theanitaalvarez's Reviews (1.77k)

It is hard to review this book. While I loved Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bells Toll, this book didn’t do it for me. It’s not because I don’t like Hemingway’s style (I actually ike the way in which he writes: so dry and so powerfully), but this book is nothing compared to others works by him.

I haven’t watched the film, but for my very quick investigation about it, it has nothing to do with this book. The novel is about a man, Henry Morgan (aka. Harry), who is driven to extremes in order to provide for his family. Mind you, he is probably one of the most bad-ass characters I’ve ever read. There’s a moment in which he loses an arm and he says that he’ll go on doing his thing. And that’s one of the most awesome moments in the novel. Because of that and his eternal strife to support his family by whatever means he has available, it’s pretty hard not to like Harry. And it’s fun (it always happens to me with Hemingway), because he’s so typically male and conservative in his ideas about women. But I cannot help but liking him, he seems like a decent guy. Yes, I’m perfectly aware of what he does in the novel, including that bit about the Chinese immigrants trying to get to Key West. He’s quite a jerk about them, to say the truth.

One of the coolest things about this novel, regarding its structure, is the way in which the action is narrated. We get to see different perspectives from the main characters and so on, and they are artfully woven in the novel. So, that was pretty cool. Even if the novel didn’t get to me because of the plot and the characters (save Harry, let’s all love Harry), the way in which Hemnigway uses the different points of view. And if you know your literary theory, you probably know that he was very keen on showing only surfaces and hiding a lot of stuff (I can’t forget “Hills Like White Elephants”, that plays around with this incredibly well). So, by showing only surfaces but from different perspectives, he kind of gives us better perspective of the entire situation. But the thing is that you have to be the one who wraps it all up. He’s not the writer to give you everything in a silver platter; you have to work for it. I know that there are people who find him unbelievably tricky and cryptic, but in the end, I think it’s better when writers make you work for it. At least, I enjoy the reading a lot more.

As said before, this is not the best Hemingway I’ve read. It didn’t move as much as other books by him. But it is still interesting from the structural point of view. So, I would only recommend it if you’re interested in literary craft, rather than characters and so on. If then, do read this. But don’t expect Hemingway at his best (which is incredible).

I think that the first time ever I saw this book was at the school library (considering that I basically spent all recesses there, it’s not even surprising, though). I wasn’t really interested in it, because it sounded like some self-help book and even at the tender age of twelve, I’d decided I didn’t like self-help.

Now, having actually read it, my opinion is not too far off. I mean, it is kind of self-helpish, though never at Coehlo’s level. At least Hesse got a Nobel Prize.

So, the story is about Siddhartha, who is the son of a Brahman, who decides to look for enlightment. So, his way to do so is first to become some kind of monk and renounce to all worldly things. Of course, he soon discovers this is not the way to go. Then he meets Buddha (yeah, that one), but he also decides that Buddha’s teachings are not for him (yes, he is hard to please). So he becomes all-worldly, has a sexual affair with Kamala (who becomes pregnant) and gets lots of money.

And then he drops everything. He’s basically doing that during the whole book. He begins to like a thing, and then he realizes is not what he expected and drops it altogether. It’s like a kid with ADD! (And I know what I’m talking about. My four brothers have ADD). At one point I became really frustrated with this novel, and especially with the main character. What a lack of perseverance.
This book is supposed to be all deep and shit. And I guess there are some parts which could work as good teachings or something. But the tone annoyed me. You see, I like when I learn things without somebody telling me “this is wrong” or “this is good”. I’m a grown-up woman and I don’t need that the book I’m reading preaches to me. And I felt that the entire time, the book was preaching. If I’m not being clear, I’ll just say it: I DON’T LIKE PREACHY BOOKS.

So, I know: being all materialistic and sensuous is bad for me. And forgetting about the world is bad for me. So, the middle road is the way to go? Isn’t it obvious for everyone? Maybe not and that’s why anybody would need this book.

On the good side, it’s a pretty easy read and quick, too. It’s also decently written, so I guess that’s a good point. Other than that, is the kind of book some people will pretend to like to seem like they are deep or something. Funny, though. I’ve seen this in the required reading list for some schools. I wouldn’t add it. Not because I disagree with the philosophy of the book (I actually agree), or because I think kids cannot understand it (as said before, the message is simple enough). It’s just because I think it doesn’t add much to anything. Maybe in religious studies it might work, but not for Literature. Funny, because Mr. Hesse did won the Nobel. I’ll have to read another of his books to find out why.

I’m guessing it was not for me, but I recognize it wasn’t awful. So, three stars.

4.5 stars, actually.

I have many feelings over this book. Probably way too many.

First of all, I’ll admit I wasn’t very sure about this book, because a)it’s a YA novel and those tend to let me down; and b)It was a love story between two kids with cancer. It’s a pretty hard plot to handle.
I was so very wrong. I loved this book (and cried like a baby for the last two chapters).

John Green managed to create a love story that’s both cute and compelling. Hazel and Gus are very likable (an important quality for a character to have) and they feel very real. My only qualms about them were that at some points I found them a little hard to believe, with all their witty comebacks (which are a trademark of Green’s style, anyway), but soon enough they began to feel very real.

I was also concerned about the portrayal of teens with cancer. In my experience, sick kids are usually shown as saints. I even remember that the brother of one of my friends, who died of cancer at six years old, was rumored to have said wise and profound stuff before dying (which was false). So I was preparing myself for reading about children who didn’t like to show pain, and whose lives were supposed to be an example. Instead, I got real teenagers. Teens that were frustrated and angry for being sick. And who weren’t trying to be saints, nor role models for anyone. They just wanted to live, to be teenagers, to love. It was brilliant.

The same happened with their story. At first it looked as if it was going to be a love-at-first-sight (at least from Gus’ point of view), but it was very well developed. Hazel sheltering herself from others with the idea of protecting them felt very real. That’s probably what I’d do if I was in her situation. At first, Gus’ attempts to get into Hazel’s shell felt very… kind of pushy. I thought he was pushing her too much, more than being sweet. But I guess it was the only way to get to her.

My favorite part was the one in Amsterdam. After everything, they were happy and together. I’ve heard that there was some sort of controversy about them kissing for the first time in Anna Frank’s house. Apparently, some people found it disrespectful. I’d say otherwise: Anna Frank was a teenage girl who wanted love, just as any other. Hazel and Gus’ kiss at the house was, for me, a symbol for love winning over hate and fear. Exactly what Anna would’ve wanted, I think.

The final part broke my heart in pieces. I remember finishing it at my uni’s library and crying like a baby, hoping that nobody noticed me. It was done beautifully and amazingly, and it was just perfect. In the pre-funeral scene I just couldn’t help but crying. Because life was unfair with both of them, who deserved more time in the world.

But life (and John Green) isn’t fair. And people who deserve to live don’t get more time here just because of it. They die, and that’s it. But it still broke my heart, and for some crazy reason, I loved it.

This is one weird book. But I don’t mean that as a bad thing. It is pretty funny. Though I had a rough start with it (mainly because I had too many things to read for uni and could only read this in the subway-bus ride in the afternoon), when I finally could sit down and actually READ the book, I enjoyed it a lot. I wasn’t expecting that, so it was a nice surprise.

The plot of the novel is a little absurd. It happens in two different settings: 1930’s Soviet Russia and Jerusalem in the time of Jesus’ death. The second is more of an embedded story, but is really interesting. Anyway, I’ll focus on the main plot now. In the 1930’s, the Devil decides to go to Russia to mess with everyone’s heads. Which I believe to be a noble and funny goal, mind you. The first guys he meets are Berlioz, the big boss at the MASSOLIT (Moscow Association of Writers), and a young poet named Ivan, who signs his poems as “Homeless”. Berlioz is explaining that there was no historical figure that could be associated with Jesus, even if leaving aside him being a son of God. The Devil, who names himself Dr. Woland, tells him that it isn’t true and proceeds to tell the story of Jesus’ trial by Pilates, claiming he was there. He also predicts Berlioz’s death.

[*CRAZY FACT OF THE DAY: Apparently, there’s some theory that says that The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” was based on this novel.]

Afterwards, Berlioz dies (beheaded by a tram or something like that) and Homeless if left pretty shocked. So much that he ends up in a mental hospital, where he meets the Master, a mysterious man. He is writer, whose book about a historical Jesus (Yeshua) was censored and spurned by the MASSOLIT. That has left him emotionally destroyed and made him leave his devout lover, Margarita.

And then we get to Margarita. She appears in the second half of the book, and she’s one of the best heroines I’ve ever read. She was intelligent, compassionate and caring. She cared not only for the Master, but for others. When she is called by the Devil to be the hostess of his ball, she accepts the offer. For her services, she is granted a wish. She wishes that a woman who she met in the ball (who had killed her son and was constantly being reminded about it) is set free of her punishment. That was the point in which I liked her the most. She also wished to save the Master.

He can only be saved by dying, so after Margarita goes to look for him, Ivan is told that the man in the room next door died (there’s also a scene in which Margarita kisses him to make him feel better). As they aren’t too good to get to Heaven, but not as bad to get into Hell, they are left to roam the earth.

All in all, I enjoyed the book. I wish I had more context, because my knowledge of Soviet Russia is not very comprehensive. So, I’ll probably give it another read later. I’m sure it has a lot of things worth discussing and analyzing.

When I first read the Percy Jackson books, last year, I was immediately captured by the writing. I loved the story, the characters and the world Rick Riordan built. So, of course, I was very excited when the final book came out. I read it in less than a day, because I just couldn’t put it down.
As a conclusion to the Heroes of Olympus saga, The Blood of Olympus was pretty much what I expected. I mean, the good guys end up winning. I don’t think anybody would have expected for anything different.

One of the things I love most about this saga is how they incorporate the elements from Greek and Roman mythology with our modern world. So, of course we get a lot of that here. So, one goddess (I cannot remember who exactly, but it was a sea goddess) gets promised to have her own action figures if she helps the demigods against Gaea.

To be absolutely honest, I didn’t care much for Jason Grace in the first books of this saga. I mean, he’s boring. But in this book, he kind of grew on me. Yes, he was still a tad dull, but he’s also a good guy. I loved that he fully intended to keep his promise to all the gods they met in their journey, so everyone gets to be worshipped.

Another awesome thing in BoO: Nico gets his own POV chapters!! I’ll admit that I wasn’t a Nico fan in the first saga. The whole emo-kid act didn’t work for me. But in this saga, Riordan make it very clear that there were indeed a whole bunch of hidden depths in here. When he revealed that he was gay in HoH, I was very surprised (there’s certainly a lack of LGBT characters in YA fiction), but that should be in my review of that book.

In BoO he gets a boyfriend!! Okay, maybe I’m rushing a little there, but I ship Nico/Will forever and ever.

Rick Riordan has a way of making his character face the worst parts about their pasts in order to save others, which is great. First, because he shows the depths in them, and that’s how they evolve in the end; secondly, because it gives them actual strength, as opposed to the author just saying that his characters are strong. Reyna’s past here was utterly sad, and made me want to give her a big hug. Then, again, I always want to hug Riordan’s characters.

I still have mixed feelings about the ending, though.

While Leo is one of my favorite characters in the series, I’m still not sure if I actually wanted him to survive anyway. And I felt bittersweet when the other characters were mourning about him. And then we got a final chapter that revealed that he was okay and going for Calypso. As a huge Caleo shipper, I was happy about that. But I think that the final was a little too perfect for everyone. I don’t know. Maybe someone should’ve died, you know. Then, again, I love that Leo keeps his promise. I’m not sure about that ending, in other words.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. Yes, even if it is meant for middle-grader’s and I’m a twenty-two year old. Books, like love, have no age. So… that’s it. I’m a Percy Jackson fan and I’m not even sorry.

I’ve heard a lot about Zadie Smith. And about White Teeth, it goes without saying. And I was really excited to read this book finally.

It did not disappoint me at all.

The novel is centered on two families: the Jones and the Iqbals. Archibald Jones is English, but his wife (Clara) is Jamaican and half his age. Samad Iqbal is Bengali, and is married to Alsana in an arranged union (that is arranged before she’s even born). The first part of the story is concerned with them. Both Archie and Samad fought together in WWII, and then moved on to love nearby in North London. Being as different as they are, they are an unlikely pair and yet, they are friends. One of my favorite characters here is Clara, who lost all her teeth in a motorcycle accident when she was a teenager (and she uses prosthesis since then). I liked her because she sounds fun and nice to be around. She grew up in a fundamentalist Jehovah’s Witness household, but as she grows up, she loses the contact with her childhood faith.

Samad is one of those characters that I had a hard time liking. To be absolutely honest, during most of the book I wanted to slap him very hard. Supposedly, he was a devout Muslim, but throughout the novel he does a lot of shitty things (cheats on his wife, sends one of his sons away “to save him from Western corruption, and so on). And he was a bit of a bigot. To be very honest, I couldn’t like him much. He annoyed me way too much. I did like his wife, though. She was cool. And their lesbian niece was also cool and fun to read. Samad, on the other hand, was something more like “can this guy die now, please?”

The second part of the novel deals with the children of these two families. The Jones have Irie, and the Iqbals have the twins Millat and Magid. These two are fun because they are very different. At one point, Samad decides to send one of them to Bangladesh. He chooses Magid, because he will take more from the experience. His idea with this is to raise a son with the morality and behavior of a good Bengali man. Of course, things don’t go as expected. When Magid grows up (being a fairly decent boy, well behaved), he decides to study law (instead of medicine, as his parents wanted him) and becomes an atheist (pretty much the opposite of what his dad wanted). And Millat, the boy who stays with his parents, becomes some sort of rebellious religious fundamentalist (at one point, he goes to a protest and book-burning against Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses).

Irie Jones spends half the novel in love with Millat. Probably because he’s got the “bad-boy charm” and Irie is a teenager. However, when both of them and another boy from their class get caught smoking pot, things quickly change. Joshua Chalfen, the third boy, comes from an academically successful family. The school decides that Millat and Irie would benefit from some Chalfen influence and makes them go every week to their house. Mrs. Chalfen in particular is very much smitten with Millat (bad boy charm again), and he quickly learns to manipulate her to do whatever he wants.

As time goes on, Irie and Millat become part of the Chalfen’s family life. Irie begins working for Mr. Chalfen, a scientist who works in genetics (or something). Somehow, he manages to get Magid’s address (Magid is an avid science nerd), and they strike a correspondence that ends up getting the boy back in the UK.

I won’t say much more about the plot because I’ like to write a little bit about my impressions of this book. To begin with, it’s funny. Not funny in a I’m-about-to-pee-myself, but the kind of funny that makes you chuckle in the subway (I just loved the jokes about KEVIN). The story also deals with immigration, and the cultural shocks it brings up in people. While Alsana seems to adjust normally to her life as an immigrant in the UK, Samad does not and tries to fight his new cultural environment all the time. And the way the novel works with fundamentalist (of a lot of different things) is very interesting. I usually dislike any sort of fundamentalism, but this novel managed to show them into quite a different light (I’m still not Samad’s biggest fan, though).

So, I’d recommend this book with my eyes closed. And I’ll absolutely read more of Zadie Smith’s literature soon.

One of my professors at University described The Wind in the Willows as “soothing”. I’m not sure if I’d describe the entire novel as such, but there’s some sort of calming quality in the pages of this book.

But that’s not all. While reading this, I found myself laughing several times and enjoying my time. Especially with all the Englishness that the animal characters display in here. Even if they are, as said before, animals, they act and talk as real English gentlemen (female characters are notoriously absent from this one, with a few exceptions). But the thing that made it all the more funny was that they never got to be anthropomorphized animals and retained their “animality”, in a way. Frog, who is something of an upper-class twit, still eats flies and so on. And the same goes for the other animals.

It’s also pretty confusing how these animals are portrayed in the novel. As I mentioned, there’s a certain Englishness that is all over the place, but they never get to the point where they stop being real animals. And thus is very weird to read them eating roast-beef, for example. The matter is slightly acknowledged in the novel, when the narrator says that it is bad animal etiquette to comment on such cannibalism (the same thing happens in The Chronicles of Narnia), and goes on. And I’m still not sure about which size these guys were. Normal, animal size? Human- size? It kind of goes everywhere in the book, with them living in holes by the river, and then with Frog being able to drive cars and trains with no problems.

At first, the book felt to me like a collection of short stories about these friends, but as the plot progresses, you get to see all the connections here. And it highlights several things that I believe are important with children’s story. For starters, one of the main topics here is friendship and how you don’t stop being friends with someone because they do stupid things. Frog’s friends don’t drop him like a hot potato as soon as he gets into trouble. Quite the contrary, they help him sort everything through.

But I have to say that my favorites were the Mole and the Rat. I really loved the way in which they helped each other (and other animals). Mole was kind of cute, being shy and all. By the way, my favorite chapter is “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” (where the Pink Floyd album takes its name, nonetheless), when the two of them get to meet Pan, who is like Christ for animals or something. It’s beautifully written and it took my breath away with the sheer power of the words. Gorgeous.

It also reminded me a lot of Beatrix Potter’s stories. And it makes sense, because her stories and Grahame’s were written around the same time, so some overlapping is almost expectable. But Grahame’s novel, I think, has a little bit of parody to it. Mostly regarding Frog and his silliness about how he handles his money. Maybe Grahame’s making fun of aristocracy or something with him. And there’s criticism to the changes in the society of the early 20th century in England, with the contrast drawn between the nature of the pond and the mechanical things that humans carry.

I’d recommend it to anyone with little children who have already exhausted Beatrix Potter’s work.