Ok, I'm gonna be honest here... I haven't read in like a week or something. Why? Well, it's not that my book is all that boring or too confusing to read, it's just... it kind of blows up in your face and then run away really fast. I'm not even joking.
For example, in one part of the book (I'm not leaving a quote because it's very inappropriate), you find out A LOT of stuff about Winston and his past. You find out some of the sketchy and nasty things that he's done. You read it and go, "WOW! I never would've expected that!" Now, normally, you expect the book to reveal more shocking and juicy secrets in the next few pages. But no. Not in this book.
Instead, we switch to a completely different, basically repetitive topic. As I'm reading, I'm thinking to myself, "...Ok... Soooo you just threw that bombshell at me, and now we're back to this? Really? You're not gonna elaborate on that at all?" The more frustrating thing though is that I don't event think anymore secrets are going to be revealed for a loooong time, which sucks as the reader.
I don't know, maybe I'm just impatient. I probably am, but hey, if something interesting doesn't happen for a while in a book, that's what happens. I just kind of check out. This book seems like it has a lot of secrets to tell, but it seems it'll be forever before any of them come to light. To be honest, I don't want to read another 50 pages of just plain old text before more good interesting stuff happens.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Sunday, May 11, 2014
The Flaws of 1984
I wrote a post earlier about the best things about the book 1984. Well, on the flip side of that, there are some not so good things about it. Even though I'm not too terribly far into it (still), I'm starting to notice some things that are kind of bothering me.
First of all, there are some pretty sketchy things that happen in this book. First of all, women are all stereotyped as being haughty and uptight. They all want the exact same things in life, and there really is no difference between any of them (except appearance). But, that isn't really all that sketchy... The REALLY sketchy things is- Wait... How do I put it... Well, I really didn't think this through, but all you need to know is that there are some *cough* *cough* inappropriate and illegal things that Winston does that just makes you cringe and barf in your mouth a little. You're all probably like, "I wanna know what it is! I wanna know what it is!" Well... Just read the book, ok? Or look it up. Google probably has the answer.
Anyways, the second thing that's not so great about this book is there are two INCREDIBLY long paragraphs of pure text (no dialogue) on each page for five pages; at least. It's almost painful to read through. I just look at the pages and groan, because I know a lot of stuff is going to be explained, but my brain will just be focused on the fact that there is still no dialogue, instead of digesting the important facts. I feel like dialogue is a crucial part of any story, and without it, you feel like something's completely missing. In my opinion, characters' interactions with one another tells the story all in itself.
Don't get me wrong, I still love this book overall, but seriously, can't there be just a smidge of dialogue every now and then?
First of all, there are some pretty sketchy things that happen in this book. First of all, women are all stereotyped as being haughty and uptight. They all want the exact same things in life, and there really is no difference between any of them (except appearance). But, that isn't really all that sketchy... The REALLY sketchy things is- Wait... How do I put it... Well, I really didn't think this through, but all you need to know is that there are some *cough* *cough* inappropriate and illegal things that Winston does that just makes you cringe and barf in your mouth a little. You're all probably like, "I wanna know what it is! I wanna know what it is!" Well... Just read the book, ok? Or look it up. Google probably has the answer.
Anyways, the second thing that's not so great about this book is there are two INCREDIBLY long paragraphs of pure text (no dialogue) on each page for five pages; at least. It's almost painful to read through. I just look at the pages and groan, because I know a lot of stuff is going to be explained, but my brain will just be focused on the fact that there is still no dialogue, instead of digesting the important facts. I feel like dialogue is a crucial part of any story, and without it, you feel like something's completely missing. In my opinion, characters' interactions with one another tells the story all in itself.
Don't get me wrong, I still love this book overall, but seriously, can't there be just a smidge of dialogue every now and then?
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Why 1984?
I feel like this is a topic that I should talk about, since it's a question I ask myself sometimes; why did I choose to read 1984? Out of all of the books on Amazon, in Barnes and Nobles and libraries, why this book?
Well, the first thing that caught my eye about this book is that it was on my Amazon recommended list. I thought it looked intriguing (after skimming the synopsis), and so I brought my Kindle over to my mom to ask if I could buy it. Since, you know, my mom likes to make sure that I don't spend money left and right on things she doesn't know about. She looked over it briefly, and then said, "Actually, I read this book when I was in high school! We might still have it here..." And sure enough, after looking through the old books we had, there it was; 1984, my mom's original copy. At first I thought, oh great... now I get to carry around an old, worn down book. But my mom insisted that it was great.
I don't know what it is, but something about the fact that it's an old book, and my mom (as well as many other people in her generation) have read that book. I was curious to see how dystopian style books were written back then. I wanted to see how the future looked from the eyes of someone in the '50s or '60s. Call me weird, but I think it's kind of cool.
I have an even stronger connection to it now that I know that my mom read it. I try to imagine what her and her classmates thought as they read it... Were they scared for the future? Did they just ignore the messages throughout? I don't know, because I've never asked her. But one thing her and my dad have both told me is that I should find it very interesting. "I think you'll be shocked when you read this book and see that many of the things predicted in this book are actually happening today."
Well, the first thing that caught my eye about this book is that it was on my Amazon recommended list. I thought it looked intriguing (after skimming the synopsis), and so I brought my Kindle over to my mom to ask if I could buy it. Since, you know, my mom likes to make sure that I don't spend money left and right on things she doesn't know about. She looked over it briefly, and then said, "Actually, I read this book when I was in high school! We might still have it here..." And sure enough, after looking through the old books we had, there it was; 1984, my mom's original copy. At first I thought, oh great... now I get to carry around an old, worn down book. But my mom insisted that it was great.
I don't know what it is, but something about the fact that it's an old book, and my mom (as well as many other people in her generation) have read that book. I was curious to see how dystopian style books were written back then. I wanted to see how the future looked from the eyes of someone in the '50s or '60s. Call me weird, but I think it's kind of cool.
I have an even stronger connection to it now that I know that my mom read it. I try to imagine what her and her classmates thought as they read it... Were they scared for the future? Did they just ignore the messages throughout? I don't know, because I've never asked her. But one thing her and my dad have both told me is that I should find it very interesting. "I think you'll be shocked when you read this book and see that many of the things predicted in this book are actually happening today."
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