As the title may suggest, this is the section where I shall be sharing with you my thoughts and feelings on the books I have read recently. I realise that the worst book I read will probably be very much better than the writing I am currently producing! That is why my book reviews are here on the Thought Bubble, instead of over on the Writer’s Bubble!
This will probably be a very occasional series. Long gone are my wonderful years of reading a book a day. Partly this is down to life – you know, the general day-to-day stuff that makes sitting down with a book a rare, luxurious treat rather than an everyday occurence! Partly, this is down to my currently appalling concentration span. I don’t know why it is like this, but whereas I used to be able to lose myself completely in the pages of a good novel, I rarely achieve that now. This makes me sad. I am also now unable to have more than one book on the go at a time. My short-term memory is such that this would be completely impossible for me now.
So, while I look forward to indulging in some wonderful books, which I will then write about, I fear that there may be rather long gaps between each review!
Picture Credit: gaspi *yg
Reviews are listed in date order, most recent first.
June 12th, 2010:
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
I had been meaning to read this book for a long time. In fact, I bought it way back when it first came out – and then my inability to read anything for years took hold and it just kind of sat there, gathering dust.
Anyway, when I heard that they were making it into a movie, I decided I really had to read the thing! I finally managed it – and I am so glad I did.
The Lovely Bones is fantastic from start to finish. In fact, it is very hard to believe that such an accomplished novel could possibly be the author’s debut – but that it is. And what a debut.
Haunting, melancholy, honest, real and painful – all words that can be used to describe the story of the young girl – Susie – raped and murdered by a neighbour, who is stuck in her Heaven watching her family fall apart. And yet, the book is not maudlin. It manages to be all of the aforementioned things, and still be uplifting. Parts of it are funny, and there is a warmth that just radiates from the pages. Having said that, the destruction of relationships that are dealt with by Sebold are painful and raw. You ache for her characters as their lives are ripped apart uncontrollably. The feeling of utter helplessness and loss seeps through every page. Yet there is also redemption. And hope. And above all, love.
Despite the fact that the story is set in the 1970s, the characters are not dated – I defy anyone not to relate to at least one of them. Personally, I felt like a bit of a combination of a few of them! And who wouldn’t want a grandmother like Susie’s?!
The characters will make you love them, root for them – and yell at the pages in frustration at their actions. Abigail – Susie’s mother – in particular really got to me. But despite the fact that her actions made me angry, in the end there was an understanding and a resolution. And it is a measure of Sebold’s talent as a writer that she made me feel so strongly about the character in the first place, so it certainly isn’t a complaint on my part!
If there is one flaw with this novel it is in a part of the book towards the end involving Susie and her nearly-boyfriend. Those of you who have read the story probably know instantly what I am referring to, but for those of you that haven’t, I won’t spoil the surprise. Suffice it to say that, rather than enhancing the story, I felt it was the single piece of the novel that did not ring true. And that is not because of any scepticism of the subject matter – after all, the story is narrated by a dead girl, so you’re kind of suspending disbelief from the start! No, it is rather that it suddenly feels as if the whole thing has changed direction. The writing – in fact, the whole feel of the book – seems to change for a short time, and it does nothing to enhance the reader’s enjoyment. Rather, it jars somewhat.
Despite that one negative point, The Lovely Bones is a delight to read. It is truly a story that sucks you in, and steals great chunks of your time without you even noticing it’s happening. I would not hesitate to recommend this book, and I have no doubt that I will be reading it again.
Now I need to watch the film and see how it compares!
Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 stars
Overall Verdict: Definitely one to read, and re-read. Keep an open mind and let the characters tell you their beautiful story.
April 5th, 2010:
The Passport, by Herta Müller
Well then. Where do I start with this one? Let me see. Oh yes. I hated it.
Sorry? What do you mean I can’t just say I hate it and leave it at that? Who says a book review has to be in depth? Oh, ok, fine!
*Sigh*
So, you want to know what was so bad about it. Again, I’m not sure where to begin, but I shall endeavour to do my best. I would like to point out though, that I despised the book so much that even though I finished reading it about three weeks ago, I am only just writing the review. I would also like to mention that I resolved to always find at least one good thing to say about anything I review. With The Passport – winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 2009 no less – I am struggling. Really. In fact I think I may just have to fore-go that promise to myself altogether, which saddens me greatly – and which I blame completely on Müller’s book!
I should say here, that I was really looking forward to reading The Passport. I had always planned to read it after finishing Twilight, because it was a really short book – a novella really – and therefore I figured it would complete my easing back into reading nicely. The subject matter also seemed fascinating – a small German village in Romania struggling under the oppressive Ceausescu regime, and the effect on the people living there. The decision between eking out an existence in this place, or contemplating a move to the West. Not exactly fluffy subject matter, I grant you, but interesting nonetheless. Or so I thought.
Unfortunately, it became evident from the first few pages that this was not going to be an easy read. Or an enjoyable one. Or indeed worth spending another minute on. However, I have always regretted not finishing books when I was younger just because I couldn’t ‘get into’ them so I resolved that when I started reading again, I would persevere. At first with The Passport, I thought it was just me. That my long break from serious reading had somehow left me unable to connect with the text. That I had somehow become intellectually incapable of understanding a difficult book. After a little while though, I realised it wasn’t that I had suddenly become a literary dunce. No, the problem was the book itself. In that it was just really crap.
It isn’t just the profanity that irritated me – although it certainly played its part. Equally, sex in novels generally doesn’t bother me. I’m not a prude. I don’t get upset about bad language or sex if there is a context, if it fits with the character using those words or doing those deeds – though to be truthful it doesn’t particularly thrill me. However, the swearing in The Passport was mainly perpetrated by the narrator’s voice – by Müller herself. This, I believe, was not necessary. And the descriptions of the sexual contact were nothing short of vile. There is no cushioning, just graphic imagery and more of the crude language. There was nothing about it that could even pretend to be enhancing the story. It just seemed to be thrown in to shock the reader, or perhaps to appear ‘modern’ and ‘edgy’. It obviously went down well with the Nobel judging panel. Maybe they like that sort of thing.
Add to this that none of the characters – with the possible exception of Amalie, one I would have liked to know better, but sadly was not allowed to by the author - were remotely likeable. At all. The men think it’s ok to beat, rape and oppress their women. The women, for their part, are all slappers. I know things were bad in Eastern Europe after the war, but is Müller seriously trying to tell us that this is what everyone was like? That there was nobody even slightly redeemable? That a father would feel no guilt, no shame, for pimping out his daughter to the town officials in order to get a passport?
And the writing style! In its relatively short (thank goodness!) length, the book skips backwards and forwards in time with no warning. Often I had to really concentrate, and re-read great chunks, to work out where I was and what was going on. As soon as you find your feet, you are whisked off somewhere else again. Despite this, the story never seems to actually go anywhere, until the final few pages when it races to a quick and rather unsatisfactory conclusion. The lack of dialogue also means that Müller’s voice is the one we hear loudest – not a good thing at all.
I am prepared to forgive a tiny part of the book’s failings with the knowledge that some of the prose may have been lost, or disrupted, during translation. No matter how good the translator, there are always going to be some words and emotions that just don’t make the transition from one language to another. However, translator Martin Chalmers would have had to be doing his job with his eyes closed for this to be the only reason for the way the book turned out! I think we can safely say he’s off the hook.
Maybe I’m just not intelligent enough to appreciate the book’s deeper philosophical meaning. Maybe there is a vital subtext that I’m just not seeing. Maybe I just totally missed the point. But you know what? I don’t care. Really. I am not bothered enough by this literary equivalent of watching paint dry to take the time to find out – particularly if finding out means re-reading this disaster of a novella. All I can say is, the Nobel Prize people must be of a far superior intellectual caliber than I, to have seen whatever potential The Passport contains within its 92 pages. Either that, or 2009 was a really bad year for fiction.
Sadly, this book has made me incredibly wary of reading anything else that has won a literary prize! Surely, the point of awarding writing is that it’s, well, good. Isn’t it? That it should be readable by pretty much anyone who likes to read. Something that your average bookworm can pick up and enjoy. Because really, if a panel of judges have no connection to the real world and the books people love to read, then what’s the point? And as a writer, why would you want to write for these people and not the general public. Sure, awards are great, but if nobody likes or enjoys your book, then surely that’s a fail.
Anyway, I would not hesitate to recommend that you avoid this book if you possibly can. Unless, of course, you’re into jarring prose, thoroughly unlikeable characters and a plot that goes nowhere. If that’s your thing – go for it!
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars
Overall Verdict: A horrible, bleak and despair-filled book – best avoided. (The generous one star is for the character of Amalie).
March 3rd, 2010:
Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
Welcome to my first Book Review. I cannot wait to get stuck in to reading and reviewing lots of wonderful (and not so wonderful) books for your reading pleasure! It is probably a bit late to be reviewing this particular book. I realise that, but as it is the only book I have managed to get through lately I’m afraid that Twilight it is!
I have to say I am slightly disappointed. I was looking forward to reading this book immensely. Despite being aimed at “Tweenies”, it struck me as being fresh, interesting and enjoyable – the first of the plethora of teenage vampire novels that have hit the shelves since, to cash in on Twilight’s fame. It came highly recommended to me by many of my friends, and the fact that it was billed as a ‘quick read’ was a definite plus point.
Maybe the fact that it has taken me so long to get through is more to do with me than with any fault in the book. Certainly, I cannot blame Meyer for my lack of time (and, it has to be said, inclination) to read. Also, I don’t know whether it is a factor of the depression which has plagued me for so long, but I do find my concentration span and short-term memory is not what it once was. I do miss being able to sit and immerse myself in a book, oblivious to all distractions and interruptions going on around me, as I did when I was a teenager. I have lost my absolute love of reading somewhere along the way. I had hoped that Twilight would be the book to help me get it back. It is with great disappointment that I have to admit: I was wrong.
I am acutely aware that some of the time I was making assumptions as I was reading, based on things I had heard or read about Twilight and its sequel, New Moon. I suppose that is inevitable when reading a book for the first time that has already been made into such a phenomenally successful film franchise. There is no doubt that, despite deliberately not watching the film until after I had finished the book, I had seen enough publicity to have some of my thoughts coloured by the movie. Certainly, my images of the characters were of the principal actors in the movie. Robert Pattinson was Edward Cullen in my head, Kristen Stewart was Bella, and so on. Maybe this took some of the enjoyment away for me – the thing about reading a book is being able to get lost in your imagination, allowing the words on the page to create images and sounds in your head. This was at least partly spoiled for me by the film being so successful, and therefore invading every aspect of the media, rendering it impossible to avoid!
Also, the initial peripheral characters – that is, the human ones – were an annoyance for me, rather than a useful plot device. Rather than adding to the story, they detract from it significantly. This is probably because they are simply-drawn caricatures: The Jock, The Geek (Nerd? Dork?), The Shy One, The Mean Girl, The Pretty-Vain-Vacuous-Popular Girl… you get the idea. These characters are two-dimensional parodies of teenagers. They are never really developed beyond their stereotypes and, quite frankly, we are never told enough about them to give a toss! However, in contrast, I felt that we never found out enough about the vampires – who were by far the more interesting and intriguing supporting characters! I want to know why Rosalie is so awful, what Esme’s back-story is, what happened to Victoria – and just who made Alice and then walked away? Ok, so the last one was actually resolved, but you get the point I’m making. I guess we are supposed to be so focussed on Edward and Bella that these questions do not arise, but if that is the case, why provide us with those tantalising clues in the first place?!
And at this point, there is something else I really need to get off my chest: The Sparkles™. Don’t even get me started on The Sparkles™. It seems that this was Meyer’s attempt at adding something original to the girl-meets-vampire tale. Kind of a ‘how can I make this different?’ question. The answer she came up with was sparkling vampires. Puh-lease. It doesn’t work. At all. And I love all things sparkly.
I have to admit here, that once I was (well) past the halfway point, things began to improve slightly. Ok, let’s be generous – rather a lot. Once the relationship between Edward and Bella stopped being in Bella’s head and started to actually develop, I felt that the pace of the book picked up tangibly. In fact, some of the scenes – particularly the ones where Edward and Bella are struggling not to touch each other – really do ratchet up the emotion and the senses. It was as if someone had flipped a switch – or I had started reading a completely different book. From that point on, I started to feel something. From that point on, I started to care.
The reading actually became easier, too. While I was reading the part where Edward and Bella spend the day together (circa page 260), I was completely absorbed. To the point where I forgot I was meant to be collecting Chipmunk from school! The bit where she meets the Cullens also rang true for me. The characters seemed to become much more real from this point on, and you kind of get the impression that this was where Meyer really found her voice…that maybe some of what went before was just padding until the real story begins. That this was the tale she had been wanting to tell.
The end part of the book – starting from the chapter entitled ‘The Hunt’ is really rather good. I was interested, involved, hungry (thirsty?!) for what was coming next. The pace picked up tangibly and the prose found a rhythm, and fell away to the point where all that existed was the electrically charged atmosphere as the hunter chased down his prey. This is reading at its best. This is reading as it should be. My problem? Reading this part of the book was so wonderful, so exhilerating – but it was as if I was reading a different book. Read seperately, this section would be an exciting, worthwhile – and, yes, quick read. Put with the rest of the novel? It just doesn’t gel. So, while overall Meyer has produced some fantastic writing, there is unfortunately no consistency to it. And quite frankly, she would probably have lost many of her readers before they got to the thrilling climax of the book!
So, hmm, maybe I’m being too harsh in this review.
But how successful is a book, really, if it only draws you in after the first 200 or so pages have been read? If you can get through the monotony of Bella’s everyday life, her longing for Edward, the pages and pages (and pages) of furtive glances, missed opportunities and heartfelt monologues, then I guess you might actually enjoy the rest of the book. If you don’t make it that far, then you are probably missing out on a reasonably entertaining novel. While the tedium that preceeds the second half of the book is essential in setting up some of the storylines, Meyer could have cut great swathes of the needless meandering and ended up with – in my opinion – a much better (and more readable) book.
Oh. I wanted so very much to love this book. And I ended up only loving about a third of it. That makes me so sad. I guess I’ll just have to hope that New Moon follows on from where Twilight leaves off, rather than reverting to how it began. Fingers crossed.
Rating: ★★★✩✩ 3/5 stars
Overall Verdict: Not completely dire, by any stretch of the imagination…but definitely fails to live up to the hype. A great shame.
