Life of Pi (26/07/14)

So Life of Pi, a story of Indian boy castaway in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger for 277 days. This is a story of human endurance and spiritual belief. The story is beautifully written and being a non-religious person I enjoyed that fact that this young boy embraces all religions he comes across and values them all equally and sees the best in each. I was slightly worried the religious aspects would be off putting for me but I believe they added depth and beauty to this story.

Unfortunately I came to read this book after having seen the film so I found it hard not to picture what I had already seen. Also, it meant I already knew how the story ended. I wish I had read the book before seeing the film as I think the story would have been better leaving the ending unknown. It was hard to get caught up with the revelations when they are revealed before you begin. I kept applying what I knew of the story’s ending to the book as I read.

I enjoyed that the story was written as if Pi himself were telling it to me, other than a couple of brief chapters were the journalist is making observations about Pi and his home. It isn’t hard to feel for Pi and knowing he survives to tell his story allows you to fully immerse in his pain and suffering. I would recommend this book, if you haven’t seen the film yet please read the book first so as not to ruin the story and how it unfolds.

12 Years a Slave (13/07/14)

I am not normally a big fan of memoirs or autobiographies, but after watching 12 Years a Slave and upon finding out that Solomon Northup had written about his experience I thought I would give it ago. Now bearing in mind that I had seen the film, so knew the gist of his tale and the major plot elements, I still enjoyed this book. Now, enjoyed may be the wrong term, I definitely feel enlightened and am now more aware of history of slavery in the deep south. Especially with the cases of ‘white slaves’ or mulattoes which had been previously overlooked throughout the brief education on the subject given at school. I had to look up the term as Solomon kept mentioning it, and I had never before come across the term. Coming from the UK, our education is very sparse on this matter and only covers the basics of; slavery happened, this is how they were expected to live and work, then it was abolished.

Now back to the book, it wasn’t the easiest of read, having been written in the 1840’s after Solomon’s release from bondage. Some of the sentences were pretty heavy going mainly because of words or phrases being present no longer in use. I persevered through, as once I started I felt I had to finish it. In my opinion the only way of getting a real account of conditions and the practices during this portion of history is from the people who experienced it. However, due to the way the slaves were treated, many did not know how to read or write so I don’t know how abundant this information is.

Solomon’s narrative is concise, when considering he was a slave for 12 years and he goes into great detail about how cotton and sugar cane is planted and grown so that the reader better understands the constant work load the slaves were expected to work under. His is a happier tale than most although still bittersweet. This isn’t a spoiler, as he would not have been able to write his account had he not escaped captivity. It is also a thought provoking book, when he speaks of kinder plantation owners, that whilst are still keeping other humans as slaves are not considered by him to be bad people, just that they are the products of the education and environment they live in. I would recommend, but it is not light reading.

Fallen (05/07/14)

So, Fallen. What do I think? Well I’ll start with the phrase, “I’ve read worse.” But not many.

Whilst that doesn’t seem like a good place to start it’s pretty much all I have for this book. A story based around ‘star-crossed lovers’, fallen angels, slight love triangles, blah, blah, blah, your get the picture. So the story centers on Luce, a girl who has been sent to a reform school and goes through her first couple of weeks there. The love element starts pretty quickly but in my opinion never really goes anywhere. He blows hot and cold and then there is a big realisation of love. It feels like a rehash of every other YA romance/para going.

The author has tried really hard to make it a different type of YA book. But seemed to lack the ability to structure the book in a way of you coming to realisations on your own as a reader. There were often times a Luce would be in a conversation, and then ‘think’ so far ahead of the story you felt push to that conclusion, or that it had been handed to you on a plate rather than having a ligthbulb type moment due to good writing.

I know there are others in this series, so it may be hard to judge this as a stand-alone book as the story seems to go somewhere within the last two chapters. But I honestly don’t think I liked it enough to bother with the rest. It felt like a chore to read and I don’t think it’s even worth reading to form your own opinion of it. Pretty disappointing on the whole.

The Night Circus (05/06/14)

The Night Circus is a book I have been intending to read for quite some time. I will start by saying the book is not quite what I expected. Actually I know don’t really know what I expected from this book. I will start by saying I found the first 30-40% of the book quite confusing, dull and at times I contemplated giving up on it completely. The time changes for each chapter whilst confusing at first did become easier to decipher as I learnt the time sequences I was switching between.

This book is worth persevering with as once the dull start is past what you’re left with is actually a beautifully enchanting story. Love and magic in its most subtle forms developing gradually. I fell in love with the elements of the circus and the way they were described, it is almost sad that the place does not exist, that there is no possibility of attending.

This is a book, I think you will come to love if you get past the rocky beginning. Would recommend to people who like me don’t give up on books and read them until they are finished.