“Sometimes you just jump and hope it's not a cliff.”
It's easy to look at a book like Red, White & Royal Blue and immediately dismiss it as unrealistic“Sometimes you just jump and hope it's not a cliff.”
It's easy to look at a book like Red, White & Royal Blue and immediately dismiss it as unrealistic fantasy fulfillment. The thing is, even stories that are intended as just that, unrealistic fantasy fulfillment, can be valuable.
In Casey McQuiston’s Goodreads Choice-winning 2019 novel, we follow a star-struck romance between the American First Son and the British Royal Prince, two guys in their early twenties who fall head over heels in love with each other and are forced to maneuver their unlikely relationship, navigate through political turmoil and geopolitical differences and decide whether their love is stronger than the political and social pressure weighing down on their shoulders.
Now, as mentioned before, Red, White & Royal Blue is wish fulfillment fantasy at its finest, from beginning to end. Even though Casey McQuiston wrote it in a style that could be deemed as close to reality as possible under the given circumstances of her premise, it’s still unrealistic to expect that this story would play out similarly in real life.
Fortunately, this is fiction, not real life, and sometimes fiction is there to just comfort us, to give us hope and something to hold onto. In a world that still wants to deny people their fundamental right to love who they love, stories like Red, White & Royal Blue are the spark of hope that will give joy to so many people reading it. It’s about the hope that stories like this could be real, someday, at some point of the future. Straight people got their wish fulfillment fantasies for decades, so it’s about time that wish fulfillment fantasies are written for queer people too....more
“I think the idea of me is better than the reality of me.”
As a disclaimer, this was my first Colleen Hoover novel. I have never felt the urge to c“I think the idea of me is better than the reality of me.”
As a disclaimer, this was my first Colleen Hoover novel. I have never felt the urge to check out any of her romance-centered books despite their overwhelming popularity on Goodreads and the astounding loyalty of the author's fan-base. But since I have a soft spot for fast-paced thrillers, and Verity appeared to be the one book where Hoover seriously attempted to meddle in this genre, I decided to give it a try.
And what a page-turner this is. I did not expect to do so, did not even plan to do so, but I literally could not put this book down, feeling compelled to turn the page with every new mind-twisting cliffhanger at the end of a chapter. It helps that Verity feels like it has been written for fast consumption, where the flow of Hoover's prose helps you fly through the pages. It is also surprisingly short—just when I thought that the set-up of the story was probably about complete, I realized I was already more than halfway through the entire novel—but never suffers from it: the pacing is just right, and all the unnecessary fat seems to have been cut away, rendering it all the more effective at what the author set out to achieve.
Without turning this into a spoiler of any sorts, Verity basically consists of two stories: the main frame story, and a book written within the book. Whenever an author applies such a technique, I usually find myself annoyed because one of those stories is almost always more interesting, more gripping than the other. But Colleen Hoover managed to balance those two plot threads perfectly; to my immense surprise, both narrative strings were equally compelling.
My main reasoning for ending up with a three-star rating is that I just couldn't connect as much as I wanted to. Since even the slightest hint of a plot revelation could dampen the experience for those who have not read the book, I will mention some of my issues within the spoiler tag: (view spoiler)[ There is a romance subplot that felt really forced and contrived. At some point, I thought it was part of the author manipulating us, but ... turns out she wasn't in the end. The love affair between Lowen and Jeremy never seemed sincere, especially for something that received so much build-up from the first minute. On that matter, the character development for Lowen felt like it could have done well with a little more nuance and attention to detail.
And then the ending. Probably my biggest gripe with an otherwise perfectly entertaining novel. It's not what the ending was, per se: narrative-wise, I liked the decision Hoover made here, and the ambiguity that is introduced through the epilogue. Genuinely, I thought it was brilliant. What dampened it for me was the way it was executed, the rush. The author's ambition to cut off all unnecessary baggage, make it as short and effective as possible, actually made the ending feel so rushed that I was genuinely surprised by how quickly it was over. For so much intense build-up, so much drama and mystery and so many thrills, the climax felt anticlimactic and like someone just let all the accrued tension leak away. Again, my problem is not what happens, but more the way it was written that didn't work for me personally. (hide spoiler)]
Still, this novel was on the upper end of the three-star tier for me, and I'm still considering whether I should just go ahead and give it those four stars. (One might almost get the impression that I'm overthinking my ratings too much, but come on, we all do.)
In short, a gripping page-turner. Some issues here and there, but if you're looking for a novel that grabs your attention from the beginning (which, quite literally, means the opening scene), and will have you turning each page yearning to know what happens next, this one deserves to be checked out. It's also a clever throwback to the steamy, sexually charged romantic thrillers that were so popular during the late eighties and nineties. A sick, darkly twisted, often disturbing novel that makes for intense, fast-paced entertainment.
Now, whether I feel inclined to check out another one of Colleen Hoover's novels, I'm not so sure about that yet. The contemporary romance genre really hasn't piqued my interest in a long while....more
"If someone asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn't s
"If someone asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn't spoken to another person for two consecutive days. FINE is what you say."
Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is one of the most unique voices I have had the pleasures to get to know lately. Honeyman managed to create a character that not only feels relatable and believable, but also unique and consistently interesting.
"In principle and reality, libraries are life-enhancing palaces of wonder."
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine has turned into one of the most acclaimed and most popular novels of the late 2010s. Obviously, I'm not complaining, as this was such an enjoyable experience, but it did come as a surprise to me that Honeyman managed to strike a chord with quite that many readers, as it objectively does not feel like the kind of story that would necessarily make such an enormous splash. However, Honeyman found a way to express her character's thoughts and manners in eloquent and remarkable fashion, and I'm so happy to see that this novel received all the attention it deserves.
The writing is comical when it is tragic, it is joyful when it is sad, it is a timeless appeal to being kind and caring. The universal nature of the message ensures that Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is so relatable. You don't need to be an equally socially awkward, domestically anguished person to be able to discover some aspects of yourself in Eleanor Oliphant's character. Gail Honeyman managed to hold up a mirror to her readers without slipping into a preachy, self-indulgent writing style. Truly a wonderful piece of literature.
"Although it’s good to try new things and to keep an open mind, it’s also extremely important to stay true to who you really are."
If you are a student, then it is highly likely that you know about the constant fear of someone running on a killing spree in your school building or If you are a student, then it is highly likely that you know about the constant fear of someone running on a killing spree in your school building or your university. If not, then at least you probably have relatives or friends who could potentially be involved in such a tragedy, just as everyone can possibly become a victim to such a horrifying scenario. That's what this book is about: the way an entire school deals with a killing spree after Nick Levil opened fire in the school cafeteria, killing several students and himself. I am not that well-informed about the circumstances in different countries, but here in Germany, tragedies like these have accompanied people for years, especially after the well-known and widely dreaded shooting sprees of Erfurt (2002), Emsdetten (2006) and Winnenden (2009). Emergency plans are now hanging on the doors of each classroom and instructions are given how to behave in such a case at the beginning of every schoolyear.
But past events and the severe lack of security measures tell another story: that it would be easy for almost everyone to walk into a classroom or a lecture hall and kill at least ten people by random before someone can stop the killer. This is something which can never be truly predicted or prevented, not even with huge prevention activites (which, of course, cannot be found here at the moment). And this fear or becoming victim to such a tragedy as well as the aftermaths of it are what Hate List by Jennifer Brown deals with.
Killing sprees are a serious topic which now and then invades the headlines and causes serious upheaval among the population. What makes it such a fascinating topic for an author to explore? It's the way they can't be predicted. Which thoughts have to run through the mind of a young person before walking through his or her school and killing dozens of people? How can such a deed be motivated? Why is it that nobody, not the parents, nor the friends, nor the girlfriend, ever sensed that something could happen?
In this book, Valerie Leftman, the first-person narrator, is introduced as the girlfriend of the boy who killed those innocent people. While in their relationship, Nick was sweet, loving and caring, even though Valerie knew that he had some contacts to the wrong friends. In addition to that, Nick and Valerie, both considering themselves to be outsiders in their school, created a Hate List with the names of people they hate. And when Nick begins the shooting, those persons whose names appear on that list are chosen by him explicitly to be killed before finally he can be stopped, leading him to kill himself. When the book begins, five months have passed, and Valerie has to return to her school again. Everyone considers her to be the girlfriend of that killer, some even accuse her of having known about his plans, and nothing is going to make it easy for Valerie at her school.
The social issue weighed heavily into this book, but apart from that, Valerie felt like a typical seventeen-year-old teenager to me, portrayed with almost the same character traits as all the other seventeen-year-old female protagonists in all those Young Adult novels out there. Her character had nothing special surrounding her, except for the constant self-pitying and selfishness. Her father was portrayed in a way which could not have been more negative, a way which is sadly too often occuring in reality. Her mother was portrayed in a way mothers shouldn't be portrayed, and the only character who sticked out to me as being interesting was Nick Levil, the perpetrator, for the mere fact that nobody suspected anything before he went on his killing spree. The most enthralling part of this novel was the way the author dealt with Nick's complicated mind; after all, what could turn a guy who reads Shakespeare for fun and has a (relatively) healthy social life into a killer?
In the end, the premise convinced me most in this novel, while the characters fell flat for me and the plot balanced on a constant middle course between boring and interesting. However, it is possible that this novel was just a case of "it's me, not you", so I will recommend reading Anne's fantastic review and let yourself be convinced that this book deserves to be checked out....more
Everyone seems to love this book all over the place – apparently for very convincing reasons, as it deals with what a deformed little boy has to go thEveryone seems to love this book all over the place – apparently for very convincing reasons, as it deals with what a deformed little boy has to go through in school when his new classmates are confronted with his face for the first time. This is a book about bullying, but also about hope, friendship and family. And it’s a good book, featuring a believable and interesting protagonist you simply can’t help but relate to.
August „Auggie“ Pullman has been born with a cleft palate which left him with a facial deformation, influencing his hearing abilities and scaring a lot of the people he meets away. After being homeschooled for quite some years, at the age of ten, Auggie’s parents finally decide to allow him to enter middle school – leading Auggie into the beginning of a new chapter in his life, a chapter in which he is going to be confronted with friendship and the darkest sides of bullying alike. Entering this novel, I didn’t know that cleft palates occure in 1 to 2 per 1000 births in the developed world – the subject of the novel is certainly a very strong and important one, a subject people should be confronted with because, after all, there is still too much bullying in this world.
Palacio structured her book in a very interesting way by including the viewpoints of several characters. After allowing the reader to get used to Auggie’s voice, we meet his sister Via, then one of Auggie’s friends at school, Summer, afterwards another classmate called Jack, then Via’s boyfriend and finally an old friend of Via, Miranda. All of them were characterized by unique voices … a method I didn’t approve of at all. Why does an author need to write entire chapters without capitalization and in fragmented sentences just to underline that the character doesn’t seem to care about grammar and how to express oneself properly? It was annoying and a struggle to read, as were the Facebook chat messages between two characters, which mainly consisted of messages like „can we b frenz agen?“ or „awsum!!!!“ by characters who talk in their own point of view chapters sophisticated enough to appear capable of using the English language without butchering it. It is simply contradictory when the author writes about one character in his very own punctuation, but then writes inconsistently about the voices of others.
If you don’t want to be spoiled about the ending, then please don’t read the parts I marked as such. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. (view spoiler)[The ending is happier than a novel with such a dark and depressing topic should be allowed to be. Reminiscent of successful movies like „Shawshank Redemption“, this tale dealt with serious topics and then allowed the topic hope to take over the style of the story. But in comparison with Shawshank, „Wonder“ didn’t conclude on a bitter-sweet and realistic note, it simply cried out „Here is your happy ending!“ and „Be happy about it!“ I did care for Auggie and was happy to realize that in the ending he had his own touching and amazing moments. But it took away a lot of the realistic aspects from the beginning, because when does a story actually end on such a happy note in real life? Remember that this is simply my personal opinion, but I thought that a more subtile conclusion would have been more memorable. The way it was written, this simply appeared to be like another school drama, even in spite of all the serious topics which were attached in the beginning and the middle part. (hide spoiler)]
Some time after the release of Wonder, R.J. Palacio published another chapter with the point of view of Julian, one of the kids who bullied Auggie in school. Not even Goodreads seems to know how to deal with this story, as there is one edition of Wonder with more than 160,000 ratings (the one I am reviewing right now) and then another edition with 110,000 ratings which includes the ten pages from the Julian chapter. Until a few weeks ago, those two editions were combined in a single book, yet now they have been divided into two different books on GR – which is confusing as hell. (Edit: As of October 2016, the two editions are combined as one single edition again.) Anyway, I gave the other edition two stars because of the way Palacio tried (and for me, obviously, failed) to excuse bullying. (view spoiler)[Julian was revealed to have suffered from nightmares about scary faces in his childhood, which made him feel like Auggie is just another monster – thus his awful behavior towards him. I don’t doubt that something like this might happen in real life, just as, after all, there is no excuse for bullying. It was the way Palacio sounded as if this was to redeem Julian’s character which confused me and ultimately made me feel like having some negative experiences in one’s childhood makes up for plaguing someone who isn’t even responsible for the way he looks. (hide spoiler)]
This is a book loved by almost everyone, and they are all right. Believe them. I’m just this weird reader who almost never likes those books which have received all the attention in the universe.
Can there be so much wrong in a book that you tend to oversee how much right is in exactly the same book? If there is one little thing I expect from aCan there be so much wrong in a book that you tend to oversee how much right is in exactly the same book? If there is one little thing I expect from a ridiculously over-hyped book, then it is making me think about an important subject. And this book certainly did provoke several thoughts, and while not all of them were positive, at least it made itself memorable in a way not too many other books usually succeed to do.
Stephen Chbosky made me uncomfortable reading his novel which has by now become a classic of the Young Adult genre despite being published only seventeen years ago, but he also made me understand the things which are going on in the protagonist's, Charlie's, head. Because puberty is nothing we can choose to go through; we all have/had to endure this process of character growth at one certain time of our life. Some have experienced a stormy time full of alcohol, smoking, drugs, sex, parties - the list can be continued boundlessly. On the other side, some have endured a quite process of coming to terms with aspects of their life like sexuality, their first love and the things they expect from their life. It is the time where many of us realize that all of us are the same, yet everyone is so different from each other. Because every person feels different emotions, everyone has experienced different situations, everyone has different friends and people influencing them.
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" depicts exactly this: the disorganized thoughts storming through our minds at the age of fourteen in some cases, sixteen or seventeen in some other cases. Charlie experiences it all in this novel. He has his first cigarette. His first drugs. His first time with a girl. His first relationship. His first drink. His first kiss with a boy. And not everything that happens to him during this period is good either. The subjects which are depicted in this novel are very much realistic and portraying how such a period might be like for a teenager. The main aspect which bothered me to the edge of growing frustrated was the execution into written words.
► Mainly, everyone is crying in this book. Every single moment which might potentially bear any kind of emotions is ridiculed by letting the characters break out in tears. You sometimes begin to believe there are tears rather than blood rushing through their bodies. The main characters in this book might as well have founded the Tear-Shedding Club.
► Charlie is a sixteen-year-old teenager. He has the perfect grades at school, always bringing home the best results of his tests ... and yet he sounds like a ten-year-old child not knowing how to express himself. I don't know if this might symbolize a potential attribute of autism, mainly because I am not that informed about autism, but it seemed weird to me. Especially since Charlie's grades remained perfect even inspite of 'straying from the right path' and beginning to get used to drugs, alcohol and the like. Maybe he is indeed an exception from the average, but it seemed weird to me and made me question the narrative's seriousness.
► In addition to this, the writing was disappointing, to say the least. Maybe it was supposed to sound the way it did as the book was narrated through the eyes of a teenager, but it felt like this was a simple-structured book written for children rather than depicting the extents of puberty. And apart from that, the dialogues were horrible to read. Due to the way the novel was written, the narrative only retold the events Charlie experienced and thus may not accurately render the dialogue, but this cannot be an excuse for conversations being portrayed unrealistically and with a weird, odd undertone.
► The character growth was purely frustrating to read. Going from a shy, restrained 'underdog' to someone with a lot of friends, spending his time with drinking, smoking, taking drugs and having sex without his parents even realizing or necessarily minding, and all this with a certain naturalness attached to it simply felt unnatural, especially when taking a look at the way Charlie finds new friends in. He doesn't care for those who are in his age group; no, he rather finds friends who are two or three years older than he is. I don't know a lot about the American school system or the way teenagers behave there apart from what was transmitted to me through literature, television or radio. But here in Germany, it is certainly not that easy. Either you are popular - that means, you're probably pretty self-confident, arrogant, have a way with girls, and find pleasure in making your popularity visible for everyone else - or you aren't, which, in most cases, applies for those who are struggling to find friends, who are not as self-confident or communicative as others, and are thus more likely to become a witness of mobbing etc. You cannot simply avoid the rest of the people in your age group. Either you make yourself noticeable to them, or they will notice you, and perhaps not in the way someone would have liked it to be.
► This book is 200 pages long, and it covers all the issues which might possibly be covered in one single book. Suicide, drug abuse, domestic violence, homosexuality, abortion, fights, and a lot of other things. By having the characters cry at every little instance, the author literally seems to yell at us, "Now cry with them! You are supposed to feel the emotions, to connect with the characters! CRY!" But the story did not move me that much. The fast pace was something I appreciated, but the way issues were covered in this book felt too rushed. This book might have been twice as long without having felt too long.
In conclusion, Chbosky's novel is certainly no bad one. It covered important issues and has received a hype which can only be fondly longed for by several other authors. But to me, it turned out to be quite disappointing. Was it enjoyable? Yes, it was. I read it during the course of four hours, and I always eagerly anticipated what was happening next. But was it perfect? No, it wasn't. Because the concept a book is based on always strongly differs from the execution by the author. As a result, I have rated "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" with three not-that-good-but-not-that-bad-either stars, with a little bit of disappointment connected with it....more
When I opened this book, I expected a lot of things, but never would I have thought that it was going to receive a place among my absolute favorite boWhen I opened this book, I expected a lot of things, but never would I have thought that it was going to receive a place among my absolute favorite books, with the definite guarantee of rereading this one day (maybe I should mention here that I hardly ever reread a book).
The Serpent King is Jeff Zentner's debut novel, and what a novel it is. He has been a guitarist and songwriter, having released five albums before focusing his attention on writing novels for young adults. But this novel doesn't feel like a debut novel. The writing? Yes, that's something Jeff Zentner can still improve even though it is already pretty good. But the character development in this novel was close to perfection, as much as I hate to use the word "perfect" in any context, because whatever is perfect for you, might just as well be imperfect for others. For me, The Serpent King was perfect.
“So when I watch trains, it makes me think about how much movement there is in the world. How every train has dozens of cars and every car has hundreds of parts, and all those parts and cars work day after day. And then there are all these other motions. People are born and die. Seasons change. Rivers flow to the sea. Earth circles the sun and the moon circles Earth. Everything whirring and spinning toward something. And I get to be part of it for a little while, the way I get to watch a train for a minute or two, and then it's gone.”
This book introduces three young adults coming of age in a gripping tale set in a rural small town in Forrestville, Tennessee. Dillard Early, Jr., a talented musician, is the son of almost fanatically religious parents, his father being a former pastor and now a convicted criminal. His mother blames him for the imprisonment of his father, and sharing the same name with his father and grandfather, both having earned a negative reputation in their town, doesn't improve matters for Dill. Lydia Blankenship feels as if she was born into the wrong hometown; because as much as she loves her parents (and is loved in return), she never felt welcome in Forrestville and rather seeks to discover huge, adventurous metropolises like New York City. Running a famous fashion blog with thousands of followers, Lydia finds comfort in the support of virtual friends. Travis Bohannon is a gentle and caring guy who doesn't exactly have the perfect body weight and who is obsessed with an epic fantasy series called Bloodfall, which Jeff Zentner manages to characterize so well that it almost feels like a series one would like to read too. Travis struggles with finding a place in his family, especially as his abusive father has turned into a notorious drunkard after Travis' older brother's death.
Those three teenagers couldn't be more different from each other, yet they develop a friendship which is closer than one could imagine. Those three different voices alternate with one another in changing POV chapters, always allowing for some refreshing viewpoints to be explored. In this novel, Jeff Zentner very much relies not on usual plot elements, but rather on developing the three major characters and letting them decide how the plot is going to continue. For most parts of the story, the reader gets to spend time with those characters and grow attached to them, yet even when Zentner chooses to revert to plot twists, it feels natural in a way which brings the story forward.
We have a fantasy fanboy, a social media celebrity and a criminal's son caught between tradition and the modern world - a motif which continues to be visible throughout the entire novel. Religion and music are explored in very surprising ways, just as the contrast between small-town life and urban pace plays heavily into the story. And let's not forget one very important aspect: Most Contemporary YA novels try to establish their hero(in)es as conflicted and real, I accept and respect that, but a lot of those characters sound roughly the same. Not so much with Dill, Lydia and Travis. I find myself unable to compare their voices to any other character in any other YA novel I have read so far, which only adds to my personal feeling that Jeff Zentner managed to create an extraordinary novel with extraordinary characters. In the beginning of the novel, Dill, Lydia and Travis were just some random teenagers yet another author attempted to write a story about, but in the end, those three people have turned into good friends. Of course they are fictional characters, but sometimes you just wish those fictional characters could be made of flesh and blood and living in your own hometown.
"What’s funny is that I never set out to write a YA novel. What I really wanted to do was to write for young adults. And it happens that the best way to do that is by writing a YA novel. So that’s what I did. I think that’s such an amazing period of life, where you’re basically as intelligent as an adult, but the world and experience haven’t lost their newness. I remember the immediacy of feeling and wonder that accompanied those years of my life. There’s a magic there. I also love the way that young adults experience art and cling to the pieces of art that they love. I wanted to create something that would (hopefully) be loved and clung to."
- Jeff Zentner, quoted from his FAQ on his author's website.
I would happily give this book ten stars if only Goodreads allowed me to. And finally, I want to thank Shelby for pointing this one out to me in the first place....more
Now and then, you find a book that manages to enthrall you so deeply that you simply know you will return to it over and over again, perhaps to embracNow and then, you find a book that manages to enthrall you so deeply that you simply know you will return to it over and over again, perhaps to embrace the writing style, perhaps to meet these characters again or perhaps to simply let yourself be immersed by the wonderful atmosphere of that specific book.
Empire Falls is such a book. I loved every single page of this novel, even though I know there are readers who would rip this book apart, saying things like "nothing ever happens" or "where is the plot?" If you actually plan to read this novel, you have to be prepared to find a book which focuses on character development more than anything else. Richard Russo, the author of this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, concentrates mainly on the huge cast of characters he introduces and develops throughout these 500 pages, as well as building an atmosphere that will make you feel as if you have relocated to Empire Falls, Maine, this curious little town with its huge story.
It is difficult to explain the events in "Empire Falls", considering the huge amount of characters involved in this novel. We accompany our main character, Miles Roby, on an insightful journey through his life, but Russo also constantly delves into the minds of different characters by changing the point of view to another character. All the different narrative arcs find their centerpiece in Miles Roby, a middle-aged, divorced father who runs the Empire Grill, a greasy spoon diner. We meet his ex-wife Janine Roby, who has developed a rather selfish attitude since her divorce and whose main concerns are now her weight and her social status. Their smart daughter Tick is confronted with her own problems in school, where she meets John Voss, her awkward, introverted classmate. We meet Miles' younger brother David, a chief cook and former alcoholic; as well as their difficult father Max and their late mother Grace through a number of flashbacks; we meet Janine's arrogant fiancé Walt Comeau, police officer Jimmy Minty who holds a grudge against Miles, his son Zack who has once been involved with Tick; and of course Francine Whiting, the widow of the wealthiest man of Empire Falls who now owns half of the town - and particularly Miles.
Richard Russo introduces us to an enormous amount of other characters as well, making it appear that it is rather easy to lose track of who is actually who and which character has which characteristics. However, Russo always manages to introduce his characters in a very memorable way, with every single minor character contributing an important part to the story line. No person is introduced without a reason, and they are all developed in a very balanced way: Goodhearted Miles Roby also has his dark sides, but antagonists such as Zack and Jimmy Minty or Walt Comeau never appear as stereotypical villains. Russo spends a lot of time on creating realistic characters, and he does more than just succeed: He creates characters you are unlikely to ever forget.
“After all, what was the whole wide world but a place for people to yearn for their heart's impossible desires, for those desires to become entrenched in defiance of logic, plausibility, and even the passage of time, as eternal as polished marble. ”
For me personally, Russo's prose was thoughtful and memorable, but he also found the perfect balance between humor and seriousness. At times, you will not be able to stop laughing thanks to Russo's subtle humor. At other times, you will start wondering about subjects you never thought even existed. Even now, after having finished this book, I can open it on a random page and find a new aspect to think about. Of course it is possible to detect a plot in this novel, but it's not the most important thing; in its essence, "Empire Falls" can be called a social study, exploring a small town to its very core and delving deep into everyone's secrets without causing their stories to feel far-fetched or excessively melodramatic. All of these characters might well be your neighbors, that's how realistically Russo portrays them. He ultimately builds up to a thrilling climax, which leads everything to a satisfying ending which stays close to the core of the characters and the town.
Many relationships in this novel are defined by either resentment or kindness, but all of these relationships find themselves tested in the course of the book. Each character has to explore themes such as responsibility or, most importantly, humanity, which is essentially what the book is about in my opinion. What makes us human? What defines humanity? Can we call ourselves human in spite of all our sins?
The blurb of the edition I own describes the novel with "characters who will disarm you, a plot with as many twists and falls as the Knox River [the river which flows through Empire Falls] itself, and an ending that will make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck." I couldn't agree more. Even when I put this book aside, I could never resist returning to it in my thoughts. And let's take a moment to appreciate that beautiful cover (at least in the edition which I have linked my review to).
I should mention that perhaps I should hate this book rather than loving it; after all, I have not been able to motivate myself to read anything for about five weeks after finishing "Empire Falls" - I simply couldn't imagine to find something similarly good again. But this was only my personal experience, so if you intend to read this novel, don't get your expectations too high. Russo's prose is so simple and yet beautiful that I was constantly tempted to reread chapters immediately. In addition, Russo tends to create complex sentences and releases a lot of information embedded into his sentences upon his readers, which is why you will have to read every chapter very carefully in order to understand the characters' conflicts and the background stories.
“And there comes a time in your life when you realize that if you don't take the opportunity to be happy, you may never get another chance again.”
I can honestly say that Russo's novel changed my life to some extent (eben though I recognize how dramatic that sounds). His prose provides constant food for thoughts, he makes you overthink your own values and standards by pushing you towards questions like, "What would I do if I was in the same situation as this character?"
Many other reviewers have already praised this novel, so I don't think I was able to add anything else to what they already wrote, but I certainly hope that Richard Russo will continue to receive attention for the masterful novel he created. Though it should be mentioned that if you usually only read fantasy, sci-fi, thrillers or romance novels, you may not enjoy this very much. For readers of literary/adult/realistic fiction (or however this genre may be called), I'd call this novel a safe bet. You won't be disappointed.
* * * * * * *
If you are still interested, I am going to provide you with some further information on the TV mini-series which was closely adapted from Russo's novel in 2005.
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The show is capable of portraying a very similar atmosphere to the one depicted in the novel. The series shines with a stellar cast: Ed Harris, Helen Hunt, Paul Newman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Joanne Woodward, Kate Burton, William Fichtner and Aidan Quinn. Over the course of 200 minutes, the series depicts every major event from the novel in a very similar fashion, and finds the correct balance between its own choices and the book's defaults. There is not much wrong with this series, except perhaps that - just like the novel itself - I did not want it to end once I started watching it.
You are immediately swept into the atmosphere of the story, and fabulous actors allow to instantly make all of these characters appear interesting. Paul Newman puts all his acting weight into his performance as Max Roby, a role very different from his iconic roles such as Butch Cassidy, Henry Gondorff or Cold Hand Luke. Ed Harris shines as Miles Roby, a role in which he is finally allowed to play more than just the antagonist (though Harris never fails to do so in a convincing manner) or the minor character his roles are often treated as in many movies. Robin Wright gracefully makes the role of Grace her own, though she still only presents us with small nuances of what she is actually capable of. Those three actors stood out in the most memorable way for me personally, but in the end, there was not a single performance which disappointed me.
Ultimately, I'd highly recommend watching this series ... if you have read the book. The series works well on its own, but it works even better after having read the book before....more
Sometimes there are peculiar stories, stories which will not leave you for a long time and which are going to accompany you long after having turned tSometimes there are peculiar stories, stories which will not leave you for a long time and which are going to accompany you long after having turned the last page.
Sometimes there are touching stories, stories which feel so realistic that you believe every word the author puts into the novel.
Sometimes a book simply doesn't need perfect writing, beautiful language or consistent, flawless plotlines. The Outsiders is one of those books. It has flaws, not everything is believable. But there is something else it has: heartwarming emotions.
And sometimes a book needs nothing but to be full of emotions, and that's what moved me so much in this engaging tale which is, in its very essence, a love letter to humanity and friendship....more
My first Buddy Read with Anne (and my first in general) proved to be a total success. Not only in terms of enjoying the book, but also with regard to My first Buddy Read with Anne (and my first in general) proved to be a total success. Not only in terms of enjoying the book, but also with regard to our Buddy Read which will not have been our last one.
So, „The Girl on the Train“ is the novel everyone talked about last year, everyone read (except for Anne and me) and everyone either loved or hated – it is hard to find an opinion set right inbetween both sides. I don’t feel sorry at all for jumping on the bandwagon at this and positioning myself at the „loved it“ side. After having read many books which were rather difficult to get through lately, „The Girl on the Train“ (or the Traingirl, as Anne and I called it for the fun of it) was fast-paced and kept me guessing about the next twists and turns. It is not your typical mystery novel where you have your murder mystery, your investigator and then, somewhere down the road, the solution. This book was rather told through the eyes of the potential perpetrators. One character turned out to be more fucked up than the other, and if you go into this novel thinking that Paula Hawkins will introduce you to likeable characters … then I am sorry to disappoint you. The word likeable seemingly does not even exist in Paula Hawkins‘ writer jargon.
However, this does not mean that „The Girl on the Train“ was about characters you could not care for. I did not like any of them, but through the course of the story, I began to care for one of the characters, and most of them ((view spoiler)[except for Anna and Tom (hide spoiler)]) were developed in such a good way that you at least felt like you could understand their motivations, their character backgrounds. Paula Hawkins does not write about characters you would like to be friends with. She writes about characters who did everything wrong they could have done wrong, and she does an incredible job at that. The sad truth is, women like Rachel, Anna or Megan do exist in this world. Maybe not in exactly the same way with the same background, but they do exist, and that’s why „The Girl on the Train“ felt so realistic to me.
Yet there are quite a few things to criticize in this novel. First of all, it felt like Paula Hawkins characterized her female protagonists through the men they were married to; shaped not by their individuality, but rather solely by their marriage – Anna even more so than Megan. In addition, the reader was kept in the dark about the mystery because of a simple alcohol-caused blackout – a plot approach which feels outdated and clumsy to me. It added to the level of tension and suspense, but still bothered me throughout reading the novel. Many people cannot talk about this book without comparing it to „Gone Girl“, and while I have not read this book and intend to do so later this year, I get where those opinions are coming from what I have heard of Gillian Flynn’s writing.
The book’s structure is perhaps what sets it apart from other novels of the same genre. We have three female first-person narrators – Rachel, Megan and Anna – who are telling the story from their own points of view, and Rachel gets all the chapters with odd numbers throughout the course of the story, amplifying the impression of her character being odd. I liked this structure, and Paula Hawkins must soon have figured out one important benefit of writing her story this way: She was able to tell us only what she wants us to know. We have to rely on the first-person-narrators, which seems to be even more of a paradox if you consider how unreliable each of them is. In the end, I felt like this book could not have been half as good if Paula Hawkins had told it straight through without different time flats and narrators. And her writing is fabulous. Maybe not as good as one might desire, but also not as bad as one might fear, and it kept me hooked from the beginning to the ending, without feeling bored for even one moment.
In conclusion, „The Girl on the Train“ was a fast read, a quick experience, something which fitted my mood at exactly the right time. If I had chosen to read it some weeks earlier or later, maybe it would only have received two stars, because it is a novel you have to be in the right mood for or you will hate it, hate its structure, its characters, maybe even the plot. I understand and respect everyone who does not like this, and yet I am glad to have picked it up, to have read it along with Anne and enjoyed the hell out of it.
Recommended for those who are in the right mood for a mystery which will keep you riveted by it if only you give it a chance to hook you. And if you have read thus far, please take a look at Anne's review as well....more
Fabian {Councillor}
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Books:
contemporary-fiction
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