I read this book after watching the movie by mistake. It wasn't until I loved the movie and looked more into it that I figured out it was a movie based on a book. I knew I had to read the book, and the next time I was in a bookstore, I purchased it and began to read.
McEwan has such an interesting writing style. This is my first book of his that I've read, and I'm encouraged to read more because I was captivated by his way with words. It's hard to describe exactly what gives me this feeling, but reading the book was a similar experience to watching the movie. In the way McEwan details scenes, characters, movement, emotions, dialogue, etc., feels like stage directions in a script. This makes me feel like by reading the book, I'm actually watching a movie that's been written out for me. I loved it. Usually I like the freedom to visualize scenery and characters myself, and when I started the book, I thought I was going to be disappointed when I was handed every description and the exact way I should visualize everything. However, as I kept reading and the scenes became more complex and characters really started developing, I appreciated the spoon-feeding of detail. I didn't have to guess what McEwan was aiming for; he gave it to me exactly as he wanted.
While this was like reading a movie, it was a completely different experience from watching the movie. Aside from the obvious differences of book v. movie, the way in which I viewed characters was altered. Because McEwan gave us so much of Briony, I was able to understand her actions a little bit more. He gave us her every thought and reasoning and showed us how she reached her conclusions and how she defended her decision. This made her not as despicable as I found her in the movie. What she did was most certainly deplorable but slightly more understandable.
However, just when I reached that conclusion of Briony, McEwan threw more against her with the scene with Robbie and Briony's attempted drowning to see if Robbie would save her. In this scene she also confesses her love for Robbie, leading readers to believe that is the main reason why she did what she did. The problem is that this comes from Robbie's perspective, and based on the rest of the novel, I can't decide whether or not to believe this happened. I'm conflicted.
I love the ending of the novel especially. Briony returning to the "scene of the crime" to celebrate a birthday, the acting out of her first play, which was to be put on that first night, and all of the thoughts we get from her to wrap up the whole story.
I ended the book with a full disgust for Briony. She did wrong, she waited five years to even attempt to atone for them, and even then, she waited 60+ years to actually begin the process of telling the truth, and then because of liability, she can't publish her work until the criminals are dead, and at that point, she admits, she too will be gone, thus avoiding all scandal and blame. And what she ends up with isn't even the full truth. She changes Robbie and Cecilia's story for what purpose? To make herself feel better? To make her seem less a villian? I can understand wanting them to be happy and writing a story in a way that ends with them happy, but I think it's unfair that their true story is never told. While Briony thinks she's atoned for what she did, I find that not to be the case. She'll get to die completely unjudged by everyone involved. At least she'll die with the guilt of the lives she ruined.
I love the passion this book makes me feel. As you might be able to tell, I'm so angry at Briony, and I appreciate any book that can do that for me. I definitely need to read more McEwan.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
New Year New Reading Challenge
New year, new me, right? Close enough. I haven't posted in a while; I'm not the best at remembering that I have this blog and remembering to post on it frequently.
Hopefully with my New Year's Resolution, that will change!
I have two main resolutions this year: journal every day and complete a reading challenge. I've always wanted to do a reading challenge, but I never have, so I figured, what better time to start a challenge than at the beginning of the year when goals and expectations are high all around the world?
I decided to start with a fairly simple reading challenge that leaves me with plenty of options and freedom but has a clear start and end point. I'm going to do the alphabet challenge. It's a pretty easy concept, I have to read one book for each letter of the alphabet. The first letter of the title is the one that counts. For example, I'm starting with Atonement by Ian McEwan. That covers the letter A. I'm not sure what I'll do for B yet, but I have a whole book to get there. Articles do not count for the letter, so for T, I cannot count The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff. That would count for O.
It should be pretty easy for me to complete, so the goal is to finish the entire alphabet by December 31st, 2018 at 11:59.
I'll be posting on each letter/book, so stay tuned!
Happy New Year!
Hopefully with my New Year's Resolution, that will change!
I have two main resolutions this year: journal every day and complete a reading challenge. I've always wanted to do a reading challenge, but I never have, so I figured, what better time to start a challenge than at the beginning of the year when goals and expectations are high all around the world?
I decided to start with a fairly simple reading challenge that leaves me with plenty of options and freedom but has a clear start and end point. I'm going to do the alphabet challenge. It's a pretty easy concept, I have to read one book for each letter of the alphabet. The first letter of the title is the one that counts. For example, I'm starting with Atonement by Ian McEwan. That covers the letter A. I'm not sure what I'll do for B yet, but I have a whole book to get there. Articles do not count for the letter, so for T, I cannot count The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff. That would count for O.
It should be pretty easy for me to complete, so the goal is to finish the entire alphabet by December 31st, 2018 at 11:59.
I'll be posting on each letter/book, so stay tuned!
Happy New Year!
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Love, love, love this book. But I also hated it because it made me cry.
I knew it was going to be a really sad book from the very first bit. What else can you expect when all the main character wants to do is kill himself?
You absolutely have to love Ove. Every quality is perfect in him. He is stubborn to the point where you can't help but laugh at him. The whole time I was reading, I just wanted to hug Ove, knowing he'd hate it so much.
I read the back of the book and assumed it would be like Up, minus the floating house and stuff, but it was so much more. Ove was more: more grumpy, more frustrated, more stubborn, more sad, more loving, and more lovable.
The book also had this horribly great dark humor to it; Ove couldn't successfully commit suicide. He wouldn't do something right or a neighbor would interrupt him. And he'd try his best to ignore them or scare them off, but he couldn't because he had a great family surrounding him.
I loved how Backman did the story: every once in a while he'd take his readers back to provide more of Ove's story, making us even sadder as we realized all that he went through. This backstory was very well spread out so that we were never over- or underwhelmed by his past but received information relevant to the current going-ons.
This book ended just as I would've wanted it too: Ove's natural death and a man just like him and his wife move into his house. I love that. It's just perfect and I think Ove would appreciate that.
I also really enjoyed Rune and Ove's relationship. Some days they got along just fine, but one little thing would would set them off again to where they wouldn't speak to each other for years. I enjoyed that we got glimpses of their friendship: enough to answer our questions but still have us wanting mrore of their interactions. And when it counted the most, Ove was right there for Rune, doing whatever he could to beat the men in white suits.
I think that was an interesting theme throughout. I'm sure someone with more knowledge could make some great political discussion on those "men in white suits," but I'll leave that to someone else. I loved that Ove kept saying that those men could not be beat, and we saw that as Ove continued to lose against them: until the end. Ove won and he won in a big way, with the help of his neighbors, of course.
Overall, this is a beautiful story of living life with there around you, standing up for your beliefs and your friends, and forgiving those who have wronged you. I definitely will read this again.
I knew it was going to be a really sad book from the very first bit. What else can you expect when all the main character wants to do is kill himself?
You absolutely have to love Ove. Every quality is perfect in him. He is stubborn to the point where you can't help but laugh at him. The whole time I was reading, I just wanted to hug Ove, knowing he'd hate it so much.
I read the back of the book and assumed it would be like Up, minus the floating house and stuff, but it was so much more. Ove was more: more grumpy, more frustrated, more stubborn, more sad, more loving, and more lovable.
The book also had this horribly great dark humor to it; Ove couldn't successfully commit suicide. He wouldn't do something right or a neighbor would interrupt him. And he'd try his best to ignore them or scare them off, but he couldn't because he had a great family surrounding him.
I loved how Backman did the story: every once in a while he'd take his readers back to provide more of Ove's story, making us even sadder as we realized all that he went through. This backstory was very well spread out so that we were never over- or underwhelmed by his past but received information relevant to the current going-ons.
This book ended just as I would've wanted it too: Ove's natural death and a man just like him and his wife move into his house. I love that. It's just perfect and I think Ove would appreciate that.
I also really enjoyed Rune and Ove's relationship. Some days they got along just fine, but one little thing would would set them off again to where they wouldn't speak to each other for years. I enjoyed that we got glimpses of their friendship: enough to answer our questions but still have us wanting mrore of their interactions. And when it counted the most, Ove was right there for Rune, doing whatever he could to beat the men in white suits.
I think that was an interesting theme throughout. I'm sure someone with more knowledge could make some great political discussion on those "men in white suits," but I'll leave that to someone else. I loved that Ove kept saying that those men could not be beat, and we saw that as Ove continued to lose against them: until the end. Ove won and he won in a big way, with the help of his neighbors, of course.
Overall, this is a beautiful story of living life with there around you, standing up for your beliefs and your friends, and forgiving those who have wronged you. I definitely will read this again.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan
What a page-turner! I felt so many things when reading this book: suspense because I had no idea who did it and every chapter, I changed my guess or Macmillan proved my suspicions wrong; horrible sadness because of what this mother had to go through, basically alone for the most part; anger at the way the public was treating Rachel when she was at the lowest possible point of her life; and then at the end I felt this relief/sadness because no one in that family would ever be the same and even though Ben was found and reunited with his family, they could never go back and he lost all of his childlike innocence at such a young age and in such a horrendous way. Rachel mentioned in the last chapter that he was having difficulty trusting which broke my heart. Of course he was having difficulty trusting people, because the one person he trusted outside of his family turned on him and took him away from all that he loved and knew, taking advantage of his childlike trust and innocence.
Macmillan did a fantastic job with this novel, bringing to light all the horrible effects of kidnapping, especially the ones that people don't always consider: the aftermath, even when the child is found and reunited with his family, the publicity and the attacks against the parents, and the horrible psychological effects on the family and the main detective.
Jim was one of my favorite characters in this novel. He worked so hard to save Ben, to the point where he wasn't sleeping anymore. Then, the he finds out that the woman he loves has betrayed not only him, but Ben and Ben's family as well as the entire police force. So while he loves her, he has to remove her from his life because that kind of betrayal, against everything in his life, is too much. After the case is closed, Jim finds room to blame himself for not solving it sooner and for suspecting the wrong people, and because of all that, Jim can no longer function at work and can't sleep at night.
I really loved the way Macmillan wrote this novel. I loved the interweaving of styles, from Rachel's and Jim's perspective written out in regular narrative, to the addition of emails, blog posts, websites, and then the notes from Jim's counseling, which happened after the matter, but helped bring readers through exactly what Jim was feeling and how he was being impacted by the course of events. This change in writing styles really helped move the story forward and kept me entertained the whole time.
This was a fantastic read, and I would recommend it to everyone. It helps readers understand more what it's like for a family to go through something horrible like this, bringing both the perspectives of the family and the police force. It was captivating and heartbreaking and oh so good.
Macmillan did a fantastic job with this novel, bringing to light all the horrible effects of kidnapping, especially the ones that people don't always consider: the aftermath, even when the child is found and reunited with his family, the publicity and the attacks against the parents, and the horrible psychological effects on the family and the main detective.
Jim was one of my favorite characters in this novel. He worked so hard to save Ben, to the point where he wasn't sleeping anymore. Then, the he finds out that the woman he loves has betrayed not only him, but Ben and Ben's family as well as the entire police force. So while he loves her, he has to remove her from his life because that kind of betrayal, against everything in his life, is too much. After the case is closed, Jim finds room to blame himself for not solving it sooner and for suspecting the wrong people, and because of all that, Jim can no longer function at work and can't sleep at night.
I really loved the way Macmillan wrote this novel. I loved the interweaving of styles, from Rachel's and Jim's perspective written out in regular narrative, to the addition of emails, blog posts, websites, and then the notes from Jim's counseling, which happened after the matter, but helped bring readers through exactly what Jim was feeling and how he was being impacted by the course of events. This change in writing styles really helped move the story forward and kept me entertained the whole time.
This was a fantastic read, and I would recommend it to everyone. It helps readers understand more what it's like for a family to go through something horrible like this, bringing both the perspectives of the family and the police force. It was captivating and heartbreaking and oh so good.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
It took me a while to get into this book. I think about halfway through, I forced myself to slow down and pay more attention to the characters and the events going on because I had heard such great things about the book that I new I was missing something. I think it's probably difficult to write a novel about a group of people stuck in the same house for 4+ months, so there were definitely slow parts in the novel, mostly the whole middle section, but in retrospect, Patchett did a really amazing job with this book.
Underneath all of the terrorism and violence, she tells a story of music and love. Both music and love can cross barriers of any sort. In this house are people from all nations, people who can't talk to each other. Luckily, they have Gen, who is most definitely my favorite character, who can translate for everyone. But this is only one person for the whole party, so clearly he can't be translating everything everywhere at the same time. People have to learn to communicate against their differences. Even with these language barriers, love blossoms. Roxane and Mr. Hosokawa fall in love even though they cannot talk to each other. They find different ways to communicate. Love is not bound by language or nationality. Roxane recognizes this power of love as she's singing and pondering her love and "wondered how it was possible to love someone you couldn't even speak to" (238).
Same with music. The whole book is centered on the music of Roxane Coss. She sings in Italian, but not everyone there speaks Italian. Yet, with this language barrier, people still recognize the beauty of her music. They realize what she offers them to the point where they demand she sing every day for them. When she sings in Czechoslovakian, those who share that language know she doesn't understand what she's saying, but it doesn't matter because the music is beautiful. Patchett is showing the power of music in this horrible situation. These people are hostages in a terrorist situation, but when Roxane sings, they manage to forget that for a moment.
Then there's the bit with Gen and Carmen. Carmen, who is one of the terrorists, and Gen who is a hostage, fall in love, which should seem so ridiculous, but at the same time makes perfect sense. They just fit together, and shows again the power of love in crossing barriers.
This Carmen and Gen thing also speaks to another theme I found especially at the end: the enemy is always human. Regardless of what terrible thing the enemy does, they're still human. When the man comes into the house and starts gunning everyone down, the hostages try to protect the terrorists, because throughout the novel, the hostages saw the humanity of the people holding them hostage. They played chess together, they played soccer together, they fell in love with each other, they understood music together, and at the end, they protected each other, which led to some of them dying. Even the enemy is human.
Overall, very great novel with excellent themes and ideas. Although slow in the middle, the ending is well worth the read.
Underneath all of the terrorism and violence, she tells a story of music and love. Both music and love can cross barriers of any sort. In this house are people from all nations, people who can't talk to each other. Luckily, they have Gen, who is most definitely my favorite character, who can translate for everyone. But this is only one person for the whole party, so clearly he can't be translating everything everywhere at the same time. People have to learn to communicate against their differences. Even with these language barriers, love blossoms. Roxane and Mr. Hosokawa fall in love even though they cannot talk to each other. They find different ways to communicate. Love is not bound by language or nationality. Roxane recognizes this power of love as she's singing and pondering her love and "wondered how it was possible to love someone you couldn't even speak to" (238).
Same with music. The whole book is centered on the music of Roxane Coss. She sings in Italian, but not everyone there speaks Italian. Yet, with this language barrier, people still recognize the beauty of her music. They realize what she offers them to the point where they demand she sing every day for them. When she sings in Czechoslovakian, those who share that language know she doesn't understand what she's saying, but it doesn't matter because the music is beautiful. Patchett is showing the power of music in this horrible situation. These people are hostages in a terrorist situation, but when Roxane sings, they manage to forget that for a moment.
Then there's the bit with Gen and Carmen. Carmen, who is one of the terrorists, and Gen who is a hostage, fall in love, which should seem so ridiculous, but at the same time makes perfect sense. They just fit together, and shows again the power of love in crossing barriers.
This Carmen and Gen thing also speaks to another theme I found especially at the end: the enemy is always human. Regardless of what terrible thing the enemy does, they're still human. When the man comes into the house and starts gunning everyone down, the hostages try to protect the terrorists, because throughout the novel, the hostages saw the humanity of the people holding them hostage. They played chess together, they played soccer together, they fell in love with each other, they understood music together, and at the end, they protected each other, which led to some of them dying. Even the enemy is human.
Overall, very great novel with excellent themes and ideas. Although slow in the middle, the ending is well worth the read.
Friday, August 18, 2017
Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah
Sandra Brown did it again! This might be my new favorite Brown novel. It was full of suspense and tension, and I had no clue how it was going to end because each chapter threw a new wrench into my well-laid out plan.
I really liked the characters in this book. Shaw is a perfect criminal gone good guy, and Jordie is a pretty good damsel in distress who can actually fend for herself if we let her. All along I was waiting for the moment when Brown would let me know that yes, they will end up together. I had a thousand different ways in my head that Shaw and Jordie would end up together, but when Brown hit me with it, it was one avenue I hadn't pursued. Total twister! but, after reading that revelation, I realized, of course. There could be no other way that would bring them together.
I almost didn't like the final twist of the book, because I wanted to like Josh. From the beginning, I wanted there to be a way for Jordie and Josh to reconnect; I thought Jordie was a great sister that could take care of Josh, but Brown let me know I was way off course with that. I was disappointed, but it was a great turn of events, and the book wouldn't have been as good had it ended any other way. Maybe what I didn't like about that ending was that Brown played me so well. I fell for the trap she put out, and I was convinced I was right in my guessing, so when I found out how wrong I'd been, I was kind of upset (in a good way, obviously). Nice job on the ending, Brown.
This is a small thing, too, but I really appreciate all the inter-play with the cops throughout the book. We get a really good back/home story of the main cop, which I really appreciate, and then we get these fun little relationships between all the cops as they come together. This is where I understood how much I like Shaw. When all the other cops find out the truth, they're kinda mad, and I find the future interactions with them entertaining.
All in all, a really great read, with lovable characters and new twists each chapter. Definitely will read again.
I really liked the characters in this book. Shaw is a perfect criminal gone good guy, and Jordie is a pretty good damsel in distress who can actually fend for herself if we let her. All along I was waiting for the moment when Brown would let me know that yes, they will end up together. I had a thousand different ways in my head that Shaw and Jordie would end up together, but when Brown hit me with it, it was one avenue I hadn't pursued. Total twister! but, after reading that revelation, I realized, of course. There could be no other way that would bring them together.
I almost didn't like the final twist of the book, because I wanted to like Josh. From the beginning, I wanted there to be a way for Jordie and Josh to reconnect; I thought Jordie was a great sister that could take care of Josh, but Brown let me know I was way off course with that. I was disappointed, but it was a great turn of events, and the book wouldn't have been as good had it ended any other way. Maybe what I didn't like about that ending was that Brown played me so well. I fell for the trap she put out, and I was convinced I was right in my guessing, so when I found out how wrong I'd been, I was kind of upset (in a good way, obviously). Nice job on the ending, Brown.
This is a small thing, too, but I really appreciate all the inter-play with the cops throughout the book. We get a really good back/home story of the main cop, which I really appreciate, and then we get these fun little relationships between all the cops as they come together. This is where I understood how much I like Shaw. When all the other cops find out the truth, they're kinda mad, and I find the future interactions with them entertaining.
All in all, a really great read, with lovable characters and new twists each chapter. Definitely will read again.
Sting by Sandra Brown
Sandra Brown did it again! This might be my new favorite Brown novel. It was full of suspense and tension, and I had no clue how it was going to end because each chapter threw a new wrench into my well-laid out plan.
I really liked the characters in this book. Shaw is a perfect criminal gone good guy, and Jordie is a pretty good damsel in distress who can actually fend for herself if we let her. All along I was waiting for the moment when Brown would let me know that yes, they will end up together. I had a thousand different ways in my head that Shaw and Jordie would end up together, but when Brown hit me with it, it was one avenue I hadn't pursued. Total twister! but, after reading that revelation, I realized, of course. There could be no other way that would bring them together.
I almost didn't like the final twist of the book, because I wanted to like Josh. From the beginning, I wanted there to be a way for Jordie and Josh to reconnect; I thought Jordie was a great sister that could take care of Josh, but Brown let me know I was way off course with that. I was disappointed, but it was a great turn of events, and the book wouldn't have been as good had it ended any other way. Maybe what I didn't like about that ending was that Brown played me so well. I fell for the trap she put out, and I was convinced I was right in my guessing, so when I found out how wrong I'd been, I was kind of upset (in a good way, obviously). Nice job on the ending, Brown.
This is a small thing, too, but I really appreciate all the inter-play with the cops throughout the book. We get a really good back/home story of the main cop, which I really appreciate, and then we get these fun little relationships between all the cops as they come together. This is where I understood how much I like Shaw. When all the other cops find out the truth, they're kinda mad, and I find the future interactions with them entertaining.
All in all, a really great read, with lovable characters and new twists each chapter. Definitely will read again.
I really liked the characters in this book. Shaw is a perfect criminal gone good guy, and Jordie is a pretty good damsel in distress who can actually fend for herself if we let her. All along I was waiting for the moment when Brown would let me know that yes, they will end up together. I had a thousand different ways in my head that Shaw and Jordie would end up together, but when Brown hit me with it, it was one avenue I hadn't pursued. Total twister! but, after reading that revelation, I realized, of course. There could be no other way that would bring them together.
I almost didn't like the final twist of the book, because I wanted to like Josh. From the beginning, I wanted there to be a way for Jordie and Josh to reconnect; I thought Jordie was a great sister that could take care of Josh, but Brown let me know I was way off course with that. I was disappointed, but it was a great turn of events, and the book wouldn't have been as good had it ended any other way. Maybe what I didn't like about that ending was that Brown played me so well. I fell for the trap she put out, and I was convinced I was right in my guessing, so when I found out how wrong I'd been, I was kind of upset (in a good way, obviously). Nice job on the ending, Brown.
This is a small thing, too, but I really appreciate all the inter-play with the cops throughout the book. We get a really good back/home story of the main cop, which I really appreciate, and then we get these fun little relationships between all the cops as they come together. This is where I understood how much I like Shaw. When all the other cops find out the truth, they're kinda mad, and I find the future interactions with them entertaining.
All in all, a really great read, with lovable characters and new twists each chapter. Definitely will read again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)