Tag Archives: review

the brothers karamazov review

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My first ever Dostoyevsky!  So glad I finally got to this book and so glad it was an audiobook :).

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The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Rating: 4.0 – 4.0

My Thoughts:

Let me just say that my mind was blown.  This book is like a roller coaster ride.  Sometimes it’s hard to catch your breath and process what just happened and other times it’s like the interminably long ascent to the top before the plunge back into action.  I would not have gotten through this book quite as painlessly if I had read the hard copy; narrator, Simon Vance, did a fantastic job carrying the seemingly endless monologues that took up about 40% of the book!

Four brothers, four stories, four philosophies on life, God, and Russia.  Oh, and a father who can’t ever get his act together.  Are all the Karamazov men as shiftless and corrupt as their immoral father?  What happens when their lives collide and get tangled up? That’s the story of the brothers Karamazov.

Well, part of it.  Then you add the priests, the women and stone-throwing boys in the street.

It’s quite a ride and so worth the read (or, in my case, the listen).

I REALLY liked this book!  I’m planning on getting the hard copy and going through it again sometime.

Soooo, if you’re a bit nervous about reading this book, get the audio version.

I’m looking forward to reading more by Dostoyevsky!

the great gatsby review

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Second Classics Spin is over and I’m sure I can speak for most, if not all, participants when I say that I can’t wait for the third Spin!

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Rating: 3.0 out of 4.0

My thoughts:

I’m still not sure if I particularly liked this book…Let me re-phrase that: I’m not a fan of the story.  It was too depressing.  But it was definitely worth the read.

It was wonderfully written, to be sure, but it was rather frustrating.  And I felt so sorry for Gatsby.  In fact, I felt sorry for all the people in the book, except, maybe Nick Carroway.  And Jordan Baker.   What a reckless, frivolous existence!  The glitz, the glamour, and the grandeur made me all the more thankful for the simplicities of my own life.

For such a short book, it had considerable depth in its own right with the green light and the eyes on the bilboard ad.   The wild parties, the flowing champagne, the broken and illegitimate relationships, the pursuit of what could have been, they were all part of a snapshot of American history.  In the midst of the whirlwind that was the 1920’s there was, perhaps, a longing for the innocence in the past.  It wasn’t perfect, but it possessed qualities that were lost in the new era of the fast & loose generation.  This was the tragedy of  Jay Gatsby.  It isn’t what happens at the end of the book that makes it his story a sad one, but the fact that he’s chasing what he can no longer have: the past.  The past as he wants to remember it, in it’s innocence and purity.

The other thing that strikes you as you read is how stark it is.  There’s no warmth, only empty camaraderie,  barely any trust, and so many lies.  Unhappy people trying to fill their lives with that which makes their lives shallow in the first place.

Sad.  But poignant.  Great piece of American literature when all is said and done.

There.  No spoilers!  Yay!!

I’m looking forward to comparing the book and the original film with the movie that just came out.  I’m really curious to know what they did to it!!

Anyone up for Spin Read 3? ;)

september meme//classics club

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Time for September’s Classic’s Club meme question!

Pick a classic someone else in the club has read from our big review list. Link to their review and offer a quote from their post describing their reaction to the book. What about their post makes you excited to read that classic in particular?

I chose Emily of A Happier Emily and her review of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.

My first exposure to Les Mis was when I was about 12 or 13 and the choir I was in sang “Do You Hear the People Sing?”  That song will forever give me chills.  It’s so…EPIC!!!

Even so, I had no idea what the book/musical/movie was about.  I added it to my CC list cause I figured it was time I found out what makes it such a timeless piece!

This beautiful thought in Emily’s review caught my attention and has definitely peeked my interest all the more!!

“What struck me the most, throughout the novel, was how love was ever present in the characters’ lives. Even in their miserable, wretched, and often destitute states those outcasts, underdogs, rejected from society and rebels against society- they were often motivated by some form of love.”

Don’t know when I’m going to finally pick this book up, but I am totally looking forward to reading it :).