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21stcenturyfox's reviews
67 reviews
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
5.0
4.7/5. Edited after I ponder more about it. There are so many details I missed upon my first read, which made me grew to appreciate the book even more and I feel like I didn't fully get it when I reviewed it right after finishing the book.
I see a lot of people romanticise this book which I find weird, I mean it's mentioned in the first paragraph of the prologue that this book is warning you against romanticisation.
“Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.”
Now, the Greek students. It what makes me see it as a dark comedy, these kids are real silly. They are so not grounded in reality to the point of thinking they LITERALLY SAW DIONYSIUS. No, you were drunk and starving, it's hallucination, fellas. They are out of touch and arrogant, Henry thought of murder as a "redistribution of matter"
I feel like the point goes over some people's head. They wanted to be the Greek students, but they are not what you should aspire to be, while I agree that being a scholar is admirable, it's being touched on by Richard in the prologue.
“A moi. L’histoire d’une de mes folies.” a quote from Rimbaud's A Season in Hell. “Now for me. The story of one of my lunacies.”
I see a lot of people romanticise this book which I find weird, I mean it's mentioned in the first paragraph of the prologue that this book is warning you against romanticisation.
“Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.”
Now, the Greek students. It what makes me see it as a dark comedy, these kids are real silly. They are so not grounded in reality to the point of thinking they LITERALLY SAW DIONYSIUS. No, you were drunk and starving, it's hallucination, fellas. They are out of touch and arrogant, Henry thought of murder as a "redistribution of matter"
I feel like the point goes over some people's head. They wanted to be the Greek students, but they are not what you should aspire to be, while I agree that being a scholar is admirable, it's being touched on by Richard in the prologue.
“A moi. L’histoire d’une de mes folies.” a quote from Rimbaud's A Season in Hell. “Now for me. The story of one of my lunacies.”
First Love by Ivan Turgenev
3.0
I haven't got around to review this yesterday so I'll do it now.
First Love is well, exactly what it says on the tin. A young boy of 16 falling in love with a giggly coquettish, and somewhat quaint, young princess who got a taste for playing (both ways) with the bachelors who were as madly in love with her. In todays world they would say that the princess got a herd of simps behind her, despite not being that good of a person and likes to toy around with those men.
The boy spoke of her fervently and poetically, just like a young boy drunken in love would, the writing is beautiful, I wish someone would speak about me like that.
First Love is well, exactly what it says on the tin. A young boy of 16 falling in love with a giggly coquettish, and somewhat quaint, young princess who got a taste for playing (both ways) with the bachelors who were as madly in love with her. In todays world they would say that the princess got a herd of simps behind her, despite not being that good of a person and likes to toy around with those men.
The boy spoke of her fervently and poetically, just like a young boy drunken in love would, the writing is beautiful, I wish someone would speak about me like that.
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
3.0
Is this what people would call meta-ironic? I don't know, have only heard that word twice.
A surprisingly good book when you're trying to go cold turkey. It shoves the ridiculousness right on your face LOL.
Personally, it's not my favourite Bret Easton Ellis book, it evoked some ugly things that I'd rather bury, but that's a personal problem, overall I like it just fine. A raw potrayal of superficiality.
A surprisingly good book when you're trying to go cold turkey. It shoves the ridiculousness right on your face LOL.
Personally, it's not my favourite Bret Easton Ellis book, it evoked some ugly things that I'd rather bury, but that's a personal problem, overall I like it just fine. A raw potrayal of superficiality.
Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette
2.0
Fun travel-sized novella about a female assassin. The writing is very simplistic (although, I don't know if that's a translator choice). It's noirish and icky, questionable at times not something I'd call a masterpiece, but enjoyable enough.
The Portrait by Iain Pears
3.0
Well, that wasn't what I expected!
I delayed finishing this book for weeks, I set it aside to read other books, but inclined to pick it up again, it's quite a short read.
The book is about a painter Henry MacAlpine, a self-exiled artist, leaving his rising career to a small island in Scotland ever so abruptly and his relationship with William Nasmyth, an old friend and renowned art critic who he felt contempt for an unknown reason until later revealed.
It captures the relationship between a painter and a critic and pushes it into depravity. The painter and their artworks are often the subject of the critic; they could make or break their career. Here the role is reversed, the critic who is usually in charge of their opinion becomes the sitter -- the subject of the artist, stripped off of their own judgement and have the artist, quite literally, paint their own interpretation of him. In this book Henry -- the painter -- is given full authority, hence the second person point of view, which works for me, but because of the lack of dialogue and interaction between the characters, as Henry obviously dominates the speech and we, being put in the sitter position, are forced to basically put up with his ramblings, it can be pretty hollow at times, however Henry describes everything quite meticulously.
The two gentlemen are both incredibly selfish in their own ways. Henry breaks down their friendship from the beginning, when they first met, him as a naïve working class boy from Scotland with big dream of becoming a painter, who all he knew of painting was from working as an illustrator for magazines and looked up to William -- arrogant and confident critic who had seen so much -- with reverence and admiration as he shows Henry the arts he had seen many times over, which was a new world for him. Their relationship was mutualistic, Henry to bring back the joy and excitement William had lost and William as his tutelage. To when Henry, now ripe with knowledge, began to form his own opinion. Later the reason William decided to visit him after years of being apart is revealed.
And the ladies, I didn't get their reoccurrence at first, I slightly doubted their importance and I had marked many other parts as foreshadows that turned out not to be foreshadows at all, but when it gets to the turning point, my jaw dropped! Although I did correctly guess Evelyn and Jacky's involvement with each other. Henry just doesn't get it! I appreciate the way their love is portrayed, although with its own limitations and Henry's judgement because this book is from his perspective anyway.
The second person point of view was cool, I think it's well-written, even though sometimes it can be quite stale. The ending was good, although it could've been better, I feel like the climax is at the near end instead of the ending itself. Enjoyed it regardless.
I delayed finishing this book for weeks, I set it aside to read other books, but inclined to pick it up again, it's quite a short read.
The book is about a painter Henry MacAlpine, a self-exiled artist, leaving his rising career to a small island in Scotland ever so abruptly and his relationship with William Nasmyth, an old friend and renowned art critic who he felt contempt for an unknown reason until later revealed.
It captures the relationship between a painter and a critic and pushes it into depravity. The painter and their artworks are often the subject of the critic; they could make or break their career. Here the role is reversed, the critic who is usually in charge of their opinion becomes the sitter -- the subject of the artist, stripped off of their own judgement and have the artist, quite literally, paint their own interpretation of him. In this book Henry -- the painter -- is given full authority, hence the second person point of view, which works for me, but because of the lack of dialogue and interaction between the characters, as Henry obviously dominates the speech and we, being put in the sitter position, are forced to basically put up with his ramblings, it can be pretty hollow at times, however Henry describes everything quite meticulously.
The two gentlemen are both incredibly selfish in their own ways. Henry breaks down their friendship from the beginning, when they first met, him as a naïve working class boy from Scotland with big dream of becoming a painter, who all he knew of painting was from working as an illustrator for magazines and looked up to William -- arrogant and confident critic who had seen so much -- with reverence and admiration as he shows Henry the arts he had seen many times over, which was a new world for him. Their relationship was mutualistic, Henry to bring back the joy and excitement William had lost and William as his tutelage. To when Henry, now ripe with knowledge, began to form his own opinion. Later the reason William decided to visit him after years of being apart is revealed.
And the ladies, I didn't get their reoccurrence at first, I slightly doubted their importance and I had marked many other parts as foreshadows that turned out not to be foreshadows at all, but when it gets to the turning point, my jaw dropped! Although I did correctly guess Evelyn and Jacky's involvement with each other. Henry just doesn't get it! I appreciate the way their love is portrayed, although with its own limitations and Henry's judgement because this book is from his perspective anyway.
The second person point of view was cool, I think it's well-written, even though sometimes it can be quite stale. The ending was good, although it could've been better, I feel like the climax is at the near end instead of the ending itself. Enjoyed it regardless.