A Great and Terrible Beauty
Reviewed by Giuli Galiano
Because the cover is so pretty, and because it is a New York Times Bestseller, A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray, stole my attention. I love how the beginning of the novel starts off with a quotation. Whenever a story has a quote in the introduction, it immediately hooks me into reading further.
Bray uses descriptive language to describe the streets of India in raw detail. I always see pictures and hear people speak about the poverty in parts of India and how some cities are clouded in dust and pollution. Bray's stylistic use of detail and specific images bring this observation to life and makes the reader feel like they are walking through the crowded streets of an Indian market place.
My only complaint so far is that the first chapter is confusing. I understand some sort of mystical storm happens upon the narrator, Gemma, and her mother as they are walking through the market place but I'm not quite sure what exactly happened. The same event reoccurs when the narrator moves to London to go attend private school. I hope I found out why this mystical storm and its subsequent spirits keep appearing to Gemma! A friend who has read the book told me it has something to do with superpowers, so the book is bound to get quite interesting!
Because Writer's/Reader's Workshop ends on Feburary 8th, I don't have much time left to read the book - I'm paranoid about loosing the the media center's copy, so I've been storing it in Ms. Weiss' desk. I must find out what happes, though, so I plan on finishing A Great and Terrible Beauty by next weekend. With midterms going on this week, I'm going to brave it and take it home because I am looking forward to reading it during this half day week and at night.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
NIght Light by Terri Blackstock
NIght LIght by Terry Blackstock
Reviewed by Dmitry Ratushnyy
For the first time in my life I am reading more than one book at the same time, which truly is like flipping channels on the TV. I’m not very far into the story, but I’m fairly satisfied with Terri Blackstock’s novel, Night Light. This novel centers on an idea, which frankly, is not very original. Nevertheless this factor doesn’t affect Terri Blackstock’s ability of telling an interesting story. Night Light is about a world that is plunged into the chaos of total human recession. With modern technology rendered completely useless, and human kind relying on the little instinctual intuition that is left behind, after centuries of technology, humanity is bound for extinction.
This Dark Age has thrown mankind into a new era, an era not of enlightenment and progression, but of survival of the fittest. Stripped down to merely our own fragile bodies and a weak will to live, humanity must endure the harsh conditions that men managed to cheat through for so long. This book reminds me a lot of the movie, I Am Legend, which was fantastic and basically shares a similar plot with this novel, except for the references to human-cannibals. I strongly recommend this book.
If you’re wondering what other book I’m reading, it’s Paulo Coelho’s fable, The Alchemist. After reading a few pages of Coelho’s novella, I realize how much I’ve missed reading good books. My next log will be about The Alchemist.
Reviewed by Dmitry Ratushnyy
For the first time in my life I am reading more than one book at the same time, which truly is like flipping channels on the TV. I’m not very far into the story, but I’m fairly satisfied with Terri Blackstock’s novel, Night Light. This novel centers on an idea, which frankly, is not very original. Nevertheless this factor doesn’t affect Terri Blackstock’s ability of telling an interesting story. Night Light is about a world that is plunged into the chaos of total human recession. With modern technology rendered completely useless, and human kind relying on the little instinctual intuition that is left behind, after centuries of technology, humanity is bound for extinction.
This Dark Age has thrown mankind into a new era, an era not of enlightenment and progression, but of survival of the fittest. Stripped down to merely our own fragile bodies and a weak will to live, humanity must endure the harsh conditions that men managed to cheat through for so long. This book reminds me a lot of the movie, I Am Legend, which was fantastic and basically shares a similar plot with this novel, except for the references to human-cannibals. I strongly recommend this book.
If you’re wondering what other book I’m reading, it’s Paulo Coelho’s fable, The Alchemist. After reading a few pages of Coelho’s novella, I realize how much I’ve missed reading good books. My next log will be about The Alchemist.
What I've Been Reading...
Hey readers! Here's a quick list of what I've been reading. I've cut and pasted summaries and links from online sources so you can get a detailed account of or an excerpt from each book.
SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN by Lisa See:
"This absorbing novel – with a storyline unlike anything Lisa See has written before – takes place in 19th century China when girls had their feet bound, then spent the rest of their lives in seclusion with only a single window from which to see. Illiterate and isolated, they were not expected to think, be creative, or have emotions. But in one remote county, women developed their own secret code, nu shu – "women's writing" – the only gender-based written language to have been found in the world. Some girls were paired as "old-sames" in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their windows to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.
An old woman tells of her relationship with her "old-same," their arranged marriages, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood—until a terrible misunderstanding written on their secret fan threatens to tear them apart. With the detail and emotional resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha , Snow Flower and the Secret Fan delves into one of the most mysterious and treasured relationships of all time—female friendship."
STILL SUMMER by Jacquelyn Mitchard
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2007-08-20-still-summer_N.htm
A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY* by Libba Bray
"Gemma Doyle, sixteen and proud, must leave the warmth of her childhood home in India for the rigid Spence Academy, a cold finishing school outside of London, followed by a stranger who bears puzzling warnings. Using her sharp tongue and agile mind, she navigates the stormy seas of friendship with high-born daughters and her roommate, a plain scholarship case. As Gemma discovers that her mother's death may have an otherworldly cause, and that she herself may have innate powers, Gemma is forced to face her own frightening, yet exciting destiny . . . if only she can believe in it."
* The first in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy
http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/gemmadoyle/books/great.html
SONGS WITHOUT WORDS by Ann Packer
"Ann Packer’s new novel centers around two childhood friends, Liz and Sarabeth, as they navigate the challenges of their lives as adults, confront loneliness and near tragedy, and test both the limits and the redemptive power of their friendship.
Songs Without Words is a novel about friendship and about family, but it is also very much about suicide. Sarabeth remarks that Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, which she is reading at a retirement home, are not so much about adultery as about suicide. Adultery is an issue, too, in Songs Without Words, as Sarabeth struggles to climb out of the wreckage of one adulterous affair and to avoid falling into another. But suicide is the mother lode in this novel, just as it is in Flaubert’s and Tolstoy’s. When Sarabeth’s mother took her own life, which for Sarabeth was a “devastating relief,” it deepened the bond between her and Liz. But decades later, when Liz’s daughter tries to kill herself, it threatens to destroy their friendship.
Part of what makes Songs Without Words so deeply moving–and so terrifying–is its extraordinary level of realism, the way Packer captures both the most subtle and most dramatic emotional currents that spark human behavior. What Packer shows with such devastating effect is how fragile even the most seemingly normal families can be, how easily despair can well up to engulf someone like Lauren, who in a moment of self-hatred nearly severs herself from life. But, as much as the novel examines unflinchingly the nature of human suffering, it also affirms, in writing that is as vivid and emotionally compelling as any in contemporary American fiction, the healing power of friendship and of love."
That's all for now - more to come!
SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN by Lisa See:
"This absorbing novel – with a storyline unlike anything Lisa See has written before – takes place in 19th century China when girls had their feet bound, then spent the rest of their lives in seclusion with only a single window from which to see. Illiterate and isolated, they were not expected to think, be creative, or have emotions. But in one remote county, women developed their own secret code, nu shu – "women's writing" – the only gender-based written language to have been found in the world. Some girls were paired as "old-sames" in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their windows to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments.
An old woman tells of her relationship with her "old-same," their arranged marriages, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood—until a terrible misunderstanding written on their secret fan threatens to tear them apart. With the detail and emotional resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha , Snow Flower and the Secret Fan delves into one of the most mysterious and treasured relationships of all time—female friendship."
STILL SUMMER by Jacquelyn Mitchard
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/excerpts/2007-08-20-still-summer_N.htm
A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY* by Libba Bray
"Gemma Doyle, sixteen and proud, must leave the warmth of her childhood home in India for the rigid Spence Academy, a cold finishing school outside of London, followed by a stranger who bears puzzling warnings. Using her sharp tongue and agile mind, she navigates the stormy seas of friendship with high-born daughters and her roommate, a plain scholarship case. As Gemma discovers that her mother's death may have an otherworldly cause, and that she herself may have innate powers, Gemma is forced to face her own frightening, yet exciting destiny . . . if only she can believe in it."
* The first in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy
http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/gemmadoyle/books/great.html
SONGS WITHOUT WORDS by Ann Packer
"Ann Packer’s new novel centers around two childhood friends, Liz and Sarabeth, as they navigate the challenges of their lives as adults, confront loneliness and near tragedy, and test both the limits and the redemptive power of their friendship.
Songs Without Words is a novel about friendship and about family, but it is also very much about suicide. Sarabeth remarks that Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina, which she is reading at a retirement home, are not so much about adultery as about suicide. Adultery is an issue, too, in Songs Without Words, as Sarabeth struggles to climb out of the wreckage of one adulterous affair and to avoid falling into another. But suicide is the mother lode in this novel, just as it is in Flaubert’s and Tolstoy’s. When Sarabeth’s mother took her own life, which for Sarabeth was a “devastating relief,” it deepened the bond between her and Liz. But decades later, when Liz’s daughter tries to kill herself, it threatens to destroy their friendship.
Part of what makes Songs Without Words so deeply moving–and so terrifying–is its extraordinary level of realism, the way Packer captures both the most subtle and most dramatic emotional currents that spark human behavior. What Packer shows with such devastating effect is how fragile even the most seemingly normal families can be, how easily despair can well up to engulf someone like Lauren, who in a moment of self-hatred nearly severs herself from life. But, as much as the novel examines unflinchingly the nature of human suffering, it also affirms, in writing that is as vivid and emotionally compelling as any in contemporary American fiction, the healing power of friendship and of love."
That's all for now - more to come!
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