euthalia's reviews
7 reviews

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

adventurous emotional relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

This book is fantastical, magnificent and magical.. one does not expect what he has signed up for before reading it. I can surely say the title of the book might be misleading, The Night Circus, is not just about a circus but a window to surrealistic magical world of power, control, skill and years of stories in making. Every element of a book is crafted into a fantasy world much like combining Harry Potter with a bit of Twilight feel. But, the book I think is much more mature and complex, not a typical magic fantasy or a romance, it is much more than that. The way the author has described every sensory detail is unparalleled, it was as if I was walking through the book pages after pages.
The love story between Marco and Celia feels like a dream, the attraction, the intensity and depth these two characters have is just perfect. It is a subtle yet very powerful romance, it is rare and both of them complement each other like 2 sides of a coin, like black and white. The chapter where they both spend time in Chandresh's house is my favorite one and the ballroom scene will be forever engraved in my memory like a beautiful dream. 
All the other characters Hector, Alexander, Bailey, Poppet, Widget, Chandresh etc . were very well written building the complexity and narrative of the story. 
Overall, I don't think I will ever forget this wonderful book, would someday love to see a live action film on this book. This book is truly one of a kind, a rare gem worth exploring. 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

Reading this book felt like delving into history and experiencing the horrors of world war and how it affected the lives of common people. Amidst all chaos is the story of a blind girl, who through her intellect and bravery survives, the bond between her and her father, the story of a young brilliant boy whose journey showcases the conditions under which soldiers lived. The title is also very apt 'All the light we cannot see' refers to the electromagnetic radio waves through which communication was possible, it tells us a great deal about the methodologies used in wars, the manipulative propaganda fed into the common innocent public by Hitler. The characters are very well written, but the pace of the book is very slow.

Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

This book explores the inner workings of human psyche, how anxiety, fear and depression get hold of us. The first part introduces us to the inner conscious conflicts the underground man suffers. The constant paradoxical nature of his despairs claiming on one side to be superior than other humans in terms of heightened consciousness and intelligence and on the other hand draining oneself with self pity and hatred for thinking oneself above all. His desperations and wanting to be humiliated, at the same time wanting respect arise a sense of hostility that he suffers from the world. He suffers from prolonged loneliness and longs for connection and at the same time wants 'peace' by shoving away every human in his life. This constant conflict of complex nature comes from deepened self awareness and inward analysis, and in underground man's case, he himself is the reason that he suffers so much. The second part of the book explores the real realm, outside of his consciousness where he is encountered with much shame and humiliation. He indulges so much into his mind, that is agonized by the reality. The second part is his life which contradicts his mature, sophisticated and philosophical mind. This book was confusing and a bit boring to read at first, but after few pages we get a grasp of what is going on.

 Analyzing the book now, I feel I resonate with this character, he does describes my thoughts well. I think this book describes every human being capable of conscious thought. There are parts of you hidden in this book, some are nasty, disgusting, loathing even, the parts of you that hide away from the world, the anxiety, self pity, fear, constant existential dread, depression, and despair of not having any worth to the world. And the underground man said "  To be overly conscious is a sickness."  and  " How can a man of consciousness have the slightest respect for himself. "

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

Okay, so this book was really difficult to put down after reading the first few pages, I completed it in 1 day. It really builds up the mystery all along the plot but I think it fell short on the character development because even towards the end on the book I was like What?, Theo literally made no sense to me, he was badly written and the author could have added more depth to his character, even after knowing the big reveal at the end I found the story lacking key elements like what happened to the relationship between Kathy and Theo? Why did he not just confront her? Why did he tortured Alicia like that when she was also a victim of her husband's infidelity? 
Also, the character Alicia is a bit naive and underdeveloped, like throughout the book she is described as charming and attractive, but she had no friends. Why? She plays the role of a tragic beautiful heroine. None of the female characters in the story are represented well. They lack dept and familiarity which makes them unrelatable.
Then one thing that frustrates me is involvement of irrelevant characters and unnecessary subplots which have nothing to do with the main plot. Also all the seemingly suspicious characters have nothing to do with the main story, but they are portrayed as suspects. All in all, anyone who has read many mysteries would not be so astonished by the ending, I saw it coming because Theo was not a reliable narrator .
This book was not too good or not too bad but it definitely could have been better, only if the author focused more on the characters and not rushed the plot towards his big reveal.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

Reading this book is like opening your mind to a whole new world of infinite possibilities. The love story that transcends through all possible universal space and time, and the key getaway is that all it takes to change the course of your life is one right step at the right time. Jason and all versions of him really represents all forms of human psyche. The way we are defined depends on the choices we make, the decisions we take and the way we react to different life scenarios. There is a fork at every road and infinite paths to follow, but choosing the right path is what makes all the difference. This book makes us wonder what if we did that instead of this? What would life be then? It takes us on a journey of self exploration and makes us wonder the infinite probabilities of events that defines our future. It makes us question our truest selves and what really makes you YOU. One way to understand this is imagining making a sandcastle by the sea shore in the daylight, only it to be destroyed by the sea in the night. The sandcastle is what we believe our beliefs, our values, our morals are that defines us. We build these values in a way that our society what wants us to. We define ourselves our character, our personality based on these values and live with it, keeping those values close and believing that these values represents oneself. But the truth is nothing stays and how much ever bigger castle you build, it is destined to be destroyed by the wave, the wave of the universe, a radical of change. Our truest self is the one who has the courage to lose oneself, lose every version of you. Lose yourself into the abyss of this universe and go with its flow. To know that our sandcastle will be destroyed by the wave, but still picking up the shards of broken hope, we try, we try again and again. We improvise and try to be a better version of ourself, because there is always room for improvement and evolve. This way one can truly achieve the definition of what makes you 'YOU'.

"Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe

dark emotional sad tense

5.0

This poem resonates at the right places in the heart, the mystery and despair filled with unknowing source of sadness, of emptiness, and hopeless longing. Alone is a work of art, greatest literature describing the feeling of an unknown knowing, the nothingness in everything.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

The book, was slow paced but as you kept on reading, all you could do is get more and more hopeful about life itself. It was as if I was living the life of Nora Seed, gasping and trying to find and follow the seemingly perfect life. This book takes onto a journey of self discovery and self reflection. On things of what could be or could not be. The maze what we call life is nothing but a linear path of our own choices and values. At the end all what really matters is the what we do, how we choose to do it and what we really feel. The best way to live a life is To Live It, that is what I think is the greatest thing you can do to yourself, is to be yourself, to be the main character and unapologetically hold the pen and write in bold that "I AM ALIVE", and I want to live, to experience life, with its all flavors.