Like I said, there are three books today. On a side note, Malvern Library is massive and incredible. I wrenched my shoulder with the amount of books I lugged out of there (Nine hardcovers and two paperbacks) Reviews on those will come later. Let's start with the reviews
The Flying Troutmans-Miriam Toews
"Days after being dumped by her boyfriend Marc in Paris – "he was heading off to an ashram and said we could communicate telepathically" – Hattie hears her sister Min has been checked into a psychiatric hospital, and finds herself flying back to Winnipeg to take care of Thebes and Logan, her niece and nephew. Not knowing what else to do, she loads the kids, a cooler, and a pile of CDs into their van and they set out on a road trip in search of the children’s long-lost father, Cherkis."
This book was amazing. It dealt with dark subject matter (manic depression and psychosis) with humour. The situations the Troutmans find themselves in are hilarious but not outlandish which makes it easy to relate to them. The common theme of the book is the search for understanding. Hattie is trying to understand her sister's illness, Logan is trying to understand himself and Thebes is trying to understand why her mother just can' t be her mother. Each of the characters are achingly real with the exception of the spaced-out Min but hopefully most people won't be able to relate to a woman diagnosed with psychosis. Another great aspect to the book was that the characters never felt sorry for themselves nor did the author attempt to make the readers feel sorry for them. Her only intention was to capture a fundamental aspect of human nature: to suck it up and deal with it. And capture it, she did, through hilarious, lovable characters and a quirky, strange premise that actually makes all the sense in the world. I mean, if you had two kids who's mother had just been hospitalized for psychosis, wouldn't you pack them into a car and drive cross-country looking for their father?
4.5 out of 5
Blood Eagle-Craig Russell
Dear God, this book was gory. A serial killer is loose on the streets of Hamburg and his modus operandi is ripping the lungs out of his living victims and flopping them over their shoulders. Piece of advice: if you have an over imaginative mind like I do, DO NOT read this book when you're alone at home at night. However, the book was extremely well-written. The descriptions of Hamburg were truly beautiful; the author must really love the city. The characters are meticulously described; Craig Russell's attention to detail really is something to be admired. However, the book could easily have been shorter. My verdict is:
4 out of 5
For One More Day-Mitch Albom
I officially love this author. His books are moving and beautiful. All of them deal with the question of life. What would you change? What was your legacy? Is life as beautiful as we are told? I'm pretty sure I already reviewed "Five People You Meet in Heaven" which moved me to tears multiple. This book didn't make me cry but it definitely made me think about my mother and my relationship with her. The main character, Chick Bennetto, tries to commit suicide but winds up at his old house where his dead mother is waiting for him. With her, he reviews all the times she's been there for him and all the times he's failed her. Mitch Albom always provokes thought in his novels with beautiful prose and unique story plots. 4.5 out of 5 for this one.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
More books! Yay!
Okay, so it's official that I SUCK with blog updates. Oh, well. At least, I do them occasionally. Let's just say I'm a super slow reader. Anyway, I have two books for you today.
Daughter-asha bandele
I purposely did not capitalize the letters in the author's name because apparently, that's how she likes her name to be written. Not sure why...maybe it makes her feel special.
Speaking of being special, this book was quite special. It was very well-written and poetic. It was an extremely sad book but it didn't try to get you to feel sorry for it; as in, it wasn't trying to make you burst into tears. The objective of this book is to stir the readers into angry rebellion against the unnecessary police violence against people of colour. The racism that all the characters faced in the book was heartbreaking only because it's true and it's happened. I particularly loved how the main character rises above the consequences of her actions, which she accepts willingly and teaches other women how to rise above. Warning to the guys: this book is about women for women. That's not to say guys can't read it. In fact, I encourage you to read it. After all, the overall theme of the book can be aptly described in a quote from the book. "There'll always be a woman to take care of a man, but there won't always be a man to take care of a woman." Maybe you can learn and spend the rest of your life disproving that theory. Hopefully, you can.
That isn't to say the book was unbelievably amazing. I enjoyed the subject matter because it allowed me to see things from the perspective of an often persecuted race. But the story tended to lag a little at times. I couldn't really connect with characters even though I could empathize with them. So for those reasons I give the book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Summary of the novel from American Library Association:
A black mother's rage and sorrow drive this passionate first novel about a beloved daughter shot dead by the police on the streets of Brooklyn. The story begins with smart college student Aya Rivers chafing at her controlling, secretive mother, Miriam. Out running one day, Aya is shot dead by a policeman. It's a case of mistaken identity. No one is accountable. Then the story switches to Miriam, alone, remembering her break from her cold, secretive home and her love for Aya's dad, Bird. Aya never knew him, never knew that he survived Vietnam only to be shot dead by the police in the war at home. Bandele, an editor for Essence magazine and author of the memoir The Prisoner's Wife (1999), writes about family grief and bitterness with searing immediacy. Woven into the mother-daughter story, Bird's life of hope and heartbreak is beautifully told, his dreams of college, family, and work destroyed even before his murder. The angry message is sometimes overwhelming, but this powerful story does what the author asks for: it breaks the silence.
Pacific Vortex-Clive Cussler
One thing I have to say for this book is that it is very engrossing. It's an adventure novel; the first in the Dirk Pitt series. The story centers around mysterious disappearances of ships over the 30 years in one area of the Pacific known as the Hawaiian Vortex. The plot was well-thought out even if it was REALLY far-fetched. However, there was one aspect that completely DESTROYED the book for me. In fact, I'm deducting 1 and a half star for it. What ruined it was the author's pathetic attempt at romance. And it really was pathetic. Like, painfully so. I nearly cried at the horror of it all. And I don't know how many times he mentioned she was gorgeous. Seriously, you can tell us a couple of times but after the 25th time, I"m pretty sure we've GOT THE POINT. Dirk Pitt is nearly assasinated by this beautiful woman and he knocks her out (romantic, eh?) and drags her to his hotel room to interrogate her about her motives. She escapes and she isn't mentioned for about 200 pages. That is, until Dirk is nearly killed again and she saves him. It's Romeo and Juliet all over again (yet another retarded romance plot, by the way). When he finally finds her, he TELLS her she's in love with him and they have this 'dramatic' (that was extreme sarcasm) moment where she flings her arms around him and wails that she loves him. God, cry me a river, sugar. We've all been 'in love'; it's also known as HORMONES. I'm not going to give away the ending but seriously, Mr. Cussler? Stick to adventure and leave romance to Candace Bushnell, Meg Cabot and Nicholas Sparks.
The book gets 2 out of 5 for that goddamn romance. (Add 1.5 stars for a rating on the other parts of the book)
Daughter-asha bandele
I purposely did not capitalize the letters in the author's name because apparently, that's how she likes her name to be written. Not sure why...maybe it makes her feel special.
Speaking of being special, this book was quite special. It was very well-written and poetic. It was an extremely sad book but it didn't try to get you to feel sorry for it; as in, it wasn't trying to make you burst into tears. The objective of this book is to stir the readers into angry rebellion against the unnecessary police violence against people of colour. The racism that all the characters faced in the book was heartbreaking only because it's true and it's happened. I particularly loved how the main character rises above the consequences of her actions, which she accepts willingly and teaches other women how to rise above. Warning to the guys: this book is about women for women. That's not to say guys can't read it. In fact, I encourage you to read it. After all, the overall theme of the book can be aptly described in a quote from the book. "There'll always be a woman to take care of a man, but there won't always be a man to take care of a woman." Maybe you can learn and spend the rest of your life disproving that theory. Hopefully, you can.
That isn't to say the book was unbelievably amazing. I enjoyed the subject matter because it allowed me to see things from the perspective of an often persecuted race. But the story tended to lag a little at times. I couldn't really connect with characters even though I could empathize with them. So for those reasons I give the book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Summary of the novel from American Library Association:
A black mother's rage and sorrow drive this passionate first novel about a beloved daughter shot dead by the police on the streets of Brooklyn. The story begins with smart college student Aya Rivers chafing at her controlling, secretive mother, Miriam. Out running one day, Aya is shot dead by a policeman. It's a case of mistaken identity. No one is accountable. Then the story switches to Miriam, alone, remembering her break from her cold, secretive home and her love for Aya's dad, Bird. Aya never knew him, never knew that he survived Vietnam only to be shot dead by the police in the war at home. Bandele, an editor for Essence magazine and author of the memoir The Prisoner's Wife (1999), writes about family grief and bitterness with searing immediacy. Woven into the mother-daughter story, Bird's life of hope and heartbreak is beautifully told, his dreams of college, family, and work destroyed even before his murder. The angry message is sometimes overwhelming, but this powerful story does what the author asks for: it breaks the silence.
Pacific Vortex-Clive Cussler
One thing I have to say for this book is that it is very engrossing. It's an adventure novel; the first in the Dirk Pitt series. The story centers around mysterious disappearances of ships over the 30 years in one area of the Pacific known as the Hawaiian Vortex. The plot was well-thought out even if it was REALLY far-fetched. However, there was one aspect that completely DESTROYED the book for me. In fact, I'm deducting 1 and a half star for it. What ruined it was the author's pathetic attempt at romance. And it really was pathetic. Like, painfully so. I nearly cried at the horror of it all. And I don't know how many times he mentioned she was gorgeous. Seriously, you can tell us a couple of times but after the 25th time, I"m pretty sure we've GOT THE POINT. Dirk Pitt is nearly assasinated by this beautiful woman and he knocks her out (romantic, eh?) and drags her to his hotel room to interrogate her about her motives. She escapes and she isn't mentioned for about 200 pages. That is, until Dirk is nearly killed again and she saves him. It's Romeo and Juliet all over again (yet another retarded romance plot, by the way). When he finally finds her, he TELLS her she's in love with him and they have this 'dramatic' (that was extreme sarcasm) moment where she flings her arms around him and wails that she loves him. God, cry me a river, sugar. We've all been 'in love'; it's also known as HORMONES. I'm not going to give away the ending but seriously, Mr. Cussler? Stick to adventure and leave romance to Candace Bushnell, Meg Cabot and Nicholas Sparks.
The book gets 2 out of 5 for that goddamn romance. (Add 1.5 stars for a rating on the other parts of the book)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Sheesh, I'm really falling behind with this reading thing....
Well, I have a reason! Just like you, I have been pre-occupied with reading books for English class >.> (Just for reference I give Planet of the Apes 2 stars, Mouse that Roared, 4.5 and Animal Farm 4.5) But I finished some books so here they are
Princess-Jean Sasson
"Jean Sasson paints a horrifying reality for women of the desert kingdom. It is a haunting look at the danger of Saudi male dominance and the desperate lives of the women they rule."
My blood boiled with fury when I read this book. Most of you know me as an unfailing feminist so reading a book that described the hideous oppression of women in Saudi Arabia was infuriating. The injustices that are inflicted on these women disgusts me and I realized how passionate I am about the rights of my gender. All the emotional stuff aside, it was a very good book. It was descriptively written but not overly detailed (which is good since too many details can make the book boring). The author of this book wrote it based off of the the stories of the Princess Sultana who is the main character and a real person. She probably jeopardized her life by allowing Sasson to write about her yet she was that committed to her cause. She is an inspiration to women anywhere. Actually, not even women! Men, too!
In any case, I give it 4 out of 5.
http://www.wisegeek.com/who-is-princess-sultana.htm
The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and Cherry Orchard-Anton Chekov
Anton Chekov is a very famous Russian playwright. Recently, I started reading a book containing four of his plays.
His plays are rather interesting. They are rather simple and there was an unrequited love in each of the plays I read. There is something fascinating about his writing style; the simplicity of the situation yet the force of the emotion and the reality of the characters. However, reading plays requires a vivid imagination since there is no description of anything other than the set. You have to visualize everything yourself which makes for some pretty boring reading if you're not used to it.
So while I rate these plays 3.5 out of 5, I wouldn't really recommend them to read.
Princess-Jean Sasson
"Jean Sasson paints a horrifying reality for women of the desert kingdom. It is a haunting look at the danger of Saudi male dominance and the desperate lives of the women they rule."
My blood boiled with fury when I read this book. Most of you know me as an unfailing feminist so reading a book that described the hideous oppression of women in Saudi Arabia was infuriating. The injustices that are inflicted on these women disgusts me and I realized how passionate I am about the rights of my gender. All the emotional stuff aside, it was a very good book. It was descriptively written but not overly detailed (which is good since too many details can make the book boring). The author of this book wrote it based off of the the stories of the Princess Sultana who is the main character and a real person. She probably jeopardized her life by allowing Sasson to write about her yet she was that committed to her cause. She is an inspiration to women anywhere. Actually, not even women! Men, too!
In any case, I give it 4 out of 5.
http://www.wisegeek.com/who-is-princess-sultana.htm
The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and Cherry Orchard-Anton Chekov
Anton Chekov is a very famous Russian playwright. Recently, I started reading a book containing four of his plays.
His plays are rather interesting. They are rather simple and there was an unrequited love in each of the plays I read. There is something fascinating about his writing style; the simplicity of the situation yet the force of the emotion and the reality of the characters. However, reading plays requires a vivid imagination since there is no description of anything other than the set. You have to visualize everything yourself which makes for some pretty boring reading if you're not used to it.
So while I rate these plays 3.5 out of 5, I wouldn't really recommend them to read.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
I've been reading slowly recently......
It's been ages since I posted but that's probably because it's been ages since I finished reading a book. Or enough to review. So let's get started!
The Sealed Letter-Emma Donoghue
This book was about a scandalous divorce case that involved Emily 'Fido' Faithfull, a prominent figure in women's suffrage in England. The book was hardly as scandalous or shocking as the book promised; at times, it was quite boring. However, the descriptions and character details were well thought out. The book wasn't terribly entertaining and I contemplated putting it down many times. So for that I give it a 2 out of 5
Who Can Save Us Now?-John McNally
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a collection of short stories from twenty two different authors, all written about superheroes. Each story is extremely unique; different superheroes, unique origins, unexpected abilities. The book is very entertaining and I would recommend to anyone, especially if they're a fan of superheroes (who isn't? come on!). This one gets a 4 out of 5.
Emily Faithfull: http://gerald-massey.org.uk/faithfull/index.htm
The Sealed Letter-Emma Donoghue
This book was about a scandalous divorce case that involved Emily 'Fido' Faithfull, a prominent figure in women's suffrage in England. The book was hardly as scandalous or shocking as the book promised; at times, it was quite boring. However, the descriptions and character details were well thought out. The book wasn't terribly entertaining and I contemplated putting it down many times. So for that I give it a 2 out of 5
Who Can Save Us Now?-John McNally
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a collection of short stories from twenty two different authors, all written about superheroes. Each story is extremely unique; different superheroes, unique origins, unexpected abilities. The book is very entertaining and I would recommend to anyone, especially if they're a fan of superheroes (who isn't? come on!). This one gets a 4 out of 5.
Emily Faithfull: http://gerald-massey.org.uk/faithfull/index.htm
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
TWO MORE BOOKS!
I read two wonderful books over the March Break so the reviews will be good this time =P
Jamaica Inn-Daphne DuMaurier
If you haven't heard of Daphne DuMaurier, shame on you. Ok, no shame because not many people of our generation have read her novels. But they should. She is a marvelous writer, wonderful at spinning webs of suspense. Maybe you've heard of her novel, Rebecca; it's pretty famous.
Anyways, the protagonist Mary Yellan is packed off to live with her aunt Patience and her uncle Joss after the death of her mother. Her arrival at the seedy Jamaica Inn leaves her disgusted with her uncle and shocked at the state of her aunt. She begins to realize that things are happening in Jamaica that are not only illegal but pretty horrific as well.
DuMaurier knows to build up suspense and create interesting characters. However, the plot of this book was a little confusing, considering I didn't understand what the secret was for about twenty pages. Maybe I've just read way too many mystery books but I spotted the twist in the story about a hundred pages before it was revealed. In any case, this was a good book if not her best. I give this book a 3.5 out of 5
The Five People You Meet In Heaven-Mitch Albom
Before we go any further, I will confess. I bawled while reading this book. I also read it in two hours, sitting in the exact same spot on my bed. That's how riveted I was.
Eddie is a grizzly war veteran who works as a maintenance guy for an amusement park. He is killed trying to save a little girl from a faulty ride. When he shows up in Heaven, he is told that he will meet five people who will explain his life to him and that after the fifth person he will finally be at rest.
A multitude of authors have attempted an unique version of Heaven. But this Heaven is an attractive one; doesn't everyone want to have their lives explained? Subconsciously, at least. And the lessons that each of the five people teach are moving....enough to move an over emotional teenager to tears.....but all that aside, I couldn't find any faults with this book. Maybe I couldn't see them through my tears; I don't know. Do me a favour. Read the book and tell me any problems I missed. I'd greatly appreciate it. But at this point, I give this book a 5 out of 5
Jamaica Inn-Daphne DuMaurier
If you haven't heard of Daphne DuMaurier, shame on you. Ok, no shame because not many people of our generation have read her novels. But they should. She is a marvelous writer, wonderful at spinning webs of suspense. Maybe you've heard of her novel, Rebecca; it's pretty famous.
Anyways, the protagonist Mary Yellan is packed off to live with her aunt Patience and her uncle Joss after the death of her mother. Her arrival at the seedy Jamaica Inn leaves her disgusted with her uncle and shocked at the state of her aunt. She begins to realize that things are happening in Jamaica that are not only illegal but pretty horrific as well.
DuMaurier knows to build up suspense and create interesting characters. However, the plot of this book was a little confusing, considering I didn't understand what the secret was for about twenty pages. Maybe I've just read way too many mystery books but I spotted the twist in the story about a hundred pages before it was revealed. In any case, this was a good book if not her best. I give this book a 3.5 out of 5
The Five People You Meet In Heaven-Mitch Albom
Before we go any further, I will confess. I bawled while reading this book. I also read it in two hours, sitting in the exact same spot on my bed. That's how riveted I was.
Eddie is a grizzly war veteran who works as a maintenance guy for an amusement park. He is killed trying to save a little girl from a faulty ride. When he shows up in Heaven, he is told that he will meet five people who will explain his life to him and that after the fifth person he will finally be at rest.
A multitude of authors have attempted an unique version of Heaven. But this Heaven is an attractive one; doesn't everyone want to have their lives explained? Subconsciously, at least. And the lessons that each of the five people teach are moving....enough to move an over emotional teenager to tears.....but all that aside, I couldn't find any faults with this book. Maybe I couldn't see them through my tears; I don't know. Do me a favour. Read the book and tell me any problems I missed. I'd greatly appreciate it. But at this point, I give this book a 5 out of 5
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Deja Dead and Tamburlaine Must Die
Yay! More books! Let's start with Deja Dead, shall we?
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
For those of you who are unaware, Kathy Reichs is the creator of Temperance Brennan a.k.a Bones. To my great disappointment, the Brennan of the T.V. show is completely different from the Brennan in the book. Tempe Brennan, in the book, is a middle aged divorcee with a teenaged daughter, living in Montreal. Also to my disappointment, Bones was not equipped with any of her trusty sidekicks, like Zach, Hodgins, Angela, Cam or WORST OF ALL, NO BOOTH! *sob* But that aside, the book was fairly good. It was filled with interesting facts about forensic anthropology. The characters were a little flat and hard to get attached to but the plot was well formed and quite suspenseful. All in all, I think this book deserves a 3.5 out of 5.
Next up, Tamburlaine Must Die-
Tamburlaine Must Die by Louise Welsh
Christopher Marlowe, the famous playwright, was mysteriously killed in a house in Deptford in 1593. This book fictionalizes the days leading up to his death. The work is utterly fiction; no one actually knows what happened but some facts are true. Christopher Marlowe was a notorious athiest and homosexual and he was arrested by the Privy Council in regards to notes left on the doors of various churches, threatening them by making allusions to his plays and signed "Tamburlaine", one of his most famous creations. Whether Marlowe was guilty is unknown and how he died is also a matter of discussion. The book is very interesting and the author creates a very believable Marlowe. Despite the sex scenes and the disturbing reference to necrophilia, the book was very vivid in its detail (yes, even in the sex) while managing not to ramble on, pointlessly which is a trap many authors fall into. I quite enjoyed this book and liked the author's writing style.I will definitely find more of her work in the future. The book deserves a 4 out 5
Biography of Christopher Marlowe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Marlowe
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
For those of you who are unaware, Kathy Reichs is the creator of Temperance Brennan a.k.a Bones. To my great disappointment, the Brennan of the T.V. show is completely different from the Brennan in the book. Tempe Brennan, in the book, is a middle aged divorcee with a teenaged daughter, living in Montreal. Also to my disappointment, Bones was not equipped with any of her trusty sidekicks, like Zach, Hodgins, Angela, Cam or WORST OF ALL, NO BOOTH! *sob* But that aside, the book was fairly good. It was filled with interesting facts about forensic anthropology. The characters were a little flat and hard to get attached to but the plot was well formed and quite suspenseful. All in all, I think this book deserves a 3.5 out of 5.
Next up, Tamburlaine Must Die-
Tamburlaine Must Die by Louise Welsh
Christopher Marlowe, the famous playwright, was mysteriously killed in a house in Deptford in 1593. This book fictionalizes the days leading up to his death. The work is utterly fiction; no one actually knows what happened but some facts are true. Christopher Marlowe was a notorious athiest and homosexual and he was arrested by the Privy Council in regards to notes left on the doors of various churches, threatening them by making allusions to his plays and signed "Tamburlaine", one of his most famous creations. Whether Marlowe was guilty is unknown and how he died is also a matter of discussion. The book is very interesting and the author creates a very believable Marlowe. Despite the sex scenes and the disturbing reference to necrophilia, the book was very vivid in its detail (yes, even in the sex) while managing not to ramble on, pointlessly which is a trap many authors fall into. I quite enjoyed this book and liked the author's writing style.I will definitely find more of her work in the future. The book deserves a 4 out 5
Biography of Christopher Marlowe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Marlowe
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Why didn't I think of this before?
I love books and usually enjoy telling people about them. Most times, people ignore me or start talking over me. So I decided to release all my pent-up book knowledge and reviews into a book BLOG! Genius, right? I"m glad you agree. So let's get started, shall we?
I have read many books over my fifteen years, some of which have become my favourites. But I'll talk about them later. Today, I am reviewing two books that I read recently: Split Second by David Baldacci and The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Split Second-David Baldacci
"From Booklist
Baldacci's new thriller is sustained by the pulse-pounding suspense his fans have come to expect. Sean King is a former Secret Service agent whose career ended eight years ago when the political candidate he was protecting was assassinated. Now a lawyer, King has organized his life to forget his past, but it barges rudely in on him when he finds a colleague murdered in his office building. Further complicating his life are two women: Joan Dillinger, a former coworker and lover, and Michelle Maxwell, a Secret Service agent whose candidate, John Bruno, has just been kidnapped. Sean and Michelle start to suspect that their candidates' fates are connected and begin to investigate any ties the two may have to each other. It doesn't help that the police are on King's case, especially when yet another body turns up, this time in King's house. King and Maxwell turn their focus to Arnold Ramsey, the man who assassinated King's candidate, but it remains unclear if he was working alone. Meanwhile, the danger mounts, for neither King nor Maxwell can guess who the conspirators' next target is."
This was hardly a pulse-pounding, thrilling book. While the plot was well thought out and the characters were fairly interesting, the book moved at an unnecessarily slow pace. Baldacci over-glamorized his characters, making Michelle Maxwell drop-dead gorgeous while being unbelievably talented at everything and Sean King handsome and infallible. This made the characters very hard to relate to though their sexual tension was well-written even if it was a little predictable. The evil mastermind behind the entire shenanigan was a poor, two dimensional version of a psychopath. In fact, the ending was a little random. Baldacci could have benefited from a shorter novel with less dramatization of characters and their traits. But the book wasn't terrible and the plot was quite intelligent so I give this book a 2.5 out of 5.
The Cellist of Sarajevo-Steven Galloway
The world Steven Galloway portrays seems unrealistic, a world out of a horrid fantasy novel. Unfortunately, the setting of the book is completely real. The book is set during the Siege of Sarajevo and centers around three characters: Arrow, Kenan, Dragan. Arrow is a female sniper who is struggling to justify her actions against the men who are shooting down the citizens of her city from the 'hills'. Kenan is trying to keep his sanity as he makes the dangerous to get water for his family and Dragan is a man trying to keep the memory of his formerly beautiful city alive, if even in his own mind. The basis of the book comes from a real man; a famous Sarajevan cellist who witnessed a mortar shell drop on a line of 22 people waiting for bread to feed their starving families. He then vowed to play Albinoni's Adagio in G everyday for 22 days in memory of the dead.
I loved this book. It was beautiful, lyrical and moved me to tears on occasion. Steven Galloway captures the struggle to maintain hope and the continuation of life even in unimaginable situations. Each character clings to the shreds of their humanity in a city that has been destroyed, heartlessly by cruel humans who are identified as only the 'men on the hills'. Through it all, they are connected through the cellist and his beautiful adagio. A definite five out of five for this one!
Information about the Siege of Sarajevo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sarajevo#Aftermath
Adagio in G:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMbvcp480Y4
I have read many books over my fifteen years, some of which have become my favourites. But I'll talk about them later. Today, I am reviewing two books that I read recently: Split Second by David Baldacci and The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Split Second-David Baldacci
"From Booklist
Baldacci's new thriller is sustained by the pulse-pounding suspense his fans have come to expect. Sean King is a former Secret Service agent whose career ended eight years ago when the political candidate he was protecting was assassinated. Now a lawyer, King has organized his life to forget his past, but it barges rudely in on him when he finds a colleague murdered in his office building. Further complicating his life are two women: Joan Dillinger, a former coworker and lover, and Michelle Maxwell, a Secret Service agent whose candidate, John Bruno, has just been kidnapped. Sean and Michelle start to suspect that their candidates' fates are connected and begin to investigate any ties the two may have to each other. It doesn't help that the police are on King's case, especially when yet another body turns up, this time in King's house. King and Maxwell turn their focus to Arnold Ramsey, the man who assassinated King's candidate, but it remains unclear if he was working alone. Meanwhile, the danger mounts, for neither King nor Maxwell can guess who the conspirators' next target is."
This was hardly a pulse-pounding, thrilling book. While the plot was well thought out and the characters were fairly interesting, the book moved at an unnecessarily slow pace. Baldacci over-glamorized his characters, making Michelle Maxwell drop-dead gorgeous while being unbelievably talented at everything and Sean King handsome and infallible. This made the characters very hard to relate to though their sexual tension was well-written even if it was a little predictable. The evil mastermind behind the entire shenanigan was a poor, two dimensional version of a psychopath. In fact, the ending was a little random. Baldacci could have benefited from a shorter novel with less dramatization of characters and their traits. But the book wasn't terrible and the plot was quite intelligent so I give this book a 2.5 out of 5.
The Cellist of Sarajevo-Steven Galloway
The world Steven Galloway portrays seems unrealistic, a world out of a horrid fantasy novel. Unfortunately, the setting of the book is completely real. The book is set during the Siege of Sarajevo and centers around three characters: Arrow, Kenan, Dragan. Arrow is a female sniper who is struggling to justify her actions against the men who are shooting down the citizens of her city from the 'hills'. Kenan is trying to keep his sanity as he makes the dangerous to get water for his family and Dragan is a man trying to keep the memory of his formerly beautiful city alive, if even in his own mind. The basis of the book comes from a real man; a famous Sarajevan cellist who witnessed a mortar shell drop on a line of 22 people waiting for bread to feed their starving families. He then vowed to play Albinoni's Adagio in G everyday for 22 days in memory of the dead.
I loved this book. It was beautiful, lyrical and moved me to tears on occasion. Steven Galloway captures the struggle to maintain hope and the continuation of life even in unimaginable situations. Each character clings to the shreds of their humanity in a city that has been destroyed, heartlessly by cruel humans who are identified as only the 'men on the hills'. Through it all, they are connected through the cellist and his beautiful adagio. A definite five out of five for this one!
Information about the Siege of Sarajevo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sarajevo#Aftermath
Adagio in G:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMbvcp480Y4
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