Alexander R.

The long journey through one of the most acclaimed British classical works is finally over. First and foremost, I really enjoyed the "Oxford World's Classics'' edition, with a wonderful introduction (contains a lot of spoilers, I suggest reading it after), genealogy tree (comes in handy (especially in the beginning when you try to memorize who is everyone and why there are so many people) + footnotes around 20 pages which provide a necessary explanation for someone who is not well-rounded in 19-20 century England.

Now with this finished, let’s get to the actual review!

The book is beautifully written, which does require some time getting used to the rich and vast vocabulary used in most classical works of fiction. By being amazingly vivid, it draws before your eyes a freshly painted pictures such as that of the typical Englishmen somewhere under the big oak-tree in vast lands of suburban London.

The story spawns throughout the change of the English society, mainly one family clan "Forsytes". Also, it is worth noting that the attention time devoted to each of the family members and other characters gets narrower along the timeline of the three parts. In the first one "The Man of Property" we get the widest range of events to observe and many separate plot lines or even observations of characters. Whereas the last one "To Let" still mentions them in one context or another, it is way more focused on proving a resolution though the cogitations of protagonists (Honestly, I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped to, but nevertheless you do understand why it is written in such a way, it is a logical conclusion on to the dynamic journey).

One of the things which makes a classic is probably the characters, their depth, believability and likability. Most characters are not one-dimensional good/bad cliché, but we do see some character development through change, others not, highlighting the sad reality that some people are pig-headed/stubborn in their ways, while other adapt to the dynamical changes in society and the world at large.

My favorite character without a doubt is Mr. Soames Forsyte. One of the key figures throughout the story, being a rather complex and well-written character, he also transmits one of the underlying ideas analyzed carefully in the story, namely "Property and possession or Beauty" along many other prevalent in human nature, coming from a particular class/stratum of the middlemen in the UK. There are a few moments scattered throughout the story, which make you question whether he is the hero or villain (or maybe none and you shouldn’t make quick superficial judgments, eh? More importantly his inner monologues and cogitations (people who read will get this reference) incentivizes you to reflect on your own life and decisions.

The only flaw in the book, which by many may be viewed as it's forté is Irene. Yes, I understand why Mr. Galsworthy wrote her in such a way, yes, she is also one of the key characters, yes, she does illustrate the larger restrictions put upon women in those times. The problem comes that when you try to squeeze so many vital moral and human dignities into one character she becomes almost ‘’saint-like’’ and thus one-dimensional (Yes, there are situations in which we are shown that she does have some doubtful moments, but I can count them on the fingers of one hand). The issue lies not in the character of Irene, but in the contrast to all other characters, who are very dynamic and well-written, showing various sides to them and enduring the situations, which in turn make them change their ways (or not) Vs the almost literal personification of all the good humanity can offer distilled into one human being acknowledged by ALL other characters, it does take you away from fully enjoying the story.

For those who have no time to read, to sum up: if you like complex character-driven story, reflection on human relations/nature and beautiful language observed through the lenses of Victorian and post-Victorian England, the book can quite literally become your getaway from the mundane chores of everyday life.

Mr. Galsworthy's "Saga" is a perfect illustration of what a book is supposed to be when we ought to think of a perfect example to follow in this genre. In my opinion, nothing shows more vividly the impact and the quality of a masterpiece as using it as a measuring tape for other works of fiction, even despite a few flaws here and there, which some might argue are also a necessary part of a masterpiece. Imperfection makes perfection, am I right?

P.S. Yes, the book pacing is slow at times, you may not have the patience to push through it, but it's quite worth it in the end. Perhaps, the chosen pace is an important reflection of the story's timeline as it is a necessary part of getting the correct "Feeling of times" thus emerging you fully into the epoch, but how do I know? Nobody tells me anything. (you will get this reference if you read the book).

I quite enjoy this “Mini” series, since it provides a reader with an opportunity to get acquainted with the Author's style and thoughts no strings attached. 
This particular pocket book is edited from the bigger and more broad memoir “Darkness Visible” by William Styron. To get straight to the point, this book succeeds in what it sets out to do, giving you a glimpse of a  immense and aching solitude of a person locked in his self-destructive and agonising thoughts, portrayed carefully and insightfully by Mr. Styron. Even if you understand what the premise of this book is in some way (The title probably gives it away, right?) he still manages to capture your attention and paint a vivid picture of an individual amidst the crisis of self-destruction, leading to the exploration of contemplation of death, suicide mental illnesses and other things carefully united in a dull and bland word that is depression. 
Thus, I would suggest this book to anyone curious/interested in the topic, which is explored by an articulate writer using all the literary tools of a well-established writer together with personal experience to put forward an essay of a disease (in contrast to all the specific and bland medical literature). 
The goal of this book is not only to give you some food for thought, but to point you in the right direction in search of search of your own way of understanding of such a complex and intrinsically malevolent thing that Depression is.

The book was interesting for someone new to the culture, however each point lacked severely in terms of depth for each topic. I would recommend this book for people who plan to stay in UAE for 2 weeks - 1 month, just to get a better overall understanding. It's a pretty normal book, most of which you will forget if you don't take notes from the book or don't have a background in UAE history, customs and culture.
One negative side I stumbled across is that the book tends to repeat itself a lot. Yes, we understand that UAE growth was fascinating and preserving culture is important, but it shouldn't be repeated each chapter. 

 ''The philosophy of Daraya'' formed at the core of a new way of life, appearing at first as a cooping mechanism for the people who stood by their ideas through the devastating realities of war, later became an integral part (a ‘‘Linchpin'') of each individual hoping to see a better future for their beloved homeland. It is a lesson for everyone who seeks to question the so-called “status quo'' using weopons as last resort to defend themselves and their loved ones from the wake of unending terror enforced by those who claim to be the only alternative to chaos ‘' إما أنا أو الفوضى ‘'.

As it is stated in the title, “The Book Collectors of Daraya” is not about the particular books and/or the library, but rather the people who seek change and have the willpower to preserve and spread knowledge in dire circumstances. Following the main plot we meet the protagonists of Daraya, most of them are young in their 20th together with their teacher/mentor Ustez, each of them has an individual background and story unreveled along the plot. We get some brief historical context here and there (ditaield enough, but not too overwhelming) of how the situation came to be, whlie also getting updates as the time of the siege carries on.

The main plot starts when when Delphine Minoui (author) discovers the random post on Facebook of people reading in an underground library and upon further inquiry finds their contact, which allows her to communicate with them on semi-regular basis thus forming the main structure of the book (although it is worth mentioning that in the end of the book, it is revealed in aknowledgments that there were 2 aspiring journalists who assisted with the translation from Arabic day and night).

The key theme revolves around the certain “Daraya'' unique way of rebellion deoending mroe on self-education and written word, rather than brute force and propoganda of their adversaries. You observe the people's journey of self-analysis and self-reflection intertwined with escapism from the daily life of constant worry and anxiety, leading to the discovery of the previously unknown knowledge from poetry, history, politics to popular self-help books (Note: the list of the mentioned book is conveniently placed at the end as well). It is both fascinating and dreadful that the path to Enlightenment was found on the ruins of a sieged city under the constant bombardment by the Regime.

In the end, despite the destruction of the city, Daraya will never leave the hearts of the people who survived. It is not the city which made the people great, but the people stood against the chaos disguised as order, through 4 years of hardship and siege in hope of a better, equal and free future for their beloved country. The story serves as an inspiring example of how the brave people united by the same values and purpose can to withstand hardship for the intrinsically human desire for freedom, shared by all people in different parts of the world. 

This book provides a well-written critique of the bureaucracy we ought to endure in our everyday lives. This common sense guide points out (with subtle humour) all the aspects of conservative approach to government and private companies management. It was definitely a fun read fore me, I would suggest this book to anyone who has/is/will be working in government (be a civil servant), apart of some examples which don't hold up to the time, most rules and observations are still valid today. (Perhaps more than ever).

This book is a good start for a person who hasn't read any book about financial literacy (For a target audience I think this book is a solid 4-4,5 stars) since it delivers what it promises - a short and comprehensive overview of personal finance principals. Which can incentivise you to seek out more in-depth literature on the subject. It does provide a bit of historical context but it feels kind of slow in the beginning, getting the pace back at the middle and finishes on a quite interesting historical overview. I enjoyed the personal stories, but it feels like we could use more historical events mixed with quotes from some of the successful individuals, some chapters were too focused on only one aspect making the balance uneven. 
The author personally is very humble in the last chapters regarding the personal perspective on his finances. For me it is a one time read which was a little below average since I most of the underlying ideas were already familiar to me (Narrative-based spending, controlling the time as the wealth of 21st century, compounding effect and others). 

The best part about this book is that it made full use of the the balance between quality (information) and quantity (amount of pages), covering everything neatly in VII chapters each describing Demagoguery from one way or another. Some points are given more attention and repeated more throughout the book, which Mrs. Roberts-Miller points out as well. A great advantage for me was the humour scattered on the pages, I wish there was more of it tho!
The central idea is, surprise-surprise, the role of demagoguery and demagogues, which we all are accustomed to in our everyday lives. It's not particularly politicians or newscasters who are positioned as the “Demagogues”, it can be anyone a person at work, a neighbour a family member, etc., more precisely it is any individual who uses flawed argumentation (be it claims, illogical correlation to causation links or arguments ad hominem). 
Or as defined by the author (on page 33): “Demagoguery is discourse that promises stability, certainty, and escape from the responsibilities of the rhetoric by framing public policy aim terms of the degree to which and the means by which (not whether) the out-group should be scape-coated of the current problems of the in-group”.
Elaborating on the “in and out-groups mentioned in the definition”, one primary thesis revolves constantly throughout the book about the relationship between “in-group” and “out-group”, using radical rhetorical polarisation between them as the illustration of of modern demagoguery, based on the same notions as it did 2000 or more years ago (ahahah hello to progress, right?). 
To put simply: individuals, for the sake of convenience and reaffirmation of their biases/beliefs, usually tend to simplify things which are inherently complicated in nature. When we put all people in two camps those who argue the same as we are, aka the “good people” and those who argue the contrary, aka the “bad people”. 
By ignoring the arguments and sticking to the “group view”, we are engage in a flawed way of thinking, where everything is either “black or white”, giving us superiority in our judgment and beliefs over the “bad people who obviously don't know what they are talking about”. Even by using such a simple example, we can easily see how applicable this is for our society now, especially in the internet where people are prone to indulge in group-based thinking without actually considering responding to claims or arguments based on evidence.

To highlight one more important point from the book, let's go back in history to the 1942 case of “Japanese Americans imprisonment” run by the respected Attorney General of California at the time Mr. Earl Warren. I completely agree with Mrs. Roberts-Miller that we are used to the “obvious demagoguery” but it does not pose as much potential danger and negative implications as the “subtle demagoguery”. And what I mean by “subtle” is that sometimes respected people, be it intellectuals, judges, scientists or experts can/do engage in demagoguery without actually acknowledging(or maybe wilfully ignoring the signs) that they do so. As in the case with the case to preventively imprison Japanese Americans on the basis of them being potential spies which will “do harm against the Satte if we don't act now”. The book goes in detail about describing this in more detail, showing that the claims, evidence, respected judge (who thankfully later regretted and acknowledged his mistake for what it's worth) still led to the flawed decision derived from an obviously wrong conclusion, because the decision was pushed through the court under the influence of fallacies and mistakes made in the argumentation on the highest government level. 

It is to be argued that everyone needs to watch their argumentation and claims the make, while also being able to admit when they are wrong. But, I personally feel this is even more necessary and vital for influencers, experts or public intellectuals to own up to the responsibility of being the source of information and forefront of the public view, since nowadays people don't have time to look at all the claims and arguments themselves and thus tend to blindly believe their “authoritative sources”.

To finish the review, I would like to refer to the quote mentioned in the final chapter of the book, which I feel is the main message and advice for the reader to take from the book. When describing what's required of people in the democracy Hanna Fenichel Pitkin writes: “the ability to fight-openly, seriously, with commitment, and about things that really matter - without fanaticism, without seeking to exterminate one's opponent.”

“Guidelines is the best we can do in the world where nothing is certain or exactly repeatable”, this quote from the end of the book describes exactly what you will get after reading this book. 
You won't be given a “master key to know and forecast every event and outcome”, but what you will get is a comprehensive analysis of the tools used by the forecasters. The book is a good read for a general audience, however if you are unfamiliar with concepts and events used and referenced throughout it, you may have a more challenging reading experience. 

The first point I want to highlight in the review is that the book consists of five lectures given on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1985 (As suggested neatly in the end).
The reason I point this out being the plot feels like a serious of lectures, which inhibits the scope and depth, which are possible with the written word via the book.

Now with this out of the way, what we have is a decent amount of arguments, claims and examples for a democractic society and against the tyrannical ones (Who would have gueesed huh?).
The main idea can be condenced to - learn history, expirience human memory through the works of literature and be greatful (if you live in a democracy, of course) for what you have even if it's not perfect, it's still a result of just a few hundred years. 

Mrs. Lessing talks a lot about the fields of humanitarian sciences, escpecially sociology and psychology, putting forward the importance of continuous research of human behaviour as a necessary part of the civilization progress. Those statements possibly were ahead of the time, I do enjoy the examles scattered here and there of South Rhodesia, England. The most vivid one would be the manuscript submission using a pseudonym, whereas all the ‘‘Experts on Mrs. Lessing'' who swiftly reject it for “not being good enough'' which I find quite relatable even nowadays for people to fall for or, perphaps, better to say for people to overestimate their susceptibility to biases, group think etc. Now the Developed/Developing world does, indeed, put a large emphasis (both in quality and quantity) on analyzing and researching the mental state of affairs of both individual and society, which I find, to the benefit of the Author, quite a progressive vision proven right with time. 

To sum up, indeed, it is a pretty short serious of lectures (78 pages), which is definetely not enough for an in-depth exploration of the subject. Yet by using the rich language interwined with history/life examples it still provides a positive overall view of progress, touching the topics of individual beliefs, group think, religion and others thus all the possible “prisons'' we can live in, without actually aknowledging it.

I would say this is a rather good introduction to existentialism. The town and characters serve as mere decorations for thoughts and observations by the main character. There are a lot of questions raised throughout the book, so I would definitely recommend to reflect upon them further.

I had high expectations for this book, since it has been critically acclaimed and has received quite a few awards, incl. "Goodreads award". The main plot explores a lot of interesting topics, all revolving in one way or another around the "publishing industry", you can even make an argument that "the industry" is a b*tch (just kidding), a main antagonist in the book.

I would recommend this book for people with an interest in the following topics: writer's habitus + the inner working of one's mind, racism not just in a general, but in a broader circle of writing and publishing environment (with a few jabs at the capitalistic society and consumers included as bonus).

In my honest opinion, the book tried to cover too much and didn't succeed in allocating the time to cover each topic efficiently. Thus, in some chapters the pace is dragging due to the constant mental struggles of the main protagonist (June), the potentially interesting side-characters and environment don't get enough time and feel sacrificial to the more of "Oh no I am almost discovered as a fraud" or "Oh no somebody said this on the internet!". Don't get me wrong, I do understand that the dynamic between the June and the "internet mob'' and "publishing colleagues" is described very close to heart for anybody working in the 21st century, the only problem is that it gets WAY too much attention, making some parts feel like a repletion in a bad "Groundhog Day" way.

The plot structure with cliffhangers at the end of some chapters is kind of barebones plain at best. As put by Rebecca F. Kuang it in Chapter 2 through the words of June reading "The Last Front" manuscript: "it's more like an amalgamation of startlingly beautiful sentences, bluntly stated themes. But she's laid out enough breadcrumbs that I can follow the trail. I see where it's all going.'' You do get the feeling that the book was written the same way as if some parts were highlighted while others put in the backseat.

I don't think I will remember any of the side-characters, they are all very forgettable (some are one-sided) and we don't get enough time with any of them, they are just "there" for the sake of plot. What we do get is the enormous amount of time with the main protagonist June Hayward which we simply do not need, circling back to the point I made earlier.

Sometimes you do feel empathy for her, other times I just wrote "why?" or "what?" on the margins, because her thoughts and decisions were too unrealistic (Remark: I can be wrong here since she could be an "unreliable narrator") or quite emotionally immature, but I do like her smart and witty remarks with a neat sense of humor.

TO SUM UP: This is a book with a weak plot and a "meh" twist at the end, the best part of the book was some of the insights and observations made alongside the story by June + a few in the dialogues in the ending chapters. I would argue that maybe I am not the target audience for this book, but oh well, what's done is done.

P.S. I put a 3/5 because I see no point in re-reading it and I enjoy the writing style, so this is an average book which left more to be desired in the end.