book like “The Road”, which I read earlier this year. Reading “I Am Legend” has made me appreciate that book even more.
Still, there's something here, and I suspect if I had read this in 1954 I'd have been more impressed. The book moves along quickly, it's interesting how Robert studies and reacts to his environment. The slightly nonlinear way the story is told builds suspense and empathy. The scene where he meets the dog is emotional and gripping, even though told with fairly spare prose.
I don't think I'd have a reason to read this again.
There are two parts to this book - the specific journey the main character, Nora, goes on, in order to learn more about herself and her life, and the more general themes that we can all take away. This is the reason, I think, why I found it harder to develop an emotional connection to this book than I had initially imagined I would, given its subject. As someone who's always wished to live a thousand different lives, to have all those different experiences, I was very interested in reading this book.
I didn't at all relate to Nora and her story - I think because she approaches her life so helplessly, without agency. She feels like a victim, rather than someone who is taking charge of her life. And so the parts about Nora's exploring different possible lives, while interesting to read, didn't really strike a deeper chord within me. And without that, the overall lessons kind of fell flat as well.
The prose was no help here, hardly ever transcending pedestrian, everyday speech. No thought-provoking quips or beautiful meditations here.
The one idea I did find interesting, is that - you don't need to read every book, or watch every movie, or live every life, to access the full range of human emotions, in short, to live. This is a comforting thought, a new thought for me, but one that rings true.
I can appreciate why this is a classic, but I really despised reading it. Not my style and not my humor, that's for sure. Feels like something that's been taken out of context in the present day. Repetitive, too many characters which all blend together, and often feeling like it was written by an amateur writer, with too many thesaurus-derived adjectives thrown in. However, at certain points, I enjoyed it, and even thought, wow, this is genius. 4 stars, but I hope I never have to read it again.
The author seems like a giant tool, but there are a lot of interesting ideas in here. The perfect book for me to read right now, as I am trying to figure out where my life is headed.
The book spends a lot of time talking about money as related to time and health, and how to balance those three to achieve an optimal life (which the author defines as having great experiences and memories).
I'll definitely download the app and play around with it.
I read this book as being about relationships. It's interesting how a book will strike you differently based on where you're at in life at the moment you read it. I think I would have focused on entirely different themes had I read this 8 months ago.
Starts off a bit slow, but really gets going in the second half of the book, once the stage is set and you have the context behind the central conflicts in the novel.
I really loved the way Miller uses immortality, and freedom from permanent physical scars, as a means to reflect on the temporary nature of human relationships, and the permanent mental scars they leave behind. These relationships are looked at through two major lenses: parent-child, and romantic relationships. You can feel the strong, yet fearful love that the author has for the people in her life oozing out of these pages.
A good read! Finished in about 24 hours. The beginning of the book was pretty simple, but the lessons got better and more complex near the end.
My takeaway: overall, I'm doing things right. Stick with the strategy. Stop watching the day to day so closely
I think the biggest thing I can take away is maybe needing to be slightly more risk averse? Hope for a good outcome, be optimistic, but plan for a bad one.
Contains spoilers
Surprised at how much I enjoyed this, I couldn't put it down. Although slightly predictable, with a few plot holes, overall it's well-written. I really connected with the main character, Michael, and the impossible position he was trapped in. The rest of the family is not quite as intricately rendered - it would have been interesting to understand more of the mother's back story, for instance. I loved how the horrifying truth was slowly revealed. And although I guessed part of it, I didn't get the whole thing, and the reveal was no less satisfying. Definitely looking forward to reading Seed!
Reading this was ... insane. 1000 pages, a follow up to one of the most exciting books I ever read, and it was .... deflating. Patrick Rothfuss is an incredible storyteller, he can make any scene sing. However it's pretty clear at this point he has no plan for where he's headed with this trilogy. This installment did not move the larger plot along at all. The second half was quite ... overweight, it needed editing badly, I had to push through. No wonder the third book is a ghost so far, I bet he has no clue how to wrap this up. It's incredible that I could read 1000 pages and like it a lot, even given the larger construction flaws. It's just nice to read his stories within the bigger story. But the next book has a huge weight to carry now.
I was shocked at how much I disliked this. I wasn't able to get into it at all. The whole book felt flat and, worse, depressing. The writing was very awkward and just didn't work for me. The “edginess” in terms of talking repeatedly about sex was cringey. The characters never came alive in my mind; although their responses to each other in conversation were minutely detailed (facial expressions, thoughts) I could never really nail down anyone's personality, they all just seemed offended and pissed off at each other routinely. Lots of angst and animosity here. I didn't find the world very interesting either, maybe because lots of jargon turns me off. And ugh, the second person present tense!
I was reading this at the same time as the second book of The Kingkiller Chronicle, which is lusciously written, lyrical and beautiful, and that probably had something to do with how much I was able to enjoy this novel.
A friend recommended this to me, and I found it very helpful. It's probably not the last word on the subject, but it's a great overview of romantic attachment theory. A few friends have talked to me about the basics of the theory over the past few years, but it was good to finally read the book. I feel much better-equipped now to understand my own way of relating to others, and also to not assume fault when interacting with people who may not be capable of developing intimacy. Anyway - would definitely recommend to all singles out there, lol
I really liked this book, but it didn't quite reach five stars for me. The first half of the book was absolutely tremendous, while the second half often seemed plodding and inconsistent, and only near the very end of the story did I feel like we got back on track and build up suspense to the second book.
Rothfuss is generally a good writer, if a bit formulaic, by the end of the story you sort of have a grasp on the schema he's using to construct his beautiful sentences. That said, this book did make me tear up once or twice, which is pretty impressive. Definitely better written than your average fantasy novel.
What we're all really here for, though, is Kvothe - a magnificently-written character who I'm dying to know more about, to finish his story. Rothfuss turns many “fantasy tropes” on their head - showing the hero of myth and legend as human - and it makes for fascinating reading. Unfortunately, the secondary characters are less well-written, and I often confused his schoolfriends, his teachers, etc.
The second half of the book is all about Kvothe's budding, yet frustrated romance with Denna. There's something off about the way Rothfuss writes female characters. He's trying hard, but it just didn't land with me. In many ways Kvothe could be the hero that nerdy guys dream about, the “nice guy” fantasy. Denna gets with many other but really all she wants is him, but he's too ... scared? honorable? to make the first move or take advantage of her. I'm still trying to figure out why her character didn't convince me. Perhaps because although she's written to be mercurial, a free spirit, her actions really never actually surprise you. She's written only to be a foil to Kvothe, not as her own independent character.
The second half also lags because it feels too detached from its ultimate motivation. Unlike Harry Potter, where Voldemort is always there - the world still fears him, he causes Harry's scar pain, etc., here we have the Chandrian, whom the whole world thinks are a fairy tale. Even when they come back into the story, it feels removed from the main action.
The last thing I want to say about this book is that I loved how it was a meditation on stories, and storytelling. Both because of the structure, the frame story, where Kvothe is meditating on how to summarize his life, but also woven into the text as well. Rothfuss is constantly pitting reality against how it is memorialized in rumor, tale, and legend. The hero as human - his confidence juxtaposed with his fear, his power shown next to his impotency.
Looking forward to reading the second installment!
The content in here is sooo good, but the writing style is so repetetive! I feel like I was reading the same thing over and over and over. This could have been a long essay in the Atlantic.
Two things: First off, I've already read “Just Mercy”, so perhaps I was more primed to believe the stuff in here, so the repetition was even more annoying. Also, I had to read this on my iPad for a book club because it's currently sold out everywhere, and I hate reading on the iPad so it's possible I was more annoyed than I should have been.
Terrific book - 4.5 stars, rounded up. This wasn't at all what I was expecting - I guess I was extrapolating solely based on the title. Instead of a political history of the American Revolution, this was a military history, solely covering the year 1776 (surprise, surprise). Which is kind of an interesting take on things - the peace treaty ending the war wasn't signed until 1783, so there was a lot that was left out. But focusing on 1776 only allowed for a very interesting story - the genesis of the Continental army, with the climax being Washington's incredible crossing of the Delaware, to capture Hessian troops at Trenton, NJ. Along the way, we cover in-depth the Siege of Boston, the Battle of Long Island and the rebel retreat through Manhattan (York Island), the British capture of Forts Washington and Lee, and the long rebel retreat through New Jersey, to Pennsylvania.
The incredible thing about this book is the absolutely exhaustive research that went into it - there is a quote almost on every page, not only from officers and generals, but ordinary farmers and townspeople who joined up and wrote diaries of their experiences after the war was over. No less than 70 of these diaries are listed in the bibliography, along with countless books and other sources.
Although the main character is George Washington, we hear plenty about Charles Lee, Henry Knox, Nathanael Greene, and on the British side, the Howe brothers, and Charles Cornwallis. They are painted as humans, not as legends - both the Americans and the British officers made plenty of mistakes. George Washington, especially, although lionized for his stature, his presence on the battlefield, turns out to be a fairly indecisive commander during some of these key moments.
It's amazing to me how much luck and chance played into the outcome. Especially the weather - McCullough does an amazing job showing how a change in the wind, or the presence of a storm, or fog, drastically changed military outcomes. I've never read a battle history before, and I suspect I enjoyed this one so much because McCullough makes it so accessible to laypeople (and also due to most of the book taking place in good ol' NYC).
Another thing that stood out to me was the “gentlemanly” nature of the combat - few died, due to the slow, inaccurate weaponry, and there were rules of engagement that seem “quaint” by today's standard.
The book gives new appreciation for how unlikely the outcome of the American Revolution was - while also demonstrating that perhaps it wasn't so far-fetched after all. McCullough does a fantastic job showing how unprepared the American “rebels” were compared to the professional armies of the British and the Hessians. Low paid, un-uniformed, poorly supplied, sick due to poor hygiene, and undisciplined, the army was at constant risk of collapse from within. Yet Washington managed to make miracles with what he had. The Americans were fighting for their dearly-held values, they were more familiar with the terrain, and they were willing to push the limits of 18th century war-making, whereas the professional British officer class sometimes valued personal luxuries which led them not to press their advantage too hard.
Although it was a bit dry at times, I ended up loving 1776. Once I got into it, I read most of it over three consecutive days, wanting to find out what happened. It makes me want to read more history and visit some of these sites!
Wow.
I picked this book up from Three Lives a while after reading, and loving, Augustus, but it never bubbled to the top of my “to read” list. Maybe I was putting it off because I sensed it would be a tough read. Not challenging, but sad and depressing. But I brought it home to Vermont with me for quarantine, along with stacks of other books. One night I let my mom pick out my next book, and she picked this one out, and so I dove in.
Yes - it was sad, and lonely, and difficult to read at times. I had to pause during the last 10 pages of the book, fighting back the contemplation of my own mortality as I watched William try to make sense of his life.
But it's also a very inspiring book, in a way. There's a fundamental dignity in living according to a certain set of values, even if you don't always measure up to those values. We'll all have moments when we're petty, or heartless, or not present, and that's ok. And we'll all end life with goals unachieved, maybe even some regrets.
I've been out of college for exactly 10 years this weekend. In the past ten years, a lot of things have gone right, well past my expectations even. And other things have not been so rosy, and there have been struggles. Which is probably a universal experience. I've always tried to live with purpose, to find meaning in what I do, and to do things well, even when no one recognizes them, and this book elevates that, makes it seem almost noble. Definitely something I'll want to revisit in the future, I imagine.
I've been reading this book off and on for 2 years, and I finally was able to finish it during quarantine. This is the most ambitious history book I've ever read - close to 500 pages about nothing more than the colonial period, the vast majority pre-Revolutionary war. To give you an idea of the density of this book - the conditions that led to the American Revolution were covered in about 5-10 pages. Not that that war was the main focus of the book, but still!
I don't think I've read enough history to fairly evaluate this. On the one hand it was exceedingly dryly written. There are no heroes or villains to latch onto here - simply a dispassionate survey of events. This was apparently intentional - the “Penguin History of the United States” was meant to be a synthesis across multiple disciplines. Still, even though it was dry, there was so much great information here, tying together so many disparate events.
Instead of chronological, the book is structured in three major eras: “Encounters”, “Colonies” and “Empires”. Within those eras, we get narratives by region, with a focus on all the Americas, not just your typical “thirteen colonies”.
I loved how this book both helped me trace current topics in American Politics (the racism and inequality were there from the very beginning!) but also corrected a lot of the conventional wisdom around the colonial period. Balancing the narrative across the major European powers (not just Britain, but France, Spain, the Netherlands, and even Russia) and the various spheres (eastern seaboard, West Indies, Mexico, Florida, the Southwest, California, Hawaii, and even Alaska).
Here are some things I want to remember about what I learned - Inequality was highest in the plantation economies of the south and the West Indies. Planters built up large estates, which were staffed at first with indentured servants from the mother country, later slave labor from Africa. - Because the climate of the Northeast did not support a “cash crop” for export, societies there developed in a much more equal way. Land ownership was evenly distributed and crops were mostly raised for subsistence. - Religious freedom was only one factor of many that led people to cross the ocean; economic prospects were just as if not more important. - Europeans did venture into the interior of the African continent to find and capture slaves. The African slave trade was enabled by Africans who captured slaves and brought them to the coast to sell to Europeans. - The wars of the colonial period were fought mainly over the balance of power in Europe. Britain was on a fairly equal footing with Spain and France, until during the 1700's they developed a huge advantage on the ocean - due to their expertise in shipping (which was spurred by the Navigation Acts). This allowed Britain to become the dominant force in the region. - The colonists were very happy being British until very late in the game. The British way overspent on a couple of wars, most notably the French and Indian war (Seven Years' War), which was waged largely in America, and wanted to tax the colonists to help them pay for it. In addition, they worried that the colonists were becoming too outspoken and independent (the planter elite, who already had local power). - The Indians were a pretty savvy bunch. They played the British and French against each other, and generally figured out how to maintain and advance their own interests. However, they were undone by, it seems, not recognizing until too late the end game of the colonists (which was to cover the entire continent, like a virus). - The West Indies were highly valued due to their economic primacy. However, the fact that they were islands, with no ability to create more land, and plantation economies, meant they were unable to be a dynamic society, and so people were drawn more to the mainland, where there was more economic mobility. - The European elite did not at all value the Indians' way of life and culture - which was not inferior, simply different. In many ways, it was actually better. There are many stories of captured Indians trying to flee European society at all costs, while Europeans captured by the Indians often didn't want to return to European society.
I'm looking forward to reading more history. Funny enough, the Penguin Series was never completed - only books 1, 3, 5 were ever published - 2 and 4 are missing. So I'm going to read 1776 next, as a way of filling the gap (sorta).
So I was pretty excited to read this. I first came across it in The Atlantic magazine; there was an article with glowing praise for this fantasy novel set in Africa which wove in African mythological traditions. Now, looking back at that review, I think the author was glowing more about the symbolism of this novel being written, write now, than the actual book itself.
For this was an insufferable, intolerable read. At the beginning, I was willing to overlook the awful writing, because the plot seemed to be going somewhere. By the way, I don't automatically give YA novels a pass on writing. There are plenty of writers for young adults who can write at least quite good, if not great. As the book dragged on, though, it became clear that there just wasn't much here. It feels like it might have been rushed out? It almost seemed to get worse, more repetitive and haphazard the further you got.
The biggest problem with the book is the characterization - none of the characters were remotely interesting, and often their actions didn't make sense. None of the groundwork was put in to make us care about these people. In the first 50 pages of the novel, something tragic happens to one of the main characters, which becomes a rallying cry for her for the rest of the book. But it evokes no emotion in the reader, simply because we never got to know her before this. The novel rarely visits the past, rarely shows us why these characters became who they are now - it just drops us in the middle. And the way they are described is so damn repetitive! “The sea salt scent of her soul” must have shown up 100 times - what does that even mean?!? Using these lines so frequently, each character became reductive to a single thing - For Zelie - it's her home by the sea, for Amari, her friend Binta.
Don't even get me started on Inan. That boy does not make sense.
Now for the plot - it's boring, and unevenly paced. The three main characters are on a quest, one which they manage to fulfill surprisingly easy. There are very few twists and turns on the way to the end of the book - creating a reading experience where the stakes are minimal and, by the end of the book, you don't even care what happens.
Many reviewers have mentioned the magic - that's boring too, somehow! There are no rules, no explanation, no mystery. Any time we need something to move the plot along, magic does it. The young adults in this book don't even need training to use their powers!
I'm dropping this book in the nearest little free library I find and hoping to never encounter it again. Already I can barely remember what happened.
First Ann Patchett book I've ever read. I picked this up after she came to my university and spoke about the book for alumni weekend last fall. Her prose is good but not remarkable, not quite up there with the titans of the English language. It's an easy, engrossing read, though, for which I was appreciative. The structure reminded me a lot of John Irving, an older narrator looking back on his life, like Owen Meany. At first I thought the sections where he was a young boy sounded unrealistic, but if you understand that he's an old man writing, looking back, they are more forgivable.
I generally liked the book. The strength was the characters, they are all quite complex and it's interesting to try to judge them, to see if their motives and actions hold up. One of the most interesting things was realizing, as the book went on, that the narrator is not necessarily a great person, even though we're hearing the story from his point of view. And trying to unravel him and judge him through his words is interesting. Of course, this is just one more demonstration of the outcome of the pain his family inflicted upon them.
I thought the third act felt more tedious than the other two, almost directionless. Would have been 4 stars otherwise. Definitely worth a read!
What a strange little book. The whole time I was reading it, I couldn't help but feel that it was semi-rushed out to capitalize on the success of the Call Me By Your Name movie. I bet he had these vignettes floating around in his head for a while, and being able to write short stories that only thematically connected probably helped him get the thing done more quickly than if he had to write a full novel.
I liked it, but didn't love it. That Aciman technique of minutely dissecting every tiny shade of physical touch, facial expression, glance, word, tone, feels fresh and honest and beautiful when the book opens, but it started to grate on me and become annoying by the middle. For much of the book, the writing is sublime, but there are moments where he gets too abstract, or oppositely, too detailed, which pulls you out. He's at his best when the writing lands as he no doubt wants it to - universal, relatable, expressing meaning that you didn't even realize was contained in human interactions.
I wasn't quite sure what to do with the titles of each section of the book - although I will admit that the middle section, Cadenza, felt structured like a musical cadenza. Hitting various themes of Elio's life, climaxing to the final trill - then leaving off in the middle, not really an ending, letting you wonder what happened to Elio and Michel.
I rejected the ending - the idea that Elio and Oliver somehow end up happy together long in the future is both heartbreaking and wildly unrealistic. When I saw Aciman speak, he said he found it difficult to peer inside Oliver's head, it's a character he doesn't identify with - and this came across in the book. The Oliver section is the most opaque, it's difficult to really wrap yourself around that character.
I'm glad I read this, but I don't think it's a must-read by any means, like Call Me By Your Name.