Book Review: Persuasion by Jane Austen
// By Jessica 10 Comments
25 Sep
2012

Book Review: Persuasion by Jane Austen

Persuasion Persuasion by
Published On: 1818
Genres: ,
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The Short, Sweet, and Spoiler-Free Blurb:

Twenty-seven-year old Anne Elliot is Austen’s most adult heroine. Eight years before the story proper begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret.

4 Stars

My first impression of Persuasion was that Jane Austen writes some interesting and detailed characters. Right from page one, Sir Walter was my favorite character. He’s a jerk, yeah, but he’s hilarious. I don’t know that the characters in this book are as modern as they are in say Pride and Prejudice, but the author’s brutal honesty, especially about the less appealing characters, is always entertaining. The whole story made me really think about how much other people influence our lives and whether or not that is always a good thing.

And can Jane Austen write a romance. The flirting, the dashing hero that you want but can’t have, and that beautiful love letter! I do have to say that there was one major climactic scene that just felt cheesy to me. Oh the horror! Other than that, it was refreshing and fun to read a Jane Austen novel that I didn’t even know existed until a few years ago.

Content Rating: None.

About Jane Austen

CassandraAusten-JaneAusten(c.1810)_hires

She was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism and biting social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics. Jane Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fringes of the English landed gentry. She was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to her development as a professional writer.

Visit her grave

 

Posted on: September 25, 2012 2:00 am By Jessica Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: , , , , 10 Comments
Book Review: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
// By Jessica 2 Comments
6 Mar
2012

Book Review: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by
Published On: 1831
Genres:
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The Short, Sweet, and Spoiler-Free Blurb:

In the vaulted Gothic towers of Notre-Dame lives Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bellringer. Mocked and shunned for his appearance, he is pitied only by Esmerelda, a beautiful gypsy dancer to whom he becomes completely devoted. Esmerelda, however, has also attracted the attention of the sinister archdeacon Claude Frollo, and when she rejects his lecherous approaches, Frollo hatches a plot to destroy her that only Quasimodo can prevent. Victor Hugo’s sensational, evocative novel brings life to the medieval Paris he loved, and mourns its passing in one of the greatest historical romances of the nineteenth century.

4 Stars

Everything in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a fascinating juxtaposition of the grotesque and the sublime – the speech, the characters, the setting. I felt like the whole point of the story was to show that architecture was the only good thing that came from the Middle Ages so for heaven’s sake, don’t tear those buildings down! We could never build something like that again! This book saved the Notre Dame Cathedral by giving people a reason to care about it and showing how Gothic architecture was beautiful even though it was different (which is a theme in the novel that applies to the characters as well). Victor Hugo likes lists that are very, very long full of even longer names and I found myself falling asleep a lot in the first half of the book. Then suddenly I get hit over the head by this steamy, passionate, action-packed, gruesomely violent second half of the novel complete with forbidden love. Didn’t see that coming. I found it surprisingly modern in that there are a lot elements in this story that are popular in novels, especially young adult ones, today.  Though I can’t help but think that the girl would have been turned on by the whole forbidden/creepy love thing if it had been written today instead of her being horrified by it. And can I just say how shocked I was when he used the word “vampire” AND talked about Nicolas Flamel?  There was some great sarcastic humor in here that had me smiling. This was Hugo’s first novel after writing plays and it reads like one. There are lots of action scenes and he writes an excellent mob. He almost makes me want to grab a pitchfork. I walked away from this book thinking about what beauty and love really are.

Content Rating: Medium, for sensuality and violence.

About Victor Hugo

Hugo

Victor Marie Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best known French writers. In France, Hugo’s literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831 (known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo’s views changed as the decades passed; he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, and his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He was buried in the Panthéon.

Posted on: March 6, 2012 1:07 am By Jessica Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: , , , , 2 Comments
Book Review: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
// By Jessica 3 Comments
29 Nov
2011

Book Review: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist Oliver Twist by
Published On: 1837
Genres: ,
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The Short, Sweet, and Spoiler-Free Blurb:

The story of the orphan Oliver, who runs away from the workhouse only to be taken in by a den of thieves, shocked readers when it was first published. Dickens’s tale of childhood innocence beset by evil depicts the dark criminal underworld of a London peopled by vivid and memorable characters—the arch-villain Fagin, the artful Dodger, the menacing Bill Sikes and the prostitute Nancy

4 Stars

Oliver Twist is a social satire that criticizes Victorian England. Some of his criticisms of society could still apply today. It was more graphic and violent than I thought it would be. Dickens writes the best characters I’ve ever read. Even the minor characters have personalities and flaws.  Dickens has this way of narrating that makes you feel so connected to the characters and makes you care about them a lot.  

August Rush, the movie, was a great retelling of Oliver Twist and now that I’ve read the book, I can see even more similarities (the biggest similarity – he runs away from an orphanage and gets picked up by a band of musicians that reminds me a lot of the band of thieves in Oliver Twist). Oliver Twist was not really a page turner, but it was the easiest novel of Dickens that I’ve read yet. The ending felt a little contrived to me, but I felt so moved by all of the characters through the rest of the novel that I didn’t mind very much. I can see why this novel was shocking at the time it was published. Dickens sheds light on things that people just didn’t like talking about back then and nothing is black and white.

Content Rating: Mild, for some violence that made me squirm a bit and abuse to kids.

About Charles Dickens

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A prolific 19th Century author of short stories, plays, novellas, novels, fiction and non; during his lifetime Dickens became known the world over for his remarkable characters, his mastery of prose in the telling of their lives, and his depictions of the social classes, morals and values of his times. Some considered him the spokesman for the poor, for he definitely brought much awareness to their plight, the downtrodden and the have-nots. He had his share of critics, like Virginia Woolf and Henry James, but also many admirers, even into the 21st Century.

Posted on: November 29, 2011 4:24 am By Jessica Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: , , , , 3 Comments
Book Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
// By Jessica 3 Comments
8 Nov
2011

Book Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights by
Published On: 1847
Genres: ,
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The Short, Sweet, and Spoiler-Free Blurb:

Wuthering Heights is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine’s father. After Mr Earnshaw’s death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine’s brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries.

4 Stars

I read this book mainly because it was talked about a lot in Eclipse.  I was shocked by how dark and Gothic it was.  I can’t imagine what people must have thought when it was published.  If I could pick two words to describe Wuthering Heights it would be “passionate” and “bizarre.”  I’ve never read anything like it.  I knew as I was reading it that I wasn’t supposed to like Cathy.  She has a passionate temper that was very unlikeable and yet I couldn’t hate her.  In fact, I related to her in a lot of strange ways.  I kind of agree with Edward Cullen’s assessment of the book that it’s not a love story but a hate story.  The ending was what made me like this book.  A lot of the characters are run madly by their passions and I thought for sure the ending would be nothing but a disaster.  I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.  If Eclipse has made you curious as to what happens in this book, give it a try.  You might actually like it.

Content Rating: None

About Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte

Emily Jane Brontë was a British novelist and poet, now best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature. Emily was the second eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, being younger than Charlotte Brontë and older than Anne Brontë. She published under the masculine pen name Ellis Bell.

Posted on: November 8, 2011 4:59 am By Jessica Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: , , , , 3 Comments
Book Review: Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy
// By Jessica 1 Comment
15 Sep
2011

Book Review: Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy

Resurrection Resurrection by
Published On: 1899
Genres: ,
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The Short, Sweet, and Spoiler-Free Blurb:

Resurrection (1899) is the last of Tolstoy’s major novels. It tells the story of a nobleman’s attempt to redeem the suffering his youthful philandering inflicted on a peasant girl who ends up a prisoner in Siberia. Tolstoy’s vision of redemption, achieved through loving forgiveness and his condemnation of violence, dominate the novel.

3 Stars

A good introduction to Tolstoy if you don’t want to take on War and Peace, but it’s definitely not as good. The ending felt unfinished and a little vague and the characters were not as interesting as the ones in his more famous works. He seems to have a woman with a mustache in every one of his books (including this one) and it makes me laugh.  Resurrection was Tolstoy’s last novel.  The whole novel is pushing a moral agenda very aggressively and he kind-of hits you over the head with it.  I think this novel might have been based on a true story, though I can’t say for sure where I heard that.  Either way, thinking of it as a true story helps with balancing the extreme preachiness of it.

Content Rating: None.

About Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world’s greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.

 

Posted on: September 15, 2011 4:38 am By Jessica Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: , , , , 1 Comment
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