This is probably William Faulkner's best novel (IMHO) as it is an amazing effort at the sheer quality of the Southern Gothic era. It represents all the ideas that were later used in books like "The Lonely Londoners" and also in "The Thorn Birds" - truly one of the best novels I've read in my time and a timeless piece of writing. Identity, struggle, redemption and false hope are all working to make the core of this novel that centres itself on an individual who becomes alienated from other characters in a way that you cannot imagine until you read it.
I found this book as I had read "As I Lay Dying" (another great Faulkner read!) when I was around 15 years old. I read "Absalom, Absalom!" recently and just completely fell in love with the captivating realism of it all (not to mention the hints at PTSD).
Characters:
My favourite character is the protagonist, Thomas Sutpen. I loved the way his identity shaped through the novel and how experiences such as Henry going to university and the impact of the war tainted his lens on life and he became detached from those around him.
Themes:
As I've kept going on about it: the shift in identity and perception. Ultimately, I kind of felt sorry for Thomas as he couldn't have wished this on himself. He was born into a poor family and went through such realistic downfalls that his immoral actions are almost justified. It's funny how empathy works in the novel.
Storyline:
The ending. If I could go back and re-read it just to feel the same way I did at the end of the book, I would. It was a tragic, beautiful and shocking end to such as well-written novel. I'm not gonna say what happens at the end but I will say one thing: if you're looking for an American Novel - look to "Absalom, Absalom!" for your next read.
Verdict:
I give this book 9
100% for characters: When we look at the character's actions - especially those of Thomas - we see that there is a requirement for empathy and we end up believe that it is our emotion that is keeping him alive. What a trick of the writer! Well played, Faulkner. Well played.
100% for themes: I don't think I have ever read a more raw and emotional novel that deals with identity, power struggle, class, time and place. (Applauds).
100% for storyline: Again, I will probably re-read this book - when I feel like I'm forgetting what happened in it. Just so I can recreate those emotions and that cycle of empathy.
First of all, HOLY SHIT! This was amazing. I didn't appreciate it as much when I was younger - but now - definitely showing the appreciation. So, here we go with one of my favourite gothic stories of all time.
Christ - this was good and I'm sure that in the time it was written it was an absolute hit!
Well, the premise revolves around an "unknown" and obviously sparks the whole gothic revival era we get somewhere in the midst of Romanticism.
I'll try to keep it short seeing as the book itself is the opposite.
I found this book a few years back and there was something about the cover I got that kind of drew me in - I remember it being old and having some sort of shadow on the front of it. Strange and confusing - I just picked it up randomly and now here we are.
Characters:
My favourite character is Manfred. This guy is twisted as shit. He wants to end his marriage to his wife and marry the younger Isabella and this is only after his son dies after shattering his skull. Very odd. But probably the best and most diverse character in the whole thing. I also quite enjoyed his wife Hippolita.
Themes:
My favourite theme is the unknown. Conrad and Isabella are both involved in this and in some ways, so is Manfred. I do enjoy how Manfred finds himself "between" his wife and Isabella. There's a certain disgust that impales you to the story - the constant want for information and clarity. More of a hope for satisfaction.
Storyline:
The best part of the story is when Manfred starts to give away his distortion towards his wife. I really quite liked the way in which his love slowly regresses and you get to know his true antagonism. Very, very twisted. Quite scary. Oh my god, such a good gothic.
Verdict:
I give this book 9
100% for characters: I really enjoyed Manfred, Isabella, Hippolita, Conrad etc.
100% for themes: The whole unknown alongside the books of Anne Radcliffe and Mary Shelley, Lord Byron and ST Coleridge. What a brilliant theme that was devised and used in this era to created that sense of dread in the darkness.
100% for storyline: The whole story is brilliant - I can't just pick one. Read it, it's brilliant.
This book was pretty short but consisted of so much poetic narrative that I really did find it intriguing. I love writing that is in prose poetry and is done well - it's difficult but it can be done.
I found this book after reading "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" and found it in the Waterstones outside the Birmingham Literature Festival Venue. To be honest, I liked the bookshop more than the festival (that's because I got a discount!)
Also, remember to check out the Vlog Promo guys. It's very important to me - and I really do hope you enjoy my scrub-ups in 2017 :)
Characters:
My favourite character was Polo. He was a very strange sort of traveler - and I've noticed this oddity with (now more than one) fiction by Italo Calvino. His characters always seem very socially detached and don't seem to be romanticised in any way. As if they are so human that even the author can't understand why they think they're so important. I loved Polo's relaying of the cities though - so very linguistically perfect!
Themes:
My favourite theme is conversation and communication. As you may already know - the book is a conversation between Kubla Khan and Marco Polo. It has intense amounts of conversation in it - but the relaying of the invisible cities is probably the most important part of the whole book - all down to the communication process of intentionally creating spaces to be positive or negative. It's all very beautiful.
Storyline:
So, the best part of the storyline has to be every time Marco Polo and Kubla Khan deal with the human existence. As you can imagine, with all that traveling it gets very hypothetically existential and contains that essence of sublimity that the romantics used to heighten the individual - but seems to be used for the exact opposite here. I really, really like it.
Verdict:
I give this book 7/9
2/3 for characters: It's 2/3 and not 100% because I felt there was not enough character exploration - it was all very surface layer. Something I'm not very much used to.
100% for themes: Traveling, sensation, discovery and anti-romanticism - Italo Calvino does this reaction to reflection in the most convincing conversation ever written.
2/3 for storyline: Just a bit short for me. It was like it just ended. Nothing. Not much satisfaction gained.
Okay, so I'm gonna tell you about one of my favourite narrative poems of all time. Just wait and see how lyrically perfect, seductive and absolutely awesome the power of this poem is - and if you're not moved by it - I'm sorry, you probably read it wrong. The travels of the continent, the Byronic heroism and the sheer nature of being and remaining unsatisfied are the true compulsions of this epic poem by the "mad, bad and dangerous to know", Lord Byron.
I fell in love with Byron when I was merely 12 or 13 years old after reading a passage or two of Don Juan. This poem however, filled me with utter emotion and purged me cathartically throughout the course of the narrative. A brilliant piece of timeless poetry that will remain as long as his legend does.
Characters:
My favourite character was Childe Harold. Obviously, he is the main character but also - he is the first instance where Byron used his unsatisfied hero to lament the discoveries of the world in a microcosm of love, torture, depression and anger. It was amazing to read a character that was heroic yet had these self-inflicted emotional scars that ultimately led him to other places.
Themes:
My favourite theme was travelling. Travelling is certainly a big deal in the poem and has a lot to do with the satisfaction of the hero. Now, most of my degree is based on Byron (especially in Creative Writing) and I try to include him wherever I can. Purely because he deals with topics that enchant me: the first and foremost being "satisfaction, disappointment and the reader-satisfying tragedy". As Dante investigated the "poetics of chaos and harmony", Byron uses this as a character fault rather than a structural sense of setting. It truly is a brilliant theme and it comes through the most when Childe Harold travels and is left unsatisfied for sensation.
Storyline:
Again, regarding the travelling - it was my favourite part of the piece. The search for new sensation to fulfil the hedonistic lifestyle of a Romantic Rockstar. This lamenting, tragic and sensational hero is the image that we most commonly associate with the Romantic Hero today - and it is because of Lord Byron that we do this.
Verdict:
I give this book 9
100% for character: I don't think one can get more Byronic than the Childe Harold. It was Byron's first sense of showcasing his hero after his own travels on the continent after university.
100% for themes: Travelling, as you will find in Byron's epic poems, is a big theme - as is sensation. Both are linked in the most fascinating ways.
100% for storyline: Byron has enchanting storylines at all times and truly does capture the senses of satisfaction and disappointment in the all three sections discussed. The storyline being the strongest of these.
I loved this book when I first read it back in Year 10. I was about 14 or 15 when I discovered this great Russian Novel and have continued to read Russian Fiction ever since.
Obviously, when I was younger - I went to my school library where luckily, they kept a copy of this wonderful book.
Characters:
I loved Rodion. A tortured and indecisive character with a three dimensional perspective on morality. A great poetic character who is hopeless in his attempts to separate what is "good" and what is "bad". I could go on forever - but since it's supposed to be short, I won't.
Themes:
The theme of morality is always best explored in Russian Fiction. It's so dystopian and twisted. Having great charisma it was an amazing theme and so well done by the author. I pretty much loved the themes of all Russian Novels.
Storyline:
I really enjoyed the parts of the story that thoroughly discussed the inner-workings of dystopian morality. Also, the parts that concerned this in context of character were the most evolved. Kind of like a Franz Kafka-Nikolai Gogol thing going on there.
Verdict:
I give this book 8/9
100% for characters: I did like them - all of those who discussed morality - the misanthropic Russian characters are the best though. #FamilyIssues
100% for themes: Morality is always a big Russian Novel type.
2/3 for storyline: It can get a bit heavy at times.
Vlog Update:
A word from your host:
I told you about the vlog, didn't I?
Well, I'm sorry for not revealing very much information.
I've finally found my feet with where it's going - I hope you're as excited for 2017 as I am!
Just in time for my birthday as well...
Have a nice day, folks...
Hope you like the promo too :)
Click here to view the VLOG PROMO
Of course, I'll still be posting blogs everyday and things are gonna get a little hot under the collar - but that's okay.
Remember, if you have any requests, questions etc.
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Thanks for being a great platform for my book obsession. I love that we share a love of books and that you love them just as much as I do. For those of you who want to stick to the page - see you tomorrow. But, for those of you who want to anticipate the vlog, see you in 2017.
5ft2 xxx
I found this book intriguing as it is not only by a fellow Indian - but it is also a version of events very similar to that of one of our many holy books. Even though I don't consider myself extremely religious in that sense, the way the story is told still beguiles my mind and captures my interest. This novel does the same. It captures and stirs the interest until the very end.
I found this book as it is one of my reads on my Global reading list - this is something we haven't visited in a long time.
Also - about the vlog - I'm trying, it's getting there.
Remember to head over to 5ft2booksale.blogspot.com in order to grab my copies of "IT" by Stephen King and "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. Yes, books are being sold at discount prices. But, I need a nice home for them - so we're a playing a game. You and I.
On with the review.
Characters:
My favourite character is the narrator - Panchaali. I think that's how you spell it. Anyways, this woman lives in a stereotypical patriarchal Indian household and world. She is contained yet fierce and perseveres in various styles. Slowly finding out troubling truths - she sets on to marriage from 5 brothers, but none can contain the wild beast within her. She is truly scary - a woman not to be messed with if you don't want your butt kicked.
Themes:
My favourite theme is secrecy. I loved the whole secret around love - and then the secret about her mysterious friend. There are various secrets involving marriage and children and the past - it's beautifully written and all intertwine.
Storyline:
My favourite part of the story is when she's getting married. There is a certain 'knowing' in the reader that this is not the end for her - but a new beginning in which she will get her way if it kills her. It's a brilliant narrative told through her own eyes and this first person reveals just how much of a fierce creature she is.
Verdict:
I give this book 8/9
100% for characters: I loved the characters. They were all so real and I could really find a relation in there somewhere even though I'm probably too young to remember what life was like for us back then.
100% for themes: The theme of secrecy is always a favourite amongst Asian Literature - more so in Indian and Japanese fiction I think. It was brilliant done and so very poetic.
2/3 for storyline: I wish it was longer. It is a very short read.
