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I am having a hard time figuring out what this story is really about. This is because by the end of the book, our titular Professor William definitely has some shillings he had not earned as result of rather randomly and luckily obtained connections. William does not try to maintain these connections whatsoever, they just appear by coincidence and keep themselves. As a story about building your way up after falling all the way down, this is either very dated, or just doesn't work.

I could mention various minute things I take issue with, but most of them are probably just a symptom of the time period. One major hit for my enjoyment of the book besides the aforementioned was just the simple fact that I really do not like William as a character.

What I personally like about Jane Austen stories are the sketches of quiet landed life in the early 19th century they provide, and this book draws (them out)particularly well. For me it is a welcome escape, but I wouldn't be surprised if it seemed a bit boring to someone else.

I'm puzzled about the moral of the story though. There seems to be this island of proper breeding in Mansfield Park, and everyone outside of it is just not up to par. The heroine serves every moral obligation but never herself, and life just happens to her, but she still gets what she wants. I'm not sure I agree with the author on this one.

This book consumed me for a bit, but after finishing it I feel refreshed and almost as if an ancient weight I didn't know I carried has been lifted off my chest.

• As for most people, this is my introduction to Danielewski. His style of writing has such unique cadence to me which I cannot unsee in other works now, and after reading so many pages of it it's getting a bit annoying, sadly.
• I for one loved the format and the unique way of characterization that can be expressed through it, I loved the unreliable editor upon unreliable commentator upon unreliable transcript upon unreliable narrator. It made me consider the outside influences on characters beyond what was said in the text. A good example of this is Johnny Truant constantly writing "should of", but correcting many grammatical mistakes in Zampanòs text and also being able to understand and riff on most of Zampanòs references to greek mythology, even though from what we know about his life he's really no intellectual – until we get to the Pelican poems and Whalestoe letters at the very end of the book.
• A common complaint I see in reviews is about how the women are represented, but I like to believe that this is a conscious choice made by the author to tell us more about the character that describes the women. The only time that I agree with the criticism is when it is targeted at the portrayal of P. and what she says (how she portrays herself) in the Whalestoe letters specifically, however even this instance could be explained by obvious reasons.
• The odd page layout can get tiresome after a bit, but some nice visual effects come out of it combined with the thinness of the paper.

I'm chopping the last star in half only because there's still this an itch that I cannot scratch. There's something about this book I can't put my finger on, and I'm mad about that.

What can I say? I love Jane Austen, and this is perhaps the most densely packed collection of the characteristics that make her writing her own. That being said, I just cannot bring myself to like the way she ends her stories, no matter how much I like the actual ending.

In my opinion, reading this is a must for anyone who is at least remotely interested in the psychology of sadism and/or masochism. Deleuze spends the entire length of the text essentially decoupling masochism and sadism, with a focus on masochism as it appears in the art of Masoch, and leaves no stone left unturned. I found myself agreeing with most of what was written and learning something in the process.

Obohacující okno do života mladé židovky se schizofrenií v amerických 50. letech 20. století. Některá probíraná témata jsou aplikovatelná ke zdravému přístupu k životu obecně, ale stoprocentně bych knihu doporučila jakémukoliv člověku, který se o zmíněná témata i okrajově zajímá. Ze začátku je poměrně matoucí se ve světě a pocitech protagonistky orientovat, což je ovšem pochopitelně opodstatněno.

Leaves a lasting depression in the heart.

Although I enjoyed reading the story, I sometimes felt that it took an idealistic turn, especially toward the ending, and some actions the characters took really puzzled me (Mr. Carson simply going home and reading the Bible after finding out his only son's true killer and witnessing a minor example of forgiveness out on the street).

Where it shines is in the vivid and horrifying descriptions of poverty in 19th century industrial England. This novel focuses primarily on depicting both the outer and inner lives of selected working class people, and touches only briefly and rather unsatisfactorily on the views and motivations of the upper classes.

Kniha poutavě vypráví tragický příběh, od kterého se těžko odchází. Ten samý styl vyprávění mě ale trochu odrazoval u pasáží o autorově současné rešerši.

Dávám stranou obecně známý kulturní význam a nedocenitelnost knihy ve svém historickém kontextu.

Nelze říct, že na mě idealizovaný český venkov 19. století totálně nezapůsobil; je to komfortní čtení. Idealizace ovšem vede k plochým postavám a vice versa. Největší dojem na mě udělala Viktorka a po zbytek knihy jsem čekala na nějaké "rozuzlení" jejího příběhu. Jinak nemám moc co o knize říct.

Nejdříve podotknu, že jsem poslouchala čtenou verzi na webu ČRO, a že bych dílo ocenila více, kdybych si ho přečetla sama.

Vančura mistrně ovládá češtinu k účelu budování atmosféry. To je zdaleka největší přednost knihy, ale jsou momenty, kdy příliš tlačí na pilu a květnatý jazyk přejde v dotěrnost.

V samotném příběhu a postavách jsem se ze začátku často ztrácela (ale domnívám se, že při čtení namísto poslouchání by to nebylo tak časté). Nedá se říct, že by na mě některá z postav udělala dojem a nebo že bych někomu fandila. Samotný příběh asi také brzo částečně zapomenu, ale na oplátku musím uznat, že po dobu vyprávění nebyl nudný a předvídatelný.

The second part of this book (equivalent to the last third of the whole) is a very compelling and descriptive read. This is where the effects of opium on De Quincey's person are chiefly discussed, and it is by far the most interesting part of the book.

My favourite aspect of this book was De Quincey's style, especially his humour. In this later edition though, De Quincey chooses to fill the first few pages with his response to some criticism, which was aimed at the first edition of the text. I have nothing positive to say about that part.

The two thirds that follow recount events in De Quinceys's teen years, which do give some background to his lifelong pains, but ultimately go on for too long. This lengthy account is also sometimes interrupted by tangents on various cultural topics as the author sees fit. In my personal opinion, some of them provided insight and were interesting, some not, but regardless I'd much rather there be as few as possible.

Quincey Morris was really there just to be rejected, shoot a window pane and die.

I liked the first third a lot, especially Jonathan's commentary on Dracula scaling the walls of his castle. Where it started to get lengthy for me was when Lucy was "taken care of" and Arthur was practically reduced to being the moneybag of the group. That being said however, the ending scene has a nice calm atmosphere and I wish it could have gone on just for a page longer.

Even though it is, in my opinion, a bit too idealistic at times, it is also an enlightening read. I expected a cozy and comforting story, which I did get, but I was also given insight into my own life (alongside your typical 19th century moral lectures, though that's to be expected).

Of all the Austen books I've read so far, this one seems to me the most digestible. I appreciate the yearning being present from page one.

I leave all things I find questionable aside and say that I could not put this book down for the life of me. If I were Jane though, I would have asked so many more questions.

A nice, short overview. The first half comes across a bit slow and rather weirdly put together in my opinion, but I enjoyed the second half quite a bit. What it does very well though is that shows the reader various perspectives and doesn't always stick to one direction, although the author does express their own affinity to one or the other. In that, it is a valuable resource.

I read this in one sitting while extremely tired and it felt like dreaming. Will definitely reread while in a better state.

Extremely amusing. Enjoyed every reading session.

An amusing read featuring extended family incest and a smidge of antisemitism.

In my opinion, the best parts of the novel are character interactions. Aside from Sophie, who seems to have a read on every character almost instantaneously, the characters are interesting and clash in entertaining ways.

Sophie's schemes, which always seem to go either exactly to plan or better and never go south, were by far the worst aspect of the novel.

I'd expected a more factual account, but this is an exceptional piece of literature regardless and fulfills its purpose. The author illustrates his experiences so vividly that, although it was emotionally taxing, I could not stop reading.

These stories were recommended to me over 10 years ago, but I'm a little relieved that I hadn't gotten my hands on a physical copy sooner. I feel as though I wouldn't have liked them as much back then as I do now.

I love the soothing, calm but strange and sorrowful atmosphere the author crafts. The way the characters talk to eachother is a bit dull sometimes, but that might just be a translation/culture thing.

An absolute joy to read for me. The topics of this story interest me, and they're handled rather well. I easily grew fond of the characters and their interactions and was excited to read more.

The last 10 or so chapters gave me horrendous whiplash though. The book would have made it to my favourites, if it were not for the poor pacing and interesting story points that were left unexpanded.

Certainly an enlightening insight into the lives of two women during differing parts of the 20th century. The art is very expressive, and gets the characters' emotions across just fine. Overall though, I thought that the "graphic" part of the graphic novel was rather underwhelming.

Overall an enjoyable read. The Austen wittiness is there, but I feel as though the characters lack depth. Mr. Robert Ferrars became my favourite character by the end solely because anytime he'd appear, I was sure to laugh at him.

The ending itself is, in my opinion, so ridiculous and so out of nowhere, I've really no words for it.