Guessed already? If not, the book this time is, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
To clear a few common misconceptions, the creature itself is not called Frankenstein, that is the surname of the doctor who created the monster and that Frankenstein's creation does not have bolts on it's neck. Now that those are out of the way, let's get into the book itself. The story has alot of backstory and a lot of character development, the book starts at the end and then talks about the beginning and what things lead to Victor Frankenstein to re-animate a corpse he put together. He is consumed by trying to re-animate a corpse and almost loses everyone in his life and himself while trying to do so. After re-animating the corpse, Victor denies the fact from himself. This makes a very interesting setting, allowing room for alot of character development. The monster itself, is more than a man, yet less than a man. Hated by everyone who sees the monster, treated well by only one man, making him feel like a real person, but then he is driven away from the old, blind man. So, even the "villain" is very identifiable by everyone who has been lonely or is a misfit in society. Many characters who are extremely identifiable even in todays world. Damn this book is sounding better and better all the time. I won't get into the story too much since anything more I would say, would almost ruin the whole book for you and this will leave you more interested to read it.
Now, let's talk about other things, in the terms of writing. The use of language was perfect and the way it was written matched that way. Brilliant characters, each one of them had a certain personality and strong development. Victor changes the most during the book being that he is present most of the time and many things happen to him.
Im making this one short since I dont know what to write about this time.
Good Evening
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Paulo Coelho-Veronika decides to die.
This one exceeded my expectations, after the epic Alchemist fail. Don’t get me wrong-decent is a far concept from it, for I cannot call it more than ‘readable’. The writing technique is poor, but the action makes up for it in some parts, and the message-again-isn’t pure stupidity.
Pros:- interesting concept
-slightly catchy action-enough not to fall asleep with the book in your hand.
-good overall message
Cons:-Poorly written
-unrealistic depictions of patients with mental illnesses.
-the author himself appears as a character, but his contribution to the plot is insignificant, so it is clear that he put himself there so he can name another writing technique used in his books.Oh, and he self-proclaims himself an artist. Modesty sure isn’t his strong point!
! Incorrect medical information!The book claims serotonin was ‘recently discovered’(the book was written in 1997).Serotonin was originally discovered by Italian and American scientists in the late 1940s.(it was named in 1948, so no excuse!)
2/5.
Pros:- interesting concept
-slightly catchy action-enough not to fall asleep with the book in your hand.
-good overall message
Cons:-Poorly written
-unrealistic depictions of patients with mental illnesses.
-the author himself appears as a character, but his contribution to the plot is insignificant, so it is clear that he put himself there so he can name another writing technique used in his books.Oh, and he self-proclaims himself an artist. Modesty sure isn’t his strong point!
! Incorrect medical information!The book claims serotonin was ‘recently discovered’(the book was written in 1997).Serotonin was originally discovered by Italian and American scientists in the late 1940s.(it was named in 1948, so no excuse!)
2/5.
Horror 101
Let's take an old classic horror book, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and as I mentioned in the Twilight review, one of the first vampire novels.
As most of you should know, Dracula is about Keanu Reeves.... oh wait, that's the horrible one-faced actor. The book revolves around Count Dracula, Jonathan Harker, his wife Mina, her closest friend Lucy Westenra and Dr. Seward. The book has a small amount of historical background, such as the "vampire" Vlad Ţepeş who was known for drinking blood among a few other things that I won't be getting into since this is supposed to be a book review after all. The plotline is original for the time, but it has been emulated many times to this date, so people who have read similar books to this novel, will most likely find it very similar. But they must remember one thing, THIS was written before them. I'll get into the story a bit more in-depth than the others. Count Dracula is a Transylvanian count who lives in an eerie castle, in the middle of nowhere and it has a lot of odd things happening inside it. Harker is spooked to the point of near heart attack many times until he is held as a prisoner inside the castle, forced to write letters to sooth the people back in England. Harker is also kept unable to run away due to all of the blood sucked from him during his captivity. One day, the Count and Harker move to Carfax Abbey, near the residence of Dr. Seward's asylum and Dracula sets his eyes on Lucy and Mina. I won't spoil anything more so you will still have a fun time reading it, that is just the premise of the book.
The book has a lot of character development and twists in the story to keep the reader interested. The only person who doesn't change is the ancient evil himself, Count Dracula. Harker becomes a frail man from the strong-willed assistant of Dr. Seward. Mina goes through changes when she encounters the vampire on multiple occasions and almost willingly goes away with him. Lucy is a very shallow person before Dracula shows up and after that she becomes a more terrified individual. *SPOILERS* And well, she gets turned into a vampire, which makes her a bit more seductive. *SPOILERS* So, many of the characters change, but slowly and making them feel like humans and not robots that are re-programmed each day to be different. You can identify yourself with plenty of characters, even with the Count. Even though he (or is it an it already) pale, frightening and odd, he still has positive aspects that people can identify with. He is elegant, charismatic and a very convincing. Me (that is me, Batsy) can identify with his elegance, the frightening factor and oddness. The personalities of every character are very different and very well thought through so you won't find faceless angst-ridden people in this novel. So, excellent plot, interesting characters, incredibly original and delightfully full of surprises, this book is a must read in my opinion.
That does it for this review, have a good read and remember, the oldest and most powerful kind of fear, is the fear of the unknown.
Good Evening
As most of you should know, Dracula is about Keanu Reeves.... oh wait, that's the horrible one-faced actor. The book revolves around Count Dracula, Jonathan Harker, his wife Mina, her closest friend Lucy Westenra and Dr. Seward. The book has a small amount of historical background, such as the "vampire" Vlad Ţepeş who was known for drinking blood among a few other things that I won't be getting into since this is supposed to be a book review after all. The plotline is original for the time, but it has been emulated many times to this date, so people who have read similar books to this novel, will most likely find it very similar. But they must remember one thing, THIS was written before them. I'll get into the story a bit more in-depth than the others. Count Dracula is a Transylvanian count who lives in an eerie castle, in the middle of nowhere and it has a lot of odd things happening inside it. Harker is spooked to the point of near heart attack many times until he is held as a prisoner inside the castle, forced to write letters to sooth the people back in England. Harker is also kept unable to run away due to all of the blood sucked from him during his captivity. One day, the Count and Harker move to Carfax Abbey, near the residence of Dr. Seward's asylum and Dracula sets his eyes on Lucy and Mina. I won't spoil anything more so you will still have a fun time reading it, that is just the premise of the book.
The book has a lot of character development and twists in the story to keep the reader interested. The only person who doesn't change is the ancient evil himself, Count Dracula. Harker becomes a frail man from the strong-willed assistant of Dr. Seward. Mina goes through changes when she encounters the vampire on multiple occasions and almost willingly goes away with him. Lucy is a very shallow person before Dracula shows up and after that she becomes a more terrified individual. *SPOILERS* And well, she gets turned into a vampire, which makes her a bit more seductive. *SPOILERS* So, many of the characters change, but slowly and making them feel like humans and not robots that are re-programmed each day to be different. You can identify yourself with plenty of characters, even with the Count. Even though he (or is it an it already) pale, frightening and odd, he still has positive aspects that people can identify with. He is elegant, charismatic and a very convincing. Me (that is me, Batsy) can identify with his elegance, the frightening factor and oddness. The personalities of every character are very different and very well thought through so you won't find faceless angst-ridden people in this novel. So, excellent plot, interesting characters, incredibly original and delightfully full of surprises, this book is a must read in my opinion.
That does it for this review, have a good read and remember, the oldest and most powerful kind of fear, is the fear of the unknown.
Good Evening
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Classic 101
Good Evening,
I read a lot of books during the summer, I'm going to talk about one of the good ones. This book is called Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the tale of the good doctor who wanted to be an angel without evil.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson, author of such books as Treasure Island and The Merry Men. It was written in the 19th century. Written about the duality of a man and the inner conflict within between good and evil within all of us. Dr. Henry Jekyll was a very good man, a doctor, who never did anything wrong, yet he still felt like a bad human being. He wanted to separate the bad in him so that it would not come out of him ever again, even though it never did. But the desired effect of the test didn't happen, but in fact, the exact opposite, he releases all of the bad in him every now and then when he feels or experiences any "evil" thing. Enter Mr. Hyde, all of the evil restrained inside a good person, coming out in bursts. So, every little and huge evil thing coming out at once.... ouch, not a good situation. Now the duality comes into play, imagine a person who never commits any evil deed and a person who commits nothing but evil. Hyde kills people and Jekyll tries to regain control of his body and restrain Hyde from killing innocent people. I will not talk about the plot more since I don't want to spoil a good book by giving away big events in it.
The actual level of writing of the book is amazing since it is harder to write a short story with alot of detail than a long book with alot of detail and effort put into it. The character design is very contrasting in the cast of characters the book has to offer. Every character that has a name has his/her own personality that has a major contrast to the other ones. It even has some decent character development between each character, Jekyll and Hyde go through most of the changes, when *SPOILER* Jekyll just stops caring about what happens to him in the end, yet he cannot end his own life since Hyde would come out *SPOILER*. Considering the length of the book, it is pretty impressive to have such character development. The plot line in itself is very intriguing and it has never been emulated well to this day. It will remain a literary accomplishment till the world pisses itself and dies and it will most likely remain unrivaled in the split personality department. This book is a definite purchase or then you can loan it out of the library, they WILL(at least should) have it.
This was another review by me, Batsy, have a pleasant night and a good reading session.
I read a lot of books during the summer, I'm going to talk about one of the good ones. This book is called Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the tale of the good doctor who wanted to be an angel without evil.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson, author of such books as Treasure Island and The Merry Men. It was written in the 19th century. Written about the duality of a man and the inner conflict within between good and evil within all of us. Dr. Henry Jekyll was a very good man, a doctor, who never did anything wrong, yet he still felt like a bad human being. He wanted to separate the bad in him so that it would not come out of him ever again, even though it never did. But the desired effect of the test didn't happen, but in fact, the exact opposite, he releases all of the bad in him every now and then when he feels or experiences any "evil" thing. Enter Mr. Hyde, all of the evil restrained inside a good person, coming out in bursts. So, every little and huge evil thing coming out at once.... ouch, not a good situation. Now the duality comes into play, imagine a person who never commits any evil deed and a person who commits nothing but evil. Hyde kills people and Jekyll tries to regain control of his body and restrain Hyde from killing innocent people. I will not talk about the plot more since I don't want to spoil a good book by giving away big events in it.
The actual level of writing of the book is amazing since it is harder to write a short story with alot of detail than a long book with alot of detail and effort put into it. The character design is very contrasting in the cast of characters the book has to offer. Every character that has a name has his/her own personality that has a major contrast to the other ones. It even has some decent character development between each character, Jekyll and Hyde go through most of the changes, when *SPOILER* Jekyll just stops caring about what happens to him in the end, yet he cannot end his own life since Hyde would come out *SPOILER*. Considering the length of the book, it is pretty impressive to have such character development. The plot line in itself is very intriguing and it has never been emulated well to this day. It will remain a literary accomplishment till the world pisses itself and dies and it will most likely remain unrivaled in the split personality department. This book is a definite purchase or then you can loan it out of the library, they WILL(at least should) have it.
This was another review by me, Batsy, have a pleasant night and a good reading session.
Paulo Coelho-The Alchemist
Sorry for the lack of political correctness, but this book is a major waste of time.Read its blurb and a few quotes, and the amount of information you get is exactly as much as you will receive in the writing itself.
Although I must admit-Coelho makes even Britney Spears believe she finally understood the secrets of the Universe and all that surrounds her.
The message itself is not a bad one, but I must comment the style the book was written in. It leaves no place for your mind to wander- The information is put in front of you, on a plate, already digested, you just need to metabolize it. Thank you Coelho, for making the world a less thoughtful place,else the synapses might have buried us alive!
Before reading this…thing, I thought:well, it might be bad-but at least it’s a book and made people read these days! Honestly, I’d prefer a stupid magazine instead of it.
1/5.And it’s getting the 1 because someone had the patience to type it, print it and tie it in a volume.
Twilight
Let us start with a new, very popular book called, Twilight, the story of the sparkling monster and that girl.
Twilight, a book by Stephenie Meyer, author of other books like.... well, let's face it, she has only written the Twilight series. A very cliched, un-original romance novel with sparkling vampires and evil vampires. Already we have reached one of the deepest lows of the art of writing. I'll introduce you to someone, Bram Stoker, he created the idea of a vampire from old folk tales of Eastern Europe, creatures described as seductive, sinister, extremely pale, corpse-like and very charismatic that can mesmerize people just by looking them into the eyes. And then we have Twilight "vampires", which are described with words like HOT, one of the most vague descriptions you will ever read in any book. Of course, that's not the only bad description you could come up for a vampire, atleast they don't sparkle... *reads a bit more*.... damn.
Okay, so, already we are knee deep in pseudo-literature and poor description, maybe the story will save it. Let's see, a girl falls in love with a boy and wants to frolick with him and .... I can't finish that sentence without saying, IT HAS BEEN DONE!. So, the story is un-original all the way through, and there is no build-up for the first twist when *SPOILER* Edward turns Bella into a vampire *SPOILER* . Even the scenes trying to portray the everyday life of Edward, which I assume are there for other kids to try and feel like Edward, being in that kind of a situation, but I don't think that it works aswell as Stephenie thought. So, you can't even identify yourself with the characters unless you yourself are a very bland person with little personality. You want an example of a good story and one very similar, but original with characters you can identify with, Titanic, two people from different worlds coming together and experiencing love, developing. And Twilight is just two people, other one drooled on the other and grabbed one arm, kissed and stayed there. No actual character development or any kind of romantic situation(a vaguely described kiss is not a romantic situation!), so this book failed to deliver the one aspect of books that should always be there and the one thing the genre is known for.
So, that's it for Twilight, write to you people later.
Twilight, a book by Stephenie Meyer, author of other books like.... well, let's face it, she has only written the Twilight series. A very cliched, un-original romance novel with sparkling vampires and evil vampires. Already we have reached one of the deepest lows of the art of writing. I'll introduce you to someone, Bram Stoker, he created the idea of a vampire from old folk tales of Eastern Europe, creatures described as seductive, sinister, extremely pale, corpse-like and very charismatic that can mesmerize people just by looking them into the eyes. And then we have Twilight "vampires", which are described with words like HOT, one of the most vague descriptions you will ever read in any book. Of course, that's not the only bad description you could come up for a vampire, atleast they don't sparkle... *reads a bit more*.... damn.
Okay, so, already we are knee deep in pseudo-literature and poor description, maybe the story will save it. Let's see, a girl falls in love with a boy and wants to frolick with him and .... I can't finish that sentence without saying, IT HAS BEEN DONE!. So, the story is un-original all the way through, and there is no build-up for the first twist when *SPOILER*
So, that's it for Twilight, write to you people later.
Twisted Literature
This blog is dedicated to book reviews(for good and bad ones) me(Batsy) and FluffSpider have read overtime, now or in the past. So, expect anything, but not everything since the availability on certain books is more than poor and we might not read the same kind of stuff you would hope. I might take some reading suggestions, but the book needs to have an English edition. You can expect a lot of old books from me(mostly horror and other books with a lot of imagery and that are well written, BUT, I'm also doing a few pseudo-literature books just to make it interesting.
So, without further introductions, you can look forward to a review sometime in the near future.
So, without further introductions, you can look forward to a review sometime in the near future.
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