Due to long bus rides and an extra long wait in the bank today I managed to finish Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah. To be entirely honest I am not sure what to say about this book. I was actually on my way to understanding it and almost enjoying it when it came to a very abrupt and rather ambiguous ending.
In Paradise which I believe the book is titled because of the belief from the characters that paradise exists and they (the characters) will eventually find their way there, the main character seems to drift through the years, some mentioned, some not. There is a confusing section where the main character, Yusuf, is admired and worshipped by the wife of his Uncle Aziz (who in actual fact is a man that his father sold him to in order to pay off debt). Throughout the book tenuous relationships are mentioned, and the child Yusuf grows into a handsome man who is admired by many, though he never seems to quite make that transition into adulthood that is witnessed in books such as The Color Purple.
Overall I was not hugely impressed with this book that was lauded as 'wonderful' and 'enthralling' but perhaps my enjoyment of Sunset Song just a few days ago eclipsed any enjoyment I may have found in the almost poetic prose of Gurnah.
Friday, 29 June 2007
Monday, 25 June 2007
Sunset Song
At first I was very reluctant about reading this, a book based during the first world war (I have never been overly keen on war-based literature), but Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon hit me in the face like a huge surprise.
Based at an almost indeterminate time, Chris Guthrie and her family, brothers, mother and father, all live in a farm in Scotland. Little by little, rot sets in, her mother dies tragically, committing suicide, having realised that she has 6 children and another on the way. Unfortunately her death also brings about the death of the youngest children - twins. Chris then watches as her two surviving younger brothers are adopted by a childless aunt, and then her brother, Will, runs away to marry Mollie, his childhood sweetheart. They end up in Argentina.
After Will leaves, her father injures himself and slowly dies, leaving Chris alone to look after the family farm. She marries, and watches as her own life changes. It is only when she realises that she is pregnant (and grows fearful that she could become her mother) that she can no longer return to being the young Chris Guthrie, that she must leave her childhood behind her and become Chris Tavendale.
In time, war comes to Kinraddie and her husband goes off to fight. When he comes back she strikes him from her heart because of his cruelty, but regrets it soon after, when it's too late.
This book is the first of three and though it's not necessary, I will be reading the other two because my heart needs to learn that Chris survives, that she gets through the pain and hardship, that her marriage to the Reverend Colquohoun doesn't end in horrifying disaster, that young Evan grows up to be the man his father was unable to become.
Based at an almost indeterminate time, Chris Guthrie and her family, brothers, mother and father, all live in a farm in Scotland. Little by little, rot sets in, her mother dies tragically, committing suicide, having realised that she has 6 children and another on the way. Unfortunately her death also brings about the death of the youngest children - twins. Chris then watches as her two surviving younger brothers are adopted by a childless aunt, and then her brother, Will, runs away to marry Mollie, his childhood sweetheart. They end up in Argentina.
After Will leaves, her father injures himself and slowly dies, leaving Chris alone to look after the family farm. She marries, and watches as her own life changes. It is only when she realises that she is pregnant (and grows fearful that she could become her mother) that she can no longer return to being the young Chris Guthrie, that she must leave her childhood behind her and become Chris Tavendale.
In time, war comes to Kinraddie and her husband goes off to fight. When he comes back she strikes him from her heart because of his cruelty, but regrets it soon after, when it's too late.
This book is the first of three and though it's not necessary, I will be reading the other two because my heart needs to learn that Chris survives, that she gets through the pain and hardship, that her marriage to the Reverend Colquohoun doesn't end in horrifying disaster, that young Evan grows up to be the man his father was unable to become.
Friday, 22 June 2007
Rebecca
Wow. Yet another absolutely amazing book on the list for this course. I enjoyed every single intricately written chapter of this book and though it took me a whole week to read it (I did have job interviews and things). I love the way that Rebecca haunted every element of the novel, every thought from Maxim's unnamed bride centred around the deceased first wife. Rebecca, despite never having a line of her own that wasn't spoken through someone else, dominated every single page, making her a fascinating and intriguing character.
I felt incredible pity for the new Mrs de Winter who didn't come into her own until the point when Maxim revealed the truth of his life with his first wife.
I also wanted to hit the somewhat psychopathic Mrs Danvers. She loved Rebecca, but to make sure that the life of the living residents of Manderley was miserable showed that there was something very much wrong with her mental processes.
I finished this book to the schedule that I have set for myself and tomorrow I will start Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
I felt incredible pity for the new Mrs de Winter who didn't come into her own until the point when Maxim revealed the truth of his life with his first wife.
I also wanted to hit the somewhat psychopathic Mrs Danvers. She loved Rebecca, but to make sure that the life of the living residents of Manderley was miserable showed that there was something very much wrong with her mental processes.
I finished this book to the schedule that I have set for myself and tomorrow I will start Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
Friday, 15 June 2007
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
I read this book over just 1.5 days. I have to admit, out of the entire box this was the one that I really wanted to read and was really looking forward to, and I wasn't disappointed.
Dick's fantastic ideas and his futuristic world aren't at all dated (as could be expected from science fiction based in a time that is now past).
I have enjoyed every minute of reading this book but, considering the schedule now posted on my bedroom door, I need to get a move on and read something else on the long list, to pass the time that is spreading ahead of me like butter on toast (growing thin).
Dick's fantastic ideas and his futuristic world aren't at all dated (as could be expected from science fiction based in a time that is now past).
I have enjoyed every minute of reading this book but, considering the schedule now posted on my bedroom door, I need to get a move on and read something else on the long list, to pass the time that is spreading ahead of me like butter on toast (growing thin).
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Books
A box of books arrived today - 16 books all for me to read over the next few months, books that I will take my time over and read (although I will be taking a week off the study reading when HP 7 comes out).
I have been looking at the books that arrived (they arrived while I was at yet another job interview), and I just can't decide which one to read first. Being honest I am actually looking forward to a number of them.
I have been reading a book I was really looking forward to getting, but right now I can't seem to get into it - it's not written as well as the other books in the series and this is a cause of frustration for me. The other four books that I have read were really well-written, funny, well-structured and enjoyable. This book, the fifth in the series (the sixth has only just been released in hardback) has made me feel more than a little bit disappointed in the way that the characters have failed to develop and, as with a few other series that I have come across of late, this strange need that the author has to retell so much of the other stories, as though the people reading this book haven't read the others. Oh well, only a few more pages until it's finished, and in the mean time I can read Rebecca or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and wallow in the magnificence of their composition.
I have been looking at the books that arrived (they arrived while I was at yet another job interview), and I just can't decide which one to read first. Being honest I am actually looking forward to a number of them.
I have been reading a book I was really looking forward to getting, but right now I can't seem to get into it - it's not written as well as the other books in the series and this is a cause of frustration for me. The other four books that I have read were really well-written, funny, well-structured and enjoyable. This book, the fifth in the series (the sixth has only just been released in hardback) has made me feel more than a little bit disappointed in the way that the characters have failed to develop and, as with a few other series that I have come across of late, this strange need that the author has to retell so much of the other stories, as though the people reading this book haven't read the others. Oh well, only a few more pages until it's finished, and in the mean time I can read Rebecca or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and wallow in the magnificence of their composition.
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Over...
Well, it's been almost a month since I finished my essay and started the revision for my exams. Now, I am really really happy to be able to say that the exams are over, and I have a summer without TMAs to look forward to. In two months I will find out whether all the panic and hard work has been worth it.
I have signed up for my next course already, A(ZX)300, which is the online version of 20th Century Literature: Texts and Debates, and the books are due to arrive any day (ordered them last week).
To be honest, right now I am actually looking forward to the arrival of the new books, so that I can start studying for the course starting in September. From the feedback I have managed to obtain from students already doing the course I have gathered that it is very demanding, and will require a lot of dedicated study time. While I am upset that I am still very much unemployed (I am not unemployable...just finding it hard to get a new job), at least I can use the time properly in study for what I hope will be my eventual career.
I have signed up for my next course already, A(ZX)300, which is the online version of 20th Century Literature: Texts and Debates, and the books are due to arrive any day (ordered them last week).
To be honest, right now I am actually looking forward to the arrival of the new books, so that I can start studying for the course starting in September. From the feedback I have managed to obtain from students already doing the course I have gathered that it is very demanding, and will require a lot of dedicated study time. While I am upset that I am still very much unemployed (I am not unemployable...just finding it hard to get a new job), at least I can use the time properly in study for what I hope will be my eventual career.
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