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« Previous Entries Sunday, May 4th, 2008Review: Silk by Alessandro Baricco
Silk is a novella about obsession, longing, and love. It’s the 1860’s and Herve Joncour, a married French merchant of silkworms, goes to Japan several times for eggs. While there, he meets a young concubine who is not Japanese but cannot communicate in anything except Japanese. Joncour becomes obsessed; meanwhile, his wife back home waits patiently for him during every trip he takes. Will either of them get what they long for?
Sigh. This was a well-written novella; but again, it was just too graphic in parts for my tastes. I have a difficult time believing that one of the female characters would write a letter such as the one found in this book, but who knows. On a positive note, this is my first book completed for the 1% Well-Read Challenge, so I guess that means I’m 0.1% well-read.
1996, 91 pp.
Rating: 
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Popularity: 84% [?]
Sunday, December 30th, 2007Year of Wonders
This was Geraldine Brooks’ first novel. She is the also the author of the Pulitzer winner March, a fictional account of Mr. March from Little Women. I read March earlier this year, and while I believe Brooks to be a good writer, I had some issues with her portrayal of the Marches in her book. I feel much the same in this book. It has very good writing, but once again, I have issues. This time it is in matters of faith and religion.
Year of Wonders is the story of a village that is ravaged by The Plague in 1666. Anna is a widow who is a servant for the rector in her village. She becomes very close to Mr. Mompellion and his wife, Elinor. When The Plague hits and they quarantine the village, the three of them are the mainstays who help and comfort the sick and dying. It is a terrible year, and Brooks’ descriptions of The Plague were painful to read. At the close of the year, some are strengthened by their trials and others are utterly devastated by them. What makes this book so special is that it is based on a true story of the village of Eyam, Derbyshire. They voluntarily quarantined their village when the disease hit, and it would become known as The Plague Village. They are remembered as having attempted to stop the spread of disease by this action.
It’s too difficult to go into my issues with the book on matters of faith without divulging too much of the storyline, so I won’t do so. I am still glad I read the novel as it is a fascinating period in history, and it is all the more interesting for having been based on Eyam. I plan on reading her novel People of the Book when it comes out next month.
2001, 304 pp.
Rating: 4
Popularity: 17% [?]
Monday, December 24th, 2007Last Evenings on Earth
Short Story Monday
This book of stories by Roberto Bolaño is a NYT Most Notable Book. Bolaño is a Chilean author whose book The Savage Detectives was named to the most recent NYT Most Notable list as well. It seems to be getting a lot of buzz on many ‘Best of 2007′ lists. Although Bolaño died in 2003, some of his works are just now being published in English.
The settings of these stories are in Chile, Mexico, Spain, and many other countries. It has a very international feel to it. Bolaño’s writing is fascinating. Without really enjoying many of the stories, I still felt compelled to read them. There is always something literary going on; perhaps that’s why they intrigued me. However, many of the stories just had too much violence and seediness for my taste–otherwise the book would have had a higher rating from me.
I’m curious about The Savage Detectives, though, and I may try to read that one in 2008.
2006 (for the English translation), 219 pp.
Rating: 3.5
Popularity: 18% [?]
Monday, December 10th, 2007This Year It Will Be Different
Short Story Monday
Last Monday, I summarized the first half of the book, so look there if you’d like more info on all the stories in this book. This week, we have:
“The Christmas Baramundi”
Definitely the most depressing story in the book, and one of the few I really didn’t care for. A woman thinks she meets the perfect man, but then finds out differently.
“This Year It Will Be Different”
This one is also depressing. A woman thinks her family wants to help her with all the Christmas preparations, but do they?
“Season of Fuss”
This time, a woman’s family helps with the preparations, but is that what she really wants?
“A Typical Irish Christmas. . . ”
This one’s nice. A family is reunited.
“Traveling Hopefully”
A man and a woman are stuck on a long plane ride together. Will the relationship continue after the flight?
“What Is Happiness?”
A boy is caught up in his father’s infidelity when the mistress stalks the family.
“The Best Inn in Town”
Two grandmothers fight over their turf in a family that is usually united over the subject.
I would have to say I much preferred the first half of the book to the second half. The second half of the book is much more depressing. While the families depicted in the first half were far from perfect, there was at least a little hope involved. Not so in some of these later stories. However, overall I did enjoy the book and would recommend it for the Christmas season.
1996, 210 pp.
Rating: 4
Popularity: 15% [?]
Saturday, November 10th, 2007The Uncommon Reader
This novella traces the Queen of England’s reading habits. She goes from being wholly ignorant of books and the literary life to being very knowledgeable and voracious in her reading-very much to the consternation of the Queen’s and the Prime Minister’s staff.
I enjoyed this book tremendously not only because of my obvious love for the subject matter, but also because it was very humorous. I laughed out loud while reading several times. However, it does have (ever so few, but still) some content issues that just seemed wholly unnecessary to the storyline. It would have been a ‘4.5′ otherwise.
2007, 120 pp.
Rating: 4
Popularity: 13% [?]
Sunday, November 4th, 2007Mad Shadows
This was Canadian author Marie-Claire Blais’s first book. It was published in 1959 and translated from the French by Daphne Marlatt in 1960. Blais was a winner of the French language Governor General’s award in 1996 for Soifs.
Apparently this was made into a film last year with its French title, La Belle Bête. I wish they would have kept this title, The Beautiful Beast, for the English version of the book rather than using Mad Shadows. The Beautiful Beast is much more fitting.
She thought of the approaching marriage of this pair of dolls, a male doll and a female doll. She would have to live in the midst of this depravity-the artificial depravity of faces in the movies. How sad, she thought, they have no souls.
This is a story of a very dysfunctional family. Louise is a beautiful, but aging mother who is trying her best to hold on to her beauty. Aside from the usual ways, she also does this by nearly worshipping her son Patrice, who is beautiful but retarded. She sees her own beauty in him and thus is blind to his mental condition. In contrast to her extreme over-affection for her son is her disdain for her daughter Isabelle-Marie. She is not loved by her mother simply because she is not beautiful. This sets up a series of events that is catastrophic for the family.
To be frank, I read this book because it was short (130 pages), and I could use it for the Canadian Challenge. While not ‘enjoyable’ because of the subject matter, it was thought-provoking, and I’m very glad I did read it. I would recommend it to anyone, not just those participating in the Canadian Challenge.
1959, 130 pp.
Rating: 4
Popularity: 29% [?]
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007The Halloween Tree
I didn’t really care for this book, although I loved Fahrenheit 451. I read this one for the R.I.P. Challenge because I knew I wouldn’t get to The Picture of Dorian Gray. Probably the main reason I didn’t like it was because I don’t like Halloween. I don’t even celebrate it at all. Autumn is my favorite season, and I do love everything about it. . . except Halloween. (I’m not a scrooge, though; I still hand out candy if we’re home.)
So why did I read it then? Well, the storyline was quite a bit different from what I expected. I just expected a scary Halloween night story, and it was that, but it was also a celebration of Halloween. Similar to A Christmas Carol, a ‘ghost’ (with a Marley knocker) takes the boys through the celebration of Halloween through the ages. Anyway, if you enjoy the holiday, then you’ll like this story quite a bit.
I’m still glad I read the book, though, because it is Ray Bradbury, and I do want to read more of his work.
1972, 145 pp.
Rating: 3
Popularity: 18% [?]
Friday, July 6th, 2007The Sea by John Banville
The Sea
by John Banville
2005, 195 pp.
2005 Booker Prize
Rating: 2
This was not my cup of tea. I don’t need an exciting plot to enjoy a book. I don’t mind older men looking back on their lives. In a similar vein, I loved Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead, although I hated Roth’s Everyman. This was closer to Everyman.
Max is a widower that is overly sensitive to smells who is grieving (I guess?) over his wife. He calls her the “c” word and admits he really didn’t know her because he preferred not to know her.
Not one character in the book was likable. I guess I was lucky this was short.
- 1. Joy - July 6, 2007
- Ahhh, I just added this onto my iPod! I didn’t like EVERYMAN either, so you not liking this one is not a good sign for me.
- 2. Petunia - July 11, 2007
- I had the same reaction as you did. Didn’t care for it.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Saturday, April 14th, 2007March by Geraldine Brooks
March
by Geraldine Brooks
2005, 273 pp.
2006 Pulitzer Prize
Rating: 3.5
I really wanted to love this book, but I ended up only liking most of it and despising parts of it.
March tells the story of Mr. March. You know, the father in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. We didn’t know much about him from Little Women, and really, maybe we were better off that way than reading Brooks’ reimagined version. I did not like her “version” of Marmee, either.
Some of this book is extremely well done. The civil war scenes and the descriptions of the plight of the slaves were excellent. The characters of Mr. and Mrs. March were not. Although they both do have their admirable moments, their “reputation” is severely tarnished in this book and neither is very likable at all. Their “conflicts” felt like they were from a soap opera. I am not one who cares for soap operas and certainly do not wish to feel like I’m “reading” one in a Pulitzer Prize winning book.
I recommend it solely to those who like to read “prize winners” or to those who are Little Women enthusiasts. But be warned: you may wish you did not have these new visions of the Marches competing with the original.
- katrina - April 20, 2007
- I actually quite enjoyed this book when I read it last year, I think that it helped that although I remember Little Women fairly well I seem to have no recollection of the parents.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Friday, March 23rd, 2007Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451
Ray Bradbury
Year: 1951
190 pp.
Rating: 4.5
I cannot believe I haven’t read this book before. It deserves its “classic” status and should be read by all. This book is scary. Really. Scary. It is similar to 1984–a picture of what society could become if we let it.
Montag is a fireman who doesn’t put out fires, he starts them. He burns books and the houses that contain them. His wife Mildred watches and listens to “the wall” all day, basically a huge screen TV. Almost all of the city dwellers are TV zombies, and then when they’re not watching “the wall”, to make themselves feel better they go out and ride their cars at dangerously high speeds. Most are on any number of pills.
Montag doesn’t notice anything is wrong with his life until he meets 17 year-old Clarisse, his next door neighbor. She is different. She notices things he doesn’t notice. Her family actually talks to each other. She is happy and asks him if he is. He says he is, but later at home admits to himself he isn’t. He starts to question himself why, and from there he changes his life completely.
A quote that stood out because of its resemblance to today:
“I’m afraid of children my own age. they kill each other. Did it always use to be that way? My uncle says no. Six of my firends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks. I’m afraid of them and they don’t like me because I’m afraid. My uncle says his grandfather remembered when children didn’t kill each other. But that was a long time ago when they had things different. They believed in responsibility, my uncle says. Do you know, I’m responsible. I was spanked when I needed it, years ago. And I do all the shopping and housecleaning by hand.”
A world where all people do is watch TV and become progressively more violent. A world where books and ideas are “dangerous”. A world where “happiness” is supreme, but no one is happy. A very scary world indeed.
Also reviewed by:
- Danielle B. - March 23, 2007
- I haven’t read this book since high school…along with Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies…and the Steinbeck classics…all books I hope to find time for this summer
- Lisa - March 23, 2007
- This is on my TBR challenge list!
- Daphne - March 27, 2007
- I love your last paragraph - sounds a lot like today, doesn’t it?? I’m planning on reading this next month for my Banned Books Challenge.
- Grominou2 - April 9, 2007
- A very good movie was made from this book by famous French director François Truffaut.
Popularity: 14% [?]
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