astridandlouise's Reviews (665)

I really enjoyed this book. I don't think it would be everyone's cup of tea but I breezed through this book in only 2 short days.

it's full of religion and what it means to different people in the story as well as quite a bit of anti-Semitism and the discussion of the Jewish people.

it basically told the tale of the family curse as the man travelled around Europe, who do not believe of the curse but did become cursed himself when he visited his mothers village in Greece where the curse originated.

the chapters alternated between the man (Isaac and his travelling; set in the present) and the mans mother (Reveka) and how the family curse came to be.

it did contain a number of graphic scenes, but I enjoy reading Tsiolkas' books as the way he uses language and words, the way that he can tell a story I find easy to absorb myself in. I feel a certain captivation by his storytelling.

if you don't know the personality of Diana Vreeland, you may find this book a little over dramatic and an absolute load of baloney.
if you do know Diana Vreeland and her outrageous front, her love of tangents and her belief in her lavish gift of a life, then you'll probably find this book fun.

I know her personality, she is crazy and majorly over the top and that's what people loved about her. when I started the book I thought it was outlandish and crazy and I didn't know whether I would actually be able to finish it because it all just seemed so ridiculous. the stories she was telling just seemed to be full of names she wished to drop and full of behaviour she deems normal to everyday life. but then I started reading the book as if she were reading it out loud to me (I had her voice in my head - she has a voice that as soon as you'd hear it, you'd know it was her. unique.) only then did I seem to enjoy the book because I remembered the book is all about her outlandish and crazy life, it could never be about anyone else because she was a woman who told stories with an extremely vivid imagination and a sense of absolute conviction, no matter how crazy it would seem to anyone else.

if you want to read this book I suggest you do as I did, it made reading much more enjoyable - I felt she was talking straight at me. crazy to imagine it, but just try it and I guarantee it will feel like she's right in the room with you.

I loved this book. I thought it was fantastic.

There were a few points in the book where I thought Tartt could have broken this up into multiple volumes, but those thoughts were never in my mind for long. There was always something around the corner for Theo - Tartt created a brilliant world within the cover of this book.

Cannot wait to read her other works. It's a joy, ease and pleasure to read her creation.

woah.. so ok.. when i first started reading this book i found myself thinking how much i was going to hate it seeing as it began with so much business savvy and financial lingo but once i got through the first 30-50 pages, i was hooked! i loved it! i'm not too sure what got me so enticed and why i found myself wanting to read more and more, but i thought it to be a very well written, interesting read.

i cannot wait to read the second book...

i can understand why this book has received so many rave reviews and such good feedback, but to me it was not as engaging as i hoped it would be - i wish it was more of a page turner.

i loved the story - especially the retelling of the main characters life and all the amazing experiences he had - as farfetched as it was, the author did a brilliant job of tying so many interesting political figures and stories into one. the present story i didn't enjoy as much until the last 50-60 pages of the book.

the one reason i don't think i enjoyed this as much as i would have liked it due to the authors style. i found the sentences disjointed - to me the story just didn't flow as naturally as expected as i usually like. it just felt stilted.

as a 99p purchase on amazon, it was worth the read, and i may one day read it again to pick up pieces i may have missed, but i think if i had bought the book for $10-20 i think i would have been much more disappointed. i would have given this 3.5 stars if goodreads gave me the option of the half star mark.

i enjoyed this fairytale - different from the disney movie as most fairytales are.
Aurora (Briar-Rose) is one of my favourite disney princesses just because of her quiet nature, gentle and endless virtue.
the story was okay, quiet short but enjoyable nonetheless.

this book definitely wasn't as good as the original, but i enjoyed it nonetheless. it was an easy read, not completely engrossing but kept me hooked enough to keep reading.

sometimes i felt that weisberger was rushing through certain events to get more storyline in the book, or only briefly glancing over events that i think probably deserved more pagetime. some of it just felt a little rushed.

i enjoyed the story, but just imagined that it would play out differently. i always imagined if there ever was a sequel to original book what it would be like, and i never imagined it would be anything like this (and i wouldn't necessarily take that as a compliment if i were weisberger.)

if you read the devil wears prada, read this - you'll enjoy it but don't expect to be blown away with a great story because it isn't really there.

An odd book. I can definitely understand why it's considered to be a piece of classic modern literature. I read the first two thirds of the book quite quickly, then got distracted by another book I picked up and began reading, but once I started where I left off I found i got back into it just as easily.

I think if I were to read the study guide along with this book I'd probably pick up many more numerous things along the way that I perhaps missed.
Wouldn't put it as a top read or favourite, but I'm glad that I did take the time to read it.

I was expecting this book to be much more than what it was and was pretty disappointed when at the beginning I noticed numerous grammatical errors which I did not expect or want to see.

It did get better but I was expecting more of a fictional novel than what I found myself reading.

Some of the faux names given to people throughout the book were easy to decipher; overall it wasn't what I was expecting. I still enjoyed the content but something about the whole combination seemed a little off and a little rushed. Unsure as to whether clement's publisher wanted to release another book quickly after the success of her first (which I believe to be true even if it hasn't been said) I feel the book could have been given more love and attention before a hasty release.