"I'm alive, thought Veronika. Everything's going to start all over again. I'll have to stay here a while, until they realize that I'm perfectly normal. Then they'll let me out, and I'll see the streets of Ljubljana again, its main square, the bridge, the people, going to and from work.
Since people always tend to help others --just so they can feel they are better than they really are--they'll give me my job back at the library. In time I'll start frequenting the same bars and nightclubs, I'll talk to my friends about the injustices and problems of the world, I'll go to the movies, take walks around the lake.
Since I only took sleeping pills, I'm not disfigured in any way: I'm still young, pretty, intelligent, I won't have any difficulty getting boyfriends, I never did. I'll make love with them in their houses or in the woods, I'll feel a certain degree of pleasure, but the moment I reach orgasm, the feeling of emptiness will return. We won't have much to talk about, and both he and I will know it. The time will come to make our excuses--"It's late," or "I have to get up early tomorrow"--and we'll part as quickly as possible, avoiding looking each other in the eye.
I'll go back to my rented room in the convent. I'll try to read a book, turn on the TV to see the same old programs, set the alarm clock to wake up exactly the same time I woke up the day before, and mechanically repeat my tasks at the library. I'll eat a sandwich in the park opposite the theater, sitting on the same bench, along with other people who all have the same vacant look but pretend to be pondering extremely important matters.
Then I'll go back to work; I'll listen to the gossip about who's going out with whom, who's suffering from what, how such and such a person was in tears about her husband and I'll be left with the feeling that I'm privileged: I'm pretty, I have a job, I can have any boyfriend I choose. So I'll go back to the bars at the end of the day, and the whole thing will start again.
My mother, who must be out of her mind with worry over my suicide attempt, will recover from the shock and will keep asking me what I'm going to do with my life, why I'm not the same as everyone else, things really aren't as complicated as I think they are. "Look at me, for example, I've been married to your father for years, and I've tried to give you the best possible upbringing and set you the best possible example."...to be continued
Okay so there is more to this excerpt to come, I am just to lazy to finish copying it out of the book right now, but I just want everyone to note that I am in NO WAY suicidal, so nobody freak out at me or anything. Now having said that I can continue with what I wanted to say about this particular passage.
This whole chapter kind of scared me because I have realized similar fears about my life being the same everyday and being made to conform to a way of life I didn't really agree with or want, I already feel pressure from my own parents about what I want to do and where I am going with my life. So yeah I found that I could really relate to some of this passage. Also something else that caught my eye was the way the author wrote it, it is Veronika planning out what she thinks that will happen, but you notice throughout the entire passage that it lacks emotion, showing what sort of state the character is in she arrives at the mental hospital. I the writing is also amazing considering this was written by a male and a Brazilian no less, he really seems to get into her head and understand some of the fears of a Slovenian female. One thing I hate about reading this a second time is, I kept thinking, damn I wish I could write that good!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Ophelia review
Lisa Klein
Bloomsbury USA
Fiction
ISBN: 9781582348018
328 Pages
This story was about Shakespeare's Hamlet, but from Ophelia's perspective, and though I have never read Hamlet the story was still entertaining. It starts out with a letter to Ophelia announcing Hamlet, Queen Gertrude, King Claudius and Laertes' deaths. Then the story goes back in time to Ophelia's childhood, being raised by an unloving father and rowdy brother, in the small village outside of Elsinore Castle. The father eventually gains favour with the king and they go the live in the royal palace, where the children befriend the young prince Hamlet and his best friend Horatio. As the children grow up, their lives separate and Ophelia becomes a lady in waiting to Queen Gertrude, despite her lowly birth compared to most ladies. Ophelia and Prince Hamlet's paths eventually cross again and they quickly become lovers, marrying in secret after King Hamlet's tragic death. So the story continues with more tragedy and loss, until Ophelia is led to the desperate measure of pretending to kill herself in order to escape King Claudius's vile court and to save her own life. This is where the story should have ended with Ophelia escaping with Horatio's help, unfortunately it continues, with her escaping to a convent in France and living among the nuns, then giving birth the Hamlet's son, whom she names, Hamlet as well.
The story is predictable and overly dramatic, though Ophelia's character was a strong and interesting one, she was out of place in her own story having to strong of mind for a women of that time frame. The story also dragged on after it should have ended, adding a sub-plot after the initial plot was over, making it drag on. The sub-plot, though interesting, was completely unnecessary to the story, it would have been better to leave the reader wondering what had happened to Ophelia and her unborn child instead of adding on to the story. The writing also wasn't always that great, it needed some proper editing and some of the phrases in the story stood out starkly as being after its time. Ophelia's character development was also interesting, she had turned into a perfectly reasonable, clever and witty young woman, but falling for the prince seemed to undo this reason and cause her such great despair later that she couldn't even think how to act properly, not until she feigns her own death do you see some of her wits returning. Later at the convent, she tries to redeem her past wrongs by becoming a woman of faith and trying to heal a sick servant girl, she fails at this, but by then has seen the light of god and understands she has been forgiven. For someone who had little or no interest in god at in the first two parts of the book, and despised the rule of men over her, she sure fell fast into praising and loving the lord. In my view this did not fit Ophelia's character, though she still questioned everything, a lot, she fell to easily into religion and abandoned her reason to easily (though not completely).
Any way, if I were you I would avoid this book, though it tries to touch on deeper issues, like a women's virtue and love its self, the story has no direct theme other than it is a different perspective of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Its flowery language and over use of witty phrases might make it hard for some younger readers to understand, but if they have any brains at all they will see it for what it really is, a sappy romance story played out by Shakespeare's characters. I wouldn't say it is a terrible idea or even the first part of the book that terrible, I thoroughly enjoyed some of it, it just didn't really make sense and was over dramatic. I wouldn't read it again, and it certainly wouldn't have been my first choice.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The Wish House review
"The Wish House" is your typical coming of age story that you see every where in teen fiction and so of course the author had to attempt to make it a bit different. Celia's writing style and her tendency to write in the past usually appeal to me very much. This book I found was different. It is about a 14 year-old boy who goes "caravan-ing" with his family every summer holiday to the same caravan site.
This year is different his childhood friend Dylan has grown up and left school to work on his families farm and he no longer has time to play with Richard. So Richard must make his own fun. He ends up going to visit the "Wish House" which is an old farm house that the boys believe to be abandoned. There he bumps into Lucia laying naked in the grass. Being the adolescent that he is, his reaction is predictable. He thinks she is beautiful and just stares. From here things just get more interesting, he meets Clio, Lucia's daughter and her painter father who takes an interest to him as soon as he sees him.
The story was well written, but a little boring in some parts. The characters that were living in the wish house were vaguely developed, this was as probably intentional by the author to create the idea that the boy is remembering all of this, but it just makes the characters seem far away and hard to understand at times. There are a few things that in the story that don't really add up, and make the plot seem unbelievable. The ending was good, but rather disappointing and didn't really make sense. Some of the plot ideas were meant to surprise you, like they did to Richard, but they really just didn't make any sense at all.
The story was confusing at times and even dull. Not to say that I didn't really enjoy some parts, there were parts of it that were beautifully written, like the scene in the woods when Richard finds Clio in his "secret" clearing and they become friends, then quickly afterwards, lovers. Another fact that bothered me about the story is the fact that Richard talked about his parents as if they were conservative, loving and concerned about his well fare, yet throughout the story they never seemed to catch on that he was running around with a bunch of hippies, it was always made clear that they thought that he was with Dylan. Maybe that is only because that is what Richard thought they believed, but it still isn't portrayed very well. You would also think that if they knew he was spending all his free time with a girl his own age and they were mostly alone that they would be concerned, but both parents seemed to be indifferent to this, despite what the main character believed about them.
The mentions of pagan ideas, witch craft and myths are very common themes in Celia Rees's novels, she enjoy creating strong female characters, and though Clio and Lucia were interesting and well written they still had a vagueness about them, that made them hard to get close to as if they were just a figment of his imagination. Even later when he sees Clio in the "present" she still seems unreal and distant, this is probably done to show how far away from him she always was, but I just find it hard to understand, it would have made more sense for the author to make Clio closer and more human at the end of the novel to show you that she was, in fact, real.
The whole book focus on painting and paintings. At the beginning of each chapter a different piece of the artists work is described in the style of a review or of a blur that one would see in a gallery. This adds interest, sure, but it was really left unexplained. It was probably just to remind you that the whole book is based on Richards memories of that summer, but it was done in such a way that it wasn't always clear on what the author was trying to say. The paintings that were described were the ones that Richard is presumably looking at at the gallery. The whole thing with the family being pagans and Jay's (the artist) paintings focusing on myths just distances the family further from Richard, which seems to be the idea of it all.
In all I enjoyed the story in this book, but the ending was sloppy and most the characters vaguely done to the point that they were almost uninteresting. If you think you would enjoy despite these facts, I would recommend it, but otherwise don't bother with it.
This year is different his childhood friend Dylan has grown up and left school to work on his families farm and he no longer has time to play with Richard. So Richard must make his own fun. He ends up going to visit the "Wish House" which is an old farm house that the boys believe to be abandoned. There he bumps into Lucia laying naked in the grass. Being the adolescent that he is, his reaction is predictable. He thinks she is beautiful and just stares. From here things just get more interesting, he meets Clio, Lucia's daughter and her painter father who takes an interest to him as soon as he sees him.
The story was well written, but a little boring in some parts. The characters that were living in the wish house were vaguely developed, this was as probably intentional by the author to create the idea that the boy is remembering all of this, but it just makes the characters seem far away and hard to understand at times. There are a few things that in the story that don't really add up, and make the plot seem unbelievable. The ending was good, but rather disappointing and didn't really make sense. Some of the plot ideas were meant to surprise you, like they did to Richard, but they really just didn't make any sense at all.
The story was confusing at times and even dull. Not to say that I didn't really enjoy some parts, there were parts of it that were beautifully written, like the scene in the woods when Richard finds Clio in his "secret" clearing and they become friends, then quickly afterwards, lovers. Another fact that bothered me about the story is the fact that Richard talked about his parents as if they were conservative, loving and concerned about his well fare, yet throughout the story they never seemed to catch on that he was running around with a bunch of hippies, it was always made clear that they thought that he was with Dylan. Maybe that is only because that is what Richard thought they believed, but it still isn't portrayed very well. You would also think that if they knew he was spending all his free time with a girl his own age and they were mostly alone that they would be concerned, but both parents seemed to be indifferent to this, despite what the main character believed about them.
The mentions of pagan ideas, witch craft and myths are very common themes in Celia Rees's novels, she enjoy creating strong female characters, and though Clio and Lucia were interesting and well written they still had a vagueness about them, that made them hard to get close to as if they were just a figment of his imagination. Even later when he sees Clio in the "present" she still seems unreal and distant, this is probably done to show how far away from him she always was, but I just find it hard to understand, it would have made more sense for the author to make Clio closer and more human at the end of the novel to show you that she was, in fact, real.
The whole book focus on painting and paintings. At the beginning of each chapter a different piece of the artists work is described in the style of a review or of a blur that one would see in a gallery. This adds interest, sure, but it was really left unexplained. It was probably just to remind you that the whole book is based on Richards memories of that summer, but it was done in such a way that it wasn't always clear on what the author was trying to say. The paintings that were described were the ones that Richard is presumably looking at at the gallery. The whole thing with the family being pagans and Jay's (the artist) paintings focusing on myths just distances the family further from Richard, which seems to be the idea of it all.
In all I enjoyed the story in this book, but the ending was sloppy and most the characters vaguely done to the point that they were almost uninteresting. If you think you would enjoy despite these facts, I would recommend it, but otherwise don't bother with it.
Its been to long...
I obviously suck. I have not posted anything on here in awhile and I most definitely haven't written any book reviews :S...
So instead of writing a long-winded and pointless review of Looking for Alaska I am going to write a quick and to the point review of The Wish House by Celia Rees.
So instead of writing a long-winded and pointless review of Looking for Alaska I am going to write a quick and to the point review of The Wish House by Celia Rees.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Roasted Peeps!
Since watching Brotherhood 2.0 I have found myself wondering what sort of interesting things you could do with peeps...and this is what I came up with, roasted peeps! I know the editing is basically TERRIBLE, I am still learning so its bound to be bad at first I am going to work on it...Maybe do a better version, probably not. Anyway I hope you find it as amusing as it was to make :P
DFTBA
Joanna intro: pretty much the only thing you need to know about me is that I just ate 6 roast peeps an d 8 marshmallow in about 10 minutes (I know that doesnt sound great but my stomach is definitely revolting) and I NFTBA !
Introduction: Terri
Last night when I was watching other Nerdfighters vlogs I realized that my sister and I over looked one critical thing in making this blog. We completely forgot to introduce ourselves! Now I know that this is coming a little late and we should have done this to begin with, but its never to late for an introduction, now is it! This is mine:
I am Terri, the oldest of the two sisters and reading is pretty much my passion. I also love watching cooking shows and um *trying* to cook (sometimes I'm successful!). I have just finished my first year at university and basically have no idea what the hell I am doing there....:S I just enjoy it...sometimes...lets see what else do you need to know...OH! I'm a proud Nerdfighter, though my sister is, unfortunetaly, not :(, I've been working on her though. I like all kinds of cats and firefoxes! Ooooh and ducklings that jump out of trees (for any one that gets this, YAY! Those of you that don't, go out and rent Planet Earth, today!). Theres not much else I really want to say, other than I really want to write book reviews and my writing skills really aren't that great, not that they can't be improved or anything. Also I have been trying very hard not to start sentences with the word "so", because every time I go the write a sentence that is the first thing that I put down...its kind of a bad habit :S. Anyway this is my intro, I look forwards to reading Joanna's later today/tomorrow and I look forwards to getting some feed back on this blog! Please somebody READ IT!!! Thats all I've got to say for now, oh, and yes the book review will be coming soon! Promise! I just have to finish with my last exam first...and find the time to actually re-read parts of the book (it will be a simplified version for the first one, for the next we are going to talk about doing our own format, something a little different hopefully). Anyway I am really going now, I have way too much studying to do, so happy reading!
Terri
I am Terri, the oldest of the two sisters and reading is pretty much my passion. I also love watching cooking shows and um *trying* to cook (sometimes I'm successful!). I have just finished my first year at university and basically have no idea what the hell I am doing there....:S I just enjoy it...sometimes...lets see what else do you need to know...OH! I'm a proud Nerdfighter, though my sister is, unfortunetaly, not :(, I've been working on her though. I like all kinds of cats and firefoxes! Ooooh and ducklings that jump out of trees (for any one that gets this, YAY! Those of you that don't, go out and rent Planet Earth, today!). Theres not much else I really want to say, other than I really want to write book reviews and my writing skills really aren't that great, not that they can't be improved or anything. Also I have been trying very hard not to start sentences with the word "so", because every time I go the write a sentence that is the first thing that I put down...its kind of a bad habit :S. Anyway this is my intro, I look forwards to reading Joanna's later today/tomorrow and I look forwards to getting some feed back on this blog! Please somebody READ IT!!! Thats all I've got to say for now, oh, and yes the book review will be coming soon! Promise! I just have to finish with my last exam first...and find the time to actually re-read parts of the book (it will be a simplified version for the first one, for the next we are going to talk about doing our own format, something a little different hopefully). Anyway I am really going now, I have way too much studying to do, so happy reading!
Terri
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