mercedes's Reviews (299)

Wow, this book gets a lot of hate! I can sort of understand. Coming straight from <i>Jane Eyre</i> to this, there is certainly a stark contrast in the writing styles and ambience of the story, and at points I kept having to remind myself it was taking place in the early 19th century. However, the writing itself felt so unique - it's at its strongest when describing the luxuriant, tropical surroundings of Coulibri and Massacre. 

Some common criticisms I see popping up in most negative reviews of this book is that it is confusing and makes no sense, and I have to say that this was not my personal experience with the book. I didn't think it was that difficult to follow along with the story, and while the flow of the book is definitely not typical, it works for a novel about two very lost characters. I don't think I could have asked for more from this book and it works excellently for what it is. 

(Minor spoilers for Wide Sargasso Sea, spoilers for Jane Eyre)

One aspect I really loved was the call-back to the parrot at Coulibri. Just as the parrot had its wings clipped by Antoinette's stepfather, so did Antoinette have her wings clipped by Rochester - and both have the same fate, falling to their death surrounded by flames. The fire at Coulibri really affected me when I was reading the book and the fact that it was prophesising Antoinette's own fate made it all the more striking.

The first book I read this year was one that was highly anticipated—perhaps the most anticipated book on my TBR. After reading Wuthering Heights in early 2022 and it securing a place as my favourite book, I watched as it again and again was pitted against Jane Eyre, most people seeming to side with Charlotte Brontë as the better author of a better book. I was apprehensive and yet could not wait to pick it up, would I feel the same way? Would it manage to overtake Wuthering Heights as my favourite book ever? Would I find Charlotte’s writing as breathtaking as Emily’s? I was excited to find out, and also sad at the thought of Wuthering Heights being dethroned by the more popular Jane Eyre.

That did not end up being the case, but it came very close. It’s easy to see why Jane Eyre has maintained such a high popularity and why it shows up in so many people’s ‘top 10’ lists—it’s a masterpiece of literature. It effortlessly blends realism with gothic technique, it has a perfect pacing even when jumping around from one age and location to another, it never drags, every page seems necessary, and not only that, but it’s exciting. It feels like it’s going to be one of those endlessly reread-able books for me, and I would assume many others feel the same. As heartbreaking as some of the book is, it also feels like a warm and comforting blanket. 

I saw a comment on Instagram the other day claiming that homosexuality was a recent invention, and that if we just stopped accepting it it would go away. As confused as this comment is in general, I started thinking... if homosexuality is a recent invention, why would it need to be warned against in The Bible? (The comment was from a religious account). But after that, I mostly started thinking about Twelfth Night. A play which literally couldn't exist if homosexuality was a recent invention, in which the main plot of the story hinges on the fact that homosexuality does in fact exist, and is well known about enough that the audience can understand and find humour in the story.

Twelfth Night is a highly entertaining play and the first Shakespeare I have read. (I'm ignoring Romeo and Juliet which I was supposed to read for my GCSE's and which was the catalyst for me dropping out of school for the second time... not my proudest moment, now I'm excited to read Romeo and Juliet for fun). I was reading this while listening to the BBC radio play recording with David Tenant (as per my university's instructions) which made for a really immersive experience, and I will likely read along with more radio plays in the future, it made it fairly easy to follow the story. I know many people's favourite aspect of the story is the subplot with Malvolio, but for me, it's all about the Olivia-Viola-Orsino love triangle (though the romantic relationship between Antonio and Sebastian is also very compelling). Olivia is just the most entertaining character for me and regardless of whether I'm reading the source material or watching She's the Man I will always be upset that she settles for a Sebastian that she doesn't know, and who likely has none of the characteristics she fell for in Viola, but whatever. I can at least be happy for Viola and Orsino, because the 'kill what I love' confession scene is just... so good.

This review is a little all over the place because I'm just finishing up an assignment on this play so my ability to coherently write about this has mostly left me, but I wanted to write a little about the overt themes of homosexuality in this play after seeing such an uninformed take the other day. Homosexuality is not an invention of the last century, go read some Shakespeare. 

I only found out this was a short story collection after I finished The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding on page 50, as my copy made no indication the book was composed of anything other than one Christmas story, even on the blurb! So this was a slight disappointment for me. You can imagine my confusion when I got to page 50-something and the story had already wrapped up, only to turn the page and see a different story.

Ultimately, I had wanted to read a full novel in the same vein of Hercule Poirot's Christmas that I read a year prior, so I was left a little unsatisfied. I decided not to continue and read the other stories, so my rating is only a reflection on the titular story, which was fun but of course can't compare to a full length Christie mystery. 

Disney's iteration of Winnie the Pooh has been a big part of my life at many stages. Whenever I'm feeling down, I like to escape into the Hundred Acre Wood with my animal friends and just relax, where the biggest source of stress is finding Eeyore's tail and encountering Heffalumps and Woozles. Considering just how prevalent Pooh Bear and his friends have been in my life, it's surprising that it's taken me until I'm 21 to experience the stories in their original, more whimsical format.

I'm totally biased, so I will say that I prefer the Disney versions of the characters - but the ones in this book are certainly more interesting. Eeyore is darker and his stories more upsetting, Owl is somehow infinitely more annoying, Rabbit has gone from being mean to almost sinister, Piglet has more self importance, Kanga feels like she stepped right out of the Stepford Wives forty years too early. This makes me less fond of the characters (although I'm sure that would grow in time if I read more stories), but it does make the stories themselves slightly more engaging.

I am a big fan of the writing style. I'm used to using Capital Letters to Emphasise things that I'm Writing Online, even if they seem nonsensical in a sentence, and it was a joy to see them used here in the same way, almost 100 years earlier. The writing conventions and illustrations combine to make such a fun reading experience, and while I'll likely gravitate towards The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh before I pick up this book, I'm sure it will be one I reread and one I'd love to enjoy and share with the children in my family. 

The Color Purple has always been a 'not now, but maybe later' book for me for around a decade now. It was one my mum read often as a kid, and she bought me a copy to read. For that reason, it was a 'priority TBR' for me, but one that never felt right whenever I picked it up. I'm so glad I waited.

While this book is probably the most upsetting fictional work I've read, and the hardest fictional work to read in regards to its subject matter, it's also one so full of love. Celie's love for Nettie. For Shug. For Sofia. For her children. For the various people that move in and out of her life and back in again. This book may be about hatred, but it's also about love. And it's so clear how much love and passion Alice Walker put into creating this masterpiece. That really struck me when I started to think about the form of the novel - epistolary - and the diction, in that I think those are two things which are difficult to perfect. But Alice Walker seems to do it with ease, creating an engaging and emotional plot from fast paced letters which may only take up half a page. She is certainly an incredible talent.

I love how this book discusses race, gender, sexuality, and spirituality. I have had an interest in religion and wanting to experience what it must feel like to be religious, but no religion has ever felt 'right' to me so far. But I adored Walker's descriptions of spirituality and God, and it added so much to an already amazing story. I love the way the characters in the novel change, and how some of this is motivated by spiritual changes within themselves. 

I'm really glad my mum kept telling me to read this book. I think everybody should. It's an imperative modern classic and a treat to experience. 

My first Agatha Christie where my suspicions were correct! A highly enjoyable read and probably my second favourite Christie so far, with a fairly satisfying ending that made sense from the beginning. This managed to get me out of a reading slump and for that I'm very thankful. 

 The Woman in White was one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I've ever had, and was exactly what I needed during a slump. Almost every page of this was gripping, exciting, beautifully written, and had me dreading turning the next page. A masterfully concocted mystery, with everything falling in its rightful place. While I did guess the main mystery, and other mysterious aspects of the story, to me that's what solidifies this as a really well crafted novel - nothing overly surprised me, nothing left me going 'this doesn't make any sense', everything fit together to create an incredibly satisfying story. I am so excited to read more Wilkie Collins, because I just adored this book. My one and only complaint would be that

Fosco's ability to petrify corpses was not acted on later in the story. Though this wouldn't actually fit with the story, it would just be really cool, so this isn't really a proper complaint lol.

 A Month in the Country, though a tiny book, took me a couple of weeks to read, because once I'd been introduced to the slow leisurely pace I found I didn't want to read more than a few pages at a time. Quite like our main character, I wanted to savour my time in the idyllic Oxgodby, enjoying every beautiful description of nature and amusing interaction with the residents.

I found the way the novel deals with the relationships between war, religion, and trauma to be fascinating, especially paired with the healing that the main character goes through once exposed to the countryside in Oxgodby. One of my favourite parts of the novel was the ways in which Birkin elaborates on his unbelief in God, stating that God can't exist because of the horrors he witnessed during the first World War, and Hell essentially has no meaning because his experiences with war were a kind of Hell. This is also interesting when compared with Keach's view, which is that Birkin's experiences are at the 'heart of religion'.

There's so much to love about this novel, but what really sold me on it was the fact that it made me tear up during the last page. I love a book with a good last paragraph, and one that makes me feel strong emotions along with that always ranks highly and stays in my memory. This is certainly one that I want to reread multiple times in the future, and one that I think I will continue to get wisdom out of.

"We can ask and ask but we can't have again what once seemed ours for ever - the way things looked, that church alone in the fields, a bed on a belfry floor, a remembered voice, the touch of a hand, a loved face. They've gone and you can only wait for the pain to pass."