This is like a Jane Austen novel but without the substance, class, character and plot.
I’ll happily admit that I’ve struggled with Forster in the pastThis is like a Jane Austen novel but without the substance, class, character and plot.
I’ll happily admit that I’ve struggled with Forster in the past. A Passage to India was dramatically underwhelming in my estimation. I did, however, quite like Howard’s End but I think that may have been because of Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, a fantastic piece of writing that paid literary homage to Forster and made his novel seem better than it actually was.
I feel like I should really like Forster. I should like the way he writes and the themes he plays with. I feel like I ought to appreciate what he does, but I just can’t because I find the writing so dull. Nothing happens! Now I am no stranger to slow writing, but this is something else entirely. Even the premise of the novel, the desire for a room with a view, felt a little lackluster and was in no way worthy of naming the book after.
I’ve been scrolling through the reviews here on Goodreads to see if I can find any critical ones. All the negative ones amount to the same point: it was boring. And I very much agree. This one failed to engage me in any way. So why two stars? I liked some of the descriptions and the dialogue. Forster can certainly write well on the surface, he just can’t create plots. At least, not ones I enjoy.
So I struggled to keep reading, I had to force myself to do so and this seemingly short novel felt much longer than it was. I was glad to finish.
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The visuals in this comic are great; it’s dark and steam punk themed. It’s all rather cool and the action scenes are illustrated brilliantly. It even The visuals in this comic are great; it’s dark and steam punk themed. It’s all rather cool and the action scenes are illustrated brilliantly. It even has a special race of fighting cats that are so ridiculously bad ass; yet, for all that, I found the whole thing quite confusing.
There’s a lot of history with this comic book, which is fine, but I don’t feel like its very well established. There are brief mentions of past events, but not enough details to establish their significance. I feel like the world building is a little too complex for a graphic novel. It’s trying to squeeze so much information in, but it can’t quite cope with the amount it has. And that’s why it all seems brief.
Monstress is trying to be too many things at once far too early on in the series.
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Look at Saga. With each volume more story is added and it becomes increasingly complex. It doesn’t begin so. I was lost for most of this. It’s like I’m starting with the second volume, where everything is already clear and the characters and locations make sense. I had no clue who half of these people were supposed to be. I really think the author needed to take a step (or two) back and slow down. I don’t need everything thrown at me at once.
Other than the confusing world building, I think the story is rather solid. The central plot is very strong, it follows a young girl who is inhabited by an evil tentacle monster that feeds of the living and can take possession of her body whenever it chooses. So she’s quite dangerous and she’s trying to discover/remember how she came to be so powerful. Her family have the answers and she’s attempting to find them in this labyrinth of a world that doesn’t yet make sense to me.
However, I won’t be reading the next volume. I don’t think the author quite knows how to write a balanced story, I can’t see this improving. I’m happy to leave it here.
Merged review:
The visuals in this comic are great; it’s dark and steam punk themed. It’s all rather cool and the action scenes are illustrated brilliantly. It even has a special race of fighting cats that are so ridiculously bad ass; yet, for all that, I found the whole thing quite confusing.
There’s a lot of history with this comic book, which is fine, but I don’t feel like its very well established. There are brief mentions of past events, but not enough details to establish their significance. I feel like the world building is a little too complex for a graphic novel. It’s trying to squeeze so much information in, but it can’t quite cope with the amount it has. And that’s why it all seems brief.
Monstress is trying to be too many things at once far too early on in the series.
[image]
[image]
[image]
Look at Saga. With each volume more story is added and it becomes increasingly complex. It doesn’t begin so. I was lost for most of this. It’s like I’m starting with the second volume, where everything is already clear and the characters and locations make sense. I had no clue who half of these people were supposed to be. I really think the author needed to take a step (or two) back and slow down. I don’t need everything thrown at me at once.
Other than the confusing world building, I think the story is rather solid. The central plot is very strong, it follows a young girl who is inhabited by an evil tentacle monster that feeds of the living and can take possession of her body whenever it chooses. So she’s quite dangerous and she’s trying to discover/remember how she came to be so powerful. Her family have the answers and she’s attempting to find them in this labyrinth of a world that doesn’t yet make sense to me.
However, I won’t be reading the next volume. I don’t think the author quite knows how to write a balanced story, I can’t see this improving. I’m happy to leave it here....more
I’m so very disappointed with this one. The Drowned World has such a dark tone, and the post-apocalyptic imagery of a sunken world is hauntingly eery,I’m so very disappointed with this one. The Drowned World has such a dark tone, and the post-apocalyptic imagery of a sunken world is hauntingly eery, but the novel suffers because of a lack of plot and direction.
Indeed, there’s something off about The Drowned World. It should be a good book. Most of the vital parts are here, though it fails to come together. The prose is heavily descriptive and almost poetic at points. The setting is certainly the book’s strongest point, and the way it’s so vividly captured is striking. The images will stay with me because they have a dream like quality to them: they’re almost haunting in effect. However, the book just didn’t seem to go anywhere.
And that’s the problem because it so easily could have been sorted out through a process of revision. There just needed to be a little more direction in the beginning, and an idea of where the story might go, for the novel to be a success. Frustrating is the word that comes to mind because this really could have been a great book. I realised around halfway through that the book was just layering descriptive setting on descriptive setting without any sense of movement forward. It became repetitive and dull. A plot did eventually emerge, but it was rushed and shoved into the final few chapters of the book.
On the surface, I don’t think this is a very well written novel at all. However, what makes it worthy of note is its anticipation of the modern climate crisis. It’s what drew me to it. Sure, in the book man hasn’t caused the problems, solar radiation has caused a global warming here, but the effects are the same: a rise in sea levels and a sunken world. It’s a speculative future and it’s quite visionary. Though it must be noted that Ballard wrote numerous novels like this where he created future scenarios, some anticipate modern concern and others are wildly off the mark. So, it would be remiss to hail him as a writer greatly concerned with ecology and the future. He got lucky here.
The world-building is undeniably clever. The setting is good, but without any real sense of plot the characters failed to distinguish themselves and become interesting. Reading this was a real effort, I was not drawn in and I was immensely glad to finish. For a short novel, it’s quite a chore to get through. Ultimately, it’s worth a read but don’t expect much from it.
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This book is so insanely popular, and whilst it is not without merit, I think it’s totally underserving of the amount of hype it has received.
Now letThis book is so insanely popular, and whilst it is not without merit, I think it’s totally underserving of the amount of hype it has received.
Now let me explain: the idea of combining words and photographs to tell a story is undeniably original and clever, and here the distorted black and white snaps fit the eery gothic vibe of the narrative. They work well together but ultimately become a little problematic. At times, it felt like the story was pushed to breaking point as the narrative was twisted around the photographs. It’s almost like the photo dictated where the story was going, and the events were stretched around it. There were a few instances where this was particularly bad, and it gave the direction of the writing a totally random feel. It was bizarre.
If you take the photographs out of the book, and leave the writing as it is, ultimately, we are left with an average young adult story about escapism with very poor characterisation. There are other books that deal with this theme much better; thus, this would no doubt become a little lost in the saturated market. The photographs are the unique selling point, and without them the book would flounder. My point here is that the writing is quite weak and by itself would not be strong enough to carry the story. I find this a little problematic: the writing should be enhanced by the photographs, not become completely reliant on them.
I do think this is a creative and remarkable way to tell a story but ultimately the execution was a little poor. I don’t think Riggs’ prose was quite up to scratch nor his ability to give his characters any real depth. It felt amateurish, difficult to get into and the story did not work for me. For me this book is a curiosity, nothing more.
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This is a very mediocre collection of short stories from a writer who can do SO MUCH better.
When an author can achieve literary greatness in their wrThis is a very mediocre collection of short stories from a writer who can do SO MUCH better.
When an author can achieve literary greatness in their writing, there’s an expectation that they must do it all the time. Murakami has achieved such a thing several times over, though he did not quite do it here. Unfortunately, whilst these stories do have a brief echo of his brilliance, they simply do not deliver: they are not what they could be.
In some ways, I feel like Murakami dug these out of his bottom draw. These don’t feel like new stories, but instead they feel like the stories of an author who is still refining his craft. They seem like the words of an author who would one day develop these themes into fantastic plot points with powerful narrative delivery. Here, though, they just don’t quite cut it.
The writing is fuelled by the same randomness that defines his writing. There’s casual sexual encounters and strong music references. There’s a sense of the unusual, the uncanny and of something not quite right. His tone is here and what’s a little bit confusing is the uncertainty about who exactly is speaking. Is it a fictional character or is it actually Murakami himself? The lines become blurred in more than one instance especially when a character has the author’s name. This is a clever device but it’s all very brief and none of the stories seem to go anywhere real. There’s not enough time or words for them to count.
And that’s the problem: Murakami is a great novelist, but he is not a great short story writer. He is at his best when his unique motifs are combined with excellent plotting. He churns out huge novels that are tense, emotional and very clever. The short story form doesn’t really work for him: he just can’t do what he does best within its limitations.
Although his previous collection of short stories, Men Without Women, was a little better, it also failed to showcase his real talent. If you want to learn what Murakami is really about, then I recommend reading After Dark and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. For me, he is at his absolute best in those two novels.
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Sometimes I feel like there’s pressure in the reading community to side with the written word, to defend it over The film is WAY better than the book.
Sometimes I feel like there’s pressure in the reading community to side with the written word, to defend it over cinema because it’s supposed to be our preferred medium for storytelling. This isn’t always the case. And if I’m honest, I prefer theatre over anything. More importantly though, and what I’m trying to suggest here, is that the phrase “the book is always better” is simply incorrect.
Film comparisons aside, 2001 was not the book I was expecting. It’s divided into three narratives, the first two setting up the third. The third is the main part and it’s what the book is really about, but it just took far too long to get there. I was bored. The book is dull and overly descriptive yet also remarkably brilliant in its scope and conclusion. Ultimately, it’s a book with a great idea, but one that takes a very long time to convey its meaning and demonstrate the connectedness of the narratives.
In some ways its like a long journey, the destination is worthwhile but getting there can be a little bit tedious. And this book was so very tedious in places. So much superfluous material could have been edited out. It so desperately needed more plot and a little bit more excitement with characters that were engaging. Sure, it discussed some interesting ideas but first two thirds of the novel were completely flat.
The strongest element this book has is its depiction of evolution being an ever moving, ever developing, phenomenon. This alongside considerations over the danger of technology (that also had the power to evolve) made the book engaging and even tense in parts, but this energy was never consistent. It just needed more life.
As such, two stars seems like a fair rating for a book that is intellectually challenging but hindered by its dry tone and lack of action.
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This started so well but then it got more and more boring with each chapter.
I was hooked on this as soon as I started reading. I found myself stormingThis started so well but then it got more and more boring with each chapter.
I was hooked on this as soon as I started reading. I found myself storming through it and totally invested in the story. Then somewhere, around half-way through, I found myself growing terribly bored. My reading rate slowed down. It started to feel like a chore, and it took me almost five months to finish it.
What happened?
The story seemed to stagnate, and the descriptions felt very similar and reused. Moreover, it didn’t seem to be going anywhere other than the obvious direction. Granted, it picked up towards the but by then I had lost interest and wanted the book to be over. It seems rather trite in a book review to complain about the length of a book, but I’m going to do it anyway: this felt too long. I have no problem with big books if they need to be big. This one felt padded out and like parts needed to be stripped back and the writing made tighter. It waffled on and I grew tired of it.
It was slow, so painfully slow
I’m disappointed because I feel like I should have loved this one and I thought I was going to. I wish I had something more positive to say, but I can’t find anything else I enjoyed about it. It had a good hook but that’s it. Consider me very unimpressed.
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Zadie Smith is a fantastic writer, unfortunately though Swing Time is not a fantastic book.
I feel like it is lacking a certain sense of energy and styZadie Smith is a fantastic writer, unfortunately though Swing Time is not a fantastic book.
I feel like it is lacking a certain sense of energy and stylistic flair that is characteristic of her other novels. To put it into perspective, Zadie Smith can write with real power and authority: she can do remarkable things. Swing Time though is tepid, unimaginative and convoluted.
Zadie Smith normally likes to play with the idea of the novel, twisting its conventions to create stories that do not follow typical narrative conventions. They are different. They are new. And by doing such things she pushed the boundaries of what typical storytelling can be, but she does not quite do this alone. In NW she channelled the voices of Joyce and Woolf to create a modern metropolis that echoed with a multitude of multiracial voices that define modern Britain. In On Beauty she channelled the spirit of Forster to provide a critique of identity labels. She used modernist writers to create new modern fiction. And it was brilliant.
However, she is not really doing anything new here nor is she building on the past. Indeed, this does not quite feel like literary fiction of the same calibre because she is not engaging with any new themes or ideas. She has not built on her previous works but has continued to talk about the same things in a less interesting way and far less creative way. Swing Time is by no means a bad book. I consider it a mediocre book written by an incredibly talented writer.
So, I am shamelessly criticising this in direct comparison to her other works because I know she can write better. I have similar feelings towards Murakami’s newer works too. I suppose it would be too much to ask of a writer to be consistently brilliant.
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Valperga is a rather unbalanced novel. It has exciting plot points, a fast-moving style and a huge amount of political intrigue. But what it lacks is Valperga is a rather unbalanced novel. It has exciting plot points, a fast-moving style and a huge amount of political intrigue. But what it lacks is character, tension and drama.
It is largely underwhelming despite how well-researched it is and how much content the book covers. It is almost like Shelley forgot how to write interesting characters whilst she focused on the historical elements. So much happens, and Shelley sweeps over these events without really detailing their impact on her protagonist. He has absolutely no depth to him. It is like reading a historical account of his life with a bit of action thrown in.
A hugely significant episode occurred early in the book, an episode which appeared to be so important for the growth of her protagonist’s mind and viewpoint, but it was not really mentioned again. And I found this odd because it was one of the only episodes in the book that firmly established it as a novel of the romantic era. It focused on nature, the devastating impact of war and the simple beauty of gaining inner peace and satisfaction with one’s place in life. These notions swept over his mind. So why mention them at all?
This isn’t a book I’d recommend to anyone, unless perhaps you are researching the author and want to read everything she has written. There are so many books out there that do what this book attempts to do, only much better. ___________________________________
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Bill Gates has great motives here and a high degree of personal integrity and honesty, I'll give him that.
He wrote this book because he felt that it Bill Gates has great motives here and a high degree of personal integrity and honesty, I'll give him that.
He wrote this book because he felt that it needed to be written and that it could do some good in the world. Though in reality, this is not a book for you or for me. It is not a book about how we can tackle climate change. It is a book about how Gates thinks governments should act to tackle it and how rich people should tackle it. Our actions are not important enough. And, naturally, I take a few issues with his viewpoint, a viewpoint that perceives the world from a rich man’s perspective and ignores the significance of the everyday person.
Gates does not believe in half measures. He believes the only way to deal with the issue is to reach Carbon Zero across all nations. As such, he does not advocate for methods to reduce energy consumption (and thus less carbon) but instead proposes that the world (namely the superpowers) should invest in clean energy, technology and plant-based agriculture as alternatives for what we already use. He does not propose a change in human behaviour, greed or the distribution of resources, but instead insists that we can continue as we are but in a cleaner more efficient way.
In this, there is an almost complete disregard for individual agency. We cannot rely on governments to do everything. He believes the only way you and I can affect change is to lobby the powers that be. We must annoy and harass our governments and representatives to act. Changing our own lives and attempting to better our behaviour and emissions is the last, and least effective, resort. Our individual actions are not important enough by this logic to make any significant difference in the world. We must trust in the government and attempt to direct them onto a more environmentally friendly path.
Every large-scale movement in history has occurred because of the power of individual activists who inspired their followers, whether directly or indirectly, to change themselves and attempt to reform others and the world. This is how true change occurs. Mahatma Ghandi, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, Greta Thunberg are examples of people who worked towards their respective causes without the support of higher powers. Yes, they lobbied governments, but they understood that everyone must change too. We cannot simply rely on the government to put the best interests of the people and the environment above their own self-interest (and wealth.)
Gates attempts to present a case that environmentally friendly investments are money lucrative; he is actively trying to persuade people that this is the future. And he may be right, but it is not enough.
I appreciate the fact, and his recognition, that he is not perfect. Gates knows that he has a massive carbon footprint. He is aware that he, in the past, had invested in fossil fuels. But he wants to learn and grow and become a better person in order to help the world. He is not claiming to be an environmental saint, just a man who has used his wealth to try to understand (and perhaps even) tackle climate change. But I feel that Bill Gates misses a crucial point entirely in this regard.
We are all in this mess together. We all need to act on an individual basis to change it. And this is something Gates does not give nearly enough weight. ___________________________________
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Sean Barrs
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Books:
2-star-reads
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