Intro: I read this soon after reading her other book We Have Always Lived In The Castle, and I must say� while I enjoyedContent Warnings:
Mental Illness
Intro: I read this soon after reading her other book We Have Always Lived In The Castle, and I must say� while I enjoyed this one, I found We Have Always Lived In The Castle to be my favourite of the two.
The Plot The plot of this one at times just felt like it wasn’t going anywhere. For how short this book is, the fact that I thought it was moving forward slow says a lot. However I still liked the idea and enjoyed the story.
The Characters I think the characters score points for this book for me. They were all quite different from one another and you never really knew what was going on with any of them or who to trust.
I found all the characters to be dynamic and developed well, even though we don’t learn an awful lot about any of them.
The Writing Once again, as with We Have Always Lived In The Castle, her writing is amazing. I really like her writing style and the way her writing is more in depth than you think!
The Themes The themes for her books are something I feel like a person wouldn’t fully grasp unless they had read the introductions to the books or other people’s analysis of the stories she writes.
This book focused on a person’s mental illness, or mental struggles and how ultimately it has a major impact on the individual and what they perceive to be reality. It was so interesting and yet if I had not had the introduction explain to me what the story was really about, I don’t think I would have fully understood just how powerful the story is (as I had also said in my review of her other book.)
She tells all these stories, without a person sometimes realising that the story we are reading is actually telling us a completely different thing. For example: we read this book thinking it’s about a haunted house, but actually it is about so much more and has symbolism and metaphors that convey something other than what we thought we were going to read. I think it is so interesting and wonderful!
The Romance and Relationships The relationships between the characters are all very fascinating. They are a group of people who would not normally interact, and seeing them try to figure each other out and be friends while also dealing with a haunted house is very interesting.
I loved the aspect of how, because of the situation they were all in, they started to view each other as a strange sort of family.
The Sex and Language This book is completely clean.
Small Grievance This is not a horror. People shelve it as that but� it’s not. At least to me anyway. I didn’t find it to be scary, more unsettling, but that’s about it.
Conclusion I really like Shirley Jackson’s stories. I find the deeper, almost hidden story, to be what grabs me when maybe the surface story loses me. I find her to be a fascinating writer and am so glad I have read some of her works....more
Intro: Oh where to start. Umm� What did I just read? I would like to say that going into this book I aContent Warning:
Suicidal thoughts, OCD behaviour.
Intro: Oh where to start. Umm� What did I just read? I would like to say that going into this book I already knew this book wasn’t for everyone, but I did not go in with the intention of disliking it. However, even though I dislike this story, it will not stop me from reading Patrick Süskind other book.
The Plot If you want a book where not much happens and you are left wondering, “Ok� What was the point again?� Then this is the book for you!
We basically follow one character in the midst of an existential crisis. That’s it, that’s the plot.
This book is short though (only 77 pages long) which make it easier to get through. Though I will say the author did a good job of making the reader feel the uneasiness and confusion of the character.
The Characters There is only one character in this book. Yip. Just the one.
We don’t see character development besides seeing him go from crazy to insane. There is nothing very interesting about this character besides for his being a very lonely person. The biggest thing I took away from this character was that he had a lot of pride and dignity and the majority of his breakdown was due to potentially embarrassing himself in front of other people.
The Writing This for me was one of the only redeeming factors for the story. The writing was lovely. It was written so well!
The Themes Existential crisis. Though I will say that I think loneliness is a theme, even bigger than that. For me it seemed like a number of the problems from this character stem from him being so completely alone. This ties in with what I have already mentioned about his dignity and pride.
The Romance and Relationships There is literally one character, there is nothinh to say here.
The Sex and Language There is no sex in this book.
There is language though I found it mild.
Small Grievance What is this guy’s problem with poo? I know that sounds so weird, but that's because it is.
And the pigeon itself. Like, I know you are having a breakdown but� And just like what a mentioned above, it’s not even really the pigeon that gets to him, more the pigeon excrement.
Is that a grievance? Or did I just miss the point? It is a classic so chances are good I just missed the point. I think it had to do with the whole dignity and pride thing though.
Conclusion I am still so confused about what a just read. Like I get the point but also don’t get it at all at the same time. I don’t really recommend this book. I am still Going to read Perfume, so we shall see if I like that better....more
Intro: I have wanted to read this for a long time and picked it up to add to my January wrap up, and.Content Warning:
Murder? Not sure It's confusing...
Intro: I have wanted to read this for a long time and picked it up to add to my January wrap up, and... it was weird but I am also glad I did.
The Plot This book was so different from anything I have ever read before. The plot, watching how things changed so drastically from the beginning to the end� it was really interesting. It definitely wasn’t as eerie or creepy as people had made it out to be though.
When I first finished reading I wasn’t sure how I felt, but then I went back and read the introduction (yes I read it at the end) and� WOW! I had no idea the story was so intricate and thought out!
The Characters I loved the characters, each one so different, with their own thoughts and personalities really shining through. Each character was such an important part of the story, each playing a role in the outcome in fascinating ways.
The Writing The writing is so good! And when you read the introduction and see what the story is actually about, it just made it so much more in depth then I thought. This author is just amazing when it comes to writing!
The Themes How our judgments can negatively affect people. There was definitely a focus on herd mentality, where the majority of people felt a certain way simply because everyone else seemed to think that way.
I liked how at the end some people seemed to realize that they had misjudged someone, making up their mind about them based on what other had said and not on genuinely knowing the person.
The Romance and Relationships This book focuses on family relationships and it was very well done. Everyone is so different ey they all need each other, and when something comes that changes everything, you watch how the relationships begin to change.
The Sex and Language This book is completely clean.
Small Grievance If I had read this book without reading the introduction it would not have got as high of a rating as I gave it! Maybe I’m just not sharp enough to get the story, but I needed someone to explain the purpose of it for me to really, actually, enjoy it. So if you read this book, I highly recommend this edition.
The book also felt a bit pointless at times.
Conclusion This was such a strange and different read for me, and yet I came out glad I had read it. It is certainly odd, but interesting at the same time.
Quotes:
"Feeling around inside myself for some thought to make me safe."...more
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