ed_moore's reviews
167 reviews

1985 by Anthony Burgess

dark informative inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Burgess’ ‘1985’ is a two part commentary on Orwell’s 1984, the first part as series of essays on 1984 that explored the role of Bakunin in the birth of anarchism, how Orwell’s broadcasting house reflects Room 101, the idea of a cacotopia being a state of cacophony beyond a dystopia and how the term Orwellian is now used in events that really aren’t Orwellian, but minor inconveniences. These were fascinating and I often caught myself saying myself how exciting or engaging a certain point in these essays were. 

My review of this is complicated by part two, Burgess’ own interpretation of an Orwellian dystopia, which unfortunately I cannot make the same praises about. 1985 follows Bev Jones in a future where Orwell was killed in the Spanish Civil War and never wrote 1984. Therefore a different dystopia has formed where Britain is known as Tucland, it is under muslim governance and there is constant worker strikes amid a socialist state. Where elements of this are supposed to parallel Orwell’s dystopia, most parts feel like they are included for no particular reason and the worldbuilding of 1985 is generally confusing and flat, taking 1984 into account or viewing 1985 as an independent story. Things happen suddenly, resolve suddenly and a lot occurs with no real reason or explanation. The circumstance of constant strikes is an interesting and well done element, I just feel Burgess tries to include more alternate realities beyond this and it really just complicates the narrative and adds little.

The essays would warrant 5 stars, but regarding the narrative part as the main text my opinions on the book as a whole therefore suffer.

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’ is a short but really intense book which I struggled to rate and review. It is just a series of small observations on aspects of life such as eating, death, friendship or giving, and makes some nice philosophical points but isn’t particularly engaging in formula. A man called Al-Mustafa is about to leave Orphalese and speaks to a group of people who just vaguely ask them about their area, for example a merchant goes “tell me about buying and selling” or a priest asks “tell me about prayer” and Mustafa will reply with an observation for 2-5 minutes. These were all good natured and valuable but as highlighted in the introduction due to the book being made of Gibran’s years of thoughts, it only speaks the answers rather than offering the roots and reasoning that brought him there, hence can seem very direct and uninspired in places. I felt there would be a lot more payoff if we heard of this journey in thinking. It was no means bad and as mention has value as a short read, but was really expecting the satisfaction and awakening that Hesse’s ‘Siddhartha’ gave me, but this was far more basic hence far from the case.

The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel

dark informative sad 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

3.25

Mantel’s ‘The Mirror and the Light’ references to Henry VIII being the ‘mirror’ and ‘light’ of all kings, exploring Cromwell in his height of power but as a consequence facing a height of political enemies. It is by far the longest of the Wolf Hall trilogy as Mantel forces the rest of Cromwell’s story into one book, ‘Bring 

up the Bodies’ only concluding with the death of Anne Boleyn. Hence, I had to put in significant effort to read all 38 hours of the audiobook before my hold expired. 

 

In the nature of Cromwell’s history, much of the book continues to just document courtly affairs and the constant search for Henry VII’s next wife, many long periods of conversation getting very repetitive and uninspiring. Aside from chronicling courtly affairs, Mantel also included a multitude of flashbacks to previous courtly affairs of the last two books that really added nothing other than dragging out the book further. Ultimately, due to the set up of the previous two books and the repetitive nature of the series there was hardly any character development across 900 pages worth of prose and due to knowledge of the history not much plot intrigue. 

 

That comes across as really scathing but in reality ‘The Mirror and the Light’ was no weaker than the other two books in the series aside from the fact I have therefore read it all before. I can however credit Mantel for her historical efficiency in covering all the courtly events of Cromwell’s life, from having studied the man before I can’t think of any stone she left unturned. Also, despite knowing Cromwell’s inevitable fate and hence the trilogy’s conclusion, having spent so long with him it was still a challenging and emotionally impacting conclusion which was evidently written so much more powerfully than many mundane scenes across the series. That being said, I still stand by my comments regarding ‘Bring up the Bodies’ that it isn’t worth reading past ‘Wolf Hall’ as much of the rest is the exact same, though the conclusion was a highlight of the series, hence my parallel rating to ‘Wolf Hall’.

Carrie by Stephen King

dark emotional tense fast-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

3.25

I read Stephen King’s ‘Carrie’ as I am involved in a production of the musical in a week, and was honestly surprised how quickly events unfolded in the book. Carrie is about a 17 year old girl who is outcast in school and faces abuse from her fanatically religious mother at home, yet finds she has the power of telekinesis and uses such to get her revenge on the town that wronged her for so many years. 

The primary surprise was how early Carrie’s telekinetic powers were revealed, I was expecting this to be more of a self-discovery plot point and twist in Carrie though I am content to mention it in this review as it was more or less revealed on the first page. The ending also wasn’t left for the readers to theorise as due to fictional extracts from supposed non-fiction books written about the actions of Carrie White on prom night the ending was revealed early on and continually referenced throughout. I really didn’t enjoy the inclusion of these books within books as though aware of the story, it still very much took away from the ending and diverted from the plot, and any comments that foreshadowed were intentionally far too obvious. ‘Carrie’ was not a book written to leave the reader on edge guessing whatsoever, which really defeated its main draw within the thriller genre. 

Despite my prior knowledge of the story the narrative and writing was however still harrowing. Scenes relating to the menstrual cycle and also child and religious abuse were extremely graphic, and the final sequence of events was absolutely brutal and apocalyptic, likely written in a means to mimic the biblical ‘Judgement Day’. It was also enhanced in the graphic imaginings of such as the scenes were often repeated from multiple perspectives, which increased reader exposure to violence but also failed to add much to the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Blood, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Body shaming, and Gore

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Hosseini’s ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ is the tale of two women surviving through the patriarchy and political turmoil of Afghanistan, this being the control of the soviets, violence and civil war between different rebel factions and the rise of the Taliban. It was a brutal and honest depiction of Afghanistan’s struggles which didn’t shy away from depicting the true horrors of living there from starvation, violence and patriarchal control, to war and occupation and the labours of childbirth. 

It is difficult not to reflect on this alongside the other work of Hosseini’s that I have read: ‘The Kite Runner’ and whilst I preferred the longer term focus on the turmoils of Afghanistan which was lost in ‘The Kite Runner’s’ movement to America, I did however find myself much more attached to the characters of that book and to be more emotionally impacted by such. That may  be down to gender resonance. That is not to discredit from ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ however, as it was still utterly heart-wrenching and persistently took from the reader alike to the persistent theft of the livelihoods of Laila and Mariam. His use of foreshadowing is also really effective but in cases a bit explicit, it is clear when such is occurring but I would conclude it still works well.

Reading in todays political climate, with the return of the Taliban plaguing Afghanistan, it was also likely more harrowing and impactful than it would likely be if I read such when it was published. Knowing the country has regressed to the under-occupation state it faced in the book after 20 years independence and rebuilding was constantly on my mind and made every tragedy Hosseini described even more saddening and relevant. Hosseini really has a talent for tugging on the heart strings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, War, Sexism, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Suicide

Modern Greece by Felicia Hemans

informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Hemans’ poem ‘Modern Greece’ is one of very similar tone to Byron’s ‘The Curse of Minerva’ (you can tell I am working on an essay on this topic), though slightly less scornful on the fall of the great past empire. Though, alike to Byron, Hemans mourns what once was and claims the country to be only able to regain independence and restore its glory through the rebirth of the heroes of myth. I do however believe ‘Modern Greece’ was less effective at voicing these ideas than ‘The Curse of Minerva’ unfortunately. 

The Curse of Minerva by Lord Byron

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Lord Byron’s Poem ‘The Curse of Minerva’ is the poets scornful response to the theft of the Elgin marbles from the Pantheon in Greece. He sides with the debate that such was an unjust theft rather than saving the marbles from the sacrilege of the Turkish, hence proclaims that until their return, they will therefore be cursed by the God, explaining the sinking of his ship in 1803. I stumbled upon this for an essay on Byron and the Elgin Marbles, reading it simply because it had a mythologically themed title and I hoped it’d be related and honestly the joy upon realising just how related it was really enhanced my enjoyment of this poem. It was scathing towards Elgin and Britain and exploring an issue that still is as conflicted upon and unresolved in the modern day, however this being a point of contention of 200 years ago, was of great interest.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

challenging sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

(In starting another of Hosseini's works I have decided to take the opportunity to start trying to backlog relevant books I read pre-downloading storygraph)

I read 'The Kite Runner' a few years ago as I was studying it for A-Level and it is one of the best books I have ever studied. It was such an impactful and emotional bildungsroman tale of growing up within the racial prejudice of Afghanistan, and the political impact of the rise of the Taliban and their rule in the country. Seeing a first hand narrative account of how this devastated what was once a country so full of life was heartbreaking and truly eye opening.

I recall Hosseini's writing being so beautiful, his characters so vivid yet so painfully written and the narrative extremely engaging (especially the two sections set in Afghanistan exploring the political climate, I don't recall being enthralled by the America section.)

I am recalling from three years ago so my review is far more limited, but shall try add backlogs from time to time :) 

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

M.L. Rio’s ‘If We Were Villains’ was a book that just had something special about it that I can’t explain, it was such a vivid and engaging story that swooped the reader away to a place I adore, theatre and literature. It’s a dark academia about 7 students at Dellecher arts college that exclusively study Shakespeare, and when cast outside of their archetypal roles the system that they operate within slowly falls apart. 

The works of Shakespeare were so cleverly intertwined into this book in its structure, chapters being acts and scenes, the plot mirroring a classical Shakespearian tragedy and sections of speech structured in script (of which wasn’t a feature I was a huge lover of but just accepted as the story unfolded). Each character reflects the classic archetypes of Shakespeare’s tragedies and are equally all in some manner flawed, and this engagement with the bard across the book was honestly such a motivator to push forward through my chronological reading of his complete works. It was also reality accessible in the manner it was written, one does not need to be a scholar in Shakespeare to engage with and enjoy this book, it’ll just make you want to become a scholar in Shakespeare. 

It started so well with such a good exploration of friendship dynamics and life in academia and I was worried, knowing how the story was roughly going to unfold from the preface, about it becoming consumed by a murder mystery, but this aspect wasn’t too heavily leant on and it maintained its charm throughout which I was so glad for. Though the vibes were brilliant, the characters I struggled with a little more. They all play their archetypal roles for the most part and are largely dislikable figures but written to be so human that they were great, I just didn’t really get on with the protagonist Oliver. He was so painfully average, whining that he’s nothing special and just normal constantly and it gets such a brain numbing voice to be stuck seeing this story through the head of. He isn’t meant to be an overly likeable guy and we obviously see the world through his angle of it, but this overarch of constantly believing he as the mundane was hard to distance oneself from. 

The ending was also turbulent. I had so many perceived directions and it wasn’t the end I would’ve praised from a structuring perspective, it taking a more modern twist to a tragic finale rather than a direct mirroring. The initial ending I was very disappointed by I won’t lie, whereas the epilogue completely subverted this and had my jaw dropped, the sudden shift was so good and impactful. That being said there was a final twist that decayed the impact of the epilogue a little but I think it can largely be read as the reader desires so mentally am discounting such as having an impact on the story, or at least how I view it. 

Now I shall revel in the motivation to indulge myself in the next couple of Shakespeare’s plays on my list.  

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Haynes’ ‘A Thousand Ships’ tells the story of the Trojan War from the perspective of the women involved but often pushed into the shadows by the speed of Achilles or bravery of Hector. It grants around thirty of these mythological figures a voice, from justifying the likes of Clytemnestra, illuminating the silenced Iphigenia and Polyxena, and vocalising figures that have been completely ignored by mainstream mythology such as Themis, the first wife of Paris: Oenone and the wife of Protesilaus: Laodamia, these stories being ones I was completely unaware of beforehand. 

 

The highlights were the chapters voiced by the muse Calliope and Penelope. In writing letters to Odysseus across his long journey home she gradually becomes more frustrated by his need to always be the hero and go on one more adventure, not thinking at all about her. It was such an understandable perspective which is completely silenced by Homer until Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca and her emotions in such are so honest yet also humorous. I lobed the voice of Calliope, which parodied the epic tradition to summon the muse but she is so tired of the constant summoning to men who want to sing of the many men they have killed and cities they have sacked. She is so unbothered by it all which is wonderful, yet also serves the role of ensuring the female stories are told, highlighting the frontal idea of ‘A Thousand Ships’ that the real heroes and victims of the Trojan War were the women, for they too lived through it with no credit, kept fighting as widows to husbands that abandoned them or died, and also suffered the price of surviving. The men died heroic deaths and were remembered by history and the women of Troy continued to suffer enslaved. 

 

That being said, whilst the structure was commendable for covering so many voices, it was very fragmentary which wasn’t helped by the fact the stories were not placed chronologically. Hence, I therefore found it very easy to put down the book at the end of a perspective and therefore took longer on it than it’d typically take me to read such a book. Also naturally, with so many perspectives, there were the strengths of Penelope and Calliope but many were quite weak narrative voices that didn’t offer much in regards to am interesting writing style.