Jimena

The way people spoke about this book made me think it was going to be grotesque and hard to read, but I would not describe it that way. When many people would describe this book to me they would say it's a story of transformation, which sure Gregor literally turns into a bug but I wouldn't consider this a grand change by the way it happens. You start the story with Gregor already transformed, and you would think it's because of a curse or folklore or some sort of explanation, but it's never explained. The version of the book I have has a reading comprehension section in which one of the questions asks you why did Gregor turn into a bug, and the answer (according to the answer sheet in the book) is that no one knows nor cares. I don't find that to be a valid answer.

I can't find it valid because it paints a different image to me of how the world works in this particular story. His family sees him as a bug, and they do freak out in the beginning but there is still a humane treatment towards him, especially from his sister. This whole time in the book my interpretation was that this was common, this is something that has happened before. To read that his family doesn't know why he's a bug and they don't care changes my experience reading the book, the way they behave around him makes no sense to me anymore, except Gregor's father.

Because I can interpret that he becomes this bug because of how exploited he is with these expectations as a responsible worker who has never missed a day of work to the point the clerk comes to his apartment so he can get back to work. As a provider to his family that allows them to live comfortably and even spoke of sending his sister to a conservatory. I can interpret that these things made him reach a limit and thus he is now a giant bug, but the story does nothing to answer what made him like this. There isn't much descriptions of Gregor missing work or regretting working so much. We mostly get what has become the new routine, the small pleasures he found as a bug like crawling to the ceiling or what he eats.

The way people describe this book is almost misleading and I can't tell if people are afraid to rate this book different than a five because it's a classic, Kafka's most recognized work or because everyone speaks so highly of it and any other opinion is controversial. Here's what I do like about the book if I ignore the unanswered question of why did he become this way, if that really is the intention of the book: is it a sad story.

Gregor's family is awful as we lead to the end of the story, but in a way that is realistic to me. As I read the book, I kept comparing his circumstances to being similar to taking care of a sick family member. During my grandfather's last months my mom and her siblings took care of him, he suffered with meals and his agonizing felt like eternity to my family, eventually he passed away and all the exhaustion that I mostly saw in my mother came crumbling. Some people read the last pages and think that Gregor's family never really cared about him because of the actions they take after his death, yes it is cruel, however I think anyone who had to intensively care after another person felt understood. My disconnect only occurred when they started to refer to Gregor has ‘it' but it was important to understand the building frustration they had, not only going through a dramatic change of lifestyle but also dealing with a creature they did not understand and making efforts in hopes of the best. If I never read the stupid comprehension at the end I would not be frustrated with the unanswered question but my experience reading Gregor's change and how it affected those around him made it a good read.

The book has many factors that I don't like, that isn't to say this is a bad book, but it feels very lacking. Any element of surprise is quite underwhelming because you either expected it or it's made a bigger deal than it is. You can guess pretty well if someone is going to be killed based on the character getting their own chapter or a special emphasis. I will say I like the pacing of the book for the first half, the chapters are short, and you glaze through this book, but this factor later bites itself in the ass when you reach the more interesting parts of the plot, and it's over before you know it. I would say the trial is the most entertaining part of the story and it's disappointing to see it finish quickly, it feels like the author didn't want to add too many questions to the witnesses on the stand to keep some suspense.

If we dive more into the characters, Jack is... there. He's not bad, but to be a lawyer he does do some questionable things and at some points you wonder how the “smart enough to have graduated summa cum laude from Yale University” man is a lawyer. I could tell Gina was going to get killed, I just didn't know how and when I read it I hated it. Not many chapters ago Jack was saying how he was being stalked and later when he confronts Gina about her confession on the stand and she admits she made a deal with Stafford he gains hope in a mistrial, to which he proceeds to leave her alone and then she obviously gets killed. At this point Jack had already confronted his stalker and he knew what he was capable of and yet it makes no sense to me how the man who was concerned about Cindy knowing any details because he didn't want her to get a subpoena is the same man who allowed Gina to spend the night alone. This is also the same man who was concerned of Gina testifying against him, the same man who lied to his lawyer, making him think that he was sleeping at Gina's the whole night of the murder.

Since I mentioned Cindy, let's talk about her. She serves as shock value, that's it. She doesn't need to be a part of the story, you could write her out and not much changes. She doesn't serve as an alibi for Jack, she doesn't even serve as an anchor of hope for Jack. The turmoil of Jack sleeping with Gina doesn't affect much in the plot. Jack wanted Gina to testify anyway, he didn't seem to care much of Cindy finding out and he wanted to tell her anyway. Gina didn't want to testify because of Cindy but the only reason Jack agreed to not tell Cindy wasn't because he never wanted her to find out, he just didn't want Gina to tell the jury that he had been receiving threats prior to the murder because it creates a motive. She really is just a love interest. The women in this book serve for two things: sex and getting killed. Except Cindy because she is Jack's love interest.

The one element of this book I wanted more of was Eddy Goss, I mean the chrysanthemum killer, that's a cool name, I wish we got more of that instead of the “you killed my brother so now you must die blah blah blah” plot.

This is the first Neil Gaiman book I've read, and although I am familiar with his other works, I will say this is not a bad book. I find his ideas to be creative, and this book does feel like my childhood with make believe stories and wonder. I will also say this is not the best book, it's decent. I sometimes felt that the ideas were never concrete and solid, mentioned here and there, but never enough to have an entire grasp of it.

I tried to excuse it with it being told from the memory of the unnamed narrator, yet there were instances where it felt convenient that he could explain it or not at all. The ending in a way allows this excuse to be considered, as we see he does not remember times he was down the lane in his twenties and thirties. However, the narrator would give details about small things of his childhood that at times confused me.

I enjoyed the concept of the ocean and of the Hempstocks, I think having a sense of mystery with them makes sense because it was nicely balanced with what they do share of them. I would say they are what are reminiscent of childhood stories and remind me of the times when I would play with my toys. This book feels like a story you would make up as a child, I mean that in both a good and a bad way, it is a nice, light read and pretty easy to follow.

Jane Eyre is fantastic, I am glad I read this as an adult and not younger, I feel I would have not understood her the way she deserves. I did have issue getting immersed in the story the first few chapters, part of it has to do with it being a classic (therefore an Old English, but I got used to the writing style afterward, still beautiful) and the other part is this is my first classic book. I found the story more interesting when she leaves Lowood, but I believe that reading it again could change my opinion, but for now this is my experience with it.

We can start on a positive note, I thank the stars, the universe, and the damn galaxy that Sadie and Sam did not end up together. It confuses me why they kept on insisting they were friends when they felt more like co-workers. It confused me more how they had this “thing” where they could never date because they have a special work relationship, but they barely demonstrated that. All they did after Ichigo was disagree on 90% of things. I’m pretty sure Sadie disagreed more with Sam than Dov, and that says a lot. Another positive is everything before the launch of Ichigo, everything else was frustrating.

Despite this book being 400 pages, somehow the ending felt rushed and unsatisfying, especially on the character development. I specifically want to talk about how unfair the writing seemed to Sam and Sadie, with heavy emphasis on Sadie, because they did her dirty.

I felt a sort of preference from the author’s end for Sam’s characterization, because yes, even if you put a character through hell you can still tell when more thought was put into them than other characters. I felt that the whole time I read Sam’s chapters and even approaching the end I felt he had the better end of the stick. Chapters would be dedicated to giving his backstory with Anna, we stopped for paragraphs to know about his background, he was the kid with the accident, poor financial stability, later amputee and then there’s Sadie. Even the own story expressed how Sam is more likable, maybe you were intentionally supposed to like Sam more than Sadie which f that were the case I would have preferred not having chapters with Sadie because I hate how things went for her.

Surprisingly I like Sadie, sometimes this book was doing the impossible to make you dislike her, especially with the Marx plot line. I felt that every chapter with Sadie could only exist if it related to a love aspect. If it wasn’t Sam, it was Dov, if it wasn’t Dov it was Marx, and if you think it’s about no one, well actually, it’s about Sam. Even her pregnancy didn’t feel like it was about her, it was about Sam and how he needed her to finish the game. After Marx’s death you don’t get much of Sadie if it isn’t through Sam, and that feels dirty. I’m not going to talk about Dov because she glosses over him straight to a more amicable relationship and I don’t know how to feel about that at this moment, which feels like another thing that was supposed to make you dislike her. Sadly, for me to talk more about Sadie, I need to talk about Marx.

The moment he died, I rolled my eyes. Marx was used as shock value, that is disappointing. I am still trying to figure out why his death was necessary, the only reason cannot be “because Sadie needed to grieve” she had a sick sister, you couldn’t work something around that? I don’t understand why make her pregnant and then kill the father, all these plot points are happening near the end of the book, and it felt like Sadie could not catch a break. You had 400 pages to work around that, and you did it after 250 pages of making her have a love interest, again, for the third time. Did Marx die for Sam to swoop in and claim the love of her life? No, and that would have been stupid to do, but it’s worth mentioning. Did he die to show how valuable he was to the company? Not really because Sam did swoop in and not only did they not go bankrupt, but the game went well. Did Sadie get any development from Marx’s death? Well, she became depressed, she finished her work before giving birth and had postpartum depression on top of the already existing depression. Did it bring Sam and Sadie closer? No, Sam didn’t see Sadie for five years. And to top it all off, Sadie’s ending. She decides to take up Dov’s offer in giving classes while he’s gone. I know I said I would gloss over him, but man is it hard to not feel disappointed with that ending for her.