This book comes up all of the time. It seems, each time I happen upon a list of must read books, or suggested reading based on the greatest novels of whatever era/demographic/genre, I am met with Gaiman's American Gods. Let me say this, the plot was convoluted via symbolic depth. The sub-plots did jive with the story's main arch. The characters were dynamic in an odd, abstract, contemporary way. In fact, I found everything about this book to be abstract. Perhaps this is a classic case of something having been built up beyond its abilities to deliver. All-in-all, I would not recommend this to most people. That being said, there will likely be scores of university literature, creative writing, and theory based classes with this book at the heart of a great number of thesis statements. That, I believe, is justified. The artisanship of the craft, the meaning, buried beneath meaning, buried beneath plot and character certainly exists. Simply, I gave this book two stars because I found myself appreciating the work, while begging myself to finish so I could move on.
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3920693-richard-reviles-censorship-always-in-all-ways said, “Tom Rob Smith wrote this awful book about awful people doing awful things in an awful country to amuse and entertain us.” This review says it all. But, in case you want to know my personal feelings, I will briefly indulge you. First, this is a truly grizzly subject matter. I have a propensity for the darker side of fiction and this certainly did not fail. Those who chalk this up as a thriller or a crime novel will get their money's worth. Second, some people in the Goodreads world have added this book to lists reserved for spies and agents of espionage. Leo is an officer in the Soviet State Security (MGB). The Stalinist nation lived in constant fear of punishment for being associated, even by rumor, with anti-Soviet sentiment. His position and cultural norms do not qualify this book as having anything to do with spies or espionage. Needless to say, when I was not met with any of the aforementioned subject matter, I was a little upset. If you're looking for spies, just re-read [b:Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 18989 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327889127s/18989.jpg 2491780].
This book was truly terrifying. Often, I found myself taking my eyes off the page just to breathe heavily, almost reorienting myself to reality.
Annie Wilkes may represent the most terrifying and realistic portrayal of an antagonist I could ever imagine.
I loved that the protagonist was a writer. Added to King's “On Writing,” we get an interesting glimpse into the mind of a writer through Sheldon's character. For me, that element of the story was fantastic.
Finally, I loved the absence of paranormality. Typically, King delivers a strong paranormal factor in his novels. While he does this to great effect, and with incredible skill, I loved the emphasis on plausibility in this storyline.
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