Okay, so I read this book and it immediately made me think, "What the actual fuck?" It's a brilliant book with some very strange concepts within it. I found it on my journeys through a list of books on the Horror of 2014. Man, was this horror! Christ, it was twisted in so many ways and things don't normally scare me. It's not "scary" in that sense though - just a scary thought that this could take place in someone's mind - and outside of it.
My travels through GoodReads brought me here. If you travel through my blog and find twisted books to read - you only have yourself to blame...
Characters:
My favourite character was Xenia. I found her, initially the most likable character in the book and the most intelligent. Then comes all the shite of dark secrets and weird random sexual fantasies that I could do without knowing. But, it's funny how this book can just hit all those chords in your body and make your skin crawl. Gross.
Themes:
My favourite theme was secrecy. Would you expect anything different by now? Nope. Didn't think so. Well, there's a ton of dark secrets involving serial killers, sex and GBH. Yes, GBH. That's just a bit weird, especially to have that mixed with strange sexual fantasies of the BDSM kind. Yep. Yep. That's it. All the nopes, right there.
Storyline:
Okay, so when we find out about Xenia's weird fetishes - it doesn't come as much of a surprise because we were kind of expecting it as the story kind of led there. There was a sense of decline of morals and the return of strange Clockwork-Orange-Esque concepts. Ew. But yeah - very strange experience to read it. This book really didn't hold back at all.
Verdict:
I give this book 8/9
100% for characters: I loved Xenia's change of character and her strange secrets that she even refuses to admit to herself.
100% for themes: Overall, the theme of secrecy was so strange and manipulative. Yes, I have noticed I've used the word strange way too many times here.
2/3 for storyline: Personal preference, maybe it grossed me out a little too much. I'm never into BDSM writing and stuff like that. Skirting on the necrophiliac. Nope. Not for me.
After reading Franzen's "Freedom" - I decided to give "The Corrections" a try. His writing is always slightly humorous but tinged and turned with a variety of other emotions that make his work strikingly human. There's a lustre of pain that endures in privacy throughout the books with a sense of hopefulness overshadowing the crude realities. Franzen's writing isn't immediately poetic, but changes with the experience of the characters and creates an amazing narrative voice in which the action pulls and pushes through family ties and haunting legacies.
You can probably tell this is gonna be a good review :)
I found this book on amazon in my recommendations list since I read other books by Franzen and this one has to be my favourite.
Characters:
My favourite character is Enid Lambert. I thought she was the harsh reality of every character in the book - she deals with her husband's Parkinson's disease and has a fright about bringing characters together. She is the string holding the family tightly and seems to have a determination that sets her apart from the rest.
Themes:
My favourite theme was pain and suffering. As I said, Franzen has the ability to make his characters terrifyingly human. Almost an uncanny voice that settles inside them and tremors itself throughout the experience of the novel - you get pulled in and out of people's experiences and pushed and shoved around others. It's a brilliantly written novel with some amazing interpretations of what causes pain and what makes a person through experience.
Storyline:
My favourite part was when the reader realises that Alfred's health is deteriorating. There's a sense of utter hopelessness because characters are in pain, characters are in hopelessness and characters are experiencing new and confusing things. We are terrified for them and they are terrified for us - a human understanding of emotion with a complex motivation behind it.
Verdict:
I give this book 9
100% for characters: I loved the characters Enid and Alfred. They sort of shaped each other.
100% for themes: A powerful narrative with some hauntingly amazing descriptions. A stronghold of Franzen's writing.
100% for storyline: Franzen never fails to impress with his amazing and complex stories of experience.
Well, this book was the strangest thing ever. I totally recommend reading this, and then re-reading it. There's a certain amount of confusion in the book because for a while it swaps and changes between different stories - there's an aristocrat involved - there's a sailor and a time-traveller involved. We've also got something called "The Dorian Complex" which is there as a theme: How much is beauty worth? Obviously the Viper Wine is an anti-ageing something that you discover from the very start of the book.
Characters:
Venetia was my favourite character - she's so completely obsessed with herself. A narcissistic entity of amazement that's always searching for the sensation of feeling and looking her best. She is so self-absorbed that she hardly notices the marriage falling apart and the fact that she cannot possibly be setting the best example for the rest of her people. Anyways, I don't like her - but she was the best characters.
Themes:
My favourite theme was aesthetics and materialism. As in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" there's a certain amount of material value in the novel that shed some light on exactly how self-absorbed the characters are. Also, the aesthetics all comes down to wanting to look young - this then catalyses the rest of the events that come afterwards - since this book is all about taking the Viper Wine.
Storyline:
My favourite part of the story is when they first introduce Venetia to the reader. She is introduced as a fiery and cultured character with a very strange and distinct personality. Complete with pictures of her, her lover, the house etc. we really get to see that this is historically accurate and has some value in the 16th century real world.
Verdict:
I give this book 9 .
100% for characters: I loved Venetia and her husband - they were such well-formed characters.
100% for themes: The whole Dorian Gray sort of thing was brilliant.
100% for storyline: The whole experience was a great thing to have - I'm reading it again just so I get the intricate details of it all - I think I may have missed some important motifs.
This was an AMAZING book. I say, if you loved "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice, you will absolutely adore this! Full of vampiric gang violence and dark, wicked rivalry - this book is the answer to what Vampire books are supposed to sound like.
I found this book on a Vampire reading list on GoodReads. It was brilliant and also NEW VAMPIRE CHRONICLES BOOK ON NOVEMBER 29TH!
Characters:
Ana was my favourite character. She's a cop who finds dead corpses and winds up in the middle of lots and lots of vampire violence. Alt was also great because - you know - vampire. Blood thirsty vampire. THEY WERE AWESOME!
Themes:
My favourite theme was violence. Vampires are violent, not "Twilight" sparkly-shite. "Interview with the Vampire" is violent, "Certain Dark Things" is violent...Vampires are violent. It was brilliantly romantic in the way it was written and I loved it! The writing style was just so flamboyant and the violence was made to make you question whether it was really that beautiful, or was it horrific.
Storyline:
This storyline has soooooooooo much potential to be a complete series! I loved the whole premise of it - it was awesome and brilliant and poetic and amazing! I completely loved the whole experience of it.
Verdict:
I give this book 9.
100% for characters: I really loved Ana. She's a cop and she's in the whole vampire violence stuff, amazing!
100% for themes: The violence was so raw and believable - even though they're vampires.
100% for storyline: I loved the experience of the book - it was my favourite part about reading it.
A dark and twisted "Alice in Wonderland" fantasy novel brings to life everything that was slightly uncomfortable about the much-loved children's book. I found this book amazing when I was younger, and I recently re-read it - it was just as amazing :)
My brother had a copy of this, I just remember taking his copy and reading it - god knows where we got it from.
Characters:
My favourite character was Alice. In this novel she's like Holden Caulfield's just been thrown into a war-zone. It was a good change to a classic character - I loved it. The darkness of her was brilliant. (Laughs in evil).
Themes:
My favourite theme was war. Everyone was involved in a blood-bath. If you read my last review, you'll know that war is not always my favourite theme - but in this case because it's "Alice in Wonderland" it's okay.
Storyline:
I loved the beginning, rolling heads. ROLLING HEADS. Executions and bloodied sword fights. The entire storyline was great, that being said. I was particularly intrigued with the changes made to the characters as well.
Verdict:
I give this book 9
100% for characters: Alice was a refreshing change to the normal character. I quite enjoyed it
100% for themes: Of course, it has the likeness of "Alice in Wonderland" but the bloody battles and scare of a Stephen King novel.
100% for storyline: Executions. :)
At first, I thought this novel was pretty boring - but as it progresses - I think you really get a feel for the whole social criticism thing that's going on. It's hyper-realistic tensions that deal with romances in the modern day to PTSD and what being a hero actually means. This novel not only raises questions about the Iraq War, but also insights terror and fright by doing so. All in all, it was pretty good.
I found this book whilst browsing for something I could read on modern history - I came across this and it was written in 2012 - so it's pretty modern. But, it's not very historical - I didn't mind though.
Characters:
Well my favourite character was Billy Lynn. He was like a toned-down cross between Alex DeLarge and something out of a William Faulkner novel. A realistic, yet haunting character that seeks the cultured ideal of heroism, but only succeeds in becoming a subversive construct of it.
Themes:
My favourite theme was war. Normally, war is not my favourite theme - especially the Iraq war as it deals with too much politics for my mind to handle. But, this novel did not really deal with politics, but rather the emotions surrounding the entirety of it. The emotions I feel, are overlooked typically and author's get caught up in exposing secrets - this novel retains that emotional charge throughout.
Storyline:
Good characters, good themes, okay storyline. The storyline was not as compelling as I thought it was going to get. There were a few instances of me thinking to myself "do I really want to read this?" But then something pretty good happened so I just continued reading. I would say the book tends to waver between being really interesting and pretty dull.
Verdict:
I give this book 6/9
2/3 for characters: I thought the characters were done well - just not something that would be very memorable to me.
2/3 for themes: I was pretty surprised that war was my favourite theme - but I think it needed to do more for the dystopian society it was trying to achieve.
2/3 for storyline: Purely for the wavering between good and bad.
In the spirit of Halloween coming up, I've decided to review one of my favourite horror novels of all time: "Salem's Lot" by Stephen King. This book, unfortunately I read when I was only 13 years old and it scared the absolute crap out of me. I find it particularly good to review today - seeing as we're in the spirits of it all. Hahaha, the 'spirits'! Did you get it? (I tell bad jokes)
The premise of this book lies in the Marsten House - which is apparently Ben Mears' favourite place in the entire world...and Vampires. Lots of Vampires. Not the Romantic kind, the bloody and scary and Anne Rice-esque kind. Oh no.
Characters:
My favourite character is Kurt Barlow because he's infected with the vampiric disease and literally catalyses all the shit. He seems to be the root cause of it all and he doesn't give a shit. He has the typical allergy to the cross - but is about 100x more terrifying than most characters in the novel.
Themes:
My favourite theme was probably religion. I love how King interweaves religion into his stories - but doesn't overuse it for scare. I believe that King has an equal balance between what is real and what is religion - it works on so many different levels and he is a great writer because of it.
Storyline:
My favourite part of the story is when Mark's parents die. Good burial or infected burial? Good burial, or infected burial? Good burial. Infected burial? We cannot decide (obviously it is decided in the book). I think this is the place (apart from the cross thing) where religion is more at play than in the rest of the novel.
Verdict:
100% for characters: Kurt and Ben were my favourite characters
100% for themes: Religion, fact and truthfulness are the best themes in this novel.
100% for storyline: And if you don't like Stephen King books, you can piss right off.
