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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
This was just okay. The narrative has many enjoyable moments and certainly has gothic elements explored in a somewhat nuanced way, which will be interesting to explore. The editors notes also add an interesting metafictionality. That said, the stream of consciousness, no chapter breaks, confessional style makes this draining to read. And given how long this took to get through it didn’t do anything memorable.
One of my favorite books of all time!!! This book captures the internal and external struggles among humans, angels and demons. A very well written memoir, Hogg keeps the reader suspenseful in this goth/romantic/crime/mystery/action-packed thriller. I highly recommend this memoir - it's definitely one that will keep you up at night!
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“He seated himself at the pinnacle of the rocky precipice, a little within the top of the hill to th’ westward, and with a light and buoyant heart, viewed the beauties of the morning, and inhaled its salubrious breeze”
This turned out so disappointing, I wanted to love Hogg’s ‘Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner’ so much, its concept based on sins and murder committed by doppelgangers with the backdrop of gothic Edinburgh and the political instabilities of the Glorious Revolution, but I just sadly struggled to get on side with it. It retold the same story from the sinner, Robert’s, perspective and then the editor that found his manuscript of confessions, and Robert’s are just generally incoherent. Each sides of the story are unclear but Robert’s especially felt like a long religious discussion that lost a lot of the major events within its attempt to moralise the sins and present himself as a bystander to his actions. It’s made more confusing by the lack of chapters or even regular paragraph splits and most of the exciting moments Robert can’t remember himself doing and hence they are brushed over. Very sad as this had so much promise and just failed to deliver for me.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was well written, but also participating heavily in an antiquated format. Telegraphed in the verbiage and verbose word salad, unintuitive sentences sometimes spewing out, this feels like a much shored up, pretty straight forward tale about a pious man viewing faith as a binary concept, who then becomes easily swayed. It shifts into something more gothic and preternatural though, which became a bit less interesting as it went on, as it felt quite padded. To a degree: just watch Fight Club, tbh, unless you really need the religious angle.
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes