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laurelthebooks's Reviews (662)
This was a short and fun read - I'd recommend it if you were or are a fan of Robin Hood stories. It is a believable scenario of 'what happened after?', and I enjoyed sitting down to blaze through a good story that rang my nostalgia bells.
"I wanted to live by books and in books and for books."
I'm beginning to realize that I simply enjoy how Solnit approaches the world and writing, but several of her perspectives in her memoir resonated quite a bit with me personally. The prose itself was, as always, stunning.
In terms of this book as a memoir, there are very few concrete events that I can recall after finishing but she excelled in communicating the feel of evolving as a person. I never manage to read her books at the same pace as I read most other books, and that's because every other page or so I have to pause and think about something she's just written - I mean that as a compliment. Her words make me think, but I also hardly want to put her words down.
"...suddenly something that is becomes something that was, and the way we live is not the way we lived."
I'm beginning to realize that I simply enjoy how Solnit approaches the world and writing, but several of her perspectives in her memoir resonated quite a bit with me personally. The prose itself was, as always, stunning.
In terms of this book as a memoir, there are very few concrete events that I can recall after finishing but she excelled in communicating the feel of evolving as a person. I never manage to read her books at the same pace as I read most other books, and that's because every other page or so I have to pause and think about something she's just written - I mean that as a compliment. Her words make me think, but I also hardly want to put her words down.
"...suddenly something that is becomes something that was, and the way we live is not the way we lived."
"Inexplicable, illogical events that nevertheless are deeply disturbing. I guess we need to not think about them, just close our eyes and get through them."
-quote from "Cream", the first short story in this collection
The back of this book asks the reader to decide for themselves if the stories within are memoir or fiction, which I have to say is indeed a pertinent question.
Each story is told from a first-person perspective with solid details that bring the feel of a memoir or factual recounting, but then things like a talking monkey and ash coating the sidewalk slip in leaving you only mostly certain that at least this particular story is fiction.
*Many thanks to Knopf Books for the chance to read an ARC!
-quote from "Cream", the first short story in this collection
The back of this book asks the reader to decide for themselves if the stories within are memoir or fiction, which I have to say is indeed a pertinent question.
Each story is told from a first-person perspective with solid details that bring the feel of a memoir or factual recounting, but then things like a talking monkey and ash coating the sidewalk slip in leaving you only mostly certain that at least this particular story is fiction.
*Many thanks to Knopf Books for the chance to read an ARC!
To get an idea of Weak Hero think of a monster-of-the-week set up, but focused instead on teenage gangs in a world where grown-ups, when they exist at all, are matchstick periphery characters and your peers are out for blood. If you are one for cold, calculating protagonists with angsty backstory and tried and true brotherhood surrounded by brutal violence and colorful language – give it a shot.
See a full review and a short Q&A with the person who recommended this to me on my blog.
See a full review and a short Q&A with the person who recommended this to me on my blog.
Our world was one of blood, and the honor it won; only cowards did not fight.
If you have to go, I will go with you.
You would think that knowing how the story goes would make reading a retelling easier. Madeline Miller says otherwise. Her prose is lyrical and her rendition of the players in this version of Achilles' life is breathtaking.
Both Achilles and Patroclus are imperfect here, and all the more stunning for it. The amount of emotion and life woven into their story left me feeling a little hollow after closing the book. War and love are common bedfellows, but it can be easy to forget that fact in the face of old myths. Miller's telling ensures that it isn't forgotten.
You don't have to know the Greek myths or the story of Troy to appreciate this book - it is devastating and glorious.
If you have to go, I will go with you.
You would think that knowing how the story goes would make reading a retelling easier. Madeline Miller says otherwise. Her prose is lyrical and her rendition of the players in this version of Achilles' life is breathtaking.
Both Achilles and Patroclus are imperfect here, and all the more stunning for it. The amount of emotion and life woven into their story left me feeling a little hollow after closing the book. War and love are common bedfellows, but it can be easy to forget that fact in the face of old myths. Miller's telling ensures that it isn't forgotten.
You don't have to know the Greek myths or the story of Troy to appreciate this book - it is devastating and glorious.
