-
All books
-
-
-
- The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror (4)
-
Reading
-
-
-
-
- Arguably (21)
- Essays by Christopher Hitchens
- By Christopher Hitchens
-
Reading since Dec 27, 2011
-
-
-
-
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee (126)
- Evolution and Human Life
- By Jared Diamond
-
Reading since Apr 2, 2012
-
-
-
-
- The Book of Life (8)
- An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth
- By Stephen Jay Gould
-
Reading since Jun 24, 2011
-
-
-
-
- Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1556)
- (Wordsworth Classics)
- By Robert Louis Stevenson
-
Reading since Jan 3, 2011
-
-
-
-
- The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain (40)
- By Mark Twain
-
Reading since Mar 16, 2010
-
-
-
-
- A brief guide to the Greek myths (3)
- By Stephen Kershaw
-
Reading since Jul 26, 2009
-
-
-
-
- The Golem's Eye (103)
- (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 2)
- By Jonathan Stroud
-
Finished on May 8, 2012
-
-
-
-
- Monk (144)
- By Matthew Lewis
-
Finished on Mar 27, 2012
-
-
-
-
- Jimi Hendrix (4)
- The Man, the Magic, the Truth
- By Sharon Lawrence
-
Finished on Jan 17, 2012
-
-
An important source on the Hendrix phenomena
-
Sharon Lawrence was a close friend of Jimi’s. She was also a reporter, and, conveniently for her job, as well as this book, she had an exceptional memory for details, as she touches on herself at one point in her narration. This ability of hers has enabled her to write a remarkably detailed account ... (continue)
- — Jan 17, 2012 | Add your feedback
-
-
-
-
- A Christmas Carol, The Chimes & The Cricket on the Hearth (143)
- (Barnes & Noble Classi (Barnes & Noble Classics)
- By Katherine Kroeber Wiley, Charles Dickens
-
Finished on Jan 7, 2012
-
-
-
-
- The Amulet of Samarkand (162)
- (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1)
- By Jonathan Stroud
-
Finished on Dec 3, 2011
-
-
-
-
- Slaughterhouse 5 (963)
- (Vintage Crucial Classics)
- By Kurt Vonnegut
-
Finished on Oct 15, 2011
-
-
-
-
- Hitchcock (22)
- (Revised Edition)
- By Helen Scott, Francois Truffaut
-
Finished on Sep 11, 2011
-
-
-
-
- Full Dark, No Stars (271)
- By Stephen King
-
Finished on Aug 31, 2011
-
RSS feeds: subscribe to Arnifannar's shelf
Monk
I liked this book in the beginning, as it seemed to be developing a critical focus on the psychological effects that the sexually supressed lifestyle of the monastery has had on the title character of the book, while yet it was unclear in which direction the story would take this angle, and I was ve ... (continue)
I liked this book in the beginning, as it seemed to be developing a critical focus on the psychological effects that the sexually supressed lifestyle of the monastery has had on the title character of the book, while yet it was unclear in which direction the story would take this angle, and I was very interested to go on.
But then the ceaseless piling up of plot lines that the book is actually about began. It was a restless narration that didn‘t allow itself to dwell long on any single plot line that had been introduced, but instead brushes them off one after the other and put them in the background of something else that would soon enough be treated in the same way. It felt unsatisfying to read, even if parts of the story were quite good and gripping. Somewhere in the midst of the book there is a ghost story, and at the point when it‘s introduced the book seems finally to be settling on a direction. Until the plot line of the ghost has been tied up and thrown away for the story to go on rolling down a hill, collecting more plot lines as it goes.
Now, to be fair, there are a couple of storylines that remain as the constants throughout the book, but it gradually became impossible for me to care about them with all the other plot elements that are crammed into the narration. In the very last pages of the book a couple of new plot lines are introduced, and one of them is actually meant to somehow tie together some of the things that have gone on in the story. It may possibly be appealing to some readers, but for me it was so far away from the aspect of the story that got me invested in it in the first place that it merely served to finalize the disappointment of the book. Having said that it still feels like everything in the book could have worked on its own if the work around it had been more focused.
In conclusion I just want to add my standard disclaimer that I don‘t like giving low grades to books, and I certainly don‘t care for how the ratings here are piled together, as if accumulatively they have some greater meaning. I just rate books basing on how well they work for me and I am not trying to reflect any universal appraisal of them.
Is this helpful?