Patricia
Really liked it at first since the founding of the city, the quirkiness and the basketball excursions were fun to read. But halfway through it got bogged down, I felt (I am a European with no connection to Oklahoma whatsoever). I found all the stuff about that Flaming Lips singer and the Chamber guy buying land just too boring to come back to. In the end I decided it was best to mark this as DNF and move on.
This book made me so sad. Not because of the contents, necessarily, although that was of course a punch to the gut, but because it made me realise how rarely I get to read books like this, written with such a remarkable, bold, unsentimental style and hitting one right in the feelz (as the kids say) without resorting to fake dramatics or excruciating exposition. It was really, really excellent. The voices were varied, the connections subtle.. this is how it's supposed to be done. Looking forward to reading more from this writer.
My least favourite book by one of my favourite writers It took me ages to read because I never felt the urge to go back to the characters. While I liked the structure of the book and thought that the ‘Georgy and Zoya' parts were well-written and presented a touching image of two people going through life and growing old together (albeit in reverse), I found the pre-1918 Russian bits lacking in substance. Ultimately they did not provide a good foundation for the post-1918 part, causing the whole thing to come crashing down. I hate to say it, but I thought the book was a bit... pointless?
Started out quite fun but devolved into a list of reasons never to read fantasy again. I basically only finished it because I have a reading challenge going and didn't want to add another DNF.
This is us. We're in a plot.
An enemy appears.
Enemy is described as clearly invincible.
But wait! Here's something you didn't know about us.
We use this brand new information to defeat the enemy.
Wisecracking, we continue on our quest.
A new enemy appears!
Here's a sudden plot twist that wasn't clear from just about the very beginning of the book.
Etc.
It's insultingly childish, a kid's fantasy of ‘you can't hurt me because of this new thing that I just made up', made ‘edgy' and ‘grown-up' with some cut-off fingers and torture porn. Gah.
The second star is purely because of the passable dialogue.
Thought this book would be right up my alley, but when you're 15% in and you realise you'd rather be doing anything than pick up the book again, it's time to stop. Hate the style, couldn't connect with any of the characters, found the naturalistic descriptions of day-to-day life interesting in a non-fiction kind of way but got too irritated by the endless monotony in the end. DNF.
It's... Fine I guess. It's touted as a guide to arguing with people with ‘wrong' opinions like ‘political correctness has gone mad' or ‘there are too many immigrants'. But it's not; it's just a bunch of transcripts of James arguing with these people. What he is really saying (and I agree with him!) is that you really need to do your own research, otherwise you're just as bad, only arguing from the opposite direction and aping the opinions of different people. And that's a valid point, only then... Why market your book like this?
I've set myself the task of re-reading all Realms of the Elderlings books before I finally tackle [b:Assassin's Fate 30688013 Assassin's Fate (The Fitz and the Fool, #3) Robin Hobb https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1492869860s/30688013.jpg 44600531] (I started reading and then realized that all through the previous two Fitz & the Fool books I'd actually had lost all sense of what had happened before, which was a great shame, so I'm doing it all AGAIN), and: wow.You see, in the past twenty years I'd re-read the Farseer trilogy a few times, because I loved it so much. I had never re-read the Liveship Traders trilogy, because I didn't love it the first time, mostly based on the fact that it was not the Farseer trilogy. I remembered next to nothing about it. And I'm so happy I've just gone through it again. The characters are so much more layered than in the Farseer Trilogy (which is actually a bit disappointing to me now, in that regard) - although I guess part of that is to do with the fact that all of Fitz' books are written from his POV. And I was so chuffed to rediscover the feminist feel of this trilogy! I guess I didn't care too much about that stuff back in the day, but reading it as a wizened old lady of 39 it was so gratifying to read about normal female women who could be just as strong and weak and smart and stupid and dashing and scarred as the men. I realise I'm repeating myself, but I loved it.... next up, of course, is the Tawny Man trilogy. I'm already dreading it, I'm still reeling from the trauma of reading it the first time when it came out.
So weird that I've only realised now what a terrible writer Follett is. Pillars of the earth will always hold a special place in my heart but this was jarring. Short, stupid sentences. Everyone's plans and feeling are spelled out, nothing is left to the imagination, all subtext is immediately explained. He spins a good yarn but language-wise it's quite poor. Guess I've grown up a bit and started to read better books since PotE...
