As my first foray into the works of John Steinbeck Tortilla Flat was both intriguing and fascinating. It was clear from the outset that Steinbeck holdAs my first foray into the works of John Steinbeck Tortilla Flat was both intriguing and fascinating. It was clear from the outset that Steinbeck holds mastery over the language captured within his vocabulary and is able to force it to breathe and move like a living creature.
Although a small novel by modern standards (at only around 170 pages) Tortilla Flat was a study of the daily lives of a group of friends living in Tortilla Flat in California. Brought together by the common thread of friendship these people are observed in various chapters as they help each other out and work to help other less fortunate people. (view spoiler)[ Ultimately though their fellowship falls apart with the death of their friend and they leave their previous friendship behind in ashes. (hide spoiler)]
It was a moving text, a relaxing read and one that completed its intended effect: to provide an escape into another world. After all despite claims to the contrary a good story should be one that releases the reader into another world. And Tortilla Flat while not the greatest novel I've ever read was well written, composed and lyrical. If the truth be told my favorite tales are ones which wax lyrical and haunt the reader after the pages are gone. And this novel certainly haunts the reader.
I highly encourage all genuine readers to browse the pages of this story and discover the world within. Hopefully you will find it as entertaining as I myself did. ...more
This was my personal favourite of Gerald Durrell's works that I read as a child. It is as wittily dry as My Family and Other Animals and the prose is This was my personal favourite of Gerald Durrell's works that I read as a child. It is as wittily dry as My Family and Other Animals and the prose is also as rich and lush.
Where Durrell excels, and what I remember him for, is in how he creates an entire book consisting of fragments of short stories. It really reads as an entire story chronicling his life, though many details are no doubt highly exaggerated. If you are a fan of humour, autobiographies, short stories and full novels then this is the book for you. It is a classic in my mind, a book that like the first, everyone should read.
Gerald Durrell in this book continues where he left off with his first (um, novel?) volume. The opening story, which follows a kind of foreword depicting Durrell's decision to write a sequel, is brilliantly humorous and serves to draw you into the rest of the novel. This story as I recall is about Durrell's sister attempting to lose weight medically and ending up getting involved in seances. Which all ends up brilliantly chaotic.
Since this is a book that is autobiographical in nature it tends to jump from story to story with connecting threads between them. It's really a journal that follows the life of one young naturalist as he discovers the creatures around him (including the ones he lives with and the strange friends of his siblings).
Sadly this book is currently out of print and I no longer own a copy. But no doubt there are copies floating around available for people to get their hands on. And if you do get your hands on these books they are worth it, so very worth it. The writing remains with me and the character depictions remain with me to this day. This is a book about the ordinariness and the extraordinariness of life, the adventures we go on and the characters we meet. It is one of the best autobiographical type books I have ever read and I give it the highest recommendation....more
I went back and decided to write a review on this non-fictional novel/memoir (not all events are fully true I believe) which is considered by some to I went back and decided to write a review on this non-fictional novel/memoir (not all events are fully true I believe) which is considered by some to be a modern classic.
I remember finding a box of Gerald Durrell stories on the shelf as a twelve year old and reading them in luxury. They captivated me as Durrell told the story of his childhood in Corfu hunting animals. Not only was it full of interesting facts about the animals he caught but also about the people in his life. Told with wit, humour and the pure ability of a natural storyteller this is a sort of autobiography that you can read as a novel full to the brim with short stories.
If there's one thing Durrell does exceptionally well it's write description. And my thought has always been that a gifted writer is a master of description. His descriptive writing almost drips from the page so that you feel every detail in your imagination as a real sense.
However I would recommend this book and his other works because of the memories they'll leave with you after reading. You'll laugh at the outrageous characters he meets, the wacky things his family gets up to and be fascinated by the details of everyday life magnified to an extraordinary degree. ...more
Shakespeare is a genius, well he was anyway now I guess he's just a dead genius, but his genius survives in the form of his plays. And like many otherShakespeare is a genius, well he was anyway now I guess he's just a dead genius, but his genius survives in the form of his plays. And like many other of his plays Much Ado About Nothing is something to make much ado about.
It is a brilliant comedy focusing on relationships between individuals as they attempt to cause individuals to fall in and out of love. In short it could be read as an analysis of the human heart and the ways in which human beings are emotionally led. Its beautifully written as with most of the Bard's work and I recommend this although in my opinion it is not his greatest work.
I would much prefer to witness a play such as this on a stage yet the very fact it was enjoyable to read pays tribute to the brilliance of Shakespeare. Yet again the Bard triumphs....more
This was typical Phillip K. Dick fare, clever philosophical science fiction contemplating ideas about religion, society and in man3.5 - 4 star novel.
This was typical Phillip K. Dick fare, clever philosophical science fiction contemplating ideas about religion, society and in many ways what it is to be human. It was a well plotted and thought out book with a complicated plot focusing on multiple points of view as they struggle within a harsh society.
The basic premise of this book is that of alternate history. Japan and Nazi Germany won World War 2 and so in 1962 slavery is again legal and the USA have become broken into Japan and Nazi controlled areas. In the midst of this Phillip K. Dick explores several people as they attempt to live in such a harsh environment. The plot also centers around one unique book which questions - what if the Allies had won the war instead. In essence this book half shows the true path history did take.
The plot was brilliantly constructed and well thought out. However I found it hard to truly engage with the characters in the text and so struggled to actually enjoy them as people. It didn't help that one of the few likeable characters Juliana at one stage has a psychotic fit... At which point the writing became hectic and insanely twisted (almost as if the author were writing while psychotic himself). This of course made it difficult to truly like any character. However the plot did serve to show humanity struggling through daily life and I felt that it provided clever parallels with the daily grind of today's modern world.
I do have one more axe to grind though. Phillip K. Dick had the Nazi state possessing highly advanced technology (rockets to travel across borders at super fast speeds and into space, incredible plastics to provide strength for those rockets and so forth) in his text. Personally I believe Japan would have been more likely to possess the technology and the Nazis to be less developed nation. After all fascism is extreme conservatism meaning an obsession with retaining the glories of the past and not pressing on to develop new methods of living. After all the main reason the Nazis did not win the war is that they did not develop enough advanced technology (and they got rid of their most brilliant Jewish scientists). But still that's a minor issue when all is considered.
I fully recommend this book to science fiction fans and to anyone who has already sampled Phillip K. Dick's work. This is a far different work from Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep but was still written with the same style and posing similar philosophical questions. ...more
For the record I am not an outwardly emotional person. Okay, let me get that right. I can be a bubbly energetic or excited individual from time to tim For the record I am not an outwardly emotional person. Okay, let me get that right. I can be a bubbly energetic or excited individual from time to time. Of course, that isn't what I meant. I'm quite a content, optimistic kind of person so I am emotionally driven - very much so. What I mean to say is that I thrive in my life as a laconic, down to earth kind of person. I'm laid back and when it comes to outward expressions of emotion I tend to internalise. I would still consider myself an extroverted introvert it's just that it is very hard to visibly stun me, shock me or make me cry. I'm not insensitive. I just don't show my reactions most of the time.
So, why did I just spend countless sentences on my emotional personality? Mainly to try and convey the fact that this novel right here is one of the few to have rocked me emotionally. It made me raw at the end and it made me tear up. The film has a similar impact. In fact the film is a fairly strong adaptation of this sad, beautiful teardrop of a book.
Let me head off on another tangent. I love conclusions. Conclusions are almost my favourite part of any story, save for the fact that it means the book is over and you're left back in reality. However, for this book the conclusion was terrible, shocking, unacceptable. It was too emotionally moving. The happy ending I was expecting wasn't there. And that is why it is a brilliant book: trust me, read it and see if it doesn't touch you in some way. My one warning is that it is a children's novel of course....more
This is a confronting novel and yet one which ultimately poses an incredibly deep question. It is to me a novel about: morality, free will, government This is a confronting novel and yet one which ultimately poses an incredibly deep question. It is to me a novel about: morality, free will, government control, human nature and good versus evil. It is an exploration of the human propensity towards evil and challenges whether a man can truly ever be good if he is forced to do so or whether by removing his choice he becomes instead something other than human. However despite this depth the premise itself is so unlikeable that unless a reader can push through the first twenty pages they may never see why this truly is a classic novel.
A Clockwork Orange follows the 'adventure' of its twisted narrator: Alex. He enjoys a life of crime and moral decay including brutally bashing up the weak, raping and stealing whatever he wants. He is to that extent totally unlikeable because not only does he do these things but he appears to find them acceptable and even enjoy participating in them. Eventually he is arrested for his crimes and in an attempt to get out of jail he agrees to participate in a radical treatment. This treatment basically involves brainwashing him through forcing him to associate sickness and disgust with horrific immoral acts so that he no longer wishes to commit them. And so we see that Alex finds that in life there are no get out of jail cards. (view spoiler)[And even further his treatment is ultimately reversed by those who see his 'punishment' as the greater evil.
I also found it interesting how the characters Alex interacts with after his treatment treat him just as poorly as he treated them. I personally think that whenever someone treats another individual (even if they are a criminal) with contempt that they act lower than that criminal in many ways. Why? Because they often know better or have the chance to be the better individual but choose to lower themselves to create their own perceived justice. But justice is often served in different ways. That said I've never been in that kind of situation where someone has committed a crime against me and cannot judge another myself. (hide spoiler)]
The challenge in A Clockwork Orange was about how morality is linked to our ability to choose between what is good and what is evil. It questioned whether an evil done for good would ultimately result in evil or whether it was just as twisted as a 'purely evil' act. It explored how humans (in their worst state) have a desire to perform evil and asked what the role of governments in quelling immorality should be? A difficult question as where do you draw the line? Do you stop at preventing an individual from infringing on other humans' rights or are their cases where you need to interact for the good of an individual solely? These are ethical and moral dilemmas and the novel curiously never makes a strong stance on these issues. It merely raises them and asks the reader to consider for themselves their stance.
On a personal level I found this novel a challenge to break into. But once I entered the second half of the story I found it very much re-warding in terms of the ideas. Due to my personal beliefs about the nature of humanity I found this a very interesting novel from the perspective of looking at the various issues raised and I'm glad I did read it. No doubt many highly moral people have avoided this due to their concerns over it glorifying violence or immoral living. However I would state that this is a novel that should be read in order for readers to be able to challenge their own views on the book's internal issues. I do not believe it glorifies immorality or violence but rather uses them as devices to challenge how we perceive humanity and our freedom to choose good or evil.
The nature of the writing itself helps to make this a more palatable read. The novel is written in a beautifully unique style with the youth slang and jargon used by Alex making reading the novel an act of interpretation. But this helps to hide many of the true horrors described by Alex. For had the author written in the usual manner the violence and rape described would have been amplified I believe. Yet this style also serves to make it a novel that is at the very start not very accessible to the average reader looking for an interesting relevant read. But then again its target is not to provide entertainment but a challenge.
One major flaw I had with the book. And it mainly irked me personally was how Burgess portrayed youth versus maturity. There were many times when the younger men in the novel were villainous but when they became older stopped their evil ways. Take Peter as an example. It was highly suggestive that by nature younger people are more morally inept. Which annoyed me as a 'responsible' younger person and from the point that I don't think immorality is something you just 'grow out of' like a faze. Which was tempered by the violent actions of some of the mature officials in the novel somewhat. But I couldn't help feeling like Burgess had something against younger people. And as a future secondary teacher and current older teen I disagree with this suggestion. I think morals are something that come through education rather than merely because of age, class or gender and to say or even suggest otherwise is a little ludicrous to me.
Ultimately this is a novel that I cannot like in its entirety or entirely dislike. Merely it stands as a novel with value in the way it challenges various conceptions and pre-existing ideas. The writing is unique, creative and therefore makes the novel more rewarding to read than had it not been written in such a quirky manner. My overall assessment therefore is that this is a novel not to be liked or disliked but it most certainly is one to learn from.
This was, as a volume, a curious mix of prose and poetry which covers the Norse legends which inspired Tolkien's Middle Earth. In sh3.5 to 4 star book
This was, as a volume, a curious mix of prose and poetry which covers the Norse legends which inspired Tolkien's Middle Earth. In short The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún is Tolkien's version of those myths in poetic form.
I didn't personally find the story of this legend particularly gripping or exciting. However it was astounding to read this from the perspective of observing the sources that fueled Tolkien's own creativity. And having a personal fondness for mythology and in particular Norse mythology I found the setting and characters rather familiar. However those with a tendency towards less academic reads could find that The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún tends to drag at times and is a slow and ponderous read. However I found that despite being at times confusing the poetic element of the narrative made it rather easy to flick through the pages rapidly once I began.
I would say however that compared to other Tolkien works this would be the hardest for the general public to swallow. Its a pure literary mythological read, a work based on the style and ideas of the past Norse epic poetry. However if that appeals to your reading taste buds I encourage you to eat and savor this work. ...more
Crime and Punishment is one of those quintessential classics that every reader of literature knows they must read at some point in their life. There i Crime and Punishment is one of those quintessential classics that every reader of literature knows they must read at some point in their life. There is a clear reason for this, for Crime and Punishment is one of the greatest novels of its type in existence that I have encountered.
There are certain types of authors who seem to understand various issues better than others. Charles Dickens for instance, is the example of an author who understands the pressures of life and the ways in which society can tread upon individual freedoms in the pursuit of wealth. Similarly, many of the great Russian authors seem to understand suffering and poverty like few other authors can. But where a man like Anton Chekhov utilises the simplicity of language to devastating effect, Fyodor Dostoyevsky wields his pen to talk about suffering on a holistic level.
In essence, Crime and Punishment is perhaps the greatest example of how to write a novel about psychological suffering. For within the novel you have the great cat and mouse game between detective and criminal, yet it is the mind of the criminal of which we are aware. We see his uncertain reasoning regarding the murderous act. We see his insecurity regarding his family and their romantic endeavours. We see his apparent confidence reduced to a series of internal struggles and we see him struggle to maintain a human façade when faced with inquisitive interrogators. In so many ways, the whole act is built up, stage by stage, to show in devastating clarity a criminal who does not believe himself to be a criminal.
Do we not all justify ourselves and our lives every time we are challenged? Who among humanity would willingly and happily accede that they are a criminal, or guilty of a wrong act - a kind of treachery? Very few would, and those that would we would name as insane in some manner. Therefore to see the main character, Raskolnikov, go through such a process of reinterpreting, re-evaluating and re justifying his deeds, is to gain an insight into the act of being human. And that is a terrifyingly brilliant thing.
There is something other than the psychological intrigue which plays across this book. To the open reader there are many religious and spiritual themes regarding the existence of god, the afterlife and what it is to be mortal. Raskolnikov at points, clearly denies a belief in any god and this lines up with the pantomime he lives out in everyday society. For to accept that any god could exist is to accede that he has committed a crime not merely to society but against a human soul and therefore against a godly creator. However, the story of Lazarus, the man raised from the dead, becomes a kind of metaphor in this story, for the spiritual condition of Raskolnikov and at the conclusion of Dostoyevsky's narrative there are signs that Raskolnikov's spiritual life is being resurrected.
In the end Dostoyevsky's work is so multifaceted that it may take several readings and re-readings to get just a small hint of what he suggests in it. The fact that this is such an open novel is what makes it a great work of fiction and one I am certain to return to in my lifetime for new insights.
In my opinion, Othello focuses upon one of Shakespeare's great literary devices. The misunderstandings between characters fuel this intelligent plot a In my opinion, Othello focuses upon one of Shakespeare's great literary devices. The misunderstandings between characters fuel this intelligent plot and provide grounds for Shakespeare to tantalize his audience. We the reader (or the viewer) recognise that of course Desdemona is innocent and that Iago is the mischief maker in the plot. And so to build suspense Shakespeare dangles this information tantalisingly in front of our very noses.
The one problem I have with Othello is the nature of its characters. It was easy enough to see from a glance that Othello did not truly love Desdemona. If he did then why did he rush to convict her of being unfaithful to him? Particularly when the only evidence he possessed was not solid but rather based on the account of one man: Iago. Because he rushed into marriage it is my belief that Shakespeare intended to reveal that rather than being in love Othello felt only desire for Desdemona. Rather than being a typical hero Othello was, rather, revealed as a man caught by lust and passion. He didn't love the character of his wife but rather her body and what she was to him. I found this element of the play unsavoury and found the lack of any true heroes frustrating.
Iago was, however a brilliant villain and like the rest of the characters well devised. He acted like a serpent to bring mischief and cause misery. This I find is the manner of all Shakespeare's best villains. And despite my misgivings about the text the clever construction and wordplay make this a worthwhile Shakespearian play.
Note: And since I now have a 1892 copy of the entire works of Shakespeare I may in the future finally continue where I left off after this volume, progressing through all of Shakespeare's plays that are known....more
Loading...
