So I liked this book okay. I'm thinking that I would have liked this book a whole lot more if I hadn't watched the movie at least six times since it'sSo I liked this book okay. I'm thinking that I would have liked this book a whole lot more if I hadn't watched the movie at least six times since it's come out, before reading this book. The book is actually pretty slow and so I understand why they took great portions of it out. And unlike the movie, there is no clear happy ending- that's kind of the point of the whole thing. The characters are complex and heartbreaking but again, because I am comparing them characters seemingly less complex and more dramatic in the movie, the whole thing felt a bit too much. Honestly, this is very much in the same vein as It's Kind of a Funny Story and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (especially the latter), and I think that I like those two more than this one. There was something almost disjointed about that one, and the only thing that seemed to be holding it together is the whole "silver linings" theme and Tiffany. Perhaps that can be interpreted as an extended metaphor for Pat as a character but it was pretty draining to read.
Overall, pretty okay story but I've read better books of similar theme elsewhere. ...more
Maybe I would have appreciated this a bit more if I was British. Maybe. Who knows, really?
This book...well it's suppose to be a tear jerker. It's supMaybe I would have appreciated this a bit more if I was British. Maybe. Who knows, really?
This book...well it's suppose to be a tear jerker. It's suppose to make me think (in the novel kind of way, that is). It's suppose to stick with me for a long time. Yeah, I know.
And trust me, it will. It was a really good read. It was funny, charming, witty, angsty (just a little bit), romantic but not raunchy (yeah, it's not Fifty Shades of Gray), and even a bit profound in certain places. Oh yes, and it was sad. I won't tell you why because it's not really...crucial right now (and frankly I'm not sure how you cannot know already. There's a bunch of reviews down here that outright say it. And perhaps you have heard about the movie's ending). Anyway, this story of old Emma and Dexter is all those things above and more. Their love story- a story that meets back up with Em and Dex every July 15 (the day they met) for twenty years- is about the first full-out, adult chick-lit novel I've ever read and it will probably rank among the best of them.
That being said, reading this, it wasn't always particularly fun to read. I guess I should mention the fact that I'd watched the end of the movie before I'd even touched this book and I knew beforehand how the story would end.
And I read the darn thing anyway.
The thing is, knowing what happened was not even what made this book sometimes a burden to get through. It was Emma. And Dexter for that matter. I guess it has something to do with my age, but I liked them far better when they were in their twenties than when they were in their thirties and forties for gosh sakes. As I read past the 1990s and into the 2000s couldn't help think, "God I hope I don't end up like Emma".
I mean, Emma was a pretty depressing character. She wasn't annoying, which is a rarity for me and female protagonists. She was smart and witty and quietly beautiful and blahblah and she was actually quite relatable. But...sigh...she was just so melancholy all the time. Jeez. It's like her life sucked, like karma had it out for her the WHOLE time. It was very miserable to read parts of her story, actually. And eventually I just got to the point that I just wanted to get on with some of the uncomfortable break-up, heartbreak parts because there were so many of them and I just wanted her to PULL IT TOGETHER.
Next, it's Dexter. I get that he's hot. Fine, actually. That he's British. That he think he owns the world because he is all these things plus kinda rich. But um...why in the world does he have to drink so much? I know that's part of his persona (along with drugs and cigarettes for darn's sake) but gosh. Every time he picked up some random liquor (which was at least every other page with him) I just wanted to scream into the book 'Put the alcohol down and go to AA!'. The thing is, the author never made Dexter's fondness of alcohol seem like a problem. He just made it seem like, I don't know, Dexter's cool hobby because Dexter is just so cool. And I'm not like some alcohol tolerance activist or anything but I just got so annoyed when Dexter got drunk over and over and over again and then got in trouble over and over and over again with it.
Their lives were full of constants. I don't feel like going over them rights now, so I won't. But that was one of the reasons why this book did not get five stars from me. It is also one of the reasons why it took so long to read this (haha, look at me blaming the book and not myself).
Other than that, this was a wonderful novel. A bit frustrating and that...last bit was quite unnecessary and now it's got me trying to write British and I didn't realise that being British was quite this fun and I will surely stop now (that doesn't sound British, does it?) Ahem, anyway.
It's not for the faint of heart but if you have a long flight or something and are looking for a touching chick lit, go for it. Good luck. ...more
Is this one of those books that people either love or hate? I don't know. I mean, I know that the reviews aren't too good.I mean, I've seen better. BuIs this one of those books that people either love or hate? I don't know. I mean, I know that the reviews aren't too good.I mean, I've seen better. But I don't know if that's due to so many five star ratings and one star ratings being averaged together, or if everyone is mostly lukewarm about this. I don't know.... (Don't mind me. I was clearly diluted with the opinions of about four people. This book has a 4 star average. Pretty darn good.)
I do know that I am lukewarm about this, though. I just thought I should say that because my nonexistent rating does not indicate as such.
Is it safe to say that I kind of hated the way the author bunched together the dialogue? I just hated that. Really I did.
And I know some other may also have hated this, but I kinda liked how Oskar (that's his name, right?) said 'Anyway' after long stream of consciousness. That was cute in a sarcastic, witty 8 year old (he is 8, right?) kind of way.
But you have to understand. I read this on my Kindle Fire. Perhaps if I had read this in traditional book format, I would have appreciated more the random picture inserts or virtually blank pages. But I didn't, so I couldn't.
Alright, do you really need to know what this is about? I mean, you probably know what it's about. But I guess I'll tell you anyway.
There's a young boy named Oskar. He lives in New York City. He lives across the street from his grandmother (her husband left her) and resides in an apartment with his mother and father. Oskar loves his father because he is inquisitive and also gets him thinking. But that all changes on September 11, 2001. Oskar's father is killed.
However, I never really got the impression that Oskar was heartbroken. Instead, after his father's death, Oskar goes on a quest to find out the secret his father left behind. And so, he sets off around NYC looking for clues.
I really liked this book 40% of the time. At least, I liked it when Oskar narrated. Like I said, he was cute and most of what he said made weird sense. On the other hand, I was often frustrated when the points of view shifted to a mute old man who has to write on paper to 'speak' (Oskar's grandfather) and the grandmother whom talked about everything to how they met to why they 'broke up'. These chapters seemed unnecessarily long and I got the strong urge to skip all that and see what Oskar was doing. But once I got to Oskar, his narration (while good) was inadequate to resolve the problems of the previous chapter.
I could have finished this if I wanted to. But with Kindles, if it's late, there's no hoarding it and turning it into the library two weeks late. It's just gone after the due date. Great. Yippee. Huzzah. Huzzah.
Perhaps, if I don't just end up watching the movie, I'll give this book another go round. But I can't promise anything. ...more
This is your typical long and drawn out classic. It is the story of a girl growing up in Brooklyn.
. .. ...
Were you waiting for more? Seriously. That's wThis is your typical long and drawn out classic. It is the story of a girl growing up in Brooklyn.
. .. ...
Were you waiting for more? Seriously. That's what this book was about. And that's just pretty much it. Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against coming of age stories, or even this book. It wasn't entirely boring. It was just.... I read somewhere in there, that at first the author was going to make this book an autobiography or a memoir of a sort. I could tell. Although she changed the name, obviously, this was very much a memoir. The reason I didn't really like this book much, was, it was so goshdarn New York. I don't live in New York(News Flash: not everyone does). And this was one of those books that thought EVERYONE must know which borough is Irish, or which street intersects with Broadway, and stuff like that. But I didn't. And that was the problem: the assumption that I did. Plus, like I said, before, it was very drawn out. This is the story of a girl's childhood. Her WHOLE childhood. It's gotta be pretty long. I'm not entirely sure why I picked this book up in the first place. I think I heard how much of a classic it is, and realized that I'll probably have to read it in school ANYWAY. Well, if that's the case, I think I'll just wait for my teacher to assign it to us. I don't think I'll be picking this book up again, for fun, ever again. ...more
Better than I thought, though not much. Very hard to understand. It was better in the beginning, but as the book went on, it got a bit tedious. Sigh. Better than I thought, though not much. Very hard to understand. It was better in the beginning, but as the book went on, it got a bit tedious. Sigh. Guess I'll read it again someday. Oh, and I didn't read the stupid forward or afterward. Hate those -_-...more
I'm a liar. I did not finish this book. I know I should have. But I didn't. That darn Imani.
*silently reprimanding myself for not finishing this book*I'm a liar. I did not finish this book. I know I should have. But I didn't. That darn Imani.
*silently reprimanding myself for not finishing this book*
I got the general gist of it. I know it sounds like I didn't read this but I really did try. I was getting into it for awhile. In fact, the 40 pages I did read were read in about 20 minutes. Seriously. But I just got...distracted.
And then, I looked it up and I realized that it wasn't an autobiography like I'd thought. It was just a work of fiction and that kind of turned me off. I mean, while I was reading it, I was kinda hyped up about the fact that I was reading an autobiography(I haven't read an autobiography since The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley. In fact, I think that's the only AB I've ever read). But when I realized that I wasn't reading an AB, I just got....sad. I mean, here I thought "Wow! I get to see what's it's like to live in the Middle East from someone who actually lived there!"
I don't know if Khaled Hosseini lived in the Middle East or not but I just wish that if he did that he could have told it as his own story. I mean, I think that's more genuine than a work of fiction. It's kind of like that darn book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I mean, the author had grown up in Brooklyn but she didn't make the darn thing an autobiography. Ugh. I hate fiction that's basically a person's life but it's not an AB. But what do I know? I didn't even finish this thing. It's sitting under my bed as I type this, untouched for almost two weeks now. Sigh. Maybe this would have been a nice book. A lot of people seem to like it. I just wish it was an autobiography. Darn....more
So, if you have ever seen Disney's version of The Beauty and the Beast, then basically you can predict what will happen. I kinda knew what would happeSo, if you have ever seen Disney's version of The Beauty and the Beast, then basically you can predict what will happen. I kinda knew what would happen the moment I started reading it(probably because my friend told me what happened in the movie, although not the same i do not think). Anyway, it was a very good book, although maybe a bit cliche'. I liked the twist at the end. Great. Now I can see the movie :)...more
Many times, it is a mistake to watch the movie, before you read the book. Like, I Am Number Four. But in this case, I actually didn't have a problem. Many times, it is a mistake to watch the movie, before you read the book. Like, I Am Number Four. But in this case, I actually didn't have a problem. I liked both the book and the movie.
I don't really feel like getting into the details and all. All I really want to say is that this is a classic children's book that even teens will enjoy(I should know)....more
Okay, so I'm thinking that I won't rate it. Because I didn't actually finish it. I want to say that it's just because it was due at the library, but tOkay, so I'm thinking that I won't rate it. Because I didn't actually finish it. I want to say that it's just because it was due at the library, but that would be a lie. Honestly, in the two months I read this book, I just couldn't get into it. I don't know. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that i already saw the movie. And I guess I got distracted by comparing and contrasting the movie and book. I don't know. But by the middle, I kinda just stopped. It was just....kinda boring. I know it's suppose to be the complete opposite but it was kinda disappointing. Sigh. Oh well. Disappointments have been usual lately. Sigh. Oh well. ...more
Well, that's kind of what this book is like. Of course, it's not as good but it was okay I guess. My teacher recommended this booEver read
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Well, that's kind of what this book is like. Of course, it's not as good but it was okay I guess. My teacher recommended this book to me back in like, August. And at first, I thought she said 'Tales of Being a Wildflower'. I guess that's why it was so hard for me to find this book and why I'm just now reading it. This book was written in letter form and all. And there's this boy name "Charlie". I put "" because he states in the beginning that he makes up the names for everyone because he doesn't want this person he's writing to(whoever that is?) to know his identity. So basically there's this loner named "charlie" who's friend has just killed himself. And now, Charlie is kind of all alone and has to go to high school. He then meets these cool seniors who befriend him and all. And he learns about himself.... But oh wait, I forgot to mention that he had like a mental breakdown when his aunt died when he was little. And now, he sometimes feels like he's about to have one. He feels, sometimes, that he's not real. That nothing's real.
Overall, it was a good book. At the beginning I didn't like Charlie very much because he wrote like a little kid. Really proper and innocent. Not like Catcher in the Rye, which is what I was expecting. Charlie never REALLY got over the whole innocent thing but he got a little better. I also couldn't get over the fact that it was in the nineties and all. I'm not sure. I mean, I was born in the nineties, so I should have no problem with it. It's just...I don't know. I liked Charlie's friend's alright but Patrick kind of got annoying at times(not b/c of his sexuality, just because he was kinda whiny). I didn't really understand the morale or anything. If there is any, that is. I'm guessing if anything, that the morale is growing up(like Catcher in the Rye). Maybe I should stop comparing it to Catcher in the Rye. Maybe that's why I refuse to give this book 5 stars(even if I did read it in a day.)
Oh....and since when(and why) did MtV publish books. Weird O_o...more
(view spoiler)[ Hannah. Oh hannah. Why didn't you just get Clay to help you? Why didn't you just SPEAK UP???? As you expect, this Hannah Baker killed (view spoiler)[ Hannah. Oh hannah. Why didn't you just get Clay to help you? Why didn't you just SPEAK UP???? As you expect, this Hannah Baker killed herself. Pills, of course. It seems a lot pf people die like this. But the way she killed herself isn't what really matters here. What she left behind is what matters. After she killed herself tapes of WHY she did so were sent out. And eventually, they were sent to the narrator, Clay, who had a crush on Hannah and made out with her shortly before she died. I didn't really have any problems with this book as much as Hannah. Hannah got on my nerves. I understood her pain and even could see myself in her position but I was just mad that she didn't give herself and Clay a chance. But instead she decided to kill herself. I admit, I almost cried when reading this from the light of my reading light at 12:00 am. It upset me. I don't think I recommend this to people who can't take pain. This book made me think differently. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing :/Hannah. Oh hannah. Why didn't you just get Clay to help you? Why didn't you just SPEAK UP???? As you expect, this Hannah Baker killed herself. Pills, of course. It seems a lot pf people die like this. But the way she killed herself isn't what really matters here. What she left behind is what matters. After she killed herself tapes of WHY she did so were sent out. And eventually, they were sent to the narrator, Clay, who had a crush on Hannah and made out with her shortly before she died. I didn't really have any problems with this book as much as Hannah. Hannah got on my nerves. I understood her pain and even could see myself in her position but I was just mad that she didn't give herself and Clay a chance. But instead she decided to kill herself. I admit, I almost cried when reading this from the light of my reading light at 12:00 am. It upset me. I don't think I recommend this to people who can't take pain. This book made me think differently. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing :/ (hide spoiler)]...more
2018 Re-reading this book and writing this review is me growing up. It's me accepting and analyzing the nuance that the Black experience and writing ab2018 Re-reading this book and writing this review is me growing up. It's me accepting and analyzing the nuance that the Black experience and writing about the Black experience warrants. One of my main impetuses for re-reading this book is the fact that I have so many people whose opinion I respect that adore this book - I wanted to see why. Another reason is that Tar Baby, another Morrison novel, is one of my favorite books I’ve read over the last few years. I wanted to make sense of that too. So I picked up a worn copy stolen from my grandma and made a point of reading it page to page. Almost immediately, my 15 year old self was proven majorly wrong by my 22 year self. Now, I will not go so far as to say that my 15 year old self was completely wrong or fool-hardy. I trust her, I know she saw something there that did not sit right and to be sure, the time you read certain books does impact how you pay perceive them. I have to trust that I read that book the way I did for a reason and disliked it for certain reasons. I may not agree now but surely what I saw was what I saw….and perhaps this is facile but I do believe that I hated Beloved in 2012.
With that said, a theme that stuck to my mind throughout was the concept of Black solidarity. The beautiful passage that details a sermon Baby Suggs gives in the Clearing, listened to by dozens of Black folks, represented for me, the power of loving yourself as a Black person and loving other Black people just as much because they are Black. That is, loving Blackness both spiritually and corporeally. I read this against my own increasingly cynical view of skinfolk as kinfolk, realizing that although certainly not all Black people can be trusted by other Black people simply because they are Black, nuance is required if one wishes to appreciate history. Just as I soon as I was humbled by this realization, Baby Suggs and her family were being betrayed by the very people she had begged to love themselves, the very people she had cooked for, all because of jealousy. The Black folks in this town did not warn them of the schoolteacher because of pride and jealousy! So once more, my “skinfolk ain’t kinfolk” theory felt…refreshed. But things are never that simple. Indeed, when Denver goes out for help we see that there are Black folks willing to help her, albeit for complicated reasons. We see with Stamp Paid that he feels guilty, which shows that people felt bad about not helping out when they should have extended sympathy to Sethe. These people also ultimately have a role in casting out the fleshed Beloved, which for better or worse, ultimately helped both Sethe and Denver learn to love themselves. The theme of Black solidarity was crucial in this novel, as nowhere have I seen as yet it dealt with such complexity.
Morrison writes profoundly about race, gender, sex, children, change, slavery, abuse, neglect, and death. I don’t necessarily agree with all of her takes but I have yet to read someone who writes of these topics so deliberately and with enough poise to make me have as many questions as answers. This is a book I will be returning to which is the best compliment I can offer.
I know, that I should probably love this book, being that it is an "artsy", "Beautiful" "Wonderful" piece of writing that illustrates my people's violent, devastating history. Don't get me wrong, I respect Morrison for writing like all the vague compliments above. And perhaps, in time, I'll find some more appreciation for this book, somewhere (Gosh, someeeeehwere) and raise my rating for this book. But probably not today.
So....let's get started, shall we?
What you have here, is this messed up black family living in rural Ohio, about a decade after the Civil War. They are still traumatized (as they should be) by the horrors of slavery. This family is comprised of a young 18 year old girl named Denver and a middle-ish aged woman named Sethe (Yes, these are girl names). They live in a house called 124 and within this house, the ghost of Sethe's murdered daughter haunts it (which is one of the reasons why Denver's older brothers eventually ran away. The grandmother, Baby Suggs, also died). So anyway, Denver and Sethe live in an isolated existence from the black community, because of what Sethe did to her oldest, unnamed daughter :she killed her to prevent her from being forced back into slavery, eventually going to jail. Sethe's old friend, Paul D shows up (^_^) and not long after, a young woman named Beloved shows up at 124 and turns their stupid world upside down. Fun. Fun. Fun. Sound pretty good? Not so fast. Let's break it down. (view spoiler)[Beloved seduces Paul D (Note, he is nearly three times her age and he was kicking it with Sethe too), Beloved gets pregnant, presumably with Paul D's child, Paul D was raped while in some prison, Sethe is an idiot, Denver is pretty much a stalker (though she got better at the end), Beloved almost managed to starve Sethe to death (not that Sethe cared too much since she realizes that this girl [made to be a twenty year old girl, the same age Beloved would have been had she not been killed by her mother] is actually her daughter [which actually goes back to how idiotic Sethe is), there were about a billion flashbacks and half the time, one could barely distinguish what the heck was going on...okay, I think that's ALMOST IT (hide spoiler)]
So, besides all the stupid decisions...aww let's face it...the stupid CHARACTERS in Beloved, I just didn't like the writing style all that much. I hate vagueness and nothing was ever said OUTRIGHT. Everything was always just half said, like it was a stupid secret or something. It was so annoying. Did I mention how much I hated the characters? I understood their struggles and, at times, could even sympathize, but they were all just so repulsing. Almost every time I read a part (esp. when dealing with Sethe or Beloved) I just wanted to hit the book (the only reason I didn't was because I don't hit books. I like them...most of them). I kept wishing other things would happen that would make the book better but none of that stuff ever even occurred. Morrison was too worried about creating symbolism and stupid characters to bring Halle (Sethe's husband, NOT Paul D. Actually, that's Halle's buddy. Great, right? -_-) back (that would have been really awesome. I wish he would have been a ghost instead). I also hated how most of it, not all, was in third person. But then again, I hate third person anyway. That being said, the best part was the end when, (view spoiler)[Beloved finally left and dopey Sethe and stupid Paul D could get on with their depressing lives. Oh, and Denver. I was glad when she got out of the house and got a life. (hide spoiler)]
Now, all I have to decide is whether or not I should keep my copy of Beloved or donate it to some other poor child who will have to suffer through it (maybe one day I'll do the same again :p). Then again, I am not sure which would be worse.
Oh...and let's not forget the cows. Don't EVER forget the cows (that goes for you too, Paul D)
I didn't finish this dull classic. Real big mystery solved there, Sherlock.
Honestly, was I really going to finish this? No. Oh.
Now there's a shocker.
I didn't finish this dull classic. Real big mystery solved there, Sherlock.
Honestly, was I really going to finish this? No. Even when I was...stealing...ah...checking it out from my school's library, I knew I wasn't going to finish it. I just looked at the little thing and said to myself, "You're not gonna finish this".
I was right. Sigh. Darn it.
But unlike the other books I reviewed recently, I had a valid reason for not finishing this one.
Reasons I Didn't Like the 'Wonderful' Oh So Mighty "THE GREAT GATSBY (I know that 's suppose to be underlined or italicized but whatever)
1.)I didn't like the main character I was looking forward to a book narrated by this Gatsby person. And it turns out, it's narrated by this Nick character. Yuck. He sounded conceited and snooty to me. The only thing he would really talk about was how things look.
2.) The Other Characters and their discussions I don't know how the topic of race come up, but when Nick was visiting those people (whoever the heck they were, I got lost in a mess of names) they started talking about how the white race was being overtaken by the other 'minority' races and it just sounded racist to me. I'm not sure if it was meant to (I know it takes place in the 1920s and all). But it just didn't sit right with me and I couldn't even take the book seriously after that.
3.) WHEN THE HECK DO WE MEET GATSBY? Nick and his little friends were boring! Apparently, Gatsby was this neighbor or something who was...well, he was great. But during the part i read, he wasn't even there. They just TALKED about him.
Sometimes I hate American classics because half the time I get very disappointed. The Great Gatsby is going to be shelved right along with Lord of the Flies, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Scarlet Letter, The Old Man and the Sea and Invisible Man (even though I don't want to rate it, yet).
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