I really couldn't get into this one. Can't say if it picks up later, but the 150 pages I read were very slow. There have also been thrDNF - approx 25%
I really couldn't get into this one. Can't say if it picks up later, but the 150 pages I read were very slow. There have also been three different perspectives and multiple timelines so far, which doesn't help when the pace is dragging because it gives us less time to become invested in any one of the stories.
Also-- and I really do wonder if this is a way in which my preferences have changed, as opposed to the author's style -- this book felt very juvenile. It read like YA with a bit of sex and cussing thrown in (so, basically, like most YA these days). The characters were very basic, especially in Maria's chapters, where she fits every headstrong, obstinate heroine trope while still coming across as emotionally immature. Her husband and in-laws are such sexist caricatures, devoid of nuance, that it was hard to take them seriously (please do inform me if they experience some interesting growth later).
I have enjoyed Schwab's books in the past but it's been a good six or seven years since one wowed me. Perhaps I have just outgrown her work....more
To be honest, I really thought I would like this even though I didn't like Dazai's No Longer Human. Junji Ito is a brilliant artist with a deliciouslyTo be honest, I really thought I would like this even though I didn't like Dazai's No Longer Human. Junji Ito is a brilliant artist with a deliciously deranged mind. Plus, I also couldn't help thinking that all the things I disliked about Dazai's semi-autobiographical novel lend themselves quite well to the horror genre.
But, sadly, no. I actually found this graphic novel to be boring and weirdly porny. Even Ito's grotesque horror couldn't make this thrilling....more
Only a 3.6 average rating? I'm surprised. The ending was perhaps a little weak but I thought this tiny book was a banger!
Pierre and Jean tells the stoOnly a 3.6 average rating? I'm surprised. The ending was perhaps a little weak but I thought this tiny book was a banger!
Pierre and Jean tells the story of two brothers and how one's sudden turn of fortune makes the other bitterly jealous. Jean comes into some money, and Pierre becomes so consumed by jealousy that he totally spirals.
Pierre's resentment of his brother-- and, soon, everyone else --makes him so bitter and messed up that he basically becomes a 19th century incel. His anger turns on women with virulent intensity. He decides that women are all deceivers and manipulators; at one point, he watches Jean and Madame Rosemilly flirting and he sneers: "I'm taking lessons, learning how a man prepares himself to be a cuckold."
I found it a very effective little book. At the start, I felt some sympathy for Pierre, because who would not feel unjustly treated if life handed your sibling unearned wealth? But the guy goes completely off the rails and Maupassant depicts it brilliantly. Pierre’s growing paranoia, shame, and anger are drawn with sharp psychological insight. The book quietly maps the descent of a man who feels erased from his own life....more
Hmm. I enjoyed Steinbeck's writing, as always, and he creates a strong sense of place in this sardine-canning district of Monterey, California, but I Hmm. I enjoyed Steinbeck's writing, as always, and he creates a strong sense of place in this sardine-canning district of Monterey, California, but I find I prefer his longer family epic novels like East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath.
In this book, we visit brothel owner Dora Flood, Chinese grocer Lee Chong, marine biologist Doc, a bunch of unemployed rogues led by Mack, and the disabled boy Frankie who struggles to fit in anywhere, amongst others. Cannery Row's short vignette-style chapters flit between so many different characters that I didn't feel particularly invested in any of them, save maybe Frankie. This was not the case in the other two books I mentioned above.
There is a beauty in how this ragtag bunch of characters come together and forge connections. It is thematically and atmospherically strong-- the gritty setting, the poetry in the mundane --but structurally plotless, and reads like a collection of loosely connected episodes....more
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