Review: All the Light We Cannot See (by Anthony Doerr)

My Rating:  5 stars

I find this review a bit difficult to write because honestly, I don’t know where to start!  All the Light We Cannot See is like no other book that I’ve read before. On its surface, this book is about a young German boy with a talent for fixing radios and a blind French girl who possesses a curiosity and courage way beyond her years – both thrown helplessly into a world torn apart by war and devastation and the impact this has on their lives. But this book is so much more than that! It is about survival, love, courage, family, friendship, etc but on a deeper level, it is also a "study" on human nature and what it means to "do what is expected" versus "do what is right."

The author Anthony Doerr has a masterful way with words – the richness in detail with which he describes every character / event / scene in the book paints a vivid picture of what life was like in the midst of war, yet he does so in a manner that does not take away from the story itself. He does not bog the story down with long, tedious paragraphs or pages and pages of detailed description that make readers like me want to just skip ahead to the actual story and not bother with the details. Instead, he uses brevity as a powerful tool – in just a few words, short phrases, sometimes not even complete sentences, he is able to bring to life not only his characters and the situations they encounter, but also draw the reader into their world to experience it for ourselves. As I was reading, I actually felt like I was being transported back to that time period (mid 1930s to 1940s), walking alongside the characters, seeing what they were seeing, feeling what they were feeling. The atrocities of war described in the book were very harsh and very real, despite this being a work of fiction. I actually winced during some of the parts where an atrocity was being described and had to set the book aside for a few minutes to calm myself. I’ve read other books in the past about his time period, about World War II and the atrocities of war, but none of those books had the impact this one did. Thinking about it now, I realize why: those books either use WWII merely as a backdrop without going into much detail or if they do, the events are portrayed in a way that makes it feel like a story or a recounting of history – as a reader, you are told what happened during that time period but don’t really feel a connection to it. This book, in its uniqueness, actually makes you LIVE that history rather than just read about it.

The other unique aspect to this book was the storyline involving the cursed stone, which brought an unexpected element of suspense that still blended in perfectly with the rest of the story. In the hands of a less capable author, incorporating this part of the story might ruin the book entirely, but with Doerr, this is definitely not the case – he is consistent with the details as well as the storytelling and incorporates this arc seamlessly throughout the book. I found myself at the edge of my seat at certain points wanting to find out what happens next -- whether the stone would be found, whether certain characters would get caught, etc. I enjoyed this part of the book immensely!

My only “complaint” about this book would be in its structure, as the story is told in different timeframes and switches back and forth after every couple chapters. This interrupted the flow a bit and did slow me down at times when reading, since I had to go back and re-read certain parts in order to remember where the previous timeframe left off. It also caused a little bit of confusion for me initially with some of the characters who were already part of the story when the book opens but then are introduced for the first time when things switch back to the earlier timeframe, then it picks up with what happens to that character from the later timeframe when it switches again. Not a show-stopper by any means of course, but I think the book would’ve been easier to get through if it didn’t switch back and forth. I'm pretty sure there was significance to structuring the book this way but unfortunately it was lost on me.

Despite this long review that I just wrote, I actually don’t feel like I did this book any justice. In fact, no review can do this book much justice because it is a book that can’t just be “described” -- you basically have to read and experience it for yourself. For me personally, I loved this book and I know this is a story that will stay with me for a long time to come. I can totally see why this book won a Pulitzer Prize – absolutely well-deserved!

(Read in January 2017)

Review: Me Before You (by Jojo Moyes)

My Rating: 4 stars 

I actually read this book last summer during some down time I had while waiting for my flight at the airport. I will admit that amongst all the choices of books at the airport bookstore, I chose to read this primarily out of curiosity, as I had heard about the "hype" surrounding this book (especially the debate over the topic of assisted suicide, which plays a key role in the story) and wanted to see for myself what the commotion was about. Surprisingly, this actually ended up being an enjoyable read for me – a book I finished in one sitting because I just couldn't bear to put it down. While the story itself is not unique and the writing not particularly profound, I couldn't help being drawn into the main character Louisa Clark's supposedly "ordinary" world and seeing how her life changes after she meets Will Traynor. To be honest, neither Louisa nor Will were particularly likable characters (though in the case of Will, there really wasn't much character development at all outside of the surface-level stuff) and more often than not, I actually disagreed with the viewpoints and actions of both characters – yet somehow I found myself "rooting" for both of them and hoping that things would turn out well for them in the end. It's hard to explain and there is no rhyme or reason for it….simply put, that's just the way I felt by the time I got to the end of the book.

In terms of the writing, one of the things that I felt the author Jojo Moyes did a relatively good job with in this book is striking the right balance between lighthearted humor and the seriousness of some of the characters' situations. There were funny moments that made me smile and serious moments that got me teary-eyed, but both were appropriately balanced without going overboard in my opinion. True, there were inconsistencies with the writing and some parts of the plot weren't very logical (for example – the often-mentioned part about how Louisa could become Will's caretaker given her obvious lack of basic qualifications), but overall, the story still worked, which I guess is the most important selling point of the book.

As for the "debate" concerning the ending and the type of message it supposedly sends – well, for me at least, it was a moot point, since I didn't take this book that seriously to begin with. From the moment I started reading, I approached this book as a "casual read" to kill time and never expected to get anything profound out of it – by the time I reached the end of the book, my sentiments were still the same. Taking the story purely by itself (stripped of all moral debate and personal feelings), I actually felt the ending made sense given the events that led up to it. With that said, if the book had been written differently – like perhaps telling the story from Will's perspective rather than Louisa's and making his inner struggle between the life he had before versus after the accident be the primary focus – my opinion would definitely be different.

Overall, I would categorize this book as a worthwhile read with a good story, decent writing (with some of the dialogue being quite memorable), and somewhat relatable though not necessarily realistic characters. Regardless of its flaws, I still enjoyed the book and don't mind reading it again in the future.

(Read in August 2016)

Review: The Painted Veil (by W. Somerset Maugham)

My Rating:  5 stars

I’m quite stingy when it comes to rating books and normally would not give more than 4 stars, even for a book I thoroughly enjoyed. However, in the case of W. Somerset Maugham’s classic The Painted Veil, the first thought that came into my head after finishing the book is that this is a masterpiece that absolutely deserves nothing less than 5 stars!

The entire book is beautifully and tightly written, using what I would categorize as “classical” language, but in a style that is simple and easy to understand. Maugham did a fantastic job telling the story of how the main character Kitty Fane’s adulterous affair and the aftermath of it causes her to re-assess and make changes in her life that she never thought possible. In all honesty, from the beginning of the story to the very end, I did not like Kitty one bit. I felt she was silly and foolish (and vain, immature, self-centered, etc.) and even when she “changes for the better” later on, I still couldn’t bring myself to like her. No doubt that Kitty grew a lot after her experiences in China, but I actually still saw a bit of the same characteristics in her, albeit to a much lesser degree. As I was reading, my feelings towards Kitty went from despising her in the beginning to pitying her later on in the story (the pity comes from acknowledgement of the fact that, in a sense, part of her plight truly WAS due to societal conventions and how she was raised).

Since I read this book for one of my book clubs, I don’t intend to write a long review on it, as I prefer to save more in-depth analysis for when we discuss the book. However, for anyone who may be considering whether to read this book or not, my response is a wholehearted YES! The amount of ground that Maugham was able to cover – love, betrayal, redemption, society norms and conventions, culture, marriage and relationships, religion, gender roles and stereotypes, class structure, etc. – in such a short book (my Kindle version was less than 200 pages) is not only astounding but also extremely rare. Don’t let the “classic” label fool you into thinking this will be a difficult book to get through because it definitely won’t be – this book is an easy read, yet still invokes much insight into numerous topics that are still relevant today.

Lastly, I know there was a movie adaptation of this book that came out around 10 years ago, but I actually don’t plan on watching it, at least not any time soon. I’m very particular when it comes to book to movie/tv series adaptations, especially ones that turn out to be very different from the book due to changes made by the producers/directors. I don’t want my memory of the book to be ruined if I end up disliking the movie’s interpretation of the story/characters.

(Read in January 2017)

Review: Tiger Moms vs Western Parenting: Is There a Happy Medium? (By Dori Nolan)

My Rating: 2 stars

First off, before I even go into whether I liked this book or not, I have to ask the question – did anyone edit this book before publishing it?? The number of grammar, spelling, and sentence structure errors I found in this book was ridiculous to the point that it really affected my ability to get through the book. The Kindle edition was only 99 pages, which normally would be a very quick read for me, but this one was laborious because of all the errors, since I'm the type who gets really distracted and frustrated when I see grammar and/or spelling errors in books. It also didn't help that, topic-wise, the author seemed to be all over the place, which made it even harder to follow what her main point was. At times, it appeared that she actually supported the "tiger mom" approach to parenting while other times, it felt like she was outraged at such a parenting style and was venting her frustrations with it. 

If you were to ask me whether I liked this book or not, I would have to answer "not really." Granted, the author did make a few good points when comparing the two styles of parenting, but those same points were talked about over and over again, to the point of being overly repetitive. From an originality perspective, there really wasn't anything said in this book that hadn't already been said previously by someone else (I personally didn't learn anything new). In fact, I actually felt like 99 pages was too long for what the author had to say – take out all the repetitive stuff and this book easily could have been half the length it was. Actually, at several points throughout the book, I kind of felt like I was reading someone's (poorly written) term paper rather than an actual published book.

Basically, this book isn't worth the time to read. For those who are interested in this topic, there are way better books out there that talk about parenting styles in the East vs West that are better written for one and also way more informative and entertaining.

(Read in January 2017)