drplantwrench's reviews
129 reviews

Not as good as I had hopes for. I thinkg Crime & Punishment might be one of the best books of all time and The Idiot is a classic. So of course went into this book with extremely high expectations.

That all said, this book is fine, though with several flaws. For example, it feels very schizophrenic in that there is maybe 3 or 4 different types of book its trying to be, all of them reasonably well done, but none of them reaching the heights I expected, and I think the tone suffers from the constant switching. In addition, though Dostoevsky sets up an interesting premise of the three brothers, I was hoping for more exploration of their relationships and what they represent (I was thinking more like Stalker. Instead hundreds of pages go by between their interactions, as the narrative focuses on other characters and themes.

And of course, Dostoevsky is a great writer, so even his worst book would be still very good. And there is a lot to like in this book, but it feels a little watered down, inconsistent, at times forced.

I love Mark Twain books, and I've read quite a few. But, I've never read Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn, which seems like a huge blindspot at the time. And man it really was. Straight from the foreword, this book had me hooked. Equal parts hilarious, beautiful and compelling, it's no wonder this is considered his magnum opus.

A very enjoyable book that has enjoyable philosophical depths hiding underneath its simplistic story. The prose is lyrical, though I found it at times to be less than engaging Some of the plot points are a bit silly and reductive, but its best parts made me tremble as it cut to the core of my identity.

Despite its short length, I can easily foresee this book will have some staying power, and I can see myself continue to wrestle with the ideas put forth in it. Overall I'd give it a 4.5, but rounding down.

This book is haunting, the plot unfurls thrillingly like a flower blooming, and has heart-wrenching characters and scenes. But why did I feel like I forgot the details of this book in between reading sessions, only for it to come back when I started the next chapter?

In all seriousness, the book is great and it is downright creepy. A great ghost story of the evils of slavery told through a great perspective. But it also a confused narrative at times, which can drag the book, even as it is has a stone-cold grip on my stomach. It is sometimes difficult to discern the important parts from the fat (if you can call it that), but still a classic.

These types of books make me furious theres no half stars here. Clearly better than a 4, but not good enough for a 5. But for now, a 4.

Occasionally, there's books that I know I will savor within the first 50 pages, and this is one of them. A great science fiction book and surely one of the best books about gender and politics, especially from a scifi perspective, but there was another thing all together I loved about this book. Le Guin is really good at making Gethen seem lived and real, in a way that pleasantly surprised me and hooked me immediately. I swear sometimes I felt cold reading this because I could feel the coldness emanating from the book. Of course, read the book if you like sci-fi, gender, all the things you've heard about it, but it personally stands out to me for how concrete it felt.

Norm MacDonald and I have one thing in common: we both freaking love Alice Munro. But seriously, her writing is gripping, and her stories are always vivid and capture the characters so well. Don't be like Bret Easton Ellis, read a bunch of Alice Munro

I've only fallen asleep while reading with two books, and this is one of them. Even though it's only a 100 pages or so, it felt so, so much longer than that. It reminds me of some movie from the 60s that old white men *love*, but is literally the most boring thing you can imagine.

This book confirms it, I really love Kurt Vonnegut. I'm convinced he's a genius. Cat's Cradle is so light and hilarious yet dark and bleak at the same time, it make Vonnegut's writing so addictive and prophetic. I really enjoyed the anti-war aspects of it, though Slaughterhouse Five arguably does it better, but then this book takes you through more twists and turns, while really paying off on the premise. It's short, it's funny, it's true, it's bleak. Go read it!!

I love this book. It was a very comfortable read, like a warm blanket on a cold night. After reading The 39 Steps, the proficiency of the writing and characters was a welcome sight for sore eyes. The characters are all alive and compelling, a book vibrating with a certain nostalgia. I would say it's only criticism is that it's just a warm blanket - sure I love it, but after it's folded and put away, I wouldn't say it changed my life. Perhaps that's a lot to put on a blanket, so overall, a great book with immaculate vibes, but maybe just a little bit missing to prevent it from being a "true" classic. 4.5/5

I tend not to read much about the books I'm about to read. Of course, I try to read to get an idea of what I'm getting myself into, but I want to discover as much as I can for myself. This policy was set when I read an intro to Don Quixote and it led with giving away the ending.

So I came into this book not understanding how much of a children's book it was. I knew it had to with children, but surprised at how much a Young Adult structure this book had. Midnight's Children similarly dealt with children as a plot point, but Haroun and the Sea of Stories is markedly different.

But all in all, this is still a good book. It doesn't have the depth or heights of Midnight's Children, and is pretty formulaic. But Rushdie has a wit and a good prose that makes this book very readable. Not sure I would trip over myself recommending this book, but overall very pleasant.