frankie Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I'm sad to hear you didn't enjoy the book that much (I have it on my wishlist and have heard great things about it), but I agree with you, it'll be interesting for you to see what other people thought of the book, and it'll be interesting for the ones who enjoyed the book to hear why you didn't. If we all enjoyed the same books, it might get a bit boring sometimes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookworm87 Posted June 29, 2013 Author Share Posted June 29, 2013 Review: On Beauty by Zadie Smith Synopsis (from amazon.co.uk) Why do we fall in love with the people we do? Why do we visit our mistakes on our children? What makes life truly beautiful? Set in New England mainly and London partly, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families - the Belseys and the Kipps - and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. For the Belseys and the Kipps, the confusions - both personal and political - of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family. Review Firstly, it has taken me an absolute age to read this book! I have recently started studying for a work-related qualification, so my beloved books have temporarily been replaced by study texts and I have been struggling to fit in reading for pleasure. Sometimes I'd quite like to press a 'Pause' button and snatch some time to read Zadie Smith is one of those authors that I have always wanted to read, but never quite gotten around to doing so. She generally gets very good reviews, so I was really interested to see for myself what was so special about her writing. It's quite hard to describe the plot of On Beauty - not much happens in terms of action and I would say it's more a study of human relationships, family dynamics in particular. Smith states in her introduction that she has based the book on Howard's End by E.M Forster, I have seen the film so I roughly know what happens, but the book is on my TBR pile and i think it might have been beneficial if I had read it first to be able to make more of a comparison. The theme of Howard's End is 'Only Connect' and I think Smith does quite a good job of weaving this theme through the book. I won't try and go too much into plot/characters etc, because as I said it is actually difficult to summarise the story! There were several storylines which left me a little confused and felt unfinished: there are references to Haiti and Haitian immigrants throughout the book and they seem to always be present throughout the novel, but I'm not sure how I was meant to view them as a reader or what point they were meant to be making. However, the main thing I took away from this book is Smith's sheer talent as a writer. I know good writing when I read it, and this book is full of it. She's got such a skill for writing her characters' speech in a totally realistic way and I could completely understand why she is so praised. This book gets 5/6. The writing alone was superb and I found myself really identifying and liking a lot of her characters. I'll definitely be reading more Zadie Smith in the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 Oh dear - I'm halfway through The Unlikely Pilgrimage and was hoping it was all going to fall into place later on! Like you I'm struggling to connect with any of the characters and am finding it rather dull tbh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 Great review of On Beauty. I really enjoyed White Teeth, and keep meaning to read NW, but for some reason I seem to have ignored this one. It sounds like an interesting read, so that's another one on my wishlist! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookworm87 Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 Great review of On Beauty. I really enjoyed White Teeth, and keep meaning to read NW, but for some reason I seem to have ignored this one. It sounds like an interesting read, so that's another one on my wishlist! Hi bobblybear, It's a really good one - I fully recommend it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookworm87 Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Synopsis (from amazon.co.uk) Who are you? What have we done to each other? These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of hisfifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The policesuspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she keptsecrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computershows strange searches. He says they weren't made by him. And then there are thepersistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick'sbeautiful wife? Review This is the kind of book that you literally can't put down until you've reached the end, just because you can't imagine what is going to happen! I obviously can't reveal too much of the plot because there a few surprises along the way, but it certainly kept me guessing. The book is split into three parts and in the first section, everything that happens seems to be telling you loud and clear what happened and why Amy is gone. But, once you get to the second bit everything is turned in its head completely. The most striking thing about the story for me was the portrayal of a dysfunctional marriage. Love makes people do crazy things and often two people can be bad for each other, but can't let go of their relationship and I thought this was beautifully shown in Gone Girl. The character of Desi I found very unbelievable and a bit weird, and the ending is quite a controversial one. I think it will divide readers between those who find it unrealistic and those who don't. Personally, I felt Flynn just about pulled it off and the ending was definitely unexpected and sinister - it left me feeling unsettled and a little confused but in a good way! If you're going on holiday and want a good beach read, or if you just want something that will keep you hooked and turning those pages then I would recommend Gone Girl - I give it 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 This is on my shelf but I haven't read it yet. Glad to hear you liked it, nice review ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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