ed_moore's Reviews (345)

Treasure Island couldn’t be closer to the stereotypical pirate story. Published in 1883 it has everything pirates from desert islands to buried treasure, parrots to jolly rogers. The story is narrated by a young cabin boy Jim, who embarks on the typical quest to find some buried treasure. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. You could quite easily tell what the outcome of the story was going to be as well. Stevenson’s pirate story is a universal classic, but in my opinion really wasn’t anything special. 

In my opinion 1984 is the dystopian novel. It is a work of utter genius, and in my reread of it not only was it even better, but I discovered so many more of the intricacies, corruption and political structure of the totalitarian dictatorship of Ingsoc. The second time round Orwell’s authorial voice and twists were still shocks, key changes in plot points still brought me chills, and I still sat with utter disbelief upon finishing the book and awe for Orwell’s storytelling. Writing in the post-war society of 1949, Orwell depicts a future imagination of the impact of fascism if anything alike to the ideologies of the Nazi party were to succeed. 1984 focuses on the gaining of complete control through concepts such as the police and surveillance state, manipulation of language and a state of total, each individually a haunting prospect of reality and together a fascinating means of control and devastating future world of which it is an impossibility to oppose. The most terrifying part being Orwell’s fears in 1949 beginning to come into play in modern society today. I cannot praise this book enough, and I strongly believe it will hold it’s gold medal among my favourite books for the foreseeable future, it’ll take quite some masterpiece to topple it. 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval verse poem, written by an unknown author around the year of 1400. It tells of the quest of Sir Gawain, one of the knights of King Arthur’s round table, to fulfil his agreement with an illusive Green knight whom he beheaded the year prior. Keith Harrison, the translator of the Oxford edition, recreated the verses exceptionally, the structure and flow of the poem being very much enjoyable. This too is complemented by wondrous description of landscape and nature, though also to the same degree of detail descriptions of hunting, of which were less pleasant to read. It being a medieval tale, many details of a magic system or the characters overcoming unfathomable odds is largely unexplained and the poem leaves the reader with more questions than answers, though it does remain true to it’s context and period. 

I would say that Olaudah Equiano’s ‘The Interesting Narrative’ does in fact live up to its title claim to be ‘interesting’, whereas this is to an extent. The book is the autobiography of the ex-slave, sailor and abolitionist Equiano, and provides a first hand account of the horrors of the institution of slavery. A recount of his time enslaved, of which the first third of the narrative documented, was both haunting and interesting, whereas following Equiano purchasing his freedom it becomes a repetitive recount of various trips on boats with little avail in tandem with repeated Christian preaching to the reader. Despite this, it cannot be denied that Equiano’s lifetime and achievements, given his context and atrocious circumstances, is utterly inspiring. 

Comparing to the most recent Shakespeare I read, the Tempest, King Lear was a significant improvement. It is one of the “four great tragedies” and it lives up to the name. Regarding the “tragedy” section of its title, Lear in no means disappoints. It is a tale of backstabbing and greed as the ageing King Lear divides his kingdom and grants it to his three daughters. The finale of the play is as a whole satisfying whereas my only gripe would be that some of the tragedy seems to just ‘happen’ off stage without any real cause or explanation, and seems to exist solely for shock purposes in what was already a very shocking finale. Other than that quibble, the build up and finale were largely satisfying and in the plays effort to live up to its title as a “great” tragedy I shall let the unnecessary shock elements pass.  

This book was brutal. I think that may be the best word to describe it. Oroonoko was written in 1688 by the English writer Aphra Behn. Written in an age where British colonisation was prominent and the slave trade was ongoing, Behn writes condemning the institution of slavery, whereas not in the means that immediately you’d assume. She does not criticise the evil of the institution, instead his becoming enslaved lessens the prince Oroonoko’s nobility. This is where I note some substantial flaws in the book, firstly it’s context meaning the institution of slavery is not criticised and in some cases even justified, and secondly in regards to the protagonist of the story. Oroonoko is of nobility and depicted to have a much more comfortable experience than the ordinary slave throughout the majority of the story. Behn avoids the massive and unavoidable issues in her writing only putting emphasis on the nobility of one individual. I would also add this book is full of trigger warnings, notably the slave trade, inappropriate sexual relations and extreme violence.

Though written during around 750 in Anglo-Saxon England, that being over 1200 years ago, the tale of Beowulf was surprisingly readable and ‘modern’, md crediting that to Heaney’s success in his translation of the old epic. Such poem follows the Norse king Beowulf as he quests to defeat three monsters, being Grendel, Grendel’s mother and a dragon . Though not a burden to read, the poem was somewhat limited in what I found to be a lack of development, there being no description of Grendel or his mother and causing wide scholarly debate of what these creatures are. Beowulf as a hero also faces the same problems I considered Odysseus to have (Homers epic being the first comparison that came to mind), each of their plot armour making battles and threats underwhelming. Beowulf does differ to Odysseus however in what could be seen as the ‘twist’ given the perception given throughout most of the poem. I shan’t however discredit this too much, as with translation and it’s great age much has been lost or not recorded from its oral origins. Instead, I can only praise Heaney for his revival and means of granting accessibility to this ancient tale.

Of the Shakespeare I have read, which admittedly isn’t much in comparison to many people, The Tempest has been my least favourite. Not that that’s to it’s discredit as it was still an alright read, however I felt the plot was quite uneventful and the final act came to its resolutions between characters far too easily. Written in 1623 it occurs in the context of the recent history being the discovery of the Americas and the wide expansion in exploration that occurred toward the end of the Tudor period and into the reign of James I, therefore the means of which Shakespeare takes inspiration from the gaining of new territory is of some contextual interest in the Tempest. Despite this, little about the play really stood out to me. 3 stars is a generous round up. 

Season of Migration to the North is a story set in Sudan with focus on the effects of colonialism on the country in addition to the means it has failed to improve life in many cases, a primary example throughout the book being the oppressions toward women. The books is shrouded in mystery, the primary motives of the protagonist being to discover the secrets of the unusual new face in his village of Mustafa Sa’eed. The greatest mystery, however, is that of the identity of the protagonist. Salih chooses to leave his narrator unnamed raising many a question regarding the narrator, however this also allows the narrator to become a voice of truth, describing the world as it really is and allowing for Salih’s critique of colonialism and gender violence in its true form, untainted by a male-bias from the protagonist. 

Paradise Lost was possibly one of the most unusual books I have ever read. The epic poem is a retelling of the Christian creation story, written in 1667 by a strict Protestant writer by the name of John Milton. This raises my interpretation ofit being a weird read, as when reading I could not let go the question of why someone so devout would write a biblical retelling that opened with Satan’s fall from Heaven, told through his perspective and to an extent writing in a way that makes the reader sympathise with Satan. This was at least the case in my opinion for the first couple of books of the epic. Paradise Lost was an exceptionally challenging text, often having found myself not fully understanding the events of the poem at times. Despite this, in my edition each book begun with a short chapter summary that was really beneficial (this showing that for many it is a difficult text to comprehend) and this allowed me to focus on the interesting dynamic between the religious author and the POV character of Satan, a relationship of which the exploration of resulted in great interest of the poem.