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The Picture of Dorian Gray is a philosophical novel by Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the …
1 volume ; 20 cm
Very sparse writing style. Often quite poetic, but sometimes too mundane.
Gosford Park meets Groundhog Day by way of Agatha Christie and Black Mirror – the …
To me, this book felt very convoluted and hackneyed. I was happy to finally finish it!
Northern Lights (His Dark Materials I) Tenth Anniversary 1995-2005 (2005, London Scholastic 2005.)
In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized …
Watch out for spoilers of Where the Red Fern Grows!
Rather slow family drama/mystery with a satisfying but unexciting ending.
In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps …
Badly written and badly conceived and romanticised novelisation of Lale Sokolov’s true story. Even the Auschwitz Museum has criticise it for its factual errors.
February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun …
Unlike any novel I've read before, this book is entirely composed of "quotes" from an assemblage of different voices. Some are excerpts from actual historical accounts while others are completely fictional, and they come together to narrate the events of a single night in 1862, when Willie, the 11-year-old-son of Abraham Lincoln, dies of a fever.
Although the style of prose was strange and took some getting used to, I was completely drawn into the author's vividly imagined world of the "Bardo" (a concept borrowed from Tibetan Buddhism): the stage between dying and the afterlife. In this case it seems the dead are destined for heaven or hell rather than reincarnation, but there are many who for various reasons won't move on, and linger in the bardo. They manifest as tormented ghosts who inhabit the graveyard where the young boy is interred, but they don't understand that they are dead. …
Unlike any novel I've read before, this book is entirely composed of "quotes" from an assemblage of different voices. Some are excerpts from actual historical accounts while others are completely fictional, and they come together to narrate the events of a single night in 1862, when Willie, the 11-year-old-son of Abraham Lincoln, dies of a fever.
Although the style of prose was strange and took some getting used to, I was completely drawn into the author's vividly imagined world of the "Bardo" (a concept borrowed from Tibetan Buddhism): the stage between dying and the afterlife. In this case it seems the dead are destined for heaven or hell rather than reincarnation, but there are many who for various reasons won't move on, and linger in the bardo. They manifest as tormented ghosts who inhabit the graveyard where the young boy is interred, but they don't understand that they are dead. In fact the place is teeming with bizarre and grotesque characters who each have a story to tell, and jostle to be heard by Willie in the hopes that he can help them return to "that previous place".
The tales are told in their own distinct voices, from the flowery and pompous to the vulgar and semi-literate, and are full of all the emotions of life and suffering of their deaths. Quite overwhelming for an eleven year old who wants only to be reunited with his father. Unfortunately, children are not meant to stay long in the bardo...
I found this "innovative" novel at times a little trying to get through (I'm not sure if the audiobook would be easier or not) but overall it was a rewarding read, humorous and very moving.
3.5 stars.
"From the internationally bestselling author of The Psychopath Test, a captivating and brilliant exploration of one of our world's most …
2.5 stars
