هند's Updates en-US Mon, 13 Jan 2025 05:42:21 -0800 60 هند's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Rating811928869 Mon, 13 Jan 2025 05:42:21 -0800 <![CDATA[هند مسعد liked a readingyear]]> /
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Year in Books ]]> UserChallenge60963687 Mon, 13 Jan 2025 05:42:03 -0800 <![CDATA[ هند has challenged herself to read 10 books in 2025. ]]> /user/show/9368368 11627
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Create your own 2025 Reading Challenge » ]]> Review6910733742 Sat, 19 Oct 2024 02:30:33 -0700 <![CDATA[هند added 'The Waves']]> /review/show/6910733742 The Waves by Virginia Woolf هند gave 3 stars to The Waves (Paperback) by Virginia Woolf
The Waves by Virginia Woolf is one of her most experimental and important novels, a challenging narrative that pushes the boundaries of novelistic form in its exploration of consciousness, identity. Written in 1931, the novel is widely seen as Woolf’s final exploration of stream-of-consciousness narrative, a sinuous amalgamation that seeks to lyricize the souls of its six primary characters.

The Waves has almost no plot in the traditional sense of events happening, however; it is instead a book about time passing and thoughts changing. Narrated by anonymous protagonist they range in age from children to the elderlySusan, BernardRhoda, NevilleJinny and LouisWoolf describes their inner monologues not their actions. These soliloquies tell us what they are thinking, fearing and wanting � as lives trundle towards their certain end. Percival, the novel's central (very nearly) invisible man who dies young and whose existence brings up an ideal or a lost unity also adds to the sense of loss and fragmentation.

The difference between The Waves and previous work by Woolf like Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse is its poetic structure. It's less of a narrative and more like one long symphony, each voice calling out impromptu solos to be returned by the choir in echoes that evoke all growth; love lied dead at its birth as well. This language is at its most lyrical and self-reflexive with moments of beauty that jump off the page. A recurring symbol within the book, the ocean mirrors � and yields to spurts of hyperactive foam as a response to mimic if not shape�-the up-and-down tides beneath SnoFlake surface: making The Waves feel more like an avatar.

At times, the unconventional narrative form can add to this challenge; it requires careful considerations of minute changes in shifts between voices and tones that take place throughout. The characters' monologues blend into one another with few individuating markers, and Woolf's continuous resistance against dialogue or plot makes the narrative difficult to follow. But for readers who learn to love this radical mode of expression, The Waves provides a unique and meaningful reading experience. It leads to musings over the ways in which we build our sense of who it is that we are, and how instrumental those relationships with others can become when trying to determine what kind of person constitutes a self.

One of the most disturbing characters is Rhoda, a figure who embodies Woolf's fascination with estrangement and identity. The way she feels detached from the world around her, cannot keep up with everyday life and ends in a tragic end teaches Woolf's huge compassion for people who feel estranged to society. Rhoda exists in a novel that already reads like one long dirge, and the contrast between her despair & Bernard's roundabout pursuit of happiness & Neville's desire to be understood is achingly sad.

If you have a hard time getting through The Waves itself, don't worry about it: It's not easy reading, but its also an amazing piece of modernist literature that burrows towards the uppermost limitations for what a novel can strive to be. It forces readers to question what time, memory and selfhood really are. One deeply meditative on the interior lives of people which Woolf suggests are both separate and yet part of a whole, waves reflecting back on other waves within their relationship to one another.

Even readers familiar with the more straightforward narratives of Woolf will find The Waves a daunting and, to put it bluntly, nearly unreadable work. This well might not be to every reader's taste, certainly those more interested in a linear plot-driven narrative but for readers who are fans of modernist fiction and Woolf's prose style The Waves is an intense meditative journey into the intertwining rhythms of human consciousness. ]]> Review4574008915 Wed, 16 Oct 2024 08:42:55 -0700 <![CDATA[هند added 'الأخوة كارامازوف، #4']]> /review/show/4574008915 الأخوة كارامازوف، #4 by Fyodor Dostoevsky هند gave 5 stars to الأخوة كارامازوف، #4 (Unknown Binding) by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky � A sublime novel crammed full of philosophies and dynamics of human emotions, moral quandaries, spiritual discords. Set in 19th-century Russia, the tale follows its namesake family through their trials and tribulations: a father Fyodor; depraved self-indulgent hedonist who had three sons-Alyosha, Ivan & Dmitry- each of whom represent different aspects of human soul.

The Brothers Karamazov is unique in that its preoccupation with big, almost unanswerable questions concerning the nature of faith, free will and morality make it a work unlike any other. Dostoevsky makes his points about the nature of God, human suffering and free will through characters' tormenting inner debates on these questions; arguably most famously in the "Grand Inquisitor" section which is a chilling tale pregnant with meaning about religion vs liberty. The central conflict in the novel is between Ivan and Alyosha: two brothers, respectively a philosophical atheist (Ivan) and earnest Christian monk-in-training.

Ruong also handles the emotional heft of this novel well � there is a lot in here about how these individual characters interact, what they mean to each other and it weighs as heavy. These are the stories of Dmitry Karamazov, drowning in lust and betrayals; Ivan Karamazov standing at an intellectual crossroads with no idea where to go next; Alyosha discussing God and humanity through a horse metaphor. Dostoevsky has intensely human, flawed and conflicted characters. The troubles they face are genuine, the choices made by these characters back in 2003 remain many of the dilemmas we still encounter today.

The book is intimidating and very tough in spots, the philosophical digressions do cause it to drag on a bit at times but it can be rewarding both emotionally and intellectually. It has the elements of a murder mystery that keep it suspenseful and intriguing, but more than anything else, The Brothers Karamazov is an existential novel which invites one to contemplate about the essentials foundations for human life.

The Brothers Karamazov is not just theoretically prolifician work but also a dreamily atmospheric one too; a novel of great depth and complexity that delves into familial ties, faiths both real and substantiated to the point of parasitic narcissism in its definitive quest for truth among traditional notions about morality via savagely effective depictions at times so damned profound they sound even today utterly modern. All of them should be read by anyone who wishes to abide deeply the most troubling questions and suffering that transcends historical era. ]]> Review5708464266 Tue, 08 Oct 2024 05:30:40 -0700 <![CDATA[هند added 'السيدة دالاوي']]> /review/show/5708464266 السيدة دالاوي by Virginia Woolf هند gave 4 stars to السيدة دالاوي (Paperback) by Virginia Woolf
One of the highest achievements in modernist literature, Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway is a novel that delicately groundbreak trails in human and societal exploration with an unprecedented level of depth and poetic beauty. Originally released in 1925 it is still one of the best stream-of-conscious novels that communicate to readers a deep sense of personal and collective history.

The novel follows Clarissa Dalloway, a middle-aged socialite living in the aftermath of World War I as she reads and plans to host a party. A seemingly simple tale of plot then Mrs. Dalloway goes to the depth of time, memory, and human ties as intertwined lives in a single moment.

Woolf finds moments of genius in penetrating into the inner consciousnesses of characters, and their most intimate thoughts, desires, torments. Haunted by her past, feeling time slip away from her, especially regretting having married Richard Dalloway instead of the passionate first love of Peter Walsh, Clarissa reflects on events accomplished and decisions long ago taken. In her musings, Woolf provides a full picture of a woman wrestling with her self-image trapped by the traditions that limit so many women.

Interwoven with this account is the parallel tale of Septimus Warren Smith, a shell-shocked war veteran. His narrative is an incredibly jarring foil to Clarissa's, a profound examination of the abyss caused by World War I and how it rips through the superficialities of social life; leaving a man who can never return to his place within society, who carries too much trauma and existential dread.

In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf's masterstroke is the ease with which she passes from one character to another to show a whole canvas of subjects � love, death, time, life. Lyrical, evocative, elevating the quotidian � buying flowers or Big Ben chiming � into something larger about what it means to be human.

The novel has strong feminist undertones as well. We listen in on Clarissa's thoughts about her former female friend, Sally Seton, and the small acts of rebellion that break up the parts of life that are always under attack by fearfully repressive patriarchal society. Woolf rips into the conventions and expectations concerning role of women, in marriage, domesticity, social duties and motherhood specifically within a marriage.

Because at its core, Mrs. Dalloway is a novel that does not adhere to conventional narrative structure; the story is more about the internal journey and the machinations of life as time beats down on us. Woolf's examination into mental illness, post-war trauma, and the silent sufferings of women in a man's world are as poignant today as they were when first written. Novel that demands slow, deliberate reading; the beauty of this work is in its themes, but importantly, Woolf's exquisite--almost hypnotic--prose.

An intensely introspective work, Mrs. Dalloway is one of Virginia Woolf's best for readers interested in really digging into the language. ]]> Review6910719523 Tue, 08 Oct 2024 05:13:49 -0700 <![CDATA[هند added 'بين الفصول']]> /review/show/6910719523 بين الفصول by Virginia Woolf هند gave 4 stars to بين الفصول (Paperback) by Virginia Woolf
Between the Acts is the last, completed novel that Virginia Woolf ever wrote and it is a testament to her skill as a writer. Posthumously published in 1941, the novel broaches many of the issues Woolf spent her writing career exploring—what does it mean to be oneself; what is time and how are we shaped by its passage; how do human beings connect across the chasms that separate us from one another—but assumes an added dimension when placed against the backdrop of impending war and rapid social change.

Between the Acts takes place during the summer of 1939 on the Oliver family's country estate just south of London and focuses on a village pageant that emulates Tudor historical scenes. The surface simplicity of the novel is all structural: the villagers as a collective rehearse for and perform the pageant, while among those looking on—all its principal characters—react to and interact with one another between acts. But underneath this surface, Woolf spins a web of many-faceted themes about humans, civilisation and weakness.

Between the Acts opens with Woolf's characteristic stream-of-consciousness approach, slipping us in and out of different character perspectives. The guideonfortheway is written in a continuous flow of narration, making one's sense of the world kaleidoscopic, melding your thoughts, memories & perceptions like breaking up pieces of a mirror. The finished product is then a novel that feels both dreamlike and firmly rooted in its time � an introspection of not only the individual sense of things, but also a contemplation on collective experience.

At a macro level, it is the equivalent of Birds Of The Air; Letters For Open Eyes as the central metaphor of the pageant is a reflection to the lives of characters and in general, England. Woolf describes the pageant as something like a condensed country history in performance, full with its own exultation and suffering but not without humour. The plays are executed somewhat sloppily, the costumes are less than authentic, and audience response vacillates between indifference and grave solemnity. In doing so, Wool criticizes by way of an insinuation of nationalist myth and material cultureglorified ideas nations have about themselves claiming hat the line between civilization and chaos is thin at best.

Though perhaps inspired by the muddy stage at daybreak Bellamy watches as children make one of their own elsewhere on the grassy fieldBetween The Acts is ultimately a novel about fracture, private and communal. Europe was on the verge of plunging into war when Woolf published this book, and it hangs heavily over Teresa. The bucolic tranquility of their surroundings is eclipsed by the ominous specter of a world in conflict, made known through planes soaring overhead and unspoken allegiances between characters.

As mentioned, Woolf uses this psychological depth to get right inside her characters. For instance, Mrs. Isa Oliver is consumed by her unhappy marriage and the yearning for an emotional escape; her husband, Giles, stands alone except for a sense of duty and private demons which ultimately betray him. The novel is an exploration of the discrepancies between personae and selves, between public performances (like that of the beauty pageant) and private turmoil.

The novel also deals with ageing and progressiveness. The pageant freezes times as independent historical moments, whereas Woolf insists that history remains a reconstitutive process, perpetually open to rewrite. As the pageant comes to a close, it all breaks down into countless noises and words, an image for everything falling apart; traditions are crumbling, the world is changing in ways that may prove irreversible. ]]> Rating768951647 Mon, 09 Sep 2024 09:41:25 -0700 <![CDATA[هند مسعد liked a readstatus]]> /
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]]> AuthorFollowing104077245 Sun, 08 Sep 2024 16:05:40 -0700 <![CDATA[<AuthorFollowing id=104077245 user_id=9368368 author_id=35497016>]]> UserChallenge54155961 Sat, 07 Sep 2024 17:08:14 -0700 <![CDATA[ هند has challenged herself to read 10 books in 2024. ]]> /user/show/9368368 11634
She has completed her goal of reading 10 books in 2024!
 
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Create your own 2024 Reading Challenge » ]]> UserChallenge44528925 Mon, 24 Jul 2023 09:36:34 -0700 <![CDATA[ هند has challenged herself to read 15 books in 2023. ]]> /user/show/9368368 11633
She has read 9 books toward her goal of 15 books.
 
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Create your own 2023 Reading Challenge » ]]>