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isabelsdigest's reviews
259 reviews
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
5.0
Last book I read in 2020, (and arguably the best too) - No spoilers
“Because the terrible thing about becoming an adult is being forced to realize that absolutely nobody cares about us, we have to deal with everything ourselves now, find out how the whole world works.”
[b:Anxious People|49127718|Anxious People|Fredrik Backman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597575031l/49127718._SY75_.jpg|67840009] presents us with a poignant understanding of human nature. [a:Fredrik Backman|6485178|Fredrik Backman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1493098924p2/6485178.jpg] makes use of a plot of a robbery that never took place, of a group of hostages whose lives will never be the same, and two local police officers that should never work in another case together. Backman’s objective- I believe- is to show us how with a handful of details at the time, we can get so attached to fictional characters that work as mirrors for our flaws.
With a combination of some of most real people you could ever read about, Anxious People accomplishes what every reader aches to experience: you can see yourself, but not any version of you. You see the most vulnerable part (or maybe you do not, if you try very hard)
The central themes of adulthood, marriage, loneliness, emptiness, (and that secret you hold so tight that sometimes it feels like the secret holds you and not the other way around), are all board in the most delightful way. Reading Anxious People is going down the rabbit hole of human interconnection that is as infinite as it is complex.
Sometimes I wonder what happened with that woman who looked so sad by the canned goods in the supermarket. Or when I see a pregnant lady I get a little bit sad that I will never know how they named the baby. Anxious People understands that feeling. It understands that we are swimming in a big pond of other lonely confused adults, and that mostly our first assesment is wrong- people are contrarians- we will not dare to show who we really are in plain sight. To reach adulthood is to grow a thick layer of skin, and this book shows you how obvious you are in your attempt to act put together.
If you want to know more about my book opinions, you can go check my booktube channel and my bookstagram. All linked in my profile.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCYIlVUaPpFE33KvomfCX7g
“Because the terrible thing about becoming an adult is being forced to realize that absolutely nobody cares about us, we have to deal with everything ourselves now, find out how the whole world works.”
[b:Anxious People|49127718|Anxious People|Fredrik Backman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597575031l/49127718._SY75_.jpg|67840009] presents us with a poignant understanding of human nature. [a:Fredrik Backman|6485178|Fredrik Backman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1493098924p2/6485178.jpg] makes use of a plot of a robbery that never took place, of a group of hostages whose lives will never be the same, and two local police officers that should never work in another case together. Backman’s objective- I believe- is to show us how with a handful of details at the time, we can get so attached to fictional characters that work as mirrors for our flaws.
With a combination of some of most real people you could ever read about, Anxious People accomplishes what every reader aches to experience: you can see yourself, but not any version of you. You see the most vulnerable part (or maybe you do not, if you try very hard)
The central themes of adulthood, marriage, loneliness, emptiness, (and that secret you hold so tight that sometimes it feels like the secret holds you and not the other way around), are all board in the most delightful way. Reading Anxious People is going down the rabbit hole of human interconnection that is as infinite as it is complex.
Sometimes I wonder what happened with that woman who looked so sad by the canned goods in the supermarket. Or when I see a pregnant lady I get a little bit sad that I will never know how they named the baby. Anxious People understands that feeling. It understands that we are swimming in a big pond of other lonely confused adults, and that mostly our first assesment is wrong- people are contrarians- we will not dare to show who we really are in plain sight. To reach adulthood is to grow a thick layer of skin, and this book shows you how obvious you are in your attempt to act put together.
If you want to know more about my book opinions, you can go check my booktube channel and my bookstagram. All linked in my profile.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCYIlVUaPpFE33KvomfCX7g
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
3.0
"It was an unhappy life that I lived, and its one dominant anxiety, towering over all its other anxieties like a high
mountain above a range of mountains, never disappeared from my view."
There are books that (for me) are meant for specific seasons. [b:Great Expectations|35619412|Great Expectations|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499466204l/35619412._SX50_.jpg|2612809] is a title of a certain reputation that screams 'Winter', and for some reason, sadness. Maybe because I am old enough to know that expectations hardly materialize as we want them, and how often we encounter that we have very little agency in our own life. Therefore, without investigating anything further about this novel, I went ahead and made it my first book of the year. January for me is the saddest month, and Great Expectations somehow managed to make it bright. I give it a 3.5.
In this novel, you will find beautifully crafted sentences and a mastery that only an experienced weaver would have. The plot expands in some ways that my untrusting mind thought “uhh, [a:Charles Dickens|239579|Charles Dickens|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1387078070p2/239579.jpg] is telling me all these things that I have no interest in knowing”. As usual, he reminded me that he actually knows what he is doing and in the end, all the strands we had were stitched back together in a way that only someone with a ‘big picture’ brain could do.
With that being said, the heart of this novel relies on the characters that you will find. Some of the despicable -and yes, I am looking at you, Orlick-, and some of them are genuinely the sweetest characters you could find- and of course, I mean Joe. My favorite character, Miss Havishman teaches us so many lessons and her story convinced my fool old heart to give her all the sympathy in the world. I believe you will find a character that teaches you a lesson of how not to be, or how to act.
I recommend you to read this novel in January, or a cold month depending on where you are in the world. I can also recommend you to immerse yourself in the story so you can be surprised at the end. Contrary to how I usually jump into books, I will leave you a plot blurp so you can know what type of plot awaits you. Of course, I will like it very much if you take this as an encouragement to read it and not an easy way to act as if you read it. To ensure that, there are no big spoilers down below. You are welcome
The plot, no spoilers
With the nickname of Pip, our young protagonist starts the novel as an orphan child contemplating his parent’s tombs. Such a sad existence is established when we learn that Pip lives with his older sister, who is everything but affectionate. His only friend in the world is noble Joe, his brother-in-law. Pip is a good-natured kid, who after being threatened by a convict, agrees to steal food from his house to stay alive, not without much guilt for his sin. I would love to tell you that Pip remains virtuous as all children tend to be while uncorrupted. However, Great Expectations is not the story about dreams, but of reality, and how it hits Pip from childhood to adulthood.
The convict showed how the life of crime eats humanity out of poor men, but Pip is mostly influenced by good old Joe, a blacksmith that works hard and is content with his life as common and simple as it is. After that first sin, Pip’s life suddenly changes when he meets yet another possibility of life. He meets wealthy and lonely Miss Havisham, who lives in a mansion that is trapped in time due to her own animosity towards moving own. There, Pip meets the object of his affection, Estella, and his way of seeing life changes.
Our protagonist is then hit with another life-changing moment: he has an anonymous benefactor who is to make him a gentleman, and with those great expectations placed on him, he is free to believe that his expectations of sharing a life with Estella are only inevitable, right?
Video analysis coming up in my channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCYIlVUaPpFE33KvomfCX7g
and make sure you follow me in Instagram @isabelsdigest.
mountain above a range of mountains, never disappeared from my view."
There are books that (for me) are meant for specific seasons. [b:Great Expectations|35619412|Great Expectations|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499466204l/35619412._SX50_.jpg|2612809] is a title of a certain reputation that screams 'Winter', and for some reason, sadness. Maybe because I am old enough to know that expectations hardly materialize as we want them, and how often we encounter that we have very little agency in our own life. Therefore, without investigating anything further about this novel, I went ahead and made it my first book of the year. January for me is the saddest month, and Great Expectations somehow managed to make it bright. I give it a 3.5.
In this novel, you will find beautifully crafted sentences and a mastery that only an experienced weaver would have. The plot expands in some ways that my untrusting mind thought “uhh, [a:Charles Dickens|239579|Charles Dickens|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1387078070p2/239579.jpg] is telling me all these things that I have no interest in knowing”. As usual, he reminded me that he actually knows what he is doing and in the end, all the strands we had were stitched back together in a way that only someone with a ‘big picture’ brain could do.
With that being said, the heart of this novel relies on the characters that you will find. Some of the despicable -and yes, I am looking at you, Orlick-, and some of them are genuinely the sweetest characters you could find- and of course, I mean Joe. My favorite character, Miss Havishman teaches us so many lessons and her story convinced my fool old heart to give her all the sympathy in the world. I believe you will find a character that teaches you a lesson of how not to be, or how to act.
I recommend you to read this novel in January, or a cold month depending on where you are in the world. I can also recommend you to immerse yourself in the story so you can be surprised at the end. Contrary to how I usually jump into books, I will leave you a plot blurp so you can know what type of plot awaits you. Of course, I will like it very much if you take this as an encouragement to read it and not an easy way to act as if you read it. To ensure that, there are no big spoilers down below. You are welcome
The plot, no spoilers
With the nickname of Pip, our young protagonist starts the novel as an orphan child contemplating his parent’s tombs. Such a sad existence is established when we learn that Pip lives with his older sister, who is everything but affectionate. His only friend in the world is noble Joe, his brother-in-law. Pip is a good-natured kid, who after being threatened by a convict, agrees to steal food from his house to stay alive, not without much guilt for his sin. I would love to tell you that Pip remains virtuous as all children tend to be while uncorrupted. However, Great Expectations is not the story about dreams, but of reality, and how it hits Pip from childhood to adulthood.
The convict showed how the life of crime eats humanity out of poor men, but Pip is mostly influenced by good old Joe, a blacksmith that works hard and is content with his life as common and simple as it is. After that first sin, Pip’s life suddenly changes when he meets yet another possibility of life. He meets wealthy and lonely Miss Havisham, who lives in a mansion that is trapped in time due to her own animosity towards moving own. There, Pip meets the object of his affection, Estella, and his way of seeing life changes.
Our protagonist is then hit with another life-changing moment: he has an anonymous benefactor who is to make him a gentleman, and with those great expectations placed on him, he is free to believe that his expectations of sharing a life with Estella are only inevitable, right?
Video analysis coming up in my channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCYIlVUaPpFE33KvomfCX7g
and make sure you follow me in Instagram @isabelsdigest.