ed_moore's Reviews (345)

Walpole’s ‘The Castle of Otranto’ is recognised as the first work of the Gothic genre, though despite being very atmospheric and vibey with a very fast paced opening, it does seem like a book that’ll be very much forgettable. It is very Shakespearian feeling in plot but also seems awfully convenient in parts, much of it relying on tropes of prophecy. I also think Manfred gets away with far too much given his violent and impulsive nature and with frankly how awful a protagonist he is. The man really needs to get some grief counselling… 

Also Horace, what did speech marks do to hurt you? 

I have taken a day to mull over ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ before writing my review, because I wasn’t quite sure if it would be a five star, but it just made the cut. Sinclair Lewis’ dystopia imagines an America where an anti-immigration right wing dictator called Buzz Windrip is elected by the American people, sound scarily familiar? The most horrifying thing is that Lewis published this in 1935, before the true horrors of Nazi Germany had occurred and been exposed to the world, though Lewis almost perfectly imagines the course of actions following Hitler’s rise to a dictatorship within his imagined America. Equally, it serves as a harsh warning to the modern day; that in the environment of the USA, so fuelled by hatred and capitalism, it is feasible for fascist power to slowly manipulate the country to their pleasing. I did also find fascinating sections of remarks that the election of Buzz would bring America back to its glory days, when there wasn’t “the lazy bums we got panhandling relief nowadays, and living on my income tax and yours” - and that quote is so ironic in that it proves the ‘better past’ to be nothing but a myth. 

The first half of the novel focused on Buzz’s campaign and then a political recount on how he spent his first months in office, and the subsequent changes to laws and the governance of the USA. Once again, the early policy changes and the messages pushed by Buzz are so reflective of what we are seeing in America today, and such is terrifying. The latter half of the book more closely follows the protagonist Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor who is censored by the regime and attempts to fight against it. Doremus wasn’t the most interesting of protagonists which was the cause for a lot of my initial reluctance to give five stars, however then I remembered the character of Winston has never held back ‘1984’ for me and in that philosophy the political worldbuilding and applicability to the modern day absolutely deserves the merit. 

If the state of right wing politics is of any worry to you, please pick this up! You’ll see a scarily large amount of Donald Trump in Buzz Windrip! 

‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ is the first war story I have read from the German perspective, and it has at its heart that at the end of the day both sides were victims of the war, and the huge majority of casualties men with no real hatred for their enemy, but just died following orders. This is explored both in the sympathy you feel for the German protagonists, the dehumanisation of the British and French (as you would often see the Germans presented as in many pieces offer literature), and how one was forced to dehumanise to remain sane, as at the end of the day nobody there wanted to be fighting. It was a book full of endless trench conflict and violence, with harrowing images consistently, yet as partially indicated by the title has such a still feel to it throughout. 

So many of the images in this book will be burnt to my mind. Depictions of horrific injuries and death are not described lightly whatsoever by Remarque, his intentions being to heavily criticise warfare. I did try to listen to sections when ill this weekend and quote frankly I couldn’t bring myself to as I didn’t need to aggravate how sick I felt, and though there is some power in Remarque’s writing to have this harrowing effect on my body just when reading it also just felt like too much in places. 

I do need to mention the audiobook recording I had too, which was probably one of the worse I have ever read. It was recorded as if it was a wireless broadcast and there was a static hum in the background for the entire duration of the book. I genuinely can’t work out if this was an artistic choice given the topic and time period, or just really poor recording equipment, but either way it wasn’t great. 

I have reread this play maybe four or five times since studying it at GCSE and now tutoring it, but seem to never have actually logged it so given I just wrapped up a full read through with a student now is a good as a time as any. ‘An Inspector Calls’ was the highlight text back at GCSE and it still holds up, Priestly is absolutely brilliant. It follows the interrogation of the Birling family by Inspector Goole following the suicide of Eva Smith, a suicide they all played a part in causing. Priestly pushes a socialist message through the character of the Inspector and the lessons of the younger generation within the Birling family, his primary aim being to criticise capitalist societal structures. It has so many brilliant lines and the ending still hits even after reading and analysing it so many times. It is a play that  really hasn’t become dry after all these years. 

Orwell’s essay ‘Politics and the English Language’ is his attack on the use of idiom and lack of clarity in political speech. He argues that the language is decaying due to a prevalence of foolish thoughts, this creating foolish language of which causes a cycle allowing for further foolish thoughts. Ultimately he argues against political jargon and for not speaking rather than saying something when one is unclear on the definition. He establishes key rules for writing and tears apart examples of writing from others, yet other than the debate about the unreliability of political language I am not sure how much I agree with Orwell in this essay, nor if he even follows his own rules in his works. 

Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ is an epic narrative of the journey of Leopold Bloom across his day in Dublin. It parallels the events of Odysseus’ homecoming in ‘The Odyssey’, each episode representing a segment of his journey. On the one hand this was really clever, full of subtle allusions which I appreciated once I clocked onto them, though on the other hand a fair few of these allusions I had to chase up analysis’ of and given how obscure and loosely ties they were in some cases that perhaps takes away from them being particularly impressive as generally they were difficult to pick up and understand. 

A lack of understanding was a common trend in ‘Ulysses’. I would describe most of this novel as simply ‘words’. So much of it was just stream of consciousness lists and playing with the narrative format, imitating other authors or switching to script in parts, but ultimately most of it was just incomprehensible lists and extremely specific descriptions that confused the narrative and made it feel less of a story and more just - words. That being said Joyce was clearly extremely well read and educated, his work is full of philosophy and literary allusions which in the cases that I picked up on and understood made parts of the book very rewarding. I read that ‘Ulysses’ is a testament to how well read you are as a reader dependent on how much you pick up, and in each reread you will learn more and more about yourself and see how far your own personal reading journey has come, and I would be inclined to agree; though it will be a very long time until I can see myself ever having the enthusiasm to try and pick this up again. 

I liked the relationship between Bloom and Stephen Daedalus, as morally questionable as they are presented to be it was sweet in places, especially in the Homeric homecoming during the ‘Nostos’ third of the narrative. I didn’t as much enjoy the extremely sexualised relationships between couples and flings throughout though, Joyce is very specific in his depictions of these scenes and the ‘Roman Candle’ episode which I had read an excerpt from for uni a few years ago was not an enjoyable experience to revisit. After all, Bloomsday is an anniversary of Joyce’s first sexual encounter with his wife-to-be so what more can be expected. 

As it stands, for the better or the worse, ‘Ulysses’ was an extremely tricky read and I can’t say I enjoyed it very much, but know I will be glad of myself for reading it when I am scurrying around Dublin and able to recognise the locations in a few months. 

Writing during an air raid in 1941, a poignant backdrop you can imagine Orwell at his desk to, Orwell writes ‘The Lion and the Unicorn’ as a long form essay arguing England’s patriotism, the struggles that Nazism would have to force the country to bend the knee, and that to win the war the establishment of a socialist state is a necessity. The essay argues that WW2 is proof that capitalism is a flawed system but due to focus on trade union heritage Labour too is unable to provide the socialist revolution. Orwell writes in his signature tone condemning totalitarianism and extremists while really effectively arguing his politics. I really appreciate his definitive and assured style and can see so many of these ideas bleeding into his novels. 

Orwell’s ‘Why I Write’ I believe to be one of his best essays. In it he addresses his motivations for writing from an early age to the present self and looks at the basic principles of motivations to write. It establishes a clear idea of the duty of a writer, and that all writing is inherently political as the author is expressing a bias perspective on the social concern in question. It’s fantastically written, an easy read and provides brilliant insight into Orwell’s intentions to write against fascism. 

I have struggled to rate Alcott’s ‘Little Women’, on the one hand it was a really sweet and wholesome read that I appreciated, but on the other hand it really wasn’t my thing. It is the tale of the four March sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, focusing primarily on their sisterly bond in childhood but in the latter half them finding love and marriage. It was charming and lighthearted, quite well written and with Jo as the central character a love of wider literature at its heart, but then also really digestible and readable. It is after all somewhat considered as a children’s classic. I really liked the character of Laurie, and also am headcanoning Jo as an autistic icon. There is no doubt she is on somewhere on the spectrum. I do have to say though despite how much of a free-spirited character she is I partly wish she would have stayed that way rather than eventually conforming to what society expects of her. In places ‘Little Women’ was tragic too and can be an emotional read, though it is brimming with positivity through and through. 

On an opposite line of argument I really struggled with this book in places. I wouldn’t say it felt ‘too long’ however it did take me a very long time to get through, and the story was too simple to keep me gripped at times. I can assume this matter wasn’t helped by the rare case that I had seen the film before reading the book, and also seen a theatre adaptation, hence was very familiar with the plot and nothing really surprised me as a consequence. It is also just not my style of book, with a focus on sisterhood, family and marriage dynamics, it lacks a lot of what I gravitate to in literature. 

It was sweet and light-hearted, doing its job in that department, and I am glad to have now read it, but thats about all it does for me. 

When a child Briony Tallis with the overflowing mind of a storyteller misinterpreted a scene in a library, she then shared this misconception changing the futures of all involved. McEwan’s ‘Atonement’ is a book about attempts to make amends set in the backdrop of the Second World War and Dunkirk evacuations. The characters in this book are so well established and descriptions are stunning. When reading about the house in the Surrey hills in the first part I was pretty sure this would be a five star book but as the scene changed and the focus became the war the charming initial writing style was lost. Don’t get me wrong it was still incredibly written and much of the imagery was haunting, though it just didn’t hit the same way. 

I loved the character of Robbie, empathised so much with him and saw myself in the occasional aspect of him. The novel’s backbone in intertextuality and depictions of literature is always something I enjoy in books. The ending did feel a little unresolved but in the same manner McEwan makes clear that such was intention and in a way it makes the book all the more tragic. Though bridging it quickly the ending was a tragic sucker-punch, but can’t help to think it would be even more effective if it had more time to breath and for the reader to have to face it, rather than the conclusion being summarised by Briony long in the future.