graylodge_library's reviews
1481 reviews

I very like much the descriptions of nature Steinbeck has produced but the characters are still very 2-dimensional. Maybe it's just me but I want to see the characters in my mind and unfortunately in this one the images were even more shattered than in Grapes of Wrath.

Probably my first novel about ancient Egypt and it was great.

I liked the way the author had constructed the book. The story was told little by little by different characters and the theme of the Rice Mother continued throughout. Also, the descriptions of foods of all sorts made the story somehow more warm and humane (although being a huge lover of Indian food this opinion may count as a little partial).

What I didn't like was the lack of character development and lack of their distinctive voices. Towards the end everything seemed a bit forced and I can't say I was totally pleased with the outcome but there were parts where I was almost about to cry.

I really wanted to like this book and find a touching story about friendship and loss. It proved to be yet another shallow bestseller of bad writing. It serves good as shedding a bit of light to the culture but only very little. Good intentions don't carry far if you fail to build a consistent plot with interesting and three-dimensional characters.

What irritated me most were the ridiculously convenient revelations and situations. At one point Amir was warned using cliches or something like that and that made me laugh. Because that's exactly what the author had done. And I hate books where the reader is not allowed to interpret the metaphors etc but instead the author has to explain them like we were five-year-old kids!

The descriptions and history sections went ok but I just couldn't get into the plot. Smith is good at drawing you to historical events but he's kind of lost in writing a novel. Very predictable and annoyingly simple characters.

The Cripple In Love: Or Sakris Kukkelman, A Poor Bolshevik
Sakris Kukkelman is a hunchbacked construction worker who lives in a little cottage in the outskirts of Helsinki and dreams of having a loved one. One extra star for a good beginning and a good end. Otherwise it was exactly what I was afraid of, typical complaining of a Finnish working class.

Again one of those gems in my grandmother's shelf. I kind of disliked Karlsson when I was a child but at the same time he was a hilarious character and I always looked forward to him appearing through the window. The book made me look up on our roof just in case if we had a chubby little man living in there.

Shows pretty nicely what the medieval world thought about the dead and how much they actually thought them to be part of their lives.

Started off good. For a while I was sucked into Africa but then it kind of betrayed its promises. The characters are incredibly unbelievable and the things they do are just plain ridiculous. Before the middle I couldn't care less about the story anymore. The two stars are completely dedicated to the occasionally beautiful prose.