Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Goldfinch.....my albatross

I love Donna Tartt's writing...her first two novels are Favorites, of mine This last....THE GOLDFINCH..has thrown me six ways to Sunday I love the prose.....luminous, as always....I love the Story line....I wish people would not have slapped the "Dickensian" adjective, on this book. Of course it has an intricate plot, and lots of "quirky" characters...but, somehow, i find a huge hole, in the story. I can't connect with the characters, and the emotion that is an integral part of Theo's "story". Unlike some reviewers..i don't feel "maternal" where Theo is concerned.....he was bounced around the world, from the age of 13.....his criminal activity was no surprise.....i'm surprised he never saw through Boris....and his "angles" I haven't finished the book, yet......lord help me, when i do

Saturday, February 15, 2014

One Review of my 2013 reads

Those Across the RiverThose Across the River by Christopher Buehlman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While this is a wonderful Old School horror story, it goes much deeper than mere werewolves

Frank Nichols is a haunted man.....Haunted by his memories of the First World War.....Haunted by an incident perpetrated by his Great Grandfather, after the Civil War.....Guilt-ridden by his relationship with his "not yet" wife (Adultery was a Big Deal, back in the 1920s-1930s). This man is fated for some bad shit..

I never saw this book as a Werewolf story...although i love the Good Ones

I'm going out on a limb, here...

I think this is a story about Guilt, Regret, and Fear

Frank Nichols was an Academic who fell in Lust with a colleague's wife...he inherited a house in Whitbrow, Georgia (a welcome escape from his Academic failure, in Chicago) and headed South, to start a new life....and write a book about the family Black Sheep......and THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER


****I lost my original review......bear with me****


No matter how Black the Sheep....Frank Nichols was caught in his own Vortex, unable to change the past, and uncertain of his future.....from that point, Werewolves would have been a blessing, although they walked in Human Skin...when times were difficult

This is one of the saddest books i have read, lately.....and I highly recommend it to anyone, who likes to step beyond Genres