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This beautifully written book tells the story of a girl raised in Chile by English merchants. She grows up learning all the ways of being a lady but finds the strong emotions of her mind beckoning her elsewhere. After the acquisition of California by the USA, people all around her including her first "true love" scramble to get on the boats to California inspired by the gold rush. Eliza finding herself heart broken decides to follow her heart - all the way to California.
One of the things that impressed me most about this book was the descriptive nature in which it was told. Every character had a background that remained essential to the plot, and to why they did certain things or did not do others. Interestingly, the man who ends up tending to Eliza when she is a stowaway on a boat (Tao) and Eliza herself both journey to where the gold rush is taking place but neither of them are there for gold. Eliza striving for the love she has lost and Tao not wishing to become rich without the work he believes in - a sort of healing practice. One of the things I took away from this book was the love Eliza held for years of a perceived gentleman, when what she doesn't realise is how much a person can keep hidden even when the depths of intimacy have been reached.
The ending of this book seemed in one way complete and perfect but in another way annoyed me a hell of a lot. Ends were tied up but not shown to the author although earlier references in the book let you know what happened when looking back on it. Would recommend this author and this book to anyone, I enjoyed this story immensely (far more than The Infinite Plan).
This book which was written in the beginning of a new era for Nietzsche is made up of a collection of aphorisms or statements separated into sections and subtitled almost like a book of reference. Obviously, the book was originally written in German and was translated with footnotes for better understanding. Firstly, I have to say that the footnotes were terrifically done, any Latin (or occasionally French) phrases were translated into footnotes when used by Nietzsche, and historical framework was also offered where necessary.
Human, All Too Human was written when Nietzsche was beginning to experience health problems. It attacks religion, moral feelings, human nature and how art and literature affects the human condition. There are several things I don't quite agree with obviously. Firstly, this book is overly pessimistic especially about the greater facets of human nature, but this also illustrates the break-up in friendships Nietzsche was experiencing at the time and was perhaps one of the founding documents of his nihilist doctrine. Some of the aphorisms did ring true to me though, and were definitely amazing opinions to have at the time.
This book was difficult to read, mainly because it's not a novel as some of his earlier works are. The index in this edition would be helpful as a quick resource - in a sort of "What would Nietzsche do" capacity.
This extremely complex novel outlines a literary hoax uncovered when a man sends work by what he sees as a fictional author to a magazine, which the magazine then publishes. Only, after it has been uncovered the fictional author turns up and haunts the life of the man who sent in the poetry. The book is set in Australia and also in Malaysia where one of the protagonists - Sarah Wode Douglass, a writer tries desperately to uncover the work for her failing literary magazine, she starts to interview Chubb who set up the hoax in order to obtain the manuscript which could then be published.
The book is filled with twists and turns, jumping from one era to another. The second half of the book primarily deals with the kidnapping of Chubb's daughter by the not-so-fictional Bob McCorkle. Chubb spends years in search of the girl, following McCorkle's movements closely but finding that his daughter is no longer his daughter when he finally tracks her down. Many different plot lines come in and out of the book, some with only tenuous connections to other plots but Carey somehow works them mostly believably into the book with a sort of surreal twist to the whole thing and an ending which leaves you thinking.
Most of the central characters in the book are not explored in much depth. Chubb sees himself as a literary genius and he puts down what he says as the lower down tastes of most Australians, and paticularly of the publisher who he originally sends McCorkle's work to, who ends up being sued and is later murdered but the case is rounded off as a suicide. Sarah seems desperate throughout the book to save her own job that has fallen under threat and pursues the story for her own interests and develops a certain affection for Chubb. The man accompanying her on the trip, John Slater who was a friend of her parents does not trust Chubb from the start and attempts to protect Sarah from what he sees as a dangerous enterprise.
Although the different lines of the story span several decades and parts of the world, they are linked together well. I would definitely recommend this book.
Next up: Human, all too human by Fredrich Nietzsche.
This is the first book I have read by Allende. One of my sisters is a huge fan of her work and I thought I would give it a try. This book was interesting, I think maybe she hasn't quite got the male perspective she was writing from down to a tee. The book weaves the tale of a family, the father leads the family on travels preaching what seems like some sort of new age spirituality. They eventually settle in a poor Mexican barrio after he falls ill.
The book is told in two perspectives, firstly a third person detailing events and secondly from the thoughts of the main character, Gregory. There is a very clear patterns of him chasing money and becoming an 'evil' person and then chasing love and becoming a 'good' person, I found this comparison slightly stereotypical, especially because he worked as a lawyer in the chasing of the money learning the tricks of the trade in a corporate law firm. The whole thing just didn't quite ring true for me, well that facet of the plot anyway.
There's also a strong element of how past experience can affect a person over time. Gregory who has grown up poor finds himself wanting to be rich, and in a turnaround finding how much he wastes money on things which get him nothing. His sister, plagued by memories of sexual abuse by her father in childhood coats herself in layers of food and dedicates her life to caring for children.
All in all it was a good book, and I'd be interested to read more by Allende. The characters were the least believable for me, the storyline was good, kept me interested in reading the book.
To fully appreciate Tom Robbins' books, you have to be willing to wait. Most of his books open confusedly and this one was no exception. I think I enjoyed this book more than any of his others because the character of Sissy was introduced early on and expanded throughout the book.
The book centres around Sissy, a young girl with abnormally large thumbs. Random? Yes. Fits into the book well? Yes. Sissy learns about hitchhiking from an early age, she hitchhikes the wind, the cars and life in general. She is introduced to the 'cowgirls' through a part-time employer, shortly after she surprisingly gets married. Sissy's marriage, however, is also important to the book. She experiences life tied down, not as free to hitchhike when she wants and bewildered by not being able to keep moving as she is used to.
With the short-term escape to the Rubber Rose ranch, Sissy meets one of the loves of her life, aptly named Jellybean. She learns from her fellow cowgirls about loving the skin you're in (to put it lightly) and eventually journeys out to meet the second love of her life; Chink, who is a Japanese ex-prisoner living off the land. There's more, believe me but I don't want to ruin the book.
The reason I liked this book more that the others I have read was because the story flowed easily, but kept with Robbins' pattern and haphazard story-telling manor. You never quite know what is coming next and the story leads to a fanatical climax and an unusual ending. It effectively explores Sissy's unusual personality and changes in her life which lead to different outlooks. I highly recommend it, I really appreciate most of Robbins' work and his delightful imagination.
Maybe it's all the Dickens I've read, maybe I just read complicated things all the time or maybe this book is an exception but I had heard that Joyce's works were notoriously difficult to read. I found this book intriguing and easy to follow for the most part.
It follows the central character Stephen Dedulas through his life in Ireland, from humble beginnings at a Catholic school, to confusion as a teenager to the climactic end to this confusion as he sets off to unknown places in search of some sort of self identity. It seems like many novels follow this sort of line - guy gets confused then finds himself but this is done in the midst of the truly unique Irish culture. Born into a Catholic-oriented world Stephen follows the path less travelled: he sins, he repents and then he walks away entirely. The whole section of the book in which Stephen is terrified into Catholicism sent shivers up my spine. The usual sort of burning in hell speech but very aptly put in a speech by a priest.
Joyce's style of writing is also pleasant, sort of stream of counciousness but not in the same way as other authors. The relationships between him and his mother, his father and a girl are all written between the lines of prose. As well as this, his connection with stringent Catholicism leads to some spectacular philosophising spelled out in conversations between him and his friends, much in the same way as Plato's Republic.
I don't know if I only enjoyed this book immensely and read it quickly because I should be studying for my law exam but I would highly recommend it any way!
I found out about this book through a forum I go on (called We Bite Back) which is focused on recovery from eating disorders, stabbing back at the amount of forums there are devoted to getting sicker (otherwise known as 'pro-ana' or 'pro-mia' forums). The young woman who wrote this book is a member of We Bite Back and need I say it, a rising young talent in the world of literature. Astoundingly she was only 18 when she decided to write this book, after coming back from a deadly battle with anorexia.
Many parts of the book were written while she was still recovering, I found it amazing that one suffering so young could have such a self-awareness about what she was going through and such a determination to make it through. The writing is beautiful, at times very sad, but a chronicle of one who did not want to waste her intelligence. There are no weights mentioned in this book, which I found very helpful when comparing it to a book like Wasted by Marya Hornbacher where the mention of weights can often send people back into the scuttles of an eating disorder, or worse give them ideas about the weight they have to be to be classified as 'really sick.' She mentioned Hornbacher's book several times, even once saying it triggered her into bad behaviours but she found the resources on recovery helpful. The thoughts abundant in this book at many times reminded me of my own thoughts, that I'm not serious enough, sick enough, not perfect enough but it also displays how the gradual thoughts of anorexia can lead to an eating away of the brain, dropping marks, further antisocial behaviour and suicidal thoughts. In the case of Lucy, her dreams through High School of getting top HSC (Australian school leaving certificate) marks were dashed when her battle took its toll on her. Despite this, she still somehow amazingly managed to pass and give a final speech at the end of her years of school about why it's worth it to keep on battling.
This writer obviously has an immense talent, a great understanding of her illness and an acutely rational mind that carried her through. The book explored firstly her fall into the disorder, secondly 'the grey' or the beginnings of therapy and recovery and thirdly 'the light' or what most people call a sort of click. The realisation of the want to recover and the strenuous path to doing so. I would have liked it had there been a little more in the 'light' section as I saw this as the most important of the book and the hardest state to attain, it also only made up a very short space of the book and I think the other parts outweighed it. More journal entries from this time would have been helpful to show the new lease on life she discovered. Although this book which is made up of journal entries and memories is quite haphazard and at times extremely sad, it mostly managed to avoid being triggering, the lack of weights being especially important. It also focused on how the more well she got, the more she was able to do. It mentioned foods she enjoyed eating and things she found helpful doing while remaining in her individual literary style.
I can't wait for this writer to mature, finish her law and arts degrees and create her best works, when she does I think the results will be amazing.
