More reading
Jun. 17th, 2008 10:29 pmCatch-up on the last three books I have read:
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
High school shooting and its aftermath. I have resisted Picoult for the longest time, but my boss loaned me this book, so I thought I might give it a whirl.
In sum: it was a compulsive read with some flashes of brilliance, even if the asides: “Every student wants to be popular… do you understand?” were patronising and trite.
It also suffered in comparison to We Need to Talk About Kevin, which, for all its faults, really made me think. There were no surprises for me in this novel, though I don’t regret reading it. Picoult is a competent writer and isn’t afraid to address social issues; it’s just a pity that I feel this one has been better explored by other authors. I wouldn’t be averse to reading more of her novels, particularly as my boss and![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mothergoddamn both say that other works of hers are much better, though I probably wouldn’t buy them.
First Love by Ivan Turgenev
Short, melodramatic novella written in the 1860s. Nice read and relatively lightweight for Russian literature from that period – it felt like contemporary English or French fiction in terms of style, rather than Russian. But it was pleasant enough and just what I needed before plunging into EM Forster next.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
High school shooting and its aftermath. I have resisted Picoult for the longest time, but my boss loaned me this book, so I thought I might give it a whirl.
In sum: it was a compulsive read with some flashes of brilliance, even if the asides: “Every student wants to be popular… do you understand?” were patronising and trite.
It also suffered in comparison to We Need to Talk About Kevin, which, for all its faults, really made me think. There were no surprises for me in this novel, though I don’t regret reading it. Picoult is a competent writer and isn’t afraid to address social issues; it’s just a pity that I feel this one has been better explored by other authors. I wouldn’t be averse to reading more of her novels, particularly as my boss and
mothergoddamn both say that other works of hers are much better, though I probably wouldn’t buy them. First Love by Ivan Turgenev
Short, melodramatic novella written in the 1860s. Nice read and relatively lightweight for Russian literature from that period – it felt like contemporary English or French fiction in terms of style, rather than Russian. But it was pleasant enough and just what I needed before plunging into EM Forster next.
