Slow paced and quiet, but beautiful none the less. Colm Toibin really capture Norah's grief and the way that her kids are drifting away from her in thSlow paced and quiet, but beautiful none the less. Colm Toibin really capture Norah's grief and the way that her kids are drifting away from her in the aftermath of her husband's death, even as she tries to slowly and gradually make a new life for herself in a range of small creative ways....more
I loved this book - the atmosphere and the claustrophobia the strange puppets, the fairytale magic-realist qualities. It reminded me very much of the I loved this book - the atmosphere and the claustrophobia the strange puppets, the fairytale magic-realist qualities. It reminded me very much of the Cement Garden. I only felt the ending was a tad brusque, but otherwise I think it is by far the most accessible of Angela Carter's books. It is totally immersive and alive despite the strangeness of the story. And as writer, the attention to the concrete detail of the world, and the visual imagery is very inspiring....more
The first Sherlock Holmes story is quite short and divides into two halves. The first half set in London and introduces Holmes and Watson and the bumbThe first Sherlock Holmes story is quite short and divides into two halves. The first half set in London and introduces Holmes and Watson and the bumbling London police force who consult Holmes on their murder case. The second half, which is still well written but not as interesting, tells the story of a man and his daughter lost in the desert who are rescued by Mormons. Then at the end the two halves connect up. It's a strange way to tell the story, but the writing is still excellent.
For a Victorian novel it seems very modern to me. All the characters are strongly drawn and interesting, and Watson, our narrator in the first half, is continually amazed at the deductions Holmes makes about people from his razor sharp observations of detail that Watson misses. Someone pointed this out, and I can't remember who, but the irony of the situation is that Watson the writer/narrator is actually very observant. He succinctly describes with just the right details a place he has just arrived in or a character he has only just met. ...more
**spoiler alert** Dombey and Son was a struggle to get through. I was reading on Kindle and only realised halfway through that the book is nearly a th**spoiler alert** Dombey and Son was a struggle to get through. I was reading on Kindle and only realised halfway through that the book is nearly a thousand pages long. The title characters are both totally unlikable and so in the end I didn't really care too much what happened to them.
Mr Dombey is a horrible, banal characterless man who takes nine hundred and something pages to learn the same moral lesson about life the Selfish Giant learns in about ten pages. His young daughter Florence is a typically wet Dickens heroine who lets her father treat her like dirt everyday of her life and wonders what she has done to deserve such treatment and even at the end never for a moment thinks ill of him. Her pure heart radiate through her every action, and never a bad thought crosses her wholesome mind, consequently, she too, is dull as ditchwater, at least a character like Esther in Bleak House has some sarcastic asides about people.
What makes the rest of the book more fun are the supporting characters who are all far more interesting than the leads. The most memorable are probably Captain Cuttle, the old salt with the hooked hand (surely the prototype for Long John Silver and Captain Hook) and Mr Carker, he of the shark like grin and tombstone teeth, a classic Victorian villain who really doesn't get to enact enough villainy until nearly the end of the book. Even family members like Mrs Dombey, the trophy wife who extracts her revenge, and Paul the ill and pallid young boy with the demeanour of an old man, have a lot more life in them than the leads. All in all my least favourite Dickens, though it did as usual have some great moments....more
One of my favourite films. Now one of my favourite books. The voice of the young narrator is so strong. The writing and detail so carefully chosen to rOne of my favourite films. Now one of my favourite books. The voice of the young narrator is so strong. The writing and detail so carefully chosen to reflect that in a naturalistic and thoughtful way. Funny, sweet, beautiful, light, sensitive, subtle- everything!...more
Brilliant, really. It's like some strange fever dream of a story. The style is so modern, with its closeness to Jane and the emotions that #SPOILERS.
Brilliant, really. It's like some strange fever dream of a story. The style is so modern, with its closeness to Jane and the emotions that she goes through. After an amazing Dickensian opening where Jane is locked in the red room by her evil guardian, which surely must have inspired all the modern YA and MG gothic fantasy that came after it. Jane gets a job as a governess at Gateshead Hall, the gothic pile of Mr Rochester, looking after a little french girl Adele the step-daughter of the strange Mr Rochester, with the aid of the housekeeper Mrs Fairfax.
Mr Rochester. How could anyone fall in love with Mr Rochester? He's just about the oddest character in the book. Locking his wife in the attic, because she's 'mad' when he's the one seems mad to me. Dressing up as a gypsy in order to elicit from Jane her true opinion of him. Pretending to be in love with someone else, a neighbouring rich girl who he gallivants around with, until suddenly he changes his mind and declares his love for Jane. Insisting he and Jane marry in secret. Not to mention the whole thing of becoming the guardian of Adele because she was the daughter of his ex-mistress and yet not caring for her at all. All these weird and crazy things seem totally nonsensically strange to me, as they do to Jane in the book, and even when they are explained at the end don't really make sense. And I think that's what gives the thing its fantastical feverish quality, makes its seem ever so slightly adrift from reality....more
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