Masterpiece
Excellent
Very good
Good
Just okay
Not for me
Definitely not for me'w' authors
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008Review: Kanada
This is the story of 14 year-old Jutka’s life before, during, and after World War II, with the three sections of the book dealing with those periods being titled Limbo, Hell, and Paradiso.
The story is heart-wrenching. We see how her friends and neighbors turn from loving her family to despising them. We see the horrors of the ghetto, Auschwitz, and the DP camps. Then we see Jutka and her friends struggle to find a new home for themselves when nothing is left of their old ones. While most want to relocate to Israel, Jutka dreams of being with her relatives in Canada.
The story is compelling, but I did find the writing to be a bit simplistic and choppy, thus the lower rating.
Kanada’s author, Eva Wiseman, was born in Hungary and has based this book on her parents’ and other friends’ experiences during the war. She now lives in Winnipeg.
2006, 241 pp.
Rating: 3.5/5
Popularity: 49% [?]
Sunday, December 30th, 2007Mrs. Dalloway/The Hours
Why not do a ‘twin’ review since I read them relatively close together? I had seen both of these movies before I read the books, and I recently re-watched The Hours because it was available for online viewing through Netflix. I’d like to watch Mrs. Dalloway again as well. The movie of the The Hours follows the book very closely-there are a few minor changes. Nicole Kidman does an outstanding job in this film. I was most interested in the Virginia Woolf storyline, so I was happy she was so well portrayed. It’s funny that Meryl Streep ended up playing Clarissa when she (Meryl Streep) is actually talked about in The Hours (the book). I don’t remember the movie Mrs. Dalloway much at all, hence the reason I wish to re-view it.
Well, on to the books. The Hours won the Pulitzer in 1999. It’s a cleverly told story that intersects the 3 women’s lives very well. However, it does change the story of Mrs. Dalloway into homos*xual relationships. It was interesting to see the twist in the storyline, particularly if you know the real one, but I couldn’t help thinking, “Doesn’t Clarissa (in The Hours) know that her life is too coincidental with the characters’ names from Mrs. Dalloway?” To me, it would have been a better story if Cunningham had left out all the references to the actual book itself. The reader knows that’s what it’s about, so why keep referring to it? It makes The Hours too unbelievable. It’s an interesting book, and I’m glad I read it, but I can’t help having mixed feelings about it.
Mrs. Dalloway. I must be too dense in the literary sense, because I just don’t get this book at all. I had to stop reading it every half hour because it was just too much otherwise. I felt a similar way this year when I read Inheritance of Loss. I just don’t enjoy a book when I have to read it that way. I don’t get into planning parties or the minute details of such. In fact, I avoid that like the plague. I’m not into social scenes, either. In this book, everyone loves Clarissa, but isn’t she the most shallow character in it? I don’t get it. I would like to re-read it again in a few years to see if I feel any differently. At least I feel more enlightened that I have finally read Woolf. I’d actually like to read more about her than by her.
For The Hours:
1998, 226 pp.
Rating: 3.5
Pulitzer, 1999
For Mrs. Dalloway:
1925, 194 pp.
Rating: 3
Popularity: 35% [?]
Thursday, December 6th, 2007The Bridge of San Luis Rey
This Pulitzer-winning book was the first of three Pulitzers for Thornton Wilder, who also won for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth. It has an interesting premise. One that people could relate to today (in light of the Omaha Mall killings) and in recent years (9/11). When a bridge collapses near Lima, Peru, the question is asked, “Why did those five particular individuals die, and the rest did not?” A monk who witnesses the event seeks to delve into the lives of the five who were killed and into the lives of the survivors to see if he can find any answers. The book then flashes back to the histories of those dead, and we get a glimpse of their goodness and piety (or lack thereof) and their usefulness to society. This ‘formula’ is used by the monk to try to determine an explanation to this question.
I have read Our Town and have also seen it performed, but I was not prepared for Wilder’s gorgeous writing. I will definitely be seeking out more of his books and plays. Two that look promising are Theophilus North and the one-act play “The Long Christmas Dinner.”
I’ll leave you with a sample of his prose:
All night they talked, secretly comforting their hearts that longed always for Spain and telling themselves that such a symposium was after the manner of the high Spanish soul. They talked about ghosts and second-sight, and about the earth before man appeared upon it and about the possibility of the planets striking against one another; about whether the soul can be seen, like a dove, fluttering away at the moment of death; they wondered whether at the second coming of Christ to Jerusalem, Peru would be long in receiving the news. They talked until the sun rose, about wars and kings, about poets and scholars, and about strange countries. Each one poured into the conversation his store of wise sad anecdotes and his dry regret about the race of men.
This was a quick read, and one that probably deserves to be re-read in the future.
1927, 129 pp.
Rating: 4.5
Popularity: 21% [?]
Sunday, December 2nd, 2007The Invisible Man
I have never read anything by H.G. Wells before, and I found this book very intriguing. I really enjoyed the beginning of the book. He set up the mood and atmosphere perfectly; it was very suspenseful. The middle of the story bogged down a bit, but by the ending I was enjoying it again. It was interesting to note that in my edition they noted four alternative endings to the one I read. They were very minor changes, and my favorite ending was not the one published in this edition.
One of my favorite authors is C.S. Lewis, and though Lewis admired Wells’ writing, he disagreed with him philosophically on many points. I just read that Lewis based one of the characters in That Hideous Strength on Wells himself. I’m planning on reading that book and the first two in the Space Trilogy by Lewis in 2008, so I’m really looking forward to seeing Lewis’ take on Wells’ character and ideology.
1897, 154 pp.
Rating: 4
Popularity: 17% [?]
Thursday, October 11th, 2007Wednesday Letters
Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright tells the story of a family whose grown children learn more about their parents’ marriage after discovering letters their father wrote to their mother every Wednesday. It’s a good story with morals that I absolutely agree with. However, I just didn’t find it to be particularly well-written. I felt myself conscious that I was reading a story rather being immersed in it. I thought some of the dialogue was weak and somewhat choppy at times. I’m still willing to give the author another chance, though, by reading his Christmas Jars at some point.
2007, 280 pp.
Rating: 3.5 3
Popularity: 11% [?]
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
1982, 289 pp.
1983 Pulitzer Prize/1983 NBA
Rating: 4 3.5
I read this for the Banned Book Challenge, and I can definitely see why people would be against it. Some of the themes include incest, rape, lesbianism, language, and drug and alcohol use. I’m not saying it should be banned–just that if I had a teenage daughter, for instance, I would want to read and discuss it with her.
All of the above (and more) happen to Celie, the main character in the book. By contrast, Celie tries to protect her sister Nettie, and Nettie ends up going with a missionary family to Africa. We see Celie and Nettie both grow in different ways through what happens to them. They are separated for 30 years but do keep in contact through letters. It is appalling, really, what men can do to women. This type of novel is always hard for me to read, but sometimes I do think it is necessary for me to venture out of my protected little world into the very unprotected world of other women. If only to appreciate and thank God for what I do have and to pray for and help other women whenever I can.
- Daphne - May 22, 2007
- I read this either right before or right after the movie came out. Even though, as you say, parts of the book are somewhat disturbing, I thought it was a wonderful story about the human spirit.
- Fond of Books - May 23, 2007
- I just finished this book yesterday. I had always loved the movie and I loved the book also. I was surprised to see the relationship between Shug and Celie, in the movie it made it seem a one time thing, but of course in the book it goes on for years. However part of me was happy for her just to find love. And after all that had happened to her, I don’t think she could have ever loved a man.
Anyway, a wonderful book!
~rebecca
Popularity: 18% [?]