Masterpiece
Excellent
Good
Just okay
Not for me
Definitely not for me'l' titles
Friday, June 20th, 2008Review: Life of Pi
Yann Martel’s Life of Pi won the Booker Prize in 2002. It’s the story of Pi Patel from his childhood to his time on a lifeboat after the ship carrying his family and his father’s zoo animals sinks. Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger, shares Pi’s fate on the raft. Due to the tiger, he must constantly be on guard during his 227 day ordeal.
I really didn’t get all that much into the story until the ship sunk — it really gets going at that point. And then, just when I was getting tired of all the desperate tactics for survival in the lifeboat, another interesting development occurs. I was surprised by the twist ending as well, but it was a good one. I was impressed by the symbolism in the book. Recommended.
2001, 319 pp.
Rating: 
Popularity: 11% [?]
Saturday, February 16th, 2008Life & Times of Michael K
The Life & Times of Michael K won the Booker Prize in 1983. Written by Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee, it is set in South Africa during a civil war. Michael is a gardener in his earlier thirties who has a harelip. He was institutionalized by his mother when he was a child, but at the beginning of the book when she is old and very ill, she calls for him. She would like him to take her to the village where she grew up. Getting the proper paperwork for the train is practically impossible because of the war, so finally they give up on it and try to go there on their own.
Many things happen to Michael on the trip. He is captured and made to work for awhile, and then released. He finds what he thinks is the farm where his mother was raised and makes himself a home (if you can call it that) there. Struggling to survive and evade the government, in the midst of it all he still wants to be a gardener and plants a small pumpkin patch, which he guards and tends with fervor.
The book is told in three parts. Parts I and III describe the storyline from Michael’s perspective. Part II is told in first person by a doctor who tries to understand Michael when he is brought under his care. This was a thought-provoking book and I enjoyed it, though I could have done without some scenes at the end. I’ll definitely read more by Coetzee.
A quote:
I could live here forever, he thought, or till I die. Nothing would happen, every day would be the same as the day before, there would be nothing to say.
1983, 184 pp.
Rating:
Popularity: 34% [?]
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% [?]
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007Lisey’s Story
It had been over 20 years since I had read a Stephen King book. I used to love horror and love his books. I really, really did. That changed and I don’t like horror at all now. I like scary, suspenseful stories-just not horror. I think I had convinced myself that surely there wouldn’t be that much horror because he put so much of his wife/marriage into the story. I guess there probably wasn’t as much as in his other books, but it was still too much for me.
Stephen King had said that he wrote this after considering what could happen to his wife if he had died in the car accident that he had. I do think he put quite a bit of himself and her into this story. I liked the beginning of the book very much, but then in the middle there was a little too much of the horror element for me. Lisey’s husband Scott flashes back to a horror-full childhood. There were some crazy things that happen to Lisey as well that bothered me because I kept thinking, “How can he think of these things happening to his wife?”
Anyway, it was a good book for the R.I.P Challenge, but I don’t think I’ll be reading another King book for awhile. If you know of one that is very tame, I might try it. Otherwise, there’s just too much horror in King for this wimpy woman.
2006, 509 pp.
Rating: 3.5
Also reviewed by The Bookworm
Popularity: 14% [?]
Friday, September 14th, 2007The Little Prince
The Little Prince is a charming story written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. A pilot has crashed his plane and is stranded in the desert, where he meets a little prince from another planet. The prince tells the pilot about his planet and of the people he has met on other planets. Many lessons can be learned of the stories he tells.
This is a great book for children and adults. It is inspired by the author’s own crash in the Sahara desert as well as other personal events. The illustrations were beautifully done by the author. Highly recommended!
1943, 84 pp.
Rating: 4.5
Popularity: 21% [?]