Laelia
I expected that I would enjoy it as much as a lot of people have enjoyed this book apparently- but not only was I disappointed, I can't even see why people even like this. There's nothing about this book that is memorable or loveable to me. It reads like any other mediocre book out there and I just couldn't relate to the content nor sympathise with the characters (I honestly disliked them a lot, I pretended to like them because I thought that's what I'm supposed to do when reading a book for a book club).
I don't even want to get into why I didn't like this, but I can safely say that I would not recommend this to anyone.
In Beloved, Toni Morrison combines the reality of slavery, escape, and dealing with the trauma it brings with it, with magical realism. Her writing is rich with metaphors and vivid imagery that helps with the heavy and dark content. She portrays the truth in a way that is brutally honest, confronting you with people who do unspeakable things and witnessing such things. It's about how such terrible experiences can shape and change your life. How the memory of them will never fade and how they will continue to affect your life and decisions. It's about how terrible things can happen to you and how you can do terrible things as a result. It's a powerful reminder of the lasting and damaging effects of traumatic events and the strength it takes to confront them.
Personally, the awful events and descriptions in this novel were a bit too much for me, making it rather difficult for me to finish this book.
This was a lovely read. A stream of consciousness storytelling and I just loved the way Woolf wrote it.
Nothing is clear but rather a blur, no distinction between direct and indirect speech and the mode of narration changes a lot. I like how one moment you were with one character and then the next you're somewhere else because that character remembered something, for example. The way you slowly get to know their history and their stories. And keep returning to the present and then back to the past.
I really enjoyed this although it took me a while to read it and it was a very slow read.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I'm glad to have read it but it's not the kind of book I would like to read again. While I laughed at some parts, I was mostly bored reading this novel. I would've enjoyed this a lot more, if the story wouldn't have kept introducing me to characters and narrating events that didn't seem necessary for the main story and weren't interesting enough for me to enjoy reading about them. I love Aziraphale and Crowley and would've enjoyed reading more about them rather than Adam and his friends. The way the novel ended was brilliant - I loved how everything came together. So, I enjoyed the beginning and the ending, the middle parts were a bit too long and uninteresting for me.
The novel is beautifully written, entertaining and funny. The way it tells the story encourages the reader to think about it and question the subjectivity and unreliability of the narrator. It follows Mr Stevens, who is so devoted to his work that he doesn't appear to be human. And reading a story in such a perspective forces the reader to think about human behaviour and why someone would act a certain way, as Mr Stevens does not understand the people around him.
I truly enjoyed reading this novel, which tells the story of an English butler, Mr Stevens, who decides to go visit Miss Kenton, the former housekeeper of Darlington Hall. The novel discusses ‘dignity' which is crucial to being a ‘great butler' to Mr Stevens and ‘banter', a problem he is struggling to solve and master. Also, it touches upon the restrictions due to his profession, which keep him busy all the time that e.g. he doesn't think it is favourable to marry and his loyalty to Lord Darlington who surrounded himself with incriminating people and did some bad decisions because of it. Additionally, it shows the incapability of Mr Stevens to understand Miss Kenton's behaviour. He insists on having a professional relationship with her, which often crosses the line and they develop a friendship that he doesn't understand. Mr Stevens is always surprised when Miss Kenton acts as if they're friends and pushes her away. Due to the story being told completely in Mr Stevens' perspective, it is very subjective and as he does not understand her behaviour, the reader doesn't as well. But when reading between the lines, one can see that Mr Stevens cannot grasp the prospect of love. Only in the end does he express that he cares for Miss Kenton (Mrs Benns) and shares some advice, which is always useful.
The second book of the Harry Potter series was just as good as the first one. No disappointment here. It was interesting to follow Harry in his second year and the way he has grown from what happened before. Also I have noticed after this re-read that it mentions the way his encounter with Voldemort troubled him. And how Fred and George always try to lighten up the mood. That is always a highlight for me. It is always interesting how I notice new things every time I re-read this series over and over again.
This is a beautifully written book about Jane Eyre. However, I didn't quite enjoy the romance. At first it was exciting, but once they confessed their love, the way they acted I just didn't like. Especially Mr. Rochester. Some people would say that this is a feminist book, but concerning the romance I don't think so. Mr. Rochester seems to try to change her physically into someone she isn't. Later, St John tries to do change her personality-wise. I liked how the story ends, however, as people change after certain events.
Also, I wished Jane expressed her opinion more than she did the few times in the novel. Yes, there were a few passages that are empowering women, but some other times she retells a some parts without any of her own thoughts and opinions to enable the reader to retrace her actions.
Jane also addresses the issue of prejudice. One topic that continues throughout the novel is the prejudice towards poor people. It starts with Jane's opinion when she was a child and under the influence of Mrs. Reed and her children. Later, she was poor hersself and meets someone with that attitude. Jane, then, explains beautifully why some people might have prejudices and why they are so difficult to get rid of.
All in all, the novel was beautiful and I enjoyed reading it. I do recommend it for people who do not mind romance.
While I did enjoy reading this book, there are some questionable/problematic things that bothered me.
1. always comparing women, who is better than the other, who is more beautiful etc. While it's not too obvious most of the time, it does bother me a lot at the end. Yes, I get it, you like her more than the other princesses but don't compare them like that. 2. Something about the portrayal of the 'south' and their characters bothers me.. I feel like there are a lot of stereotypes in this book..
I believe this book is very much a product of its time, especially given the time it was written and published.
The writing was awful. It's like the protagonist is the narrator at the same time, trying to make this book more like a fairy tale but failing most of the time. It creates so much distance between the reader and what is happening as well as making me pause every few sentences as I'm not entirely sure what just happened. It messes up with the pace too because sometimes it's extremely detailed - how would someone in that story even remember such details and retrospectively add them in a way that doesn't even create tension? It's basically so much telling but no showing. None at all. I don't know how to explain this better but I just can't get myself to read more of this.