When I opened up this book and saw a letter (the kind you send), I was a little nervous. I'm not a big fan of epistolary novels (Ella Minnow Pea notwithstanding) in general, because the exposition is always unwieldy and annoying. However, the letter soon ended and the book became simply a description of the life of Sarah Carrier.
Sarah is, in the story, a young girl living in Massachusetts near the end of the 17th century. Her family deals with the usual things — smallpox, farming, family rivalries, accusations of witchcraft... well, okay, that one comes a little later. Sarah's mother, Martha, is a bit of an independent woman, which is okay by her family and friends but not okay by really anyone else. When the Carriers move in with Martha's mother, they are not well-received by the town and eventually Martha is accused of being a witch. The book follows Sarah's perspective in all this and gives an interesting look at life in this strange time.
This description is a little weak, and I apologize for that, but I just didn't really get into this book. It was interesting, certainly, and I was happy to read through the end, but it's not some stunning new take on the trials or even on family dynamics. -shrug- If you like historical novels or novels about accused witches, you should give it a read, but everyone else could probably take a pass.
Rating: 6/10
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
27 May 2009
People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks (20 May — 27 May)
People of the Book is the fake story of the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated seder text that baffles historians to this day. Brooks took some of the facts of the haggadah's discovery and created fictional characters and situations to explain how these things came to be.
Our protagonist, Hanna Heath, is a young but excellent book conservator who is tapped to handle the restoration of the book. While examining it, she discovers an insect wing, some wine stains, and a few salt crystals that pique her interest and get her asking questions. Although Hanna doesn't get all the answers, we do — Brooks writes scenarios for all of these that give a sense of the "people of the book" and why it is so important and revered.
I quite enjoyed this book, though it was a bit of a slow go as the narrative jumps back and forth between Hanna in the present and the other characters in their respective times. I found these journeys into the past to be more exciting than the present narrative, in which we discover that Hanna hates her mother and doesn't form lasting relationships and works with far too many young but excellent professionals. In the past, we discover the tyranny of religion, the compassion of individuals, and all of the discrete steps that had to be taken to make the Sarajevo Haggadah the complete book it is today. I can only hope that the haggadah's true story is as excellent as its fake one.
Rating: 8/10
(Support Your Local Library Challenge)
Our protagonist, Hanna Heath, is a young but excellent book conservator who is tapped to handle the restoration of the book. While examining it, she discovers an insect wing, some wine stains, and a few salt crystals that pique her interest and get her asking questions. Although Hanna doesn't get all the answers, we do — Brooks writes scenarios for all of these that give a sense of the "people of the book" and why it is so important and revered.
I quite enjoyed this book, though it was a bit of a slow go as the narrative jumps back and forth between Hanna in the present and the other characters in their respective times. I found these journeys into the past to be more exciting than the present narrative, in which we discover that Hanna hates her mother and doesn't form lasting relationships and works with far too many young but excellent professionals. In the past, we discover the tyranny of religion, the compassion of individuals, and all of the discrete steps that had to be taken to make the Sarajevo Haggadah the complete book it is today. I can only hope that the haggadah's true story is as excellent as its fake one.
Rating: 8/10
(Support Your Local Library Challenge)
09 March 2009
Christine Falls, by Benjamin Black (8 March — 9 March)
Hmm. I'm not sure what to say about this book. I picked it up because I loved Tana French's Irish crime novels (as you well know by now!) and I was like, "Oooh. More Irish crime novels!" But they aren't the same at all, and I'm not sure I'd even classify this book as a crime novel, since I'm not clear what crime has been committed even after reading the book (it's possible I should know, but I don't... please tell me what it is if you do!).
The novel follows a Mr. Quirke (no first name given), who catches his quasi-brother Mal (Quirke is adopted) messing with a file at at the hospital where the two work (that's a crime, I suppose?). Quirke finds the name Christine Falls on the file and, wondering why Mal would need to be writing things in a dead girl's file when Quirke is the pathologist, starts asking around about the girl and how she died. Mal tells him to back off, which of course makes Quirke even more curious about the thing. His search leads him to the woman who was taking care of Christine before her death, who is shortly murdered by some alleged robbers, and on a hunt for the baby girl Christine died giving birth to, who has recently been sort-of adopted by a family in Boston. There's all sorts of complicated things going on.
But, like I said, I got to the end and I still had (nor have) any idea what really happened. The book is more focused on religion (it is set in 1950's Ireland, after all) and Quirke's weird relationships with his family than it is on the "mystery" part of the plot, all of which is interesting but which I still find lame. You may differ.
Rating: 7/10
(Support Your Local Library Challenge, Orbis Terrarum Challenge: Ireland)
The novel follows a Mr. Quirke (no first name given), who catches his quasi-brother Mal (Quirke is adopted) messing with a file at at the hospital where the two work (that's a crime, I suppose?). Quirke finds the name Christine Falls on the file and, wondering why Mal would need to be writing things in a dead girl's file when Quirke is the pathologist, starts asking around about the girl and how she died. Mal tells him to back off, which of course makes Quirke even more curious about the thing. His search leads him to the woman who was taking care of Christine before her death, who is shortly murdered by some alleged robbers, and on a hunt for the baby girl Christine died giving birth to, who has recently been sort-of adopted by a family in Boston. There's all sorts of complicated things going on.
But, like I said, I got to the end and I still had (nor have) any idea what really happened. The book is more focused on religion (it is set in 1950's Ireland, after all) and Quirke's weird relationships with his family than it is on the "mystery" part of the plot, all of which is interesting but which I still find lame. You may differ.
Rating: 7/10
(Support Your Local Library Challenge, Orbis Terrarum Challenge: Ireland)
12 February 2009
Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson (9 February — 11 February)
This book was awesome. The end.
Okay, okay. But really! Awesome! I was drawn in from the first line of the first chapter (not counting the prologue, because that was whatever): "Prince Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity."
Indeed. Raoden has been taken by the Shaod, which used to turn random people of Arelon into the supposed gods of Elantris, but which stopped doing that ten years previous and now turns its victims into perpetually decaying (but never dying) hulks of flesh. Raoden finds himself thrown into Elantris, now little more than a prison where gangs fight over the ritual food newcomers bring (everyone is very hungry, though they don't technically have to eat) and every injury, no matter how slight, lasts forever. Instead of becoming crazy like many Elantrians, however, Raoden chooses to make a better life for those inside ans see if he can't find out what caused the death of Elantris in the first place.
Meanwhile, Raoden's betrothed, Sarene, arrives in Arelon a week before her wedding, but only just in time for the prince's funeral. Oops. Sarene, whose political marriage is still valid due to a fancy clause in the contract, decides she's still going to do what she set out to do, which is keep Arelon and her home of Teod protected from those who would destroy them.
Also meanwhile, those who would destroy Arelon and Teod send out a priest called Hrathen to pave the way for the conquerors — those of the religion of Shu-Dereth. Hrathen is to convert the Arelenes within three months or the people will face death. His carefully laid plans start to unravel, though, with the influence of Sarene, Raoden, and a religious zealot called Dilaf who is out to destroy Elantris.
So there's a lot of story here. But it's all really well told and all of the pieces Sanderson gets you curious about tie together at the end quite spectacularly. There were a few things I found extraneous and rather deus ex, but I will forgive those because everything else was so, well, awesome.
Rating: 9.5/10
(Chunkster Challenge, Support Your Local Library Challenge)
Okay, okay. But really! Awesome! I was drawn in from the first line of the first chapter (not counting the prologue, because that was whatever): "Prince Raoden of Arelon awoke early that morning, completely unaware that he had been damned for all eternity."
Indeed. Raoden has been taken by the Shaod, which used to turn random people of Arelon into the supposed gods of Elantris, but which stopped doing that ten years previous and now turns its victims into perpetually decaying (but never dying) hulks of flesh. Raoden finds himself thrown into Elantris, now little more than a prison where gangs fight over the ritual food newcomers bring (everyone is very hungry, though they don't technically have to eat) and every injury, no matter how slight, lasts forever. Instead of becoming crazy like many Elantrians, however, Raoden chooses to make a better life for those inside ans see if he can't find out what caused the death of Elantris in the first place.
Meanwhile, Raoden's betrothed, Sarene, arrives in Arelon a week before her wedding, but only just in time for the prince's funeral. Oops. Sarene, whose political marriage is still valid due to a fancy clause in the contract, decides she's still going to do what she set out to do, which is keep Arelon and her home of Teod protected from those who would destroy them.
Also meanwhile, those who would destroy Arelon and Teod send out a priest called Hrathen to pave the way for the conquerors — those of the religion of Shu-Dereth. Hrathen is to convert the Arelenes within three months or the people will face death. His carefully laid plans start to unravel, though, with the influence of Sarene, Raoden, and a religious zealot called Dilaf who is out to destroy Elantris.
So there's a lot of story here. But it's all really well told and all of the pieces Sanderson gets you curious about tie together at the end quite spectacularly. There were a few things I found extraneous and rather deus ex, but I will forgive those because everything else was so, well, awesome.
Rating: 9.5/10
(Chunkster Challenge, Support Your Local Library Challenge)
27 December 2008
Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett (19 October − 27 December)
Good job, Alison! I finally (finally!) finished this book, which, as you can see, I've been working on for two months. Now, obviously, I've read maybe a few other books since I've started this one, so two months is not terribly pathetic, but it certainly feels like I've been reading this forever.
Pillars of the Earth tells the stories of a whole bunch of interconnected people — Tom, whose life goal is to be master builder on a cathedral; Phillip, a monk in a small cell who hopes to make his priory strong; William, whose marriage to a girl called Aliena is called off by the girl herself and who decides to take revenge on, well, everyone; Aliena, who vows to right the wrongs done to her family; and Jack, who loves Aliena from the moment he meets her. It's all set over many years in the 1100s and brings in a lot of history, like the fighting between King Stephen and Empress Maud and later the murder of Thomas Becket.
It's really very good. The problem I had with it is that it's just so long! At 983 pages, it's definitely the longest novel I've ever read. I just could not focus on it for more than an hour at a time when I started it, so I relegated it to my at-work bathroom reading since the book is surprisingly small and easier to fit in my bag than many of the books I read. Hooray mass-market paperbacks.
Brilliantly, though, and as I would have hated had I read this more quickly, Follett spends more than a few sentences of the novel reminding the reader what has happened in the past. I caught myself a few times going, "Oh, right, Ellen did curse that fellow at the beginning of the novel!" and such.
You should read this if you have a few months to spare, or a long weekend with nothing to do.
Rating: 7/10
Pillars of the Earth tells the stories of a whole bunch of interconnected people — Tom, whose life goal is to be master builder on a cathedral; Phillip, a monk in a small cell who hopes to make his priory strong; William, whose marriage to a girl called Aliena is called off by the girl herself and who decides to take revenge on, well, everyone; Aliena, who vows to right the wrongs done to her family; and Jack, who loves Aliena from the moment he meets her. It's all set over many years in the 1100s and brings in a lot of history, like the fighting between King Stephen and Empress Maud and later the murder of Thomas Becket.
It's really very good. The problem I had with it is that it's just so long! At 983 pages, it's definitely the longest novel I've ever read. I just could not focus on it for more than an hour at a time when I started it, so I relegated it to my at-work bathroom reading since the book is surprisingly small and easier to fit in my bag than many of the books I read. Hooray mass-market paperbacks.
Brilliantly, though, and as I would have hated had I read this more quickly, Follett spends more than a few sentences of the novel reminding the reader what has happened in the past. I caught myself a few times going, "Oh, right, Ellen did curse that fellow at the beginning of the novel!" and such.
You should read this if you have a few months to spare, or a long weekend with nothing to do.
Rating: 7/10
07 October 2008
Keeping Faith, by Jodi Picoult (25 September — 3 October)
I love Jodi Picoult, but I did not particularly like Keeping Faith. The premise is interesting; a little girl called Faith is seeing God, even though she's been raised essentially without religion by a Jew and a Christian. She performs some awesome miracles, like bringing people back from the dead and curing a baby with AIDS. It's the rest of the book that's rough.
Faith starts seeing God after she sees her father, Colin, with another woman. Colin goes off with the other woman, Jessica, to start a new family, and leaves his wife (or, after six weeks, ex-wife), Mariah, in the dust. Mariah is a doormat and has to figure out how to live without Colin without falling into a deep depression and also has to take care of her seemingly crazy daughter.
The press gets wind of Faith, and suddenly everyone wants to meet her, from reporters to rabbis and priests to Ian Fletcher, a tele-atheist. Ian is out to prove that Faith is a hoax all while Colin is out to prove that Mariah is an unfit mother so he can get custody of his daughter.
There are a lot of stories here, just as there are in all of Picoult's other novels, but I don't think she does as good a job juggling them here. A lot of people come in and then get ignored, and some very interesting plotlines never get resolved. Pooh.
Rating: 5/10
Faith starts seeing God after she sees her father, Colin, with another woman. Colin goes off with the other woman, Jessica, to start a new family, and leaves his wife (or, after six weeks, ex-wife), Mariah, in the dust. Mariah is a doormat and has to figure out how to live without Colin without falling into a deep depression and also has to take care of her seemingly crazy daughter.
The press gets wind of Faith, and suddenly everyone wants to meet her, from reporters to rabbis and priests to Ian Fletcher, a tele-atheist. Ian is out to prove that Faith is a hoax all while Colin is out to prove that Mariah is an unfit mother so he can get custody of his daughter.
There are a lot of stories here, just as there are in all of Picoult's other novels, but I don't think she does as good a job juggling them here. A lot of people come in and then get ignored, and some very interesting plotlines never get resolved. Pooh.
Rating: 5/10
15 September 2008
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell (9 September − 13 September)
Read this book. Seriously.
The Sparrow mostly follows the story of Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit priest who, through coincidences (or God's work?) ends up on a mission to a just-discovered planet near Alpha Centauri. The book follows two timelines, one starting when Sandoz returns to Earth, as the last surviving member of the crew, several years after some very embarrassing and horrifying information about Sandoz has made its own way back. He is to report on the mission to his superiors, but has to get over what happened to him before he can face the other priests.
The other timeline starts back at the beginning, with the events leading up to the discovery of the planet, then details the mission and what happens after the crew lands on Rakhat. This second timeline slowly fills in the large number of blanks left in the first, and helps make Sandoz's alleged crimes understandable.
I don't want to be too specific here, because a lot of what I loved about the book was the way Russell would bring in a fact without explanation, causing me to say, "What? When did that happen? Why?" and then a little while later the narrative would answer my question.
I loved this book a whole ridiculous bunch. It's an interesting take on what would happen if we found life on another planet and went out to meet it, and if meeting that life would go just how we might expect it. I'm a big fan of the dual timeline, and Russell uses this to her great advantage.
The one thing I didn't like terribly much is that the ending happens so fast − you spend a lot of time leisurely following the stories and then all of a sudden Russell is throwing in forced exposition in order to tie up the story. I would gladly have read another hundred pages (the book is about 400); the rushed ending was unnecessary and made the religious tie-ins at the end seem a bit trite.
Rating: 9.5/10
The Sparrow mostly follows the story of Emilio Sandoz, a Jesuit priest who, through coincidences (or God's work?) ends up on a mission to a just-discovered planet near Alpha Centauri. The book follows two timelines, one starting when Sandoz returns to Earth, as the last surviving member of the crew, several years after some very embarrassing and horrifying information about Sandoz has made its own way back. He is to report on the mission to his superiors, but has to get over what happened to him before he can face the other priests.
The other timeline starts back at the beginning, with the events leading up to the discovery of the planet, then details the mission and what happens after the crew lands on Rakhat. This second timeline slowly fills in the large number of blanks left in the first, and helps make Sandoz's alleged crimes understandable.
I don't want to be too specific here, because a lot of what I loved about the book was the way Russell would bring in a fact without explanation, causing me to say, "What? When did that happen? Why?" and then a little while later the narrative would answer my question.
I loved this book a whole ridiculous bunch. It's an interesting take on what would happen if we found life on another planet and went out to meet it, and if meeting that life would go just how we might expect it. I'm a big fan of the dual timeline, and Russell uses this to her great advantage.
The one thing I didn't like terribly much is that the ending happens so fast − you spend a lot of time leisurely following the stories and then all of a sudden Russell is throwing in forced exposition in order to tie up the story. I would gladly have read another hundred pages (the book is about 400); the rushed ending was unnecessary and made the religious tie-ins at the end seem a bit trite.
Rating: 9.5/10
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