ed_moore's Reviews (345)

Burgess wrote A Clockwork Orange in 1963, the novel protesting what he saw as England’s increasingly authoritarian government. It is told through the voice of a teenaged Alex, of whom is a very dislikable protagonist, he being a thief, rapist and murderer, though somehow the reader growing sympathetic toward him as he becomes a victim of a dystopian England’s justice system, one of which psychologically conditions wrong-doers to negate crime and render individuals as robots. This hence explains the title, ‘A Clockwork Orange’, Burgess explaining it as "an organic entity, full of juice and sweetness and agreeable odour, being turned into a mechanism.” A Clockwork Orange is quite a challenging read, it being written in a slang called nadsat, therefore the narration of Alex initially making little sense. This therefore encouraged me to DNF this book last year, however with my draw to dystopian literature I decided to give it another chance, and halfway through found myself coming to understand nadsat and then able to engage with the key critiques of the novel, of which primarily arise around this point, allowing the reader to get ahold of the fictional language. In the end I enjoyed A Clockwork Orange, found the political commentary very engaging, and am thankful I gave it a second chance and checked off another iconic piece of dystopian literature from such list.

Dante's 'Inferno' depicts Dante's idea of the Hellscape when he was writing in 1324, taking inspiration from the works of Virgil to the extent that Virgil was key character and the 'guide' figure within the epic poem. However, Dante also overwrites the Hell depicted in Virgil's 'The Aeneid', emphasising a completely Christian focus. This was the book I ended up writing my end of term uni essay on as I found Dante's focus on politics and the political turmoil in 1300's Florence fascinating. He places his key opponents, and also allies, in Hell, blaming both sides of the feud for his exile from Florence in 1302, this playing a crucial role in the motivations of 'The Inferno'. I found the tale of Dante descending the level of Hell and the figures he meets along the way fascinating to read through a political lens and it was easily my favourite book of the first term of my degree.

A Raisin In The Sun was published in 1959 and the first play by an African-American writer to be performed on Broadway. Written at the height of the civil rights movement in America the play tackles the major issue of race in America, however in following a family of whom have recently inherited a life changing sun of money it also brings into question societal institutions of gender and class. Hansberry is witty and entertaining in addressing major societal issues and the success in her play marking a turning point in African-American literature. Though it wasn’t a favourite read of mine it was quick, easily accessible and enjoyable whilst focused on crucial social messages, therefore would say it’s a worthwhile read for 

I don’t cry at books; unless you include Death of a Salesman but that one I’m not counting as I was obviously in the wrong head space and shouldn’t have cried at that. Therefore I don’t cry at books, until I read this thing. Zusak is a genius. ‘The Book Thief’ is narrated by death, the narration is dead-pan and seems off at times as death interludes with various facts and changed the books formatting, it was unusual and I was sceptical, but it was perfect. You don’t often get war stories from the German side, at least not as a British reader, not as the allies won the war, but this really drilled in that in the end we are all humans and all victims of wars atrocities, and there is also still victims on each side of a world ravished by war. That was down to the brilliant character development shining a light on a new victim, the German Everyman. My one critique was that our narrator death was not afraid to spoil the ending in the middle of the book, and a few more subsequent times, yet somehow though as I read such spoiled I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t just left till the end, it somehow didn’t take anything from the finale. I still cried.

This didn’t take me more than an hour, i deliberated wether I should even class it among books I have read but I have a physical copy of it so I decided to. Book VI of the Aeneid involves Aeneas entering the underworld and encountering various figures whilst there. Heaney’s translation was easy to follow unlike the other epics I have encountered, the Aeneid wasn’t a droll, however I did only read one book and not the whole thing yet unlike the others therefore cannot be 100% confident in that opinion. It wasn’t any revolutionary read for me but I also have no complaints.

Mrs Dalloway is a snapshot of the thriving metropolis of post-WW1 London. This creates some interesting commentaries about the war, it’s impact and life following it, Woolf’s novel set at the time she was writing, however that’s about all that I enjoyed in this book. If reminded me a lot of Defoe’s Roxana (a book I read last month) as it is only the second time I isn’t experienced a book with no chapter breaks and continuous prose. This I very much disliked in Roxana and was no better in Mrs Dalloway. Further, such structure makes the plot hard to follow, scene changes are often hard to pick up on. Lastly, the characters had little to no development and I had no care for them when reading, each seemed hollow. Overall it wasn’t my favourite book ever at all.

Romance isn’t my thing, I think that shows in my rating, so really I’m not that qualified to give a fair review on the Sonnets From The Portuguese, but I suppose I can provide a perspective of it from someone who doesn’t read or enjoy any romance. Barrett-Browning wrote her 44 sonnets in 1850 after she and her husband Robert eloped to Italy, her parents disapproving of her marriage. These sonnets are directed at Robert and are very much your tradition love poem in many cases, whereas also aren’t afraid to explore themes of death and love within death, which I can credit the means in which such ideas were approached and presented. Browning is deserving of her legacy as a poet and her work had no glaring flaws, just unfortunately isn’t my thing.

I’m not the biggest Shakespeare fan, I know that’s a literary sin but also a reasoning for another time. Though my quarrels with his plays don’t apply here, and the silly plot of fairy fantasy is really enjoyable. It’s short and sweet, the conclusion is really satisfying and each character is rounded enough. It’s also an easy read coming off the back of the Metamorphoses, and that might sway my opinion of it, but it’s a charming little story none the less.

The Metamorphoses is a collection of around 250 Greek and Roman myths in the form of one big epic revolving around the idea of creation, metamorphosis and change. As a result of all these stories being interwoven into one it was sometimes hard to follow and frequently introduced characters who, to me, were just names and didn’t mean much. However, when I encountered a story I was familiar with it was always a little exciting, and even more exciting was when I read a new aspect of mythology and could tie it to references from other books I have read. This fact, it being a foundation of literature, is all that earned it 3 stars in my opinion though. Lastly, I couldn’t help but notice that the writers of the ancient world all seem to use one another’s stories and characters, make of that what you please.

This was a reread as I have to study this book, whereas I’m glad I reread it. The first read through I must’ve been in an awful mood as I hated it and gave it one star, but revisiting it, it was actually pretty good. The protagonist is largely dislikable of which I enjoy in a book, and honestly the monster is really wholesome and completely justified in his actions. The book raises a lot of questions about morality, society, and ultimately brings into question who is really at fault for the actions that unfold, the creator or the monster, which can be applied to an individual versus product of society system in the current day. It also bearings into question science and ideas very applicable to modern times and the generation of AI, that being just because we can create something, should we? Therefore, from an analytical level the book is really good, the plot itself can be a bit underwhelming at times, but I am glad I have given it a second chance and altered my opinion on the book.