Well, this should feel a little familiar. And yet, with its unique combination of elements: unique.
Unbroken, from what I can tell from reviews, is not just a story about World War II, but about a man. Part P.O.W., part Odysseus, part runner, and part Pi (remember Life of Pi?), Zamperini promises to be a very rich character to read about.
I've recently read a few other books that make this description of Unbroken seem weirdly similar: Life of Pi, Born to Run, and (okay, not that recently) The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
(Incidentally, did you know that "The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" movie is being made with Kate Winslet starring? If that's not a clincher, I don't know how else to sell it!)
Anyway, back to topic. Unbroken seems to have a lot of deeply original episodes for being a story about the much-written-about World War II.
I'm usually not gung-ho for biographical or historical type books. The appeal of reading for me is more about The Escape. You know. From life, from stress, from troubles, from boredom.
But, yes, occasionally I do find biographical books that are intriguing enough to trigger this same sort of Escape effect. So I'm going to read it. So there.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Ready for The Thirteenth Tale talk!
I'm back! Sorry about the prolonged hiatus, peeps.
I don't have any original excuses. Same old business: work, working with the Young Women, trying to write a book, helping sisters plan for weddings this summer, training for the Salt Lake half marathon. Yadda yadda.
About The Thirteenth Tale. It was part mystery, part romance, part tragedy, part drama, and part horror.
I actually prefer this cover much more than the one I posted at the top of the blog. This image captures the feel of the story a bit better.
Do you ever find yourself identifying with certain characters or narrators in a story? Of course you do; the stories are rigged that way. But do you ever feel more inclined to identify with certain characters? Maybe you've come across a fictitious individual that is startling similar to you.
The narrator, Margaret, is obviously the one to identify with in this novel. Told from her perspective, you feel all the mystery and questions and gaps in the story that Margaret also feels. It's kind of creepy, actually.
I did pick up on one clue that Margaret misses until practically the end of the book. And it wasn't the Jane Eyre clue that you'd expect (Jane EyreI is still on my "to read" shelf, actually).
The story's about twins, but there are a lot of mysteries surrounding them. Do they really have bipolar-like personalities? Is their house really haunted?
Spoiler:
I realized before Margaret did that there had to be somebody else in the house. I thought that the characters were probably triplets, until Margaret arrived at the truth and explained that the mysterious third "ghost" was a half-sister/cousin.
That sentence probably sounded super bewildering unless you've read the book. It is an intriguing story, so I recommend it. (But not to the prudish of heart, because it contains some risque material. How else could you correctly refer to a character as the "half-sister/cousin"?)
I don't remember when I picked up that "third sister" clue, exactly. I think my suspicion sort of solidified during the incident of the ladder-murder of John the Dig.
If anyone else were reading this book or this blog with me, I would ask how you fared with the "mystery" element of this story and how you liked it..
The Thirteenth Tale had several layers of narrating, which I LOVE. Reading the different voices of several characters is always so intriguing for some reason.
I don't have any original excuses. Same old business: work, working with the Young Women, trying to write a book, helping sisters plan for weddings this summer, training for the Salt Lake half marathon. Yadda yadda.
About The Thirteenth Tale. It was part mystery, part romance, part tragedy, part drama, and part horror.I actually prefer this cover much more than the one I posted at the top of the blog. This image captures the feel of the story a bit better.
Do you ever find yourself identifying with certain characters or narrators in a story? Of course you do; the stories are rigged that way. But do you ever feel more inclined to identify with certain characters? Maybe you've come across a fictitious individual that is startling similar to you.
The narrator, Margaret, is obviously the one to identify with in this novel. Told from her perspective, you feel all the mystery and questions and gaps in the story that Margaret also feels. It's kind of creepy, actually.
I did pick up on one clue that Margaret misses until practically the end of the book. And it wasn't the Jane Eyre clue that you'd expect (Jane EyreI is still on my "to read" shelf, actually).
The story's about twins, but there are a lot of mysteries surrounding them. Do they really have bipolar-like personalities? Is their house really haunted?
Spoiler:
I realized before Margaret did that there had to be somebody else in the house. I thought that the characters were probably triplets, until Margaret arrived at the truth and explained that the mysterious third "ghost" was a half-sister/cousin.
That sentence probably sounded super bewildering unless you've read the book. It is an intriguing story, so I recommend it. (But not to the prudish of heart, because it contains some risque material. How else could you correctly refer to a character as the "half-sister/cousin"?)
I don't remember when I picked up that "third sister" clue, exactly. I think my suspicion sort of solidified during the incident of the ladder-murder of John the Dig.
If anyone else were reading this book or this blog with me, I would ask how you fared with the "mystery" element of this story and how you liked it..
The Thirteenth Tale had several layers of narrating, which I LOVE. Reading the different voices of several characters is always so intriguing for some reason.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)