Razvan Cazacu
A beautiful compression of why it is that we humans are what we are. I believe the saying that says you yourself are the only thing that can influence you to do something. In the case of running, this book, and a little empathy for life, will make an exception from the aforementioned rule.
Stunning work from King. Honestly, the story felt a bit rushed in some places and slow in some others, but overall, a good background to the Gunslinger s story and a nice progeession towards the Dark tower. For that I tell God thankya.
Gritty, sarcastic and amusing would be the words that come to my mind when I talk about this book. Vonnegut has an unique style, when he talks about the human race he makes you think that him, the narrator, might actually be an alien, it feels like a documentary created by an extraterrestrial being that is trying to understand human behaviour and strenght. A solid analysis of the human and its nature and a satyre to the american way of life, possibly one of the best books of this year?
Yet to offer a review, but I finished this in less than two weeks. Considering my almost year-long slump, do with that information what you will.
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemtpion - You know the story. If you don't, I'm sorry that you haven't seen maybe the best movie ever made. Hope is a good thing, and what the story does different from the movie is that you never know the fate of Andy, or if Red made it to the pacific. Everything being related from Red's perspective makes you hope that he will get to see his friend again and shake his hand. Undiscussed 5 stars.
Apt Pupil - A brilliant and smart preadolescent boy finds out that one of his neighbours is an old nazi officer. From there the two of them develop a toxic relationship that could ruin both of their lives. Eventually everything goes downhill, as you would expect. It's the kind of story where you know the consequences will get worse progresivelly, and that's exactly what happened. At the beginning the kid was a bit too smart for his age to me but otherwise a decent read, 4 stars.
The Body - A poor copy of IT, a bunch of kids from a rural area. Due to it's small small size I felt that four characters were way too many, but eventually we lost focus on two of them and redirected our attention to the other two. Kind of a coming of age story that teaches you to look for yourself first and not to let others drag you down. 4 stars.
The Breathing Method - Nothing too exciting about this one, except the eerie feeling that the butler gave away. 3 stars.
Overall, a good collection of Stephen King stories, 4 stars.
Palahniuk is a delightful writer as usual. The same type of sarcasm and repulsion that made Haunted such a great read was encountered in this book as well. The action is a bit complicated to keep track of, with all the jumping back and forth in time, but once you get the hang of it its fine. There was also a bit of confusion regarding names being changed continously, but I think that adds to the whole idea of monsters not being visible. The title was perfectly picked, and the idea of deformed people not being noticed in society was ever present in the book. I had a few moments in which I questioned the logic of the book but towards the end they got cleared out, more or less. This is a 3 star, but it's more like a 3.5 stars review. Overall, good read, but if you want to read Palahniuk there are better books than this.
I feel like media image of Frankenstein is very different from the one the book actually portrays. I was ready for a monster named Frankenstein with metal bolts in his head, being chased by an angry medieval village mob with torches and pitchforks. Instead I got a doctor name Frankenstein with commitment issues that is also bipolar. The action was fast paced and simpler than that of Dracula. Even if I gave both books the same rating, I prefer the vampire story simply because it expanded a lot more on the story and the characters. The characters in Frankenstein excluding Viktor and the monster are almost irrelevant. Also, the scene where he animates the monster is almost inexistent, which means the whole lightning hitting a corpse scene was also crafted by the media, womp womp.
The rating is kind of small but I would still recommend reading this book, especially if you're a writer. You can probably learn a thing or two about foreshadowing and working with the reader's expectations.
Read this a couple months ago and just had to get through the last couple tens of pages. The book is...a lot; you have four characters, and in the beginning it feels confusing because you can't keep track of all of them. Eventually, you keep focus on two of them, while one has episodic appearances and the other one is literally there just to design the others' apartments; I would've loved to see Malcom join the others a lot more, because otherwise this feels like a three friends and another person scenario rather than the four friends that share a deep bond type thing that the synopsis indicated. I've honestly picked up this book because I have heard many individuals talk about how this book made them bawl so hard, so I had to check it out. While the few chapters that talk about Jude's past experiences are considerably graphic and can be triggering to some individuals, I can't but feel that the author has diluted the level of seriousness that the scenes should have had; throughout the book, all the characters want to know things about Jude's past and it is always described as something horrific and gruesome, and as such, you have this sensation that the author couldn't control themselves to keep the twist and secret for the end and left little bits across the book to sort of keep you involved.
Leaving that aside, the book is realistic; the characters are vivid and their relationships are similar to those that adults have in real life. The progression is believable, and the book correctly describes how one should act and behave with a friend that has a troubled past. It might be just the fact that I have read them after a couple of months and while I was reading something completely different, but the last twenty pages really saved the book and brought it from questionably mediocre to a decent contemporary novel.
A must read wether youre a writer, a runner or just want to hear Murakami's thoughts on both of those. The simplicity with which Murakami talks and expresses his thoughts is what makes him an amazing writer, no beating around the bush, plain, good and right in your face, thats what this book is.
A good King, but not his best. Not his worst either. There are a few tropes that have been met before in pop culture such as the mad scientist trope and the whole lightning vibe Frankenstein movies have. As for Steohen King tropes, there are a few that I've seen in some of his previous novels, but not all of them were that bad. We have an old person that falls in love with someone younger, but that's not even the entire plot of the book. For a second I thought this would have been the fourth time when this happened in a King novel i read, but it was fine. The final plot twist was a tad different from what I was expecting, but overall a really solid modern horror read. I could compare it with Frankenstein because duh, lightning and corpses, and with Lovecraft's story, Herbert West reanimator. Again, this one is more of a 3.5 stars too.
Solid read. A must of the gothic horror genre and of literature in general. The depiction of Dracula's castle and its overall surroundings were very realistic and the different terms used to express nationalities or romanian cities were very realistic. The book, as Overly Sarcastic Productions states, is a slow burn, and we gradually get to unveil the mistery of Dracula. The end seemed a bit rushed and if came too fast, in just the last 10 pages everything comes down to an end. Van Helsing's decision to bring Mina with him to kill the three vampiresses back at the Count's castle seems pretty stupid. “You are a weak woman and I'm an old man, we shouldn't go with the others to approach and kill the Count, instead, let us go deep into his layer to hunt and kill not one, not two, but three layers. What a great idea!”
Apart from this, the book was fairly enjoyable, given the fact that, you know, ‘tis the season after all. Van Helsing as lovely and as goofy as always.
Altough slumpy and clunky at first, the book soon picks up pace and by adding new characters it makes you involved into it. The plot is one that has been met before, a lonely man that rejects the society around himself, but he starts to enjoy life and change when a woman appears in his life. Even if sometimes is got a bit too philosophical and complicated for it to be a light read, the book was fairly enjoyable, especially towards the end, when everything gets metaphorical and Hesse says its up to you to decide what the ending was. Could have been a five star if not for the slow start and some of the longer self analysis paragraphs.
To quote Cliff from BTF Book Reviews, steal this book. Going off of that, if someone lends you the book don't give it back, and if you own it, don't lend it to anyone
Tasty motherfucking read. Magical Realism at its finest. What Cărtărescu tried to achieve in Solenoid, but only done better. Could have used a bit more dialogue and a bit leas monologue, as the dialogue was very enjoyable.
Jesus Christ this was exquisite. I usually don't read Russian literature because it's not up my alley, but this has been a surprising exception. Bulgakov mixes the traditional patterns of big Russian writers such as Dostoevsky and Tolstoi, but with a splash of magical fantasy. Woland has been a fucking delight; I mean, how many books have the Devil himself present? Even then, how many are that well written when compared to Woland? Behemoth and Azazello made for a unique comedic duo. Until now this is probably one of the best books I've read in 2021.
Tasty reading from beginning to end. Visiting a Murakami is like doing something you haven't done in a long time, and yet you still remember how to do it. Reading Murakami is like playing chords of a guitar song that you haven't played in a while. This, apart from maybe his memoir, is Murakami's sole piece of non fantasy, it's just a story of a college student that has some misfortunes, but the japanese writer makes it seem so much more than that. The structure, flow of the pages and the sentences made this a pleasant and light read. The plot twist at the end was not unexpected, but the easiness with which it was delivered made it even more impactful. Many bits of culture that defined 1960s Japan and its people, such as The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald or Miles Davis' Kind of Blue jazz album, made me smile and at the same time relate to the character. Undeniably one of the best best books I've read this year and a must read for everyone that is a fan of Murakami and/or contemporary literature.
If youve had a parent or family member that left in the 2000s and 2010s to work in Italy, this book is what you need to read. Lungu's language and slang is fresh, relateable and exactly what youd find in everyday romanian talk, no grammatical or syntax bullshit. The story was a relateable one from many points of view, and I think that those that at one point went to Italy will relate to it even more. Sometimes paragraphs would go on for pages, which was either a hit or a miss, and the finale was completely off the fucking charts, I dont think anyone was expecting that to happen, and I dont know if its necessarily a good or a bad thing. This is the second book Ive read from Lungu and it makes me want more, it seems like the guy has a thing for ending his books during heavy snowing winter scenarios.