Two book reviews for the price of one, ha.
In all honesty, they're both just really short so the reviews themselves aren't very long.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Six Other Stories
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
[Full grown with a long, smoke-coloured
beard, requiring the services of a cane
and fonder of cigars than warm milk,
Benjamin Button is a very curious baby
indeed. And, as Benjamin becomes
increasingly youthful with the passing
years, his family wonders why he persists
in the embarrassing folly of living in reverse.
In this imaginative fable of ageing and
the other tales collected here - including
'The Cut-Glass Bowl', in which an ill-meant
gift haunts a family's misfortunes, 'The
Four Fists', where a man's life is shaped by
a series of punches to his face, and the
revelry, mobs and anguish of 'May Day' -
F. Scott Fitzgerald displays his unmatched
gift as a writer of short stories.]
I really really really like F. Scott Fitzgerald as a writer but, with that said, I didn't enjoy the plot lines of these short stories as much as I thought I could have.
I don't know if it was because of the style or of the era he wrote them in, but I found the storylines to be jumpy in parts and in others I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was the most memorable of course, but I'd heard a lot about it and had already previously seen the film which, by the way, is just as weird.
I enjoyed the settings these were written in; Fitzgerald didn't even have to state it for me to know it was all based between the twenties and forties.
There's not really much to comment on the characters as the stories weren't long enough to allow them any development.
Tender is the Night is still my favourite Fitzgerald novel, but this was an interesting read.
✥
I don't know if it was because of the style or of the era he wrote them in, but I found the storylines to be jumpy in parts and in others I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was the most memorable of course, but I'd heard a lot about it and had already previously seen the film which, by the way, is just as weird.
I enjoyed the settings these were written in; Fitzgerald didn't even have to state it for me to know it was all based between the twenties and forties.
There's not really much to comment on the characters as the stories weren't long enough to allow them any development.
Tender is the Night is still my favourite Fitzgerald novel, but this was an interesting read.
✥
The Alchemist
By Paulo Coelho
['To realise
one's destiny
is a person's only
obligation.']
I thought this was a cute little book (physically) and I suppose internally as well.
The cover itself is probably what attracted me to it in the first place to be honest.
I liked the idea of omens and destiny and travelling to the desert to the pyramids but overall it didn't really engage me.
It was just the sort of book trying to send a positive message.
I have heard a lot of good things about Paulo Coelho though so I'm going to try picking up a few of his other books and see what they're like.
The cover itself is probably what attracted me to it in the first place to be honest.
I liked the idea of omens and destiny and travelling to the desert to the pyramids but overall it didn't really engage me.
It was just the sort of book trying to send a positive message.
I have heard a lot of good things about Paulo Coelho though so I'm going to try picking up a few of his other books and see what they're like.
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