I forgot how entertaining Stephen King can be. There isn't much of anything original here. You've got your psychopaths, sociopaths, young thugs, precocious kids, wise elders and charming heroes, all trapped under a dome in Maine. King has had this idea germinating since 1978 and you can feel that in the enthusiasm of his writing. It's very reminiscent of The Stand in its grand manner and endless cast of characters, but so much more relevant today than it ever would have been in the height of the 70's. A quick read for over 1000 pages, if I've ever seen one and I actually liked the ending, which, so I am told, received a lot of flack. Maybe I'm easy to please, whatever. This is no great work of literature, but it was a fun read, and I was thoroughly entertained.
Bright and Bon Vivant
"My life is a reading list." ~ A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving
Please note, much like Helen Garp, I am a READER, NOT a writer.
I forgot how entertaining Stephen King can be. There isn't much of anything original here. You've got your psychopaths, sociopaths, young thugs, precocious kids, wise elders and charming heroes, all trapped under a dome in Maine. King has had this idea germinating since 1978 and you can feel that in the enthusiasm of his writing. It's very reminiscent of The Stand in its grand manner and endless cast of characters, but so much more relevant today than it ever would have been in the height of the 70's. A quick read for over 1000 pages, if I've ever seen one and I actually liked the ending, which, so I am told, received a lot of flack. Maybe I'm easy to please, whatever. This is no great work of literature, but it was a fun read, and I was thoroughly entertained.
I think this is an effective YA novel, for a very young adult. It's not very challenging for anyone over the age of 15. The themes are very simple, as is the plot. And though I would have liked it to have gone a further in character development, it was still a compelling read. I was entertained, and it did leave me wanting to know what happens next. I will most likely read the 2nd book and I will encourage my daughter to read this book in a few years.
I keep going back and forth between 3 stars and 5 stars. I did not "really like it", but I did think "it was amazing". It's perhaps the most ambitious book I have ever read, but it's also perhaps the most self indulgent book I have ever read. I grew to hate Johnny Truant and would get so mad when the Navidson Record narrative would halt and I would have to read the ramblings of this nihilist. Reading this book did feel like a chore to me. While I'm very glad I read it, I am really happy I am done reading it. It's definitely one that will stay with me.
To further convey how I felt about this book, attached is a review from a fellow reader: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/42867080
David Levithan has a phenomenal vocabulary. I did not know several of the words in his "dictionary", but he made me understand them with his alternative definitions, just as I understood completely the relationship he so carefully defined. I highly recommend this "one-sitting novel"I'd to any creative writer as a great example of the economy of words. I also recommend it to actors as a brilliant example of personalization. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could.
David Sedaris is my sassy gay friend. I love him and I loved this book. His self deprecation mirrors my own so well, and during my brief time reading this, I did not feel like the only underachiever in the world. My only problem with the book was some of the placement of the chapters. They did not gel as well as they could have. Most importantly, I think the last chapter was very badly placed. It had nothing to do with him, only about his father's weird hoarder obsession. Sedaris would have benefited from putting his penultimate chapter, "The Late Show" at the end. This was where he relays to us the movies of his imagination, which, of course he stars in. This chapter was much more indicative of him and where he was headed now that he had given up alcohol and drugs. I also think he could have 86th the chapter about the enormous turd in his friend's toilet.
Like The Remains of the Day, this book seriously depressed me, but unlike The Remains of the Day, there was nothing transcending about it. What amazed me about the former book was how fascinating Ishiguro made the mundane. What bothered me about this book was how unimaginative he made the extraordinary. I know this was his point, but that doesn't always make the best book.What's more, while "Remains" is one of the most accomplished 1st person narratives I have ever read, this book's voice seemed amateurish in comparison. The writing style, while conversational, was repetitive and grew increasingly tiresome. I couldn't wait for it to be over. All of this being said, there was still a sweet tenderness about the book which I really liked. It was a quiet novel, and did convey it's very simple theme. There was so much humanity in it and I am sure I will be thinking about it for many days to come.
Jo Nesbø kicks the crap out of Stieg Larson (no disrespect intended toward the deceased). This is the most literary crime novel I have ever read, while still showcasing an head spinning, jaw dropping plot. Harry Hole is such a multi-dimensional character, while still remaining quite the super-hero cop. I think I'm in love with him and maybe Jo Nesbø too.Oh, and Don Bartlett needs to be commended for a superb translation as well. I can't imagine that any of Nesbø's style was lost here.
If you have already seen the film KINSEY, don't bother with this novel, because that's what it is, a novel, told by a fictional narrator who is not worth the imagining of. His name is John Milk and he is a research assistant on the Kinsey project, whose scientific objectivity is constantly at odds with his emotions. This grew tiresome very quickly, as did every character in the book (Kinsey included), with the exception of one character, John's wife, Iris. How I wish Boyle had alternated the narration between her and her husband. I was most able to associate myself with her character, and I would have loved to have read first hand about what she was going through, as a wife in the Kinsey "Inner Circle", forced to put up with their questionable methods in the name of science. She was the only character to actually stand up to that boarish professor, and she made me want to stand up and cheer. Unfortunately, as the book was written, Iris is not enough to have made me enjoy this read.
A very simple plot made fascinating by characters who leap off the page with sharp dialogue that cuts to the heart of the matter. Damn, I would love to play Mrs. Erlynne.
Ugh. What a pointless and repetitive book. At first I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt, feeling that it was unfortunate that I had just previously read Tom Perotta's wonderful novel, THE LEFTOVERS. Both are stories of suburban strife caused by a supernatural event, but this book just got worse and worse and the lame ending made me want to throw my library copy across the room. See Judy Krueger's review for a better explanation, which perfectly explains why this book is terrible. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/172818560
Wow, Tom Perrotta is gifted. I don't think I have ever encountered a writer who can better capture the suburban world than he does, and from so many different perspectives. Every character in this book was believable: man, woman, mother, son, father, daughter; even Laurie, the mother who abandoned her husband and children to join the fanatical group known as the Guilty Remnant, a post-rapture cult who felt it was their duty to keep the "Sudden Departure" alive in the hearts and minds of the people trying to get on with their lives. I didn't understand her (I don't think we were meant to), but I believed her. My favorite character was Tom, Kevin and Laurie's son, who was destined to live an average life in the best of worlds, and fell utterly lost when that world changed for the worse three years ago. I really liked him. This was my first time reading Tom Perrotta's work. I've seen the movies LITTLE CHILDREN and ELECTION and hesitate to pick up books in which I already know the outcome, but now that I know that the beauty of his writing is in his characters, I can assure you that I will be reading all of his work.
This is going to sound corny, but this is perhaps the bravest book I have ever read. I feel grateful to Sylvia Plath for sharing this with the world. I often had to go back and reread passages because I knew I had not taken the full gravity of what was being shared. I'm so glad that I have finally read this. My only regret is that I hadn't read it before I had seen the movie SYLVIA, because try as I may, I could not shake the image of Gwyneth Paltrow from my mind as I envisioned Esther Greenwood slipping into madness. I hate Gwyneth Paltrow only less than I do Julia Roberts.
Based on the reviews I had read, I didn't expect to like this book, but I really did. I didn't feel the emotional attachment that I had for Henry and Clare in TTTW, not by a long shot, but this book really made me appreciate Audrey Niffenegger as a novelist. It is SO different than her debut, and I think that is a very good thing. Many times I had to remind myself that an American wrote this book. At times I felt like I was reading Ruth Rendell. I'll probably have more to add later.
About the eleventeenth time Katniss wound up in the hospital I was pretty much done with it all. Way to turn your heroine into a sad little pawn. I wanted so desperately for her to rise from the ashes, grow strong from what she had been through. I guess it was far more realistic the way it played out, and if the writing were better, perhaps it could have even been the best approach. The problem was that the writing did not change accordingly with the direction of the story. The sparse description and very simple narration of the protagonist's thoughts went perfectly with the fast moving plot of the 1st book, it faltered slightly with the second, and just collapsed in the third book. The writing could not hold up to the internal and external struggle going on throughout the story. Neither could it support the more complicated plot.Although I have yet to read a single Harry Potter novel, I always admired the fact that as Rowling's characters and plots grew more complex, so did the writing. This trilogy would have clearly benefited from such an approach, but unfortunately Ms. Collins did not even try to do this. That being said, I still liked it for what it was. Collins still surprised me in several chapters and I was happy with Katniss's final Edward/Jacob choice. All three books will make great movies, provided the acting and the effects are good.
I read this in one day and as a working mom, that says something. There's not much more that can be said about how wonderful this book is. Let's make this clear though, I am well read, and I realize that this not the most brilliantly written novel. There are inconsistencies in the 1st person narrative, and the sentence construction sometimes got messy, but the plot still unfolds seamlessly like a dream that you hope you will remember when you wake up because it would make the perfect novel or film. At times I had to wonder about the 1st person narration. Sometimes it seemed like it was just her thoughts and other times it seemed very conversational and I had to wonder who she was talking to. I attribute this to the book ultimately being young adult fiction, which often has that feeling about it, and it was easy to overlook because the narrator/protagonist was so likable. In fact, I can't remember the last time I loved a protagonist as much as I did Katniss Everdeen. Negative points aside, I still found this book "amazing" and I'll be purchasing the second and third books today.
I have to confess, I started this book a long time ago. It had been well over a year since I had put it down, but as much as I hated it then, a lot of it did stick with me, and when I recently realized I had only about 120 pages left (a fact all on its own which does not reflect well on a "psychological thriller"), I figured I should finish what I started. I went back and reread the first chapter, because it sets off the series of events that make up the novel, and then I skimmed through the rest of what I had read, reminding myself of smaller details. The plot points in the last 100 or so pages made me go from hate to meh, but the protagonist (if you want to call her that, as all she really does is run away from everything) was just as much of a naive fool as I remembered her, and the majority of the secondary characters are just as infuriating. The saving grace for me, was the character of Will, the protagonist Carole's boyfriend. He was unique both in character and in what he added to the plot. Ultimately, though, I just couldn't get beyond how foolish the main character was and how two-dimensional the rest of the supporting characters were. Wally Lamb compared this book to The Secret History. After reading Lewis's debut, I have decided that I may give her another try in the future, but I will never read a Wally Lamb novel.
ETA: If anyone can explain to me the significance of the title of this book, I would greatly appreciate it. It's very specific, which means it should have a specific reference, but I can only associate it with a very general idea.
Currently reading
Life After Life
Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Coming of the Third Reich
