‘The Sense of an Ending’ by Julian Barnes (2011)

So this one was an interesting read. I can’t say I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it certainly made me think. Julian Barnes managed to plonk an old man into an old armchair and prompt him to tell his entire life story, all within the space of 150 pages. Mind you, my grandfather would have had trouble telling you about his life within the space of 1000 pages. The Sense of an Ending is basically a book – a rather short one – about the importance of memory and the tension between the past and the present of an individuals life.

There was a lot of theoretical arguments and discussions that were established in this one, and if you’re not very good at maths, there’s an equation in there that doesn’t make much sense whatsoever. It does make you think, and reflect on your own beliefs and values. Barnes made a seemingly banal plotline into an intriguing piece of prose. As outlined by Erica Wagner, (The Times) it is “a precise, poignant portrait of the costs and benefits of time passing, of friendship, of love…” I do agree with her statement there, but her next line – “A small masterpiece” – I can easily disagree with. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece, but it is certainly a step above a lot of the crap that is published nowadays.

The ending of the novel was confusing for me. Maybe it’s just me being slow, or maybe I might just have to read it again, but I was a bit lost by the final page. I understood the connections he made, but I didn’t pick up on the clues that were apparently there throughout the book. If one of my readers would like to read this one and, furthermore, explain the ending to me, then please do!

This book isn’t on my favourites list just yet (I might read it again and see if it makes more sense), but it certainly is a decent read that any intelligent person would like. It’s definitely not a easy book to read, but I would recommend it for a weekend for which one has little planned.

‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ by Stephen Chbosky (1999)

If someone told you they had written a book that documents the life of a teenager recovering from the death of a best-friend, your mind would immediately jump to the cliché arena. And then you find this book.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is about a middle-aged teenager who calls himself Charlie, a protagonist who begins his letters to an anonymous source (the reader) by prefacing his introduction with

I will call people by different names or generic names because I don’t want you to find me… I mean nothing bad by this. Honest.

My first thought? “Fantastic, I’m going to be spoken to.” I really dislike books that speak to you directly throughout the entire thing. You know, Character One is really fantastic, but of course, you already knew that didn’t you? Well no, I didn’t know that because, 1. you’re fiction, and 2. I don’t know Character One intimately enough to know they are ‘really fantastic’…

But when I continued reading, Charlie began focusing on the story-telling side of it and informing the reader about all aspects of his life, rather than addressing me in every second sentence just to make sure I was still paying attention. Charlie started evolving into this awkward teenage boy who is, as the title suggest, a ‘wallflower’ – he documented everything he saw, and even though he couldn’t account for the things he wrote about straight away, we could slowly begin to put the puzzles together for him. This eventually led to the formation of an involuntarily empathetic audience who would fall in love with Charlie and his endeavours in fitting-in with Sam and her friends.

Chbosky grabs some pretty hefty topics and mixes them into Charlie’s documentations. Drugs, homosexuality, suicide and sex all play an important part in Charlie’s life. Although, hanging with Seniors would potentially lead to all of these, Chbosky still manages to give a freshly unique view of these important points of societal failure.

The thing that made me love this book was Charlie’s extensive knowledge of literature, music, film, and television. Everywhere you read, a fun fact or a quote from someone famous lurked the pages just waiting to be found. You can’t help but learn a little bit of trivia from reading this wonderful classic.

And it’s being made into a film! [dance of excitement] Starring the enchanting Emma Watson (Sam), Nina Dobrev (Candace) and Logan Lerman as Charlie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is due for release at some point this year and I can’t wait.

I’d recommend this one for anyone going through high-school. Anyone could relate to this beautiful novel, and Chbosky has been added to my favourite’s list. I loved it.

‘Delirium’ by Lauren Oliver (2011)

You can’t blame me for being a girl. See, I don’t mind a decent romantic teen novel every now-and-then, as long as they’re not too cliché and “teenie-boppy”. I picked up this novel having previously read Oliver’s best-seller Before I Fall (her debut novel). This exquisite novel well exceeded my expectations.

Throughout the novel, a mind-boggling question is resonated through the walls of its pages.

If Love was a disease, would you take the cure?

Delirium is a somewhat futuristic novel (minus the super-advanced technology and alien invasions) about a society that considers love a fatal disease that can be ‘cured’. It does sound a bit “teenie-boppy” or whatever you want to call it, but what I found was an unexpected twist on a modern day Romeo and Juliet.

Amor deliria nervosa (as Love is known as in the book) is feared throughout Portland, where the novel is set, and once you turn eighteen, you can undergo a procedure that will cure you of this deadly disease. The catch? Your entire life is planned and laid out in front of you. You’re matched with a ‘mate’, you’re assigned to a job, the number of children you should acquire is suggested, and your place on the social ladder is determined.

I would love to meet Lauren Oliver. Every chapter starts with quotes from books that have been written within the idea. Beautifully complex layers start to form and take shape as you delve deeper into the love-story of Lena (short for Magdalena) and Alex. Just by reading a few pages you get an insight into the brilliant mind of this wonderfully brilliant author.

I would recommend this easy-to-read, amazing piece of work to anyone looking for something a little different. Be warned, not only is the ending tear-jerking, but it also leaves you starving for the next one.

I cannot wait for the sequel, ‘Pandemonium’ due out in March 2012. Brilliant. *standing ovation*

 

 

‘The Bell Jar’ by Sylvia Plath (1963)

I cannot stress how beautiful this book was. Putting aside the initially disturbing plot line that included the protagonist Esther Greenwood’s slow inevitable decline into insanity, The Bell Jar was truly a wonderful read.

Published under a pseudonym in 1963 (‘Victoria Lucas’), The Bell Jar, composed by Sylvia Plath is a fictionalised autobiography and her only novel, was published three weeks before her suicide in London. Lately, I’ve kind of fallen in love with Plath as I learn more about her, so to read such amazing prose was a real honour, and has only made me fall in love with her even more.

The author’s descent into – for want of a better word – insanity, generally paralleled with Plath’s real life encounters and her own encounter with mental illness (generally assumed to be depression). This is heavily threaded throughout the recount, and is perhaps most prominent when she attempts to commit suicides numerous times throughout the novel.

Set in the 1950s, Esther Greenwood wins an internship for a New York fashion magazine. As her dream is to become a writer, she is excited and elated, realising that this may be the big chance she’s been waiting for. The book itself begins in the middle of the internship, so a lot of what Esther says goes backwards and forwards between the past and the present; so at times it was a little difficult to determine the location of the plot. Other than that however, there seemed to be a very intimate connection between the protagonist and the reader, almost as if we were the only ones being let back-stage, to see into the mind of Esther, and finally Plath herself.

The Bell Jar truly deserves its right as a classic. It was a beautifully written piece of a work, and although the author’s life was cut tragically short, her spirit and determination, and passion for writing lives on in this magnificent book.

I’d recommend The Bell Jar to anyone who loves a good classic. If you’re fascinated with the 1950′s, it would also be a fantastic read for you. However, if you’re not a big fan of an insight into one’s mind, or a character based novel, then this one isn’t for you.

Let me know what you think!

‘Full Dark, No Stars’ by Stephen King (2010)

I was glad to finish this one. Let me start by prefacing the fact that, although the collection of four novellas were very well written, I just felt that they were all too predictable. There is absolutely no doubt that Stephen King is a fantastic writer, I’m not disputing that at all. Full Dark, No Stars was just a little… bland.

The common theme that was threaded consistently throughout the four novellas, was that of redemption and/or revenge.  In his own words, the stories were ‘harsh’. They were hard to read in places (and, as stated in the Afterword of the collection, King found it hard to write in some places) as the gore and the violence were really quite prominent in most parts. The most disturbing was the first encounter, titled 1922, in which a man kills his wife after she threatens to sell their farmland. The killing is described in horrific detail, so much so, that I had nightmares that night after reading it (note that I’m also just a whimp in general). The rest of the novella is the slow decline into insanity that the protagonist develops, until the end, in which his subconscious eventually leads to his murder (or suicide, however you want to view it…).

I did enjoy the first one; it was probably my favourite narrative of the four. After finishing that one, my general expectation was that they’d all be as engaging as the first. But I was wrong. It has taken me over a week to complete this book, when usually it can take me three-to-four days to read a book of its size when I enjoy it. This one took me nine days to slog through (I do apologise to Stephen King if he happens to be reading this…).

I don’t really have much else to say about this book, except that it was disappointing. I do recommend this one to all fans of the genius mind of King, and if you’re looking for a few gruesome, and somewhat abstract short stories, go for it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it.

Do you agree, or disagree? Send me an email and tell me what you think!

‘Perfume: Story of a Murderer’ by Patrick Süskind (1985)

I have no idea how to explain this book to you. I became intrigued by its existence after a friend of mine conducted her English speech about the film (evidently based on the original novel). She portrayed an interesting persuasion about the originality and quirky nature of the plot, which resulted in my search for the book. So, after a long, extensive search (two weeks is a significant amount of time in my world), I eventually found the long-awaited book sitting on a bookshelf, all on its own.

Patrick Süskind, a German writer and screenwriter, is perhaps the strangest author I’ve ever come across. I expected to start reading a novel about a murderer, which I eventually got, after wading through the first hundred-and-fifty pages of the protagonist, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s life; a novel about the blood thirsty murderer who lived a double life as a renowned perfumer. THAT was my initial expectation. As I finished the novel, I giggled to myself: oh how wrong I was.

I’d like to think of the novel as more of an insight into the mind of a mentally ill person, than a narrative about a murderer. Born without a scent of his own and a ‘fantastic nose’, Grenouille becomes obsessed with obtaining the scent of a female (often red-headed) virgin. He inserts himself into the perfuming profession, and, after living in a cave for seven years in the middle of nowhere, becomes an infamous serial killer.

After a very, shall we say, unusual ending (the whole town may or may not have created a mass orgy…), the book left me spinning. It was, for want of a better word, an extremely weird book. I have no idea why I enjoyed it as much as I did, seeing as the first three-quarters of the book was a recollection of Grenouille’s unfortunate life. But I did enjoy it.

I’d recommend this book to anyone with a sense of humour, and a strong belly. It did get a bit gruesome in some parts, so it’s defininetly not for the feint-hearted. Don’t expect an action packed thriller, but do expect a wonderfully written bit of literature that was an entertaining read.

Let me know what you think!

‘One Day’ by David Nicholls (2009)

This book was, in one word, original. It’s often a rarity to find a decent book that doesn’t conform to the general clichés that so many other romantic novels tend to do. I was wary picking up this book and spending $12.50 on it, but I was intrigued at what other critics were saying alongside the release of the film of the same title.

So One Day is about a student named Emma Morley and a loser-esque  Dexter Mayhew, who on the 15th of July, 1988, (the night of their graduation, nonetheless) participated in a one night stand that ultimately triggered the next twenty years of their sometimes mundane lives. Sounds boring, right? Well apart from Dexter’s smorgasbord of new girlfriends, the obvious chemistry between Dex and Em, Em and Dex, is quite cute and a little bit heart warming.

Despite the lazy ending – I felt Nicholls just ran out of ideas, instead of creating a more substantial ending than the one that was given… – it was an easy-to-read novel that left me hopeful that there is such a thing as a good romantic novel. The snide remarks, jokes and the heartfelt letters and speeches made it feel eerily realistic. I genuinely felt I was reading one’s diary (although it wasn’t written in first-person).

One quote really made me burst into tears. I’m not sure if it was my hormones in over-drive, or if the book really did have that deep, emotional impact, but gosh it was heartbreaking.

“‘Dexter, I love you so much. So, so much, and I probably always will.’ Her lips touched his cheek. ‘I just don’t like you anymore. I’m sorry.’”

I cried like a baby.

So, for those who love a soppy romantic love story, than this book is for you. For those who are interested in reading anything (like me), give it ago. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
But for those who hate sad soppy love stories, than stay away from this one.