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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
At first it was like elena ferrante + italo calvino but it all became too MUCH too long I began skimming
A man decides to break out of his usual routine life, and goes on an expedition to Portugal to find out about Amadeu de Prado, fictional author of the fictional book A Goldsmith of Words.
A highly philosophical novel, Night Train to Lisbon was long and difficult, mainly because of the excerpts from Prado's book and other writing pieces. But it was also comforting and enlightening. It had a considerably big influence on me. I even named my newly bought wooden tortoise from Bali after the main character, Raimund Gregorius.
His full name is Turtle-Tortoise Raimund Gregorius. (Turtle as a tribute to Turtle Wexler of The Westing Game; Tortoise because it is actually a tortoise, and not a turtle. I consider 'Turtle-Tortoise' to be a sort of prefix, like 'Mister'.)
Something I disliked about the book was the punctuation. There were too many commas in some sentences, making them irritating and hard to understand. It may just be the English translation.
A highly philosophical novel, Night Train to Lisbon was long and difficult, mainly because of the excerpts from Prado's book and other writing pieces. But it was also comforting and enlightening. It had a considerably big influence on me. I even named my newly bought wooden tortoise from Bali after the main character, Raimund Gregorius.
His full name is Turtle-Tortoise Raimund Gregorius. (Turtle as a tribute to Turtle Wexler of The Westing Game; Tortoise because it is actually a tortoise, and not a turtle. I consider 'Turtle-Tortoise' to be a sort of prefix, like 'Mister'.)
Something I disliked about the book was the punctuation. There were too many commas in some sentences, making them irritating and hard to understand. It may just be the English translation.
"Read" in the from of an audiobook. I paid more attention to the bits about his efforts to learn porrtuguese (for reasons you can probably guess at) than any of the other philosophical digressions, and for that reason I think I probably need to give it a second listen at some point in the future to do it justice.
0 stars, I'd recommend burning this for warmth. It probably wouldn't even burn. Imagine if someone wrote a fanfic based on [b:Eat, Pray, Love|19501|Eat, Pray, Love|Elizabeth Gilbert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1503066414l/19501._SY75_.jpg|3352398], but, y'know, European; and with an "academic" lead. That would then be an insult to all fanfic, even Twilight. This book is so incredibly bad I can only muster pity for the people who read themselves into it.
For a "setting", we have an expository dump about some guy who happens to be incredibly good with memory and reading (yet who consistently fails to finish a short book); who suddenly decides to leave his hometown and start traveling. My hate for travel is well documented, but that actually wasn't even the problem here. I would go so far as to say the descriptions of places are not half bad. Bit corny, but still, not bad. However! This guy is the modern Mary Sue of novels. He, a nobody, just steps out of his house and is surrounded by friends, lovers, and more! He drifts like a leaf, and gets nothing but people foisting gifts onto him. He, a miserable failure of a person, cannot even manage to quit his job, and is instead given indefinite leave because, of course, his hometown was secretly idolizing him. It is truly incredible that anyone who has read more than one book will understand how some bloke WITH A PHD cannot finish a short book; not to mention the fact that the philosophy is clearly amateurish shit. God only knows what passes for education in the mind of the author. I suppose like blind men and elephants, he knows only how to write what he can feel up, that is, granting an empty doctorate and ill defined genius upon an otherwise uncouth blank slate. So anyone imagining themselves as the MC could feel good.
The few snippets of himself which appear are red flags; he appears to be an old, mostly uneducated fellow who has had undesirable relations with a student in the past, and continues to do so in the present. The way other characters react is incredibly shallow. Much of the book is spent listening to the author whine on and on like a school choir-boy and moralize incessantly. The characters are truly incredibly colorless; they are interchangable, as they all seem to do the same thing; talk shop about some random dead guy who never did anything right, in fact, his book never even caught on (not surprisingly); and they all have unlimited affection for the "protagonist".
Naturally there's a movie montage, our intrepid protagonist, he of a million bucks (because, of course he had been saving up all his life before this); he gets new glasses (evidently he is less in tune with his surroundings than the humble brainless mollusk) which give him a "new lease on life"; and he dresses up. There is no plot. There is no reason to care about any of these half assed idiots.
Honestly by the end of the book I just wanted to see them all die at least. Instead, I believe the author opted to give the reader hope, just in case there are idiots who identified with the cardboard pedo protagonist. That lost it the last bit of goodwill I might have had for it.
A comment on another review here mentioned that this is a philosophy novel the way [b:The Da Vinci Code|968|The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)|Dan Brown|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579621267l/968._SY75_.jpg|2982101] is a history book. I find that to be quite apt. The same sort of people also probably think Science Fiction includes dragons.
The book took longer to finish because, well, the writing is terrible. Overall, this is the sort of book you get as a gift and secretly donate to charity. Or just add the time spent reading it to be yet another regret.
For a "setting", we have an expository dump about some guy who happens to be incredibly good with memory and reading (yet who consistently fails to finish a short book); who suddenly decides to leave his hometown and start traveling. My hate for travel is well documented, but that actually wasn't even the problem here. I would go so far as to say the descriptions of places are not half bad. Bit corny, but still, not bad. However! This guy is the modern Mary Sue of novels. He, a nobody, just steps out of his house and is surrounded by friends, lovers, and more! He drifts like a leaf, and gets nothing but people foisting gifts onto him. He, a miserable failure of a person, cannot even manage to quit his job, and is instead given indefinite leave because, of course, his hometown was secretly idolizing him. It is truly incredible that anyone who has read more than one book will understand how some bloke WITH A PHD cannot finish a short book; not to mention the fact that the philosophy is clearly amateurish shit. God only knows what passes for education in the mind of the author. I suppose like blind men and elephants, he knows only how to write what he can feel up, that is, granting an empty doctorate and ill defined genius upon an otherwise uncouth blank slate. So anyone imagining themselves as the MC could feel good.
The few snippets of himself which appear are red flags; he appears to be an old, mostly uneducated fellow who has had undesirable relations with a student in the past, and continues to do so in the present. The way other characters react is incredibly shallow. Much of the book is spent listening to the author whine on and on like a school choir-boy and moralize incessantly. The characters are truly incredibly colorless; they are interchangable, as they all seem to do the same thing; talk shop about some random dead guy who never did anything right, in fact, his book never even caught on (not surprisingly); and they all have unlimited affection for the "protagonist".
Naturally there's a movie montage, our intrepid protagonist, he of a million bucks (because, of course he had been saving up all his life before this); he gets new glasses (evidently he is less in tune with his surroundings than the humble brainless mollusk) which give him a "new lease on life"; and he dresses up. There is no plot. There is no reason to care about any of these half assed idiots.
Honestly by the end of the book I just wanted to see them all die at least. Instead, I believe the author opted to give the reader hope, just in case there are idiots who identified with the cardboard pedo protagonist. That lost it the last bit of goodwill I might have had for it.
A comment on another review here mentioned that this is a philosophy novel the way [b:The Da Vinci Code|968|The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)|Dan Brown|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579621267l/968._SY75_.jpg|2982101] is a history book. I find that to be quite apt. The same sort of people also probably think Science Fiction includes dragons.
The book took longer to finish because, well, the writing is terrible. Overall, this is the sort of book you get as a gift and secretly donate to charity. Or just add the time spent reading it to be yet another regret.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness
Moderate: Chronic illness, Suicide
Minor: Abortion
I must say that this is unlike any novel that I have previously read. The novel requires the reader to think deeply on a number of topics. I found it totally engrossing and will have to seek out more philosophical novels to read.
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
challenging
emotional
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