You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
jessicaxmaria's Reviews (1.04k)
I'm not up much on Spiderman lore, but I know about Gwen Stacy enough to know what the title is referring to. My friend left this book at my house with a note to read it and love it, and you know what? I do. It's not without it's oddities and faults, but I love it all the more for nearly accomplishing what I think it intended to. It's an ambitious feat to take a myth-like comic book storyline and make your characters pretend (?) to be them...wait, wait, wait, stop. Listen, I can't even properly explain this surrealistic, odd, and highly inventive narrative. It's a page-turner throughout, though. By the ending pages of the books I was reading and flipping those pages so fast because I wanted to know how it all turned out. It was rapid-fire reading. And while the end may leave some people puzzled, I enjoyed it completely.
Recommended for people who like reading something a bit outside of the box, don't mind being confused for a bit of time, and like a good imagination.
I will definitely be keeping up with the author's works after this phenomenal debut...
Recommended for people who like reading something a bit outside of the box, don't mind being confused for a bit of time, and like a good imagination.
I will definitely be keeping up with the author's works after this phenomenal debut...
I'm unsure why it took me so long to write this review. I loved reading every word of this novel. I relished in the writing, the structure, the descriptions, the history, and the characters.
Perhaps writing this review means I have to let go, say goodbye to Ursula Todd and all those that color her life....lives?
I've been telling nearly anybody that will listen to read this book and I've explained it simply by telling them what happens in the first two chapters: a baby is born in England on a snowy day in 1910 but dies because it choked. In the next chapter, that same baby is born in England on a snowy day in 1910 and the doctor arrives in time amidst the snowstorm to snip the cord choking the baby. The baby lives.
And so on and so forth -- she keeps dying, but then something changes the next time (sometimes minor sometimes major) and her whole life changes direction. I often would find myself examining my own life and the "what ifs" and decisions I made...I haven't self-reflected this much while reading a novel...perhaps ever. I enjoyed that aspect of this novel, too, it felt almost interactive? That's an odd word to use, but it works.
It's fascinating. And definitely one of the best novels I've read; I'm finding it so hard to say goodbye.
Perhaps writing this review means I have to let go, say goodbye to Ursula Todd and all those that color her life....lives?
I've been telling nearly anybody that will listen to read this book and I've explained it simply by telling them what happens in the first two chapters: a baby is born in England on a snowy day in 1910 but dies because it choked. In the next chapter, that same baby is born in England on a snowy day in 1910 and the doctor arrives in time amidst the snowstorm to snip the cord choking the baby. The baby lives.
And so on and so forth -- she keeps dying, but then something changes the next time (sometimes minor sometimes major) and her whole life changes direction. I often would find myself examining my own life and the "what ifs" and decisions I made...I haven't self-reflected this much while reading a novel...perhaps ever. I enjoyed that aspect of this novel, too, it felt almost interactive? That's an odd word to use, but it works.
It's fascinating. And definitely one of the best novels I've read; I'm finding it so hard to say goodbye.
An interesting novel that takes on realistic bipolar disorder in the form of first-person narrative through its main character, Greyson Todd. It's structured in a way that jars the reader because it goes from one period in time to another, all different years in Greyson's life.
It's not quite "enjoyable," per se, because having bipolar disorder is not a pleasureable experience, and the amount that the reader is with Greyson, going along with him and what he's experiencing means it's not a feel-good book. At all.
My favorite part was the end, when he's getting a bit better. And perhaps that's how I'm meant to feel in retrospect, like Greyson, a little calmer now that he's seeking treatment. Though it's ulimately depressing, I was able to breathe a little easier without feeling antagonistic towards the main character.
I liked it, as the three stars signify.
It's not quite "enjoyable," per se, because having bipolar disorder is not a pleasureable experience, and the amount that the reader is with Greyson, going along with him and what he's experiencing means it's not a feel-good book. At all.
My favorite part was the end, when he's getting a bit better. And perhaps that's how I'm meant to feel in retrospect, like Greyson, a little calmer now that he's seeking treatment. Though it's ulimately depressing, I was able to breathe a little easier without feeling antagonistic towards the main character.
I liked it, as the three stars signify.
What a surprise! This book had been on my shelf for at least five years and I never picked it up, thinking I could always wait to read tales of someone else's expensive adventures across the globe. How wrong I was!
Crichton has always been one of my favorite authors, a guy who could write an intellectual page-turner. He starts this book by delving into his years at medical school and residency; and that's when I realized 'travels' may not just signify physical land-traveling. These are short snippets of his own personal journey, and it was quite fascinating.
The most surprising aspect to me was that he sought knowledge not only through science, but about anything he didn't quite understand. He was a curious man who didn't let the basic tenets of the science-minded steer him from researching things like auras, spoon-bending, and psychics. All of which made me want to personally research some of those things I generally scoff at as well.
The book is interesting, thought-provoking, and enlightening as to who Crichton really was - something he was trying to figure out as he reflects in these pages. I'm still sad he's passed away.
Crichton has always been one of my favorite authors, a guy who could write an intellectual page-turner. He starts this book by delving into his years at medical school and residency; and that's when I realized 'travels' may not just signify physical land-traveling. These are short snippets of his own personal journey, and it was quite fascinating.
The most surprising aspect to me was that he sought knowledge not only through science, but about anything he didn't quite understand. He was a curious man who didn't let the basic tenets of the science-minded steer him from researching things like auras, spoon-bending, and psychics. All of which made me want to personally research some of those things I generally scoff at as well.
The book is interesting, thought-provoking, and enlightening as to who Crichton really was - something he was trying to figure out as he reflects in these pages. I'm still sad he's passed away.
I'm not someone that reads poetry regularly, but I enjoy Plath's voice in these poems. The sad, the melancholy, the strong and assertive. I marked a few poems, knowing that some of those lines would surely stay with me. I think my favorite in the collection was "Lady Lazarus."
Like most Jhumpa Lahiri stories, I found myself on the edge of tears for most of this novel. The characters are so well drawn, three-dimensional, and I feel like I understand them at an emotional level. I barely noticed the time jumping, I was eager to always learn more about what shaped these characters. In writing about these two brothers who go in different directions - one to America after college and one to stay in Calcutta in the 1970s - I learned a bit about India's history. As always with Lahiri, it's a story about cultural divide, but here it's also about family and what generations say and do not say to the next... something I believe to be pretty universal.
I came upon this book on my friend's bookshelf - I'd never heard of it, but the author of this dystopian novel was the same columnist I read every week during football season on Deadspin. After taking a look at the first paragraph, he also named his main character John Farrell, a name shared by the manager of the Red Sox (this was during Game 4 of the World Series, so of course I decided to borrow it). I enjoy Drew Magary's column Jambaroo a hell of a lot -- he makes me laugh (snicker) at my desk every Thursday in the fall/winter. But his foray into novel-writing was a bit less entertaining...
The premise is great: what if a scientist discovered a genetic trick to delete the gene for aging? People could still die by accidents, murder, disease, etc., but not by growing old and weak. What would such a thing to do the world? If everyone could have this "cure"? Pretty fascinating to think about, and I was definitely thinking about it even when I had to put the book down between reading.
Where the book falters is John Farrell himself. Indescribably bland, there's not much to him. I had no sense of his character before he gets the cure, and not much of it after, either. He's utterly undefined. An Everyman, I suppose, but the characters around him were much more interesting - I wanted to follow them around. The best parts were the 'global aspect' sections, whether they're news headlines or social commentary by pundits. Hearing how the United States and other countries were reacting to depeleted resources and expanding populations was super-interesting. And sad. Humanity, y'know?
Magary doesn't have much of a hold on description... there were so many times that I had to reread a paragraph describing action because I couldn't see it in my head. There were things that didn't make sense, felt were left out, that maybe Magary can see as he writes, but the words don't effectively describe what he's seeing. Disappointed a few times by this.
While interesting and quick to read, not a great read - potential for so much more! Will continue to be reading Magary, for sure.
The premise is great: what if a scientist discovered a genetic trick to delete the gene for aging? People could still die by accidents, murder, disease, etc., but not by growing old and weak. What would such a thing to do the world? If everyone could have this "cure"? Pretty fascinating to think about, and I was definitely thinking about it even when I had to put the book down between reading.
Where the book falters is John Farrell himself. Indescribably bland, there's not much to him. I had no sense of his character before he gets the cure, and not much of it after, either. He's utterly undefined. An Everyman, I suppose, but the characters around him were much more interesting - I wanted to follow them around. The best parts were the 'global aspect' sections, whether they're news headlines or social commentary by pundits. Hearing how the United States and other countries were reacting to depeleted resources and expanding populations was super-interesting. And sad. Humanity, y'know?
Magary doesn't have much of a hold on description... there were so many times that I had to reread a paragraph describing action because I couldn't see it in my head. There were things that didn't make sense, felt were left out, that maybe Magary can see as he writes, but the words don't effectively describe what he's seeing. Disappointed a few times by this.
While interesting and quick to read, not a great read - potential for so much more! Will continue to be reading Magary, for sure.
A rapid read with chilling prose. Is it because I am a woman that I completely and totally sided with Jodi, who from the onset is the (more) villainous one? But then it's all shades of gray, of course, since Todd is a creep, a cheater, and acts like a baby. Unremorseful, unrepetant, and unlikable. Then I'm apt to not like Jodi again for tying her much more sophisticated self to such a man. But that's the beauty of this novel: I vascillated between these two characters as I read (since the book shifts from each person's POV) and also between their rather shaky moral grounds. Because nobody comes out clean, but I liked the ending!
Once again, this annual collection showcases the best of the best in longform journalism. Invigorating, astounding, and at times emotional. I'll add to this review later when I put together a rundown of my favorite articles - there's not a weak one in the bunch.
There are some great stories within, all a bit bleak. But I like bleak. Moore's stories beam in the economy of her words, and I'm reminded of a few of her lonely characters every once in a while. I look around sometimes, and I see them in the strangers around me. Once or twice I even recognized myself.