i finished the book. (despite some minor stomach heaving.)
my gut reaction: oh my. oh my oh my. and i cried.
my reaction a few days afterward: it all (and forgive how snotty this will sound) seemed so contrived. the pieces all added up a little too perfectly for me---the "you will lose your left eye" bit, the infertility, the quote from amir's dad about lying, the bad guy from the alley doing the same bad things to hassan's son, etc. i read a review that called it a modern day allegory, which made it a little easier to swallow, but still... i don't want to be force fed my poison. i was also put off by the random switches in tone---like when amir is in the hospital "fading out." gag. really. he couldn't think of a less cliche way of describing that scene?
anyway, i suppose for a first novel from a doctor, it's brilliant. but i wouldn't read it again. and i won't remember it fondly.
on to the next book, sarajane?
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
question
has anyone made it through the kite runner yet?
i'm not very far, but i'm stuck in the alley with hassan. i just can't read it. it's making me physically ill. for some reason i'm getting flashbacks to "invisible man."
usually i'm a pretty tough cookie...
so, if you've gotten to the end, is it worth it? should i plow through the alley? or should i read "the goose girl" again instead?
i'm not very far, but i'm stuck in the alley with hassan. i just can't read it. it's making me physically ill. for some reason i'm getting flashbacks to "invisible man."
usually i'm a pretty tough cookie...
so, if you've gotten to the end, is it worth it? should i plow through the alley? or should i read "the goose girl" again instead?
Sunday, May 13, 2007
for your consideration
Should we read The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
Over two years on the New York Times bestseller list.
"The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship, betrayal, and the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of their lies. Written against a history that has not been told in fiction before, The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But with the devastation, Khaled Hosseini also gives us hope: through the novel's faith in the power of reading and storytelling, and in the possibilities he shows for redemption." Lets have our discussion around June 30.
Over two years on the New York Times bestseller list.
"The Kite Runner is a novel about friendship, betrayal, and the price of loyalty. It is about the bonds between fathers and sons, and the power of their lies. Written against a history that has not been told in fiction before, The Kite Runner describes the rich culture and beauty of a land in the process of being destroyed. But with the devastation, Khaled Hosseini also gives us hope: through the novel's faith in the power of reading and storytelling, and in the possibilities he shows for redemption." Lets have our discussion around June 30.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
gaspgasp
i have to say frankly and up front that i find the history of love absolutely astonishing. [but i'm discovering that i must be a sucker for romanticizing things.] apparently the book didn't go over so well, now that i dig into some reviews. the new york times wasn't complimentary at all, and managed to talk more about krauss's husband, jonathan safran foer, than about her. in any case, i'm undeterred. i could still read this book every day and never get sick of it.
why?
her writing is ironic and intoxicating and funny and lyrical and perfectly brief. how can you resist sentences like these:
"the soft down of your white hair lightly playing about your scalp like a half-blown dandelion. many times, bruno, i have been tempted to blow on your head and make a wish."
"night fell and still i was lost. i hadn't eaten all day. i called mr. tong. twenty minutes later, i was alone with my spring rolls."
"when i was a boy i liked to write. it was the only thing i wanted to do with my life. i invented imaginary people and filled notebooks with their stories. i wrote about a boy who grew up and got so hairy people wanted him for his fur. he had to hide in the trees, and he fell in love with a bird who thought she was a three-hundred-pound gorilla."
the book resonates for me, too, because of love. i think muranda hinted at it a little in her post -- but i can't read this novel without thinking that it is about one person. leo and alma and bruno and litvinoff and charlotte and everyone else are all bits of leo himself. ergo, there all bits of me, the reader. and each love relationship isn't complete by itself: it's only complete when you combine them. it only comes full circle when leo loves bruno and his son and alma, when alma loves bird and her mother and leo, etc etc etc. and so, sarajane, it's okay [in fact it seems perfect] that the book is titled the history of love because it is leo's book. and it's my book. and it's your book.
and i love this book.
[would it be stretching too far to say it loves me back?]
why?
her writing is ironic and intoxicating and funny and lyrical and perfectly brief. how can you resist sentences like these:
"the soft down of your white hair lightly playing about your scalp like a half-blown dandelion. many times, bruno, i have been tempted to blow on your head and make a wish."
"night fell and still i was lost. i hadn't eaten all day. i called mr. tong. twenty minutes later, i was alone with my spring rolls."
"when i was a boy i liked to write. it was the only thing i wanted to do with my life. i invented imaginary people and filled notebooks with their stories. i wrote about a boy who grew up and got so hairy people wanted him for his fur. he had to hide in the trees, and he fell in love with a bird who thought she was a three-hundred-pound gorilla."
the book resonates for me, too, because of love. i think muranda hinted at it a little in her post -- but i can't read this novel without thinking that it is about one person. leo and alma and bruno and litvinoff and charlotte and everyone else are all bits of leo himself. ergo, there all bits of me, the reader. and each love relationship isn't complete by itself: it's only complete when you combine them. it only comes full circle when leo loves bruno and his son and alma, when alma loves bird and her mother and leo, etc etc etc. and so, sarajane, it's okay [in fact it seems perfect] that the book is titled the history of love because it is leo's book. and it's my book. and it's your book.
and i love this book.
[would it be stretching too far to say it loves me back?]
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Very Inadequate
Me, that is! I am not even close to being as insiteful as the two of you, but I did enjoy the book. I am sorry it took me so long to post. This book is very popular at the library. I was on a wait list all the way until last Friday.
First off. Sarajane, I was thinking the same thing as you, with the title of the book. But then as I was thinking about it a little more, I feel like in a way, this book was showing how all of the characters love someone just like in the "Real" History of Love. How every character is living to love or be loved. They are either Leo (the author) or Alma Mereminski. Which in my opinion is the case in real life. What is there to life without love?
Leo, for example, is living his life to be loved. He doesn't care who loves him, he just needs someone. Even if the love comes from someone that just "sees" him somewhere. It is very interesting that you guys caught on to Bruno being imaginary. I didn't pick up on that until the end of the book. It seems that Leo has made him up to feel loved, and to feel a sense of peace that he would be missed if he died.
Alma Singer, is living to love, in my opinion. She loves her mother and her brother so much, that she will do anything in her power to help them feel loved. She wants to find her mother someone to love her so that she can mend her broken heart after her father died. She wants Bird to be normal so that he can have friends and be loved. The one relationship that I couldn't quite get a handle on, was between Alma and her uncle. I kept trying to get over that fact that it was a little creepy, but I just couldn't. Any insite?
I agree with whoever talked about Zvi's love for Rosa being the most common. I definitely feel like he was doing whatever he could to make her love him. He had such a strong desire to feel love that he lied and lived a life that haunted him night after night.
This was a great book. More of a thinker than a page turner in my opinion. Sorry I am not the best book reviewer.
**Muranda
First off. Sarajane, I was thinking the same thing as you, with the title of the book. But then as I was thinking about it a little more, I feel like in a way, this book was showing how all of the characters love someone just like in the "Real" History of Love. How every character is living to love or be loved. They are either Leo (the author) or Alma Mereminski. Which in my opinion is the case in real life. What is there to life without love?
Leo, for example, is living his life to be loved. He doesn't care who loves him, he just needs someone. Even if the love comes from someone that just "sees" him somewhere. It is very interesting that you guys caught on to Bruno being imaginary. I didn't pick up on that until the end of the book. It seems that Leo has made him up to feel loved, and to feel a sense of peace that he would be missed if he died.
Alma Singer, is living to love, in my opinion. She loves her mother and her brother so much, that she will do anything in her power to help them feel loved. She wants to find her mother someone to love her so that she can mend her broken heart after her father died. She wants Bird to be normal so that he can have friends and be loved. The one relationship that I couldn't quite get a handle on, was between Alma and her uncle. I kept trying to get over that fact that it was a little creepy, but I just couldn't. Any insite?
I agree with whoever talked about Zvi's love for Rosa being the most common. I definitely feel like he was doing whatever he could to make her love him. He had such a strong desire to feel love that he lied and lived a life that haunted him night after night.
This was a great book. More of a thinker than a page turner in my opinion. Sorry I am not the best book reviewer.
**Muranda
Monday, April 23, 2007
a life's work
First I have to say that Nicole Krauss is brilliant.
From the contemporary style to the characters themselves I love the book.
Leo Gursky the man who devotes himself to trying “not to die on a day when I went unseen.” What a character. I think we can all relate to his fears; going unnoticed, being left behind, not mattering , being unloved.
Alma Singer is Leo Gursky’s counterpart. Similar yet opposite. Where Leo accepts defeat {when he finds Alma in America and discovers his son- he walks away} and retreats. Alma on the other hand steps up to the challenge. She will discover who Alma is and draw her mother out of her comatoseness if it takes a lifetime. Her determination is strong. She will survive like the spring flower that came up too soon, she will hold on and survive.
They are both survivors. Alma with her survival lists, and her love of all things related to it. Leo the Holocaust survivor has held out through all of lives misfortunes. His desire to Exist is strong but his ambition to Thrive has been submersed under the past. There is a difference between a live that is gone through and one that has been lived. What makes that difference? Did Leo lose his thirst for life after his heart was broken? Did it come with old age? Will Alma follow his path? Or will she hold out strong to the end and keep the sparks of life alive?
I hope that you all caught the part at the art class when Leo poses for the art class, Alma was the student in the oversized sweatshirt. It was so fitting that the book ends with Leo and Alma together with no words. Like in one of the chapters in “The History of Love,” when Leo wrote about the birth of communication. Where did it begin? With touch,- tapping. Circles are said to be the most pleasing shapes to look at. All good things come full circle, rings, suns, roses, and noses & great novels.
Things I would change about the book; 1. Alma’s mother, Charlotte went uncaptured throughout the novel, perhaps to illustrate how aloof she was to Alma, but the effect could have been achieved even if we had a little introduction to her as a character. 2. The title of the book. On it’s own makes a fine title, but the fact that Leo’s book is called The History of Love and it is an entirely different book from Krauss’ made me feel like it was a copout to use the same name.
Sarajane
From the contemporary style to the characters themselves I love the book.
Leo Gursky the man who devotes himself to trying “not to die on a day when I went unseen.” What a character. I think we can all relate to his fears; going unnoticed, being left behind, not mattering , being unloved.
Alma Singer is Leo Gursky’s counterpart. Similar yet opposite. Where Leo accepts defeat {when he finds Alma in America and discovers his son- he walks away} and retreats. Alma on the other hand steps up to the challenge. She will discover who Alma is and draw her mother out of her comatoseness if it takes a lifetime. Her determination is strong. She will survive like the spring flower that came up too soon, she will hold on and survive.
They are both survivors. Alma with her survival lists, and her love of all things related to it. Leo the Holocaust survivor has held out through all of lives misfortunes. His desire to Exist is strong but his ambition to Thrive has been submersed under the past. There is a difference between a live that is gone through and one that has been lived. What makes that difference? Did Leo lose his thirst for life after his heart was broken? Did it come with old age? Will Alma follow his path? Or will she hold out strong to the end and keep the sparks of life alive?
I hope that you all caught the part at the art class when Leo poses for the art class, Alma was the student in the oversized sweatshirt. It was so fitting that the book ends with Leo and Alma together with no words. Like in one of the chapters in “The History of Love,” when Leo wrote about the birth of communication. Where did it begin? With touch,- tapping. Circles are said to be the most pleasing shapes to look at. All good things come full circle, rings, suns, roses, and noses & great novels.
Things I would change about the book; 1. Alma’s mother, Charlotte went uncaptured throughout the novel, perhaps to illustrate how aloof she was to Alma, but the effect could have been achieved even if we had a little introduction to her as a character. 2. The title of the book. On it’s own makes a fine title, but the fact that Leo’s book is called The History of Love and it is an entirely different book from Krauss’ made me feel like it was a copout to use the same name.
Sarajane
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