I'm trying to appreciate memoirs more, and books like this one really help that. I think Julie Andrews is a phenomenal actress and singer, and I absolutely love The Sound of Music, so when I saw this book for $.99 at Goodwill, I decided to try it, and I'm very glad I did!
Julie Andrews had a very interesting upbringing, and she writes about it so nonchalantly that one would think the book would be boring, but it wasn't. There were so many moments in the book when I thought, "Seriously? That poor girl. This is so horrible," but for Julie, it was just her life. What I appreciated about this book was that it was never a sob story. It was never a pity party. She never wrote to make us feel bad for her. She just wrote to tell her story. Even in the moments when you're afraid of what her step-father is going to do to her, she just writes, almost as if she's shrugging it off, but knowing her as you do when you finish the book assures you that she isn't shrugging it off. I think this is her way of acknowledging that all she experienced during her childhood led her to be the woman she is at the end of the novel, and that women is an incredible, talented, successful, joyful woman. Without her past, she wouldn't be where she was at the end. She wouldn't be flying to Disney to film Mary Poppins. She wouldn't be married with a beautiful baby girl. All the book made her who she was, and that's why she never tries to make her readers pity her or feel bad for her. In my small history with memoirs, most authors want sympathy. They want readers to feel bad that the author had to experience what they did. Julie was not that way, and that was great.
The book is well-written and well-paced. She doesn't linger too long in one period of life, but gives the main points and moves on, providing unique experiences for each stage of her early years. It was easy to read, easy to get caught up in, and yet easy to put down and pick back up, which made it easier for me to finish.
My only disappointment was that this ended before she got to The Sound of Music, and I would have liked to hear what it was like to film that because I love it so much.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Home: Toni Morrison (Two books that share the same title #1)
This was a sad story of pain, suffering, and journeying through the trials of life to find your home. It was a very short read and moved along pretty quickly.
I struggled to follow the order of events in the book. No dates were given at the start of chapters, so it often took a bit for me to figure out if we were dealing with the past or present at any given point. At the end, I still didn't have a full grasp on the order of events. That made it a little challenging to follow the book.
I didn't understand the inclusion of Lily in the book, especially when she had her own chapter. Because of the length of the book, there was no room for her to grow or develop, so I couldn't understand why there was so much time spent on such an unnecessary (in my opinion) character/plot line. Frank talked about her quite a bit, which is fine and makes sense for the development of his character, but having a chapter from her perspective didn't add anything for me; taking me away from the main story of Frank instead.
There are a lot of themes one could explore in this short book, which says a lot for the author, that she could pack so much into the book, but I wouldn't say the themes make this a phenomenal read. It was good, but it wasn't enjoyable, per say.
I struggled to follow the order of events in the book. No dates were given at the start of chapters, so it often took a bit for me to figure out if we were dealing with the past or present at any given point. At the end, I still didn't have a full grasp on the order of events. That made it a little challenging to follow the book.
I didn't understand the inclusion of Lily in the book, especially when she had her own chapter. Because of the length of the book, there was no room for her to grow or develop, so I couldn't understand why there was so much time spent on such an unnecessary (in my opinion) character/plot line. Frank talked about her quite a bit, which is fine and makes sense for the development of his character, but having a chapter from her perspective didn't add anything for me; taking me away from the main story of Frank instead.
There are a lot of themes one could explore in this short book, which says a lot for the author, that she could pack so much into the book, but I wouldn't say the themes make this a phenomenal read. It was good, but it wasn't enjoyable, per say.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
11/22/63: Stephen King (A book featuring an amateur detective)
I don't like Stephen King. His books are a little too gruesome and freaky for me. Granted, I think the only book I read all the way through was Carrie, but that was gruesome enough to turn me off of King for life. But I know what It is about, and that is not for me. However, 11/22/63 has been on my list to read for a while because I enjoy reading, watching, and learning about the Kennedy assassination, and a book that purports to stop Lee Harvey Oswald sounded brilliant to me.
However, I purchased it over five years ago, after my dad told me how great it was and have only just gotten to it. I think the length really intimidated me: the length and the fact that it is written by Stephen King. But I saw it on my shelf the other day and said, this is it. I'm going to read it. So I did.
First of all, for an incredibly long novel, it reads very fast. I started the book on Wednesday and finished on the following Tuesday, just reading in hour long increments as I had time. When reading, I found that the chapters flew by, partially helped by the break up of chapters into sub-chapters. I always find that when you have breaks in long chapters, it makes the chapters seem smaller and more manageable. I don't think I ever went more than five pages without a break in the scene, and that helped to keep things moving.
King also just keeps the action moving. The characters aren't given much time to just sit and think; things are moving and changing at a rapid pace and readers have to keep reading in order to keep up with the plot. I greatly appreciate that because it meant I was constantly engaged in what was happening.
I enjoyed Jake as a main character. He reads, writes, and teaches kids to enjoy reading and writing, and I find that brilliant in a character. He definitely becomes an amateur detective of sorts when Al asks him to take over, and I was surprised by how well he handles this new task. Somehow, his literature and language background prepares him perfectly to jump boldly into this "new" world and do exactly what he means to do. Even when the past is throwing every obstacle at him, he manages to scrape by with grace, dignity, and bravery, and it almost seems like he never falls or falters, even though it sounds like he should have. He is pretty much the perfect hero, and that I didn't enjoy. I'm not saying it should have been harder for him because it was plenty hard, but even when it was plenty hard, Jake always knew exactly what to do, and he never had an issue coming up with the perfect plan or perfect way around every obstacle. That was too unrealistic, I found.
I did not like the Sadie aspect of the book. I understand this as the mortal flaw for Jake, and I understand why King had to include her, but I certainly did not like her or her involvement in the book. She just drops in, Jake says, I don't love her, but she's a nice friend, until all of the sudden she's the center of his world and he can't look past her to see the bigger picture. That drives me a little crazy, especially in the center of the story when I felt Jake could have been doing a lot more useful things but was too distracted. However, I do understand and I get that without Sadie, the book would be missing an important aspect.
I still don't know how to feel about the ending. I get why it ended the way it did. But I don't think I like it. It was disappointing, and yet King manages to make the disappointing ending satisfying, which is nice. It does almost feel like the whole book becomes a waste, though, and I'm not sure what to make of that feeling.
I'm very interested to see how Hulu turned this into a series. I'd really like to see what they make of it, how they portray the characters and the world, and if anything is changed from the book.
I can't say that I like Stephen King. I appreciate him as an author, fully acknowledging that this man has incredible talent, but his books are not for me. However, this is one I'll gladly keep on my shelf and maybe return to sometime in the future.
However, I purchased it over five years ago, after my dad told me how great it was and have only just gotten to it. I think the length really intimidated me: the length and the fact that it is written by Stephen King. But I saw it on my shelf the other day and said, this is it. I'm going to read it. So I did.
First of all, for an incredibly long novel, it reads very fast. I started the book on Wednesday and finished on the following Tuesday, just reading in hour long increments as I had time. When reading, I found that the chapters flew by, partially helped by the break up of chapters into sub-chapters. I always find that when you have breaks in long chapters, it makes the chapters seem smaller and more manageable. I don't think I ever went more than five pages without a break in the scene, and that helped to keep things moving.
King also just keeps the action moving. The characters aren't given much time to just sit and think; things are moving and changing at a rapid pace and readers have to keep reading in order to keep up with the plot. I greatly appreciate that because it meant I was constantly engaged in what was happening.
I enjoyed Jake as a main character. He reads, writes, and teaches kids to enjoy reading and writing, and I find that brilliant in a character. He definitely becomes an amateur detective of sorts when Al asks him to take over, and I was surprised by how well he handles this new task. Somehow, his literature and language background prepares him perfectly to jump boldly into this "new" world and do exactly what he means to do. Even when the past is throwing every obstacle at him, he manages to scrape by with grace, dignity, and bravery, and it almost seems like he never falls or falters, even though it sounds like he should have. He is pretty much the perfect hero, and that I didn't enjoy. I'm not saying it should have been harder for him because it was plenty hard, but even when it was plenty hard, Jake always knew exactly what to do, and he never had an issue coming up with the perfect plan or perfect way around every obstacle. That was too unrealistic, I found.
I did not like the Sadie aspect of the book. I understand this as the mortal flaw for Jake, and I understand why King had to include her, but I certainly did not like her or her involvement in the book. She just drops in, Jake says, I don't love her, but she's a nice friend, until all of the sudden she's the center of his world and he can't look past her to see the bigger picture. That drives me a little crazy, especially in the center of the story when I felt Jake could have been doing a lot more useful things but was too distracted. However, I do understand and I get that without Sadie, the book would be missing an important aspect.
I still don't know how to feel about the ending. I get why it ended the way it did. But I don't think I like it. It was disappointing, and yet King manages to make the disappointing ending satisfying, which is nice. It does almost feel like the whole book becomes a waste, though, and I'm not sure what to make of that feeling.
I'm very interested to see how Hulu turned this into a series. I'd really like to see what they make of it, how they portray the characters and the world, and if anything is changed from the book.
I can't say that I like Stephen King. I appreciate him as an author, fully acknowledging that this man has incredible talent, but his books are not for me. However, this is one I'll gladly keep on my shelf and maybe return to sometime in the future.
Monday, September 16, 2019
The Wife Between Us: Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (A book becoming a movie in 2019)
This was a very captivating and thrilling read. I remember thinking in the beginning, "how am I supposed to keep this straight? I have no idea which woman is which and who is doing what." Little did I know. I laughed at myself later.
The authors do a marvelous job keeping readers just slightly off base: enough to keep us turning the pages with fury trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Even through to the epilogue, they're dropping one more piece of surprise on us, surprise that I had no clue was coming.
This book was easy to read, difficult to follow (which made it easier to read because I had to keep reading in order to figure out what was happening), and very hard to put down, which is why I finished it in about two hours instead of two days.
I read An Anonymous Girl earlier in the year, and really enjoyed the fast-paced speed. I was excited to read this one, and I enjoyed this one even more. It had the same feel, but I think the characters were more believable. I know I mentioned Thomas in An Anonymous Girl being a "wet-blanket" character, having no real depth, so I appreciated that Richard was a real character with real background, real stories, and real emotions. He was an enjoyable character to read, and the authors do a great job leaving readers uncertain as to how to feel about him.
I can't say enough how much I enjoyed how this book was set-up and paced. I loved that for the first half, I thought there were two women. I loved that I was following two different stories trying to figure out when they would collide, and then realizing that they've been colliding the entire book. I loved going back and learning about Vanessa's history, and I loved keeping up and learning about Vanessa's future. I'm glad things work out for her in the end because I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about her for the first 75% of the book. I couldn't tell if I was supposed to believe she was crazy, insane, and vengeful, or if I was supposed to believe that she was a victim and just a little unstable. As her character and motivation grew clearer, it was easy for me to love her as a character, pity her, and sympathize with her, so I was very glad with the ending they gave her.
This was an incredibly enjoyable read, and I cannot wait to see the movie!
The authors do a marvelous job keeping readers just slightly off base: enough to keep us turning the pages with fury trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Even through to the epilogue, they're dropping one more piece of surprise on us, surprise that I had no clue was coming.
This book was easy to read, difficult to follow (which made it easier to read because I had to keep reading in order to figure out what was happening), and very hard to put down, which is why I finished it in about two hours instead of two days.
I read An Anonymous Girl earlier in the year, and really enjoyed the fast-paced speed. I was excited to read this one, and I enjoyed this one even more. It had the same feel, but I think the characters were more believable. I know I mentioned Thomas in An Anonymous Girl being a "wet-blanket" character, having no real depth, so I appreciated that Richard was a real character with real background, real stories, and real emotions. He was an enjoyable character to read, and the authors do a great job leaving readers uncertain as to how to feel about him.
I can't say enough how much I enjoyed how this book was set-up and paced. I loved that for the first half, I thought there were two women. I loved that I was following two different stories trying to figure out when they would collide, and then realizing that they've been colliding the entire book. I loved going back and learning about Vanessa's history, and I loved keeping up and learning about Vanessa's future. I'm glad things work out for her in the end because I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about her for the first 75% of the book. I couldn't tell if I was supposed to believe she was crazy, insane, and vengeful, or if I was supposed to believe that she was a victim and just a little unstable. As her character and motivation grew clearer, it was easy for me to love her as a character, pity her, and sympathize with her, so I was very glad with the ending they gave her.
This was an incredibly enjoyable read, and I cannot wait to see the movie!
Monday, September 9, 2019
Wunderland: Jennifer Cody Epstein (A book recommended by a celebrity you admire)
This book was recommended by Jamie Ford, who wrote Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet which was a book I greatly enjoyed, so I admire his reading recommendations!
Wow. This was a hard one to read. It wasn't hard because of the writing or the language, but because of the content. Epstein did an incredible job making these historical events and people real and present even with the time gap between now and then. She brought history to life with her words which is an incredible feat that many authors can't accomplish.
I enjoyed Epstein's writing style. She was very captivating and easy to follow. She wrote her characters very well and made them true real people during the time I was reading this book. She breathed life into her words and the people of Wunderland were people of my life for the time.
The only thing I didn't understand which led me to not like was her order of writing. Perhaps on a second read through I could focus on the effects of the order of events, and that would lead me to understanding why she spaced it as she did. The jumping back and forth between characters works really well, but she's also jumping back and forth out of chronological order, and those two jumps made it challenging to keep up with the chapter changes. I'm sure, however, that there is a very good reason for doing this; I'd just need to take the time to figure her out more.
I'm also not sure if Epstein wants us to understand and therefore like Ilse more at the end. Renate seems to open her heart again to Ilse, but I simply found her weak for that. Ilse was a monster, a truly horrible woman, and she does nothing to prove otherwise to me. Her letters are full of nonsense excuses, never any true apology, so I can't understand how anyone could appreciate or forgive Ilse in the end (aside from my Christian upbringing and Christ's commands to forgive everyone.).
The last comment I have is that I think we could have used more of Ava's character. She was included, but her inclusion was so disjointed and incomplete that I had a hard time understanding her involvement. I know that we needed her in there for the ending, but I never fully understood why she received so much attention throughout the book. Perhaps it's just to keep proving that Ilse was a horrible mother, but I didn't need to see that to dislike Ilse as much as I did. I think the book could have benefited from either more of Ava's character, to develop her more, or less of her character, to develop the rest of the book more.
Wow. This was a hard one to read. It wasn't hard because of the writing or the language, but because of the content. Epstein did an incredible job making these historical events and people real and present even with the time gap between now and then. She brought history to life with her words which is an incredible feat that many authors can't accomplish.
I enjoyed Epstein's writing style. She was very captivating and easy to follow. She wrote her characters very well and made them true real people during the time I was reading this book. She breathed life into her words and the people of Wunderland were people of my life for the time.
The only thing I didn't understand which led me to not like was her order of writing. Perhaps on a second read through I could focus on the effects of the order of events, and that would lead me to understanding why she spaced it as she did. The jumping back and forth between characters works really well, but she's also jumping back and forth out of chronological order, and those two jumps made it challenging to keep up with the chapter changes. I'm sure, however, that there is a very good reason for doing this; I'd just need to take the time to figure her out more.
I'm also not sure if Epstein wants us to understand and therefore like Ilse more at the end. Renate seems to open her heart again to Ilse, but I simply found her weak for that. Ilse was a monster, a truly horrible woman, and she does nothing to prove otherwise to me. Her letters are full of nonsense excuses, never any true apology, so I can't understand how anyone could appreciate or forgive Ilse in the end (aside from my Christian upbringing and Christ's commands to forgive everyone.).
The last comment I have is that I think we could have used more of Ava's character. She was included, but her inclusion was so disjointed and incomplete that I had a hard time understanding her involvement. I know that we needed her in there for the ending, but I never fully understood why she received so much attention throughout the book. Perhaps it's just to keep proving that Ilse was a horrible mother, but I didn't need to see that to dislike Ilse as much as I did. I think the book could have benefited from either more of Ava's character, to develop her more, or less of her character, to develop the rest of the book more.
Sunday, September 8, 2019
Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression: Mildred Armstrong Kalish (An Own-Voices Book)
I started out enjoying this book quite a bit: it was like a grown up version of Little House on the Prairie, which is one of my favorite book series. However, I quickly grew uncomfortable and annoyed with the amount of talking down I feel Kalish did to the reader. I felt much of this book was her talking down to today's society, today's culture, today's youth, and today's people. It was as if she was trying to make us feel guilty for modernization and the life we have now, which isn't fair. I found much of her tone to be snooty, high, and mighty.
Here are some of the phrases she used that led me to these feelings: "Is there any sense in trying to make the modern reader understand..." "I don't know anyone today who knows that..." "I've never met anyone else who can..." and so on. The one I especially did not like was "The current generation will never know the sublime taste of the tomatoes and the strawberries we picked sun-ripened from the vine and ate on the spot." We do have tomatoes and strawberries, and many of us actually do pick them straight off the vine and eat them. I know I have on countless summer days picked a bright red tomato and eaten it right there among the plants. I really struggled to appreciate Kalish's life when the whole time she was telling me that I will never have as fulfilling a life as she did.
It's so hard to compare today's life to that of the life Kalish lived. There are just too many differences that each comparison can't hold up, I think. Sure, we have indoor plumbing (praise God) and electricity, which assuredly make things easier, but they also bring a lot of complications too. For each benefit of today's life, I'm sure there's a negative to follow that, just as with Kalish's life, for each negative, there is a positive.
The other issue I took with this book is that Kalish never brought up hardships she faced due to the Great Depression. Sure, she talked about how cold winters were, but even those cold winters, she had a blast sledding and skating, and she always kept warm. So although the title brings up "Hard Times," those hard times aren't made known to the readers, and I can't help but feel this is because she wants us to feel how much better her life was, and if she brought up the bad, we wouldn't be as jealous.
Maybe I'm being too hard on the author, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Kalish is better than anyone reading this book, and there's nothing we can do about it because we don't have to work hard for the lives we live. That makes me very unappreciative of the stories she shares, and it led me to have a very difficult time enjoying this book.
**Also, I know I'm totally stretching the "own-voices" thing, but I figure, she's writing about a time she lived through and how she made it through the challenges she faced, so oh well.**
Here are some of the phrases she used that led me to these feelings: "Is there any sense in trying to make the modern reader understand..." "I don't know anyone today who knows that..." "I've never met anyone else who can..." and so on. The one I especially did not like was "The current generation will never know the sublime taste of the tomatoes and the strawberries we picked sun-ripened from the vine and ate on the spot." We do have tomatoes and strawberries, and many of us actually do pick them straight off the vine and eat them. I know I have on countless summer days picked a bright red tomato and eaten it right there among the plants. I really struggled to appreciate Kalish's life when the whole time she was telling me that I will never have as fulfilling a life as she did.
It's so hard to compare today's life to that of the life Kalish lived. There are just too many differences that each comparison can't hold up, I think. Sure, we have indoor plumbing (praise God) and electricity, which assuredly make things easier, but they also bring a lot of complications too. For each benefit of today's life, I'm sure there's a negative to follow that, just as with Kalish's life, for each negative, there is a positive.
The other issue I took with this book is that Kalish never brought up hardships she faced due to the Great Depression. Sure, she talked about how cold winters were, but even those cold winters, she had a blast sledding and skating, and she always kept warm. So although the title brings up "Hard Times," those hard times aren't made known to the readers, and I can't help but feel this is because she wants us to feel how much better her life was, and if she brought up the bad, we wouldn't be as jealous.
Maybe I'm being too hard on the author, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Kalish is better than anyone reading this book, and there's nothing we can do about it because we don't have to work hard for the lives we live. That makes me very unappreciative of the stories she shares, and it led me to have a very difficult time enjoying this book.
**Also, I know I'm totally stretching the "own-voices" thing, but I figure, she's writing about a time she lived through and how she made it through the challenges she faced, so oh well.**
Friday, September 6, 2019
Assassin's Creed: Oliver Bowden (A LitRPG Novel)
This was really just terrible. I read it only to fulfill a requirement on my reading challenge, and I will never again return to the likes of this book. It was just bad, honestly.
I'm sure I'm not the best person to judge this book as the content is of absolutely zero interest to me, and so it's hard to look at it with a positive attitude. Maybe I didn't give it enough try, but I just couldn't.
It's obvious that this is a book written by gamers, for gamers, nothing more, nothing less, and for that I can't fault the author or the book. It appeals to a certain niche which is what books are supposed to do, right? I just found the writing to be pretty low-grade, which makes since for the population it is trying to appeal to. It just makes it very hard for me to enjoy. There are areas where Bowden tries to be "fancy" with his writing: long, detailed, complex sentences that just really aren't necessary. I thought several times throughout that this author was trying too hard to be like Dickens, and this is not the place for that type of writing. Much of the book is descriptions of fighting and chase scenes and other action sequences that make sense for a video game book: lots of training to be a good fighter, climber, runner, etc.
I became quickly annoyed at the amount of "fake suspense" in the first 20 pages, and then, to my dismay, throughout the rest of the book. In two pages alone, there were five accounts of the character leaping off a roof and "almost" not making it across to the next rooftop. And each leap contained a paragraph of the character worrying about misjudging the distance and worrying about the fall. Seriously? Five times in two pages is way to much. I would go so far as to say that one time in two pages is too much. Gag.
It's obvious that the action scenes are meant to be more exciting than the overall plot, which again, makes sense for a video game book, especially one about fighting and killing. It's easy to see how the book fits in a video game: there are quests and the next quest begins when the previous quest is completed, and sometimes there are little side gigs to distract from the main quest, and there are always rewards. I don't know much about gaming, but I know this is pretty usual.
I'm glad some people enjoy this type of book, and I'm glad that it's okay for me not to enjoy it. I never have to read this again (hopefully).
I'm sure I'm not the best person to judge this book as the content is of absolutely zero interest to me, and so it's hard to look at it with a positive attitude. Maybe I didn't give it enough try, but I just couldn't.
It's obvious that this is a book written by gamers, for gamers, nothing more, nothing less, and for that I can't fault the author or the book. It appeals to a certain niche which is what books are supposed to do, right? I just found the writing to be pretty low-grade, which makes since for the population it is trying to appeal to. It just makes it very hard for me to enjoy. There are areas where Bowden tries to be "fancy" with his writing: long, detailed, complex sentences that just really aren't necessary. I thought several times throughout that this author was trying too hard to be like Dickens, and this is not the place for that type of writing. Much of the book is descriptions of fighting and chase scenes and other action sequences that make sense for a video game book: lots of training to be a good fighter, climber, runner, etc.
I became quickly annoyed at the amount of "fake suspense" in the first 20 pages, and then, to my dismay, throughout the rest of the book. In two pages alone, there were five accounts of the character leaping off a roof and "almost" not making it across to the next rooftop. And each leap contained a paragraph of the character worrying about misjudging the distance and worrying about the fall. Seriously? Five times in two pages is way to much. I would go so far as to say that one time in two pages is too much. Gag.
It's obvious that the action scenes are meant to be more exciting than the overall plot, which again, makes sense for a video game book, especially one about fighting and killing. It's easy to see how the book fits in a video game: there are quests and the next quest begins when the previous quest is completed, and sometimes there are little side gigs to distract from the main quest, and there are always rewards. I don't know much about gaming, but I know this is pretty usual.
I'm glad some people enjoy this type of book, and I'm glad that it's okay for me not to enjoy it. I never have to read this again (hopefully).
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
The Rainmaker: John Grisham (Book set on a college or university campus)
I'm kind of stretching it a bit as really, only about the first 30 pages or so are on a college campus, but Rudy has the feel of a student throughout the whole book, so I figure it works fine.
I've come across a lot of Grisham in the past, but I've never actually finished a book of his before this one. I picked this book up somewhere and it's been sitting on my shelf for years, and I decided this was the week to read it. So I plowed my way through...
Part of my problem with Grisham is that he takes so long to get to the point. I get so bored in the beginning and sometimes I can keep going through, knowing that things will get interesting, but with Grisham I just never could get past the beginning. There's a lot of lawyer-talk which might be part of the reason it's slow, but as he writes courtroom thrillers, I can't complain about the lawyer-talk.
This book, specifically, is only thrilling when court is in session, and that takes up less than 50 pages of the book. I spent the rest of the book wondering when we would go back to the courtroom, thus making it a very long read. Grisham did an amazing job in the courtroom, so I can appreciate and understand why his courtroom thrillers are so widely acknowledged as being the best. He writes the scenes very well and keeps writers on their toes throughout the trial, and I was very captivated in those scenes.
He also writes characters very well. I feel about the main character exactly the way I think Grisham wants me to feel about him. He is very pathetic and sad in the beginning. He starts to mature and get his life together, which makes me root for him even harder: I want him to succeed. Somewhere along the way, however, he loses that appeal for me. He lets it go to his head and starts focusing so much on his success that everything else is nothing to him, and that's when I kind of start to hate him. Grisham did a great job leading me through that relationship with Rudy.
What really did not work for me in this book were the different subplots throughout the story, like Miss Birdie and Prince. Those held no meaning, and when they didn't impact the main plot at all, I was very disappointed and annoyed. I still don't understand why they were included. Miss Birdie gave Rudy a place to stay, but there were many different ways Rudy could have found a home without needing to introduce a whole new plot point and a whole new character that just fades away into the rest of the book, being overtaken by the main trial. Grisham could have saved a lot of time by just keeping her and the tale of Prince out of the book. They had no meaning, no appeal, and no point.
I had just convinced myself that I liked the book when I got to the ending. Then all bets were off and I put the finished book in the trash can. Seriously? How many ways can authors write a guy throwing away his life for a girl? It's just not a great story line, and I have no patience for it. Rudy just loves this girl so much, which is not justified to the readers (and I get it, love doesn't have to be justified, but at least try to make me believe it...), and he just takes off with her, because he messed up in a big way, and the trial he thought would give him all the success of the world, doesn't give him as much as he wanted. I was so annoyed when I read those last few pages.
I don't plan on returning to Grisham. Ever. He was slow to get in to, and just when things got interesting, they took a turn for the worst. No thank you.
I've come across a lot of Grisham in the past, but I've never actually finished a book of his before this one. I picked this book up somewhere and it's been sitting on my shelf for years, and I decided this was the week to read it. So I plowed my way through...
Part of my problem with Grisham is that he takes so long to get to the point. I get so bored in the beginning and sometimes I can keep going through, knowing that things will get interesting, but with Grisham I just never could get past the beginning. There's a lot of lawyer-talk which might be part of the reason it's slow, but as he writes courtroom thrillers, I can't complain about the lawyer-talk.
This book, specifically, is only thrilling when court is in session, and that takes up less than 50 pages of the book. I spent the rest of the book wondering when we would go back to the courtroom, thus making it a very long read. Grisham did an amazing job in the courtroom, so I can appreciate and understand why his courtroom thrillers are so widely acknowledged as being the best. He writes the scenes very well and keeps writers on their toes throughout the trial, and I was very captivated in those scenes.
He also writes characters very well. I feel about the main character exactly the way I think Grisham wants me to feel about him. He is very pathetic and sad in the beginning. He starts to mature and get his life together, which makes me root for him even harder: I want him to succeed. Somewhere along the way, however, he loses that appeal for me. He lets it go to his head and starts focusing so much on his success that everything else is nothing to him, and that's when I kind of start to hate him. Grisham did a great job leading me through that relationship with Rudy.
What really did not work for me in this book were the different subplots throughout the story, like Miss Birdie and Prince. Those held no meaning, and when they didn't impact the main plot at all, I was very disappointed and annoyed. I still don't understand why they were included. Miss Birdie gave Rudy a place to stay, but there were many different ways Rudy could have found a home without needing to introduce a whole new plot point and a whole new character that just fades away into the rest of the book, being overtaken by the main trial. Grisham could have saved a lot of time by just keeping her and the tale of Prince out of the book. They had no meaning, no appeal, and no point.
I had just convinced myself that I liked the book when I got to the ending. Then all bets were off and I put the finished book in the trash can. Seriously? How many ways can authors write a guy throwing away his life for a girl? It's just not a great story line, and I have no patience for it. Rudy just loves this girl so much, which is not justified to the readers (and I get it, love doesn't have to be justified, but at least try to make me believe it...), and he just takes off with her, because he messed up in a big way, and the trial he thought would give him all the success of the world, doesn't give him as much as he wanted. I was so annoyed when I read those last few pages.
I don't plan on returning to Grisham. Ever. He was slow to get in to, and just when things got interesting, they took a turn for the worst. No thank you.
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