Book reviews: Wide Sargasso Sea | The Catcher in the Rye | Fahrenheit 451

Title: Wide Sargasso Sea
Author: Jean Rhys

Original title: Wide Sargasso Sea
First published: 1966
Genre: Classic, Historical, Retelling
Series: --
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company
Format: Paperback
Pages: 266
Finished: 12/02/2023
Summary: Prequel to "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte. Born into an oppressive, colonialist society, Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway meets a young Englishman who is drawn to her innocent sensuality and beauty, but soon after their marriage, rumors of madness in her family poison his mind against her. He forces Antoinette to conform to his rigid Victorian ideals.

My thoughts: I read this for a uni course about literary theories. Naturally, we were assigned to read this for, among others, postcolonial theory. Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of Jane Eyre's crazy woman in the attic, Bertha. Well, in this prequel, her name is Antoinette, and Bertha is only the name Rochester forces upon her in an attempt to morph her into the wife he wants her to be. Without having completed my read of Jane Eyre, I still find this book to be a powerful companion to the famous classic. It is a highly character driven story that portrays the climate of post-slavery abolishment in early 19th century Jamaica. It shows the heteroglossia between English and Jamaican culture, coloniser and colonised, masculinity and femininity. Antoinette is a creole, white but born in the Jamaican colony, caught between cultures and accepted by neither. Rochester represents the cruel but frightened coloniser, who sweeps into Antoinette's life and is paid to marry her by her relatives. Repulsed by the life and culture he encounters in Jamaica, Rochester attempts to force Antoinette into an identity that better suits English culture. I must say, the story is extremely gloomy and it left me with grave emotions. It is also a story that moves at a slow pace, really showing how both Antoinette and Rochester are slowly driven mad by each other. Still, some parts felt slightly rushed and unmotivated, especially in the development of said characters' relationship. Overall, I enjoyed the book quite a bit, and it's sure to influence what I think about Rochester and I eventually continue reading Jane Eyre.

Rating: 3.5/5

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Title: The Catcher in the Rye
Author: J.D. Salinger

Original title: The Catcher in the Rye
First published: 1951
Genre: Classic, YA
Series: --
Publisher: Penguin
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Finished: 01/04/2023
Summary: It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school... Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.

My thoughts: Wow! I never in a million years expected to even like this novel, much less to be as blown away by it as this. Considering what I've heard about this book - that its protagonist is insufferable without any redeeming qualities - I was certain I'd hate it, too. That couldn't be further from the truth, though! The Catcher in the Rye is, to my great pleasure, a character driven book that follows Holden as he flees from yet another school he's been expelled from and tries to survive a few days alone in New York City before the day he's supposed to come home for Christmas. Really, this book is about Holden interacting with an array of different characters, both from his past and new encounters. Yes, Holden is a difficult character to root for, especially since every other character he meets seems to hate him to some degree. Everyone struggles with dealing with him. And that's no surprise, seeing as Holden is often misogynistic, selfish, and unpredictable. I see why other readers have a hard time relating to him. And yet, I found that I felt compassion for him. By no means would I defend his faults (he is often an asshole), but he is portrayed in such a vulnerable way that said faults were explained, or at least softened. Another thing I liked was the narration. It was so uniquely and expertly tailored to this kind of story. It really felt like a biography of sorts - so well adjusted was the text to the voice and personality of Holden. And the story, despite being character driven, felt exciting to read. What was going to happen next? Was he going to survive his days alone in New York? Who was he going to meet next, and would that person be the one to lose patience with him and try to kill him? It really kept me on my toes and kept me wanting to continue reading constantly. Wow, what a book. Hopefully, I'll reread it someday and like it just as much.

Rating: 5/5

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Title: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury

Original title: Fahrenheit 451
First published: 1953
Genre: Classic, Dystopian
Series: --
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 190
Finished: 09/04/2023
Summary: Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.

My thoughts: I had the opportunity to read Fahrenheit 451 for a uni course about American 1950's literature. I found it quite easy and quick to read, even though I decided not to rush through it. To me, this is a book that builds more on a concept or an idea than on characters or plot. For what it is, I enjoyed it well enough. For sure, it can be thought provoking, and that's one of the novel's good sides. I also enjoyed some of the more exciting parts, where the stakes rose high. Character wise, I wasn't blown away, but neither was I particularly let down. I thought Montag was an alright vessel to observe this vision of a dystopian world through. I liked Clarisse and Faver even more, and even Mildred for what she is meant to represent. They were all interesting characters. I did get a bit annoyed with Montag at times. I thought some of his reactions to things were exaggerated, his actions were at times unmotivated, and he was often unnecessarily rude to his wife. To some extent, I understand all this, but it got to the point where I was a little bit too frustrated. The prose itself I'd call effective and sometimes beautiful, with plenty of nature metaphors that quite pleased me.

Rating: 4/5

Book reviews: Letters to Alice | Solaris | Sanning och skvaller

Title: Letters to Alice
Author: Fay Weldon

Original title: Letters to Alice
First published: 1984
Genre: Non-fiction
Series: --
Publisher: Spectre
Format: Paperback
Pages: 149
Finished: 02/07/2021
Summary: Inspired by a series of instructive letters written by Austen to a novel-writing niece, 'Letters to Alice' is an epistolary novel in which an important modern writer responds to her niece's complaint that Jane Austen is boring and irrelevant. By turns passionate and ironic, "Aunt Fay" makes Alice think--not only about books and literature, but also life and culture.

My thoughts: Ask me to define the word 'pointless' and I will refer to this novel. At least in the context of the literary course about Jane Austen to which this book was assigned. First of all, less than half of this book is even about Austen. Mostly it's the ramblings and whining of the author herself, which might have been slightly of value if put in another context. Nevertheless, as a book about Jane Austen and to be used in writing an essay about said author's works, it is very close to useless. I gained no inspiration, can collect no facts, and felt no enjoyment reading it. I can only be thankful that it was so short.

Rating: 1/5

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Title: Solaris
Author: Stanisław Lem

Original title: Solaris
First published: 1961
Genre: Sci-fi
Series: --
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Format: Paperback
Pages: 214
Finished: 15/07/2021
Summary: When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface he is forced to confront a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the physical likeness of a long-dead lover. Others suffer from the same affliction and speculation rises among scientists that the Solaris ocean may be a massive brain that creates incarnate memories, but its purpose in doing so remains a mystery . . .

My thoughts: This is the best book (according to me at least) that I've read for the summer sci-fi course so far. It's very typical of that 1950/60's writing style that I love but find difficult to pinpoint the exact characteristics of. I recognize it from Stoner by John Williams (1965), Our Man in Havana by Grahame Green (1958), Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958), and most recently Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick (1968). Perhaps because the sentences are often direct, not too metaphorical or eccentric, while still managing to convey so much emotion. Whether that's actually the trick or not, I did really like this book.

Did I like anything else, besides the style of the writing. Yes! Lem manages, from the start, to create such an eerie atmosphere that I found myself sitting at the edge of my seat from the first one or two chapters. The uncanny feeling continues throughout the novel as the protagonist, Kelvin, begins to fall in love with the alien (which has taken the shape of his dead wife). I admit I became frustrated with Kelvin at times, thinking he was selfish and unreasonable for wanting to protect and keep the illusion of his wife rather than communicating with the other scientists and solving the problem. But then I thought of what I would feel in the same situation, given the opportunity to bring back a loved one and being unable to then let them go, and I could no longer find it in myself to judge Kelvin to harshly. Though I didn't feel any particularly strong emotions for his character or his wife, I was still able to sympathise with him for the situation he was put in (which I think is no small feat).

What lowers the grade some is that I became a bit disinterested in the story towards the final third or fourth of the book. I was no longer interested in reading about previous research about Solaris or the alien there, and Kelvin's possessiveness for his wife also turned repetitive. I don't think the novel was too long (it's hard for a novel of barely 200 pages to feel too long), but I wish the final part of the book had been plotted or executed differently.

Rating: 3,75/5

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Title: Sanning och skvaller
Author: Curtis Sittenfeld

Original title: Eligible
First published: 2016
Genre: Contemporary
Series: --
Publisher: Månpocket
Format: Paperback
Pages: 460
Finished: 24/07/2021
Summary: Liz is a magazine writer in her late thirties who, like her yoga instructor older sister, Jane, lives in New York City. When their father has a health scare, they return to their childhood home in Cincinnati to help and discover that the sprawling Tudor they grew up in is crumbling and the family is in disarray. Enter Chip Bingley, a handsome new-in-town doctor who recently appeared on the juggernaut reality TV dating show Eligible. At a Fourth of July barbecue, Chip takes an immediate interest in Jane, but Chip's friend, neurosurgeon Fitzwilliam Darcy, reveals himself to Liz to be much less charming. . . . And yet, first impressions can be deceiving.

My thoughts: This modern retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is yet another book from the reading lists of my summer courses. I also decided to include it in my own little Reading Rush, since there is no official one this year. The challenge I used it for was to read a book with a face on the cover.

I want to start of by saying that the sheer amount of pages this book consists of (460 pages) is completely unwarranted. So many pages... so much torture to my poor mind. This novel was purely a waste of time. It brought nothing very new or interesting to the original story, and really only served to provoke and upset me. The author uses black and trans persons with flat personalities/no depth to make the Bennet sisters seem contemporary and progressive in their dating lives, which just comes across as cheap and disrespectful. The fact that one of the characters supposed to represent Wickham from the original story is not scandalous because he is a manipulative, irresponsible liar (a valid scandal), but is a trans person and THAT is the big betrayal/scandal is unreasonable and immature. The character "Ham", who is trans, is obviously connected to Wickham in P&P, and this connection suggests Ham is a bad person for being trans??? I've seen several people on Goodreads also reacted to this and have written way better reviews than this one, so if you feel like reading more critique you can have a look there.

Moreover, Liz and Darcy had NO chemistry, even less than in the original. In P&P, their love grows from how compatible their minds are, but that was replaced by physical attraction in this book, which just felt weird. Nope, this was not for me and I will recommend it only to my enemies.

Rating: 1,5/5

Book reviews: Throne of Glass | Crown of Midnight | Spinning Silver

Title: Throne of Glass

Author: Sarah J. Maas
Original title: Throne of Glass
First published: 2012
Genre: High fantasy, YA
Series: Throne of Glass #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 404
Finished: 31/03/2020
Summary: When magic has gone from the world, and a vicious king rules from his throne of glass, an assassin comes to the castle. She does not come to kill, but to win her freedom. If she can defeat twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition to find the greatest assassin in the land, she will become the King's Champion and be released from prison.
But something evil dwells in the castle—and it's there to kill. When her competitors start dying, horribly, one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival—and a desperate quest to root out the source of the evil before it destroys her world.

My thoughts: Finally, I read the kind of book that was much needed to get my desire to read going again. This novel is fast paced and easy; a true page turner. There's basically everything I wanted right now; a quick and witty dialogue, an actually well executed love triangle drama, some secrets, fights, and fantasy politics. Not to say that it was a perfect book, but it was a perfectly timed read. "Throne of Glass", along with the second book in the series, has been living in my shelves for years upon years (since 2013, when the pretty cover version was released in hardcover). I finally got to it!
Besides the positive things about it, this book had its flaws. While Celaena is described as a ruthless and badass assassin (which she can be), I found that her actions contradicted that statement at times. She sleeps unguarded a lot, and lets people sneak into her rooms without noticing them. She's also not quite as daring/unafraid as I'd expect of an assassin with her reputation. And while the love triangle was good in the way that I really didn't know who Celaena would choose, both of the love interest were quite similar in their personalities. I do know that they become more distinct in the second book, but them being so alike made me rather indifferent to who Celaena would choose.
All in all, it was a pleasant and exciting read that I without a doubt enjoyed quite a bit. I look forward to the rest of the series, and I hope it won't break my heart as much as I suspect it will.
(PS. Dorian has nothing on Chaol. Period.)

Rating: 4/5

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Title: Crown of Midnight
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Original title: Crown of Midnight
First published: 2013
Genre: YA, High fantasy
Series: Throne of Glass #2
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 418
Finished: 04/04/2020
Summary: Spoiler alert! From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.
Keeping up the deadly charade becomes increasingly difficult when Celaena realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. As she tries to untangle the mysteries buried deep within the glass castle, her closest relationships suffer. It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.
Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie... and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.

My thoughts: Small spoiler alert! My emotions have been played with :( What a roller-coaster.
"Crown of Midnight" opens up the plot for a much wider reach, giving us a clearer view of where Maas is taking the series. While the first book was mostly just a fun time, this second instalment in the series takes on a more serious tone as Celaena's emotions are tested and we learn more about her past. So when it comes down to it, did I like the change or not?
I did! While the 'rebellion against the ruler(s)' sort of plot/trope isn't always my cup of tea, I think this one has potential. We need a little more world building for me to actually care about the different kingdoms in the Erilea lands, but I think we'll get more of that as the series progresses. I do not think that the king is the best written antagonist I've ever read about, but he's not the worst either.
One thing I complained about in the previous book was that Dorian and Chaol's characters were too alike. They became more distinct in this novel, which is great, and the love triangle in "Throne of Glass" was pretty much gone. Huzzah! There's still a lot of angsty yearning going on that I don't like a ton, but I hope it'll pass with the next book.
Celaena has mood swings like no other, and she constantly changes her mind like the weather. In some cases I'm with her, but in most cases I'm not. I like reading from her perspective partly, but I'm glad we get other perspectives as well. I don't think I'd like the books half as much if I was stuck with only Celaena. I also didn't like how she reasoned and acted after that thing in the middle happened :/
Overall, this was an entertaining and fast read. The series isn't great yet, and it remains to be seen if it will ever live up to the hype. I understand why people rave about it; it's easy, dramatic, romantic, and continues to have big reveals strewn over it (unfortunately I saw the 'big reveal' at the end of this book coming from book one). For me, it lacks a writing style that is beautiful and flowing enough, and I wish there were more descriptions of the environment/world around Celaena. I want more complex politics and world building. And some continued character development for our main characters. Other than that, I had a swell time!

Rating: 4,25/5

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Title: Spinning Silver
Author: Naomi Novik
Original title: Spinning Silver
First published: 2018
Genre: Fantasy, Retelling, YA
Series: --
Publisher: Del Rey
Format: Paperback
Pages: 466
Finished: 14/04/2020
Summary: Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s too kind-hearted to collect his debts. They face poverty, until Miryem hardens her own heart and takes up his work in their village. Her success creates rumours she can turn silver into gold, which attract the fairy king of winter himself. He sets her an impossible challenge – and if she fails, she’ll die. Yet if she triumphs, it may mean a fate worse than death. And in her desperate efforts to succeed, Miryem unwittingly spins a web which draws in the unhappy daughter of a lord.
Irina’s father schemes to wed her to the tsar – he will pay any price to achieve this goal. However, the dashing tsar is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of mortals and winter alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and Irina embark on a quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power and love.

My thoughts: My friend has been so incredibly kind to let me borrow this book for a solid two months. I had a hard time getting into it since it's pretty sparse when it comes to dialogue and I've been in a bit of a reading slump. But I've finally finished it at last! I must say, it was well worth pushing through. The pacing is on the slower side, which I don't mind in a book, especially when it makes up for it in characters and writing. This one did just that. I loved following three stubborn, ambitious, and brave young women who were driven by love for their family rather than romantic interests. Yes, there is some romance, but to have it be written in the way this book did it was a breath of fresh air. Romance was not the point of the novel. I think great love shown for family above all is seldom shown well in YA fantasy and I wish it wasn't that way.The way Miryem puts her parents before all else was moving and something I could relate to more than a girl willing to die for the boy she's known for a month.
The characters overall were expertly constructed, and I was able to both love and hate a few at the same time. The settings were also described well; sometimes I felt a cold chill run through me even though I had a heating blanket over me. Can't say I was sad to miss out on snow this winter after reading this book ;)
All in all, "Spinning Silver" is a very good book that is only held back a little by lacking some pace and being a little too long. Had it been shortened down some, I think it could have been even more perfect.

Rating: 4,5/5

Book reviews: Bilbo: En hobbits äventyr | Steelheart | Cinder

Title: Bilbo: En hobbits äventyr
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Original title: The Hobbit
Genre: High fantasy, Classic
Series: --
Publisher: Rabén & Sjögren
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 306
Finished: 12/6/17
Summary:  Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey ‘there and back again’. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon.

My thoughts: Honestly, this time, I don't have a lot to say. At least not at the moment (being early in the morning just after I finished the book). What I can say is that I'm proud over myself for finally reading this and I'm very happy that I did. It's a fun, exciting adventure to take part in, even as a reader. Gandalf was sassy, Thorin Oakenshield was grumpy, Bombur was fat, and Bilbo just wanted to go home. A lot of things were different from the movies. Radagast wasn't in the book, and neither was Azog the Defiler, and I was at first very confused at his absence, as he plays a very big role in the movies. Not here, though, in fact he plays no role at all really.
All in all, I liked it! It's a great summer read for both fine days and bad.

Rating: 4,5/5

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Title: Steelheart
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Original title: Steelheart
Genre: Science fiction, YA
Series: Reckoners #1
Publisher: Gollancz
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Finished: 18/6/17
Summary: Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills. Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them. And David wants in. He wants Steelheart - the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning - and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience. He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

My thoughts: Wow. I can't believe I put off reading something by Brandon Sanderson for so long. I mean, I've been wanting to delve into one of his series for ages. I was originally planning to start off with the Mistborn trilogy, but I ended up purchasing Steelheart instead at the Swedish Bookfair in maybe 2015, I think? This book is half the size of The Final Empire, so I guess this was the better one to start off with. And I have no reason to regret that decision! It's action packed, fast-paced, and exciting beyond measure! I was so fascinated by the villains of the story, in particular Steelheart and Nightweilder. I love the idea of humans with superpowers going evil (hence my fave novel being Vicious by V.E. Schwab, hehe), so I knew from the start that this aspect of the story would appeal to me a lot. One of the small faults that I found in the novel what that since it focused so much on plot and excitement, it lacked somewhat in its descriptions of certain characters. Now, I don't mean that the characters were shallow and all the same; it's the opposite and I guess that's why I was disappointed when I didn't get to know some of them as close as I'd have wished. Cody and Abraham could definitely need some more time in the spotlight and I can't say that I know much about Thia either. These characters were all still awesome, though!
My reason for not giving this a full five stars is because I feel like there is room for improvement. I like the writing style and the characters and the plot, but I still felt like it missed that little extra that earns a full score. Of course I'll be continuing the series, because this was awesome, but I think I'll look into some of his other series first maybe... especially Mistborn :)

Rating: 4,5/5

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Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Original title: Cinder
Genre: Science Fiction, YA, Retelling
Series: The Lunar Chronicles #1
Publisher: Puffin Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 387
Finished: 23/7/17
Summary: Cinder, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.


My thoughts: I loved this. This was so great. It's so refreshing to read a YA novel that stands out from the rest; that doesn't stick to the norms and that dares to challenge the similar structure that most modern YA novels follow. Cinder was such an amazing book, and what made the experience even more wonderful was reading it together with my dear friends Matilda, Emmy and Karin.
The characters were on point. They weren't shallow or just there to alter the course of the plot; they had actual personalities and acted according to those, not just to be convenient. The writing style had me capture from the sentence to the last, and although it was not beautifully poetic it had a way of gripping me as a reader. The pages flew by and I had a hard time putting it down. The whole concept of the setting and the story is just amazing and I love it. I can't believe this book has been collecting dust on my shelf for so many years, but all the same I'm glad that I waited until now to read it. It was a good book for a book club! I just wish that we'd gotten to see more of the universe and that the book had been maybe 50 pages longer. Anyways, it was amazing!

Rating: 5/5