precious

book: push

author: sapphire

completion date: 16/08/10

method: purchased

i was overwhelmed by this book. i thought after some of the things i had read i could handle anything, but this stretched my limit. i couldn't stand to put it down, but i wanted to. it just kicks you in the teeth over and over. part of what makes it so gripping is not the subject matter but that it is narrated by precious herself in precious's own dialect (i'm not quite sure what else to call it) spelling mistakes and all. it feels like you are reading a book that precious herself has written. example 'what' is spelled 'wut' there are very few pronouns or pluralizations. but as precious learns to read her narration improves. but sapphire writes it so well that it happens gradually. this book is crazy authentic. you hear her voice and feel so deeply for her plight.

the subject matter is terrifying as well. precious is a product of her terrible environment. abusive and uneducated mother and father. sexual abuse that began essentially when precious was born. being 18 and infected with HIV. everything just keeps piling up and there is almost no escape for her, except in school and the hope that she will get her GED and be able to go to college. and to have abetter life to give to her baby. her family even in a way abused her younger daughter who was born with downs syndrome. her grandmother just pretty much left her in a room. didn't sing to her, read to her or teach her anything. meaning that this disadvantaged child was given no assistance. its just tragic.

sometimes it makes me wonder how you write a book like this. how do you do the research? and where do these stories come from.

one of the most astounding part of this book is the final few pages. they are stories and poems written by the girls in precious's special class. all the girls are illiterate and learning to read and at the end they write stories and poems about their lives and families. its so devastating, but so beautiful. again, this is a hard book to recommend because it is so intense but i did enjoy it and i couldn't put it down.

xo-ellebee

life is too short to read books you don't love

book: pilgrim

author:timothy findley

abandoned: 16/08/10

method: borrowed (debbie)

i kept waiting for this book to get going. and waiting and waiting. and i just never got into it. it isn't that it's a badly written book by any stretch. i just never cared about any of the characters. their lives seemed so hollow and pointless and i didn't look forward to reading it, so i let it go. no hard feelings, findley, but you just didn't do it for me.

xo-ellebee

be a filter

book: the perks of being a wallflower

author: stephen chbosky

completion date: 11/08/10

method: borrowed (debbie)

i loved this book. i loved it so much that i couldn't put it down. jake came home from work and i essentially said 'hi. how was your day? this book is really good so i'll talk to you when its done'. it was all i could think about.

this novel really reminded me of the curious incident of the dog in the night time', because it is told from the perspective of a very non trustworthy narrator. the narrator hold back on his knowledge until the end. charlie is a bit of an enigma. he has a very strong, almost fierce sense of right and wrong and he will defend his principles to the bitter end.

he disguises himself as honest, but what he really is is insanely observant. he watches and barely participates in life. i feel that even his resolution at the end to 'participate' is hollow. charlie is a wallflower to the core. he is more comfortable watching and i was disappointed that he didn't realize there is life on the sidelines.

every character is so well fleshed out in this book too. even the minor characters that we only meet at parties. i found myself wanting to get to know every character even more. i did however find the romance between the gay friend and the football star a little contrived. i feel like this story has been told before and this is just a re imagining. but that's ok. a coming of age story is always needed, and few are executed this brilliantly.

xo-ellebee

loyalty and betrayal

book: the story of edgar sawtelle

author: david wroblewski

completion date: 11/08/10

method: borrowed (dad)

the last time i saw my father he asked if i had gotten around to this book yet. and in all honesty, i hadn't even read the back yet. i didn't have any idea what it was about, only that it was pretty thick. and it may have usurped let the great world spin for my favourite book of the summer. maybe.

this book just feels so sad. filled with struggle, but the good kind (at least for the first half of the book). its the kind of struggle that makes you glad because there's something to struggle for. edgar's struggle comes from when he was born, because he is mute. not deaf, just mute. living on a farm with noone for miles except his parents. raising and training dogs. and let me say, i want a sawtelle dog.

the sawtelle's have been raising a very special type of breed of dog. they do not bread to create a german shepherd or a doberman, but the most intelligent, perfect dog they can. they do not sell puppies. they only sell adult dogs, because they believe that it is only once a dog is taught and trained in this special way that the sawtelles can tell what kind of dog they have and where would be a good home to 'place' it. and i wanted one of these dogs so badly, because they sound like exactly what i want a dog to be- a trained companion. one who stays because it wants to for you, not because you have commanded it. as a child and young teen, edgar's job is to train some of the pups and to name them.

i'm actually having trouble writing about this book because the main events aren't things that you want to give away to someone who might read this book (which i hope everyone does, because it is beautiful). what i have to say is that i don't understand the major betrayal in the book. i understand that it is complicated and happened out of a long born hatred, but i have a hard time seeing how someone could do that.

this book is mainly told by a 3rd person narrator from edgar's perspective, but slips behind different characters when appropriate. my favourite sequences were the ones that were told from edgar's main dog, almondine's perspective. dogs see the world so differently and see people so differently, and since the dogs are such an important part of this novel it was wonderful to see trudy and edgar and gar from the dog's point of view.

i loved this book. and so should you.

xo-ellebee

napoleon complex pt 3

book: the last great dance on earth

author: sandra gulland

completion date: 07/08/10

method: borrowed (debbie)

this is one time where i would not want to live. it seems like no matter who you are you are either being betrayed or betraying. in this final novel, you see how few friends the bonepartes had.

when napoleon was an emperor, he was revered. adored. going out became a hindrance to him and josephine because they were so adored by there people, if they went to the theatre they were accosted with so many cheers and bouquets. but once he was fallen its like no one cared about him anymore. he was forgotten and rejected. the people who once loved him forgot him. and that just made me so sad.

i mentioned before how horribly the boneparte family treated josephine. i think its because they were a pack of spoiled brats who recognized how wonderful and kind josephine and her children were and resented it (at least thats the skewed view we get from gulland). the people of france called josephine napoleon's good luck charm and it feels true. while they were together he was almost immortal. once he separated from her, he lost. he lost his power over the people and his battles. however napoleon feels like a brat compared to his angel of mercy. along with his family, who quite frankly sucked. hard. they were bratty and snotty and a bunch of dirty turncoats. harumph.

i was sad when this series was over though. i wanted more more more. i couldn't chew through these books fast enough and was hungry for more about josephine after they were finished. i'm going to have to see what else gulland has in her arsenal.

josephine went threw menopause when she was 30 because of the terrible things that she underwent during the terror, and thus when she married napoleon she was unable to have any more children. and this is what drove them apart, because it was all her fault. napoleon sent her to spa after spa and she underwent some horrific treatments for him with the hope of reigniting her system (so to speak). and because infertility is the female's fault, she had to pay for all of it.

vive la revolution!

napoleon complex pt. 2

book: tales of passion, tales of woe
author: sandra gulland
completion date: 05/08/10
method: borrowed (debbie)

i really found myself absorbed by these books. when the third one was over i wanted more- i even wanted to buy another bio fiction book just to keep going, but i know it wouldn't be the same. this book, like most middle books, was my least favourite in the series. i always like the beginning and middle the most, whereas the middle book in a trilogy seems to be the most stagnant. you can't advance too far, but you don't want nothing to happen at all. we have to be engaged so that we want to keep reading, but it can't be the peak of the story.
what i love about bio fiction is that it feels like you're doing research. i feel that i could talk intelligently about josephine's life but its all really drivel. caroline boneparte is portrayed as a selfish bitch but i don't actually know what she was like. however as in the last novel this book is very well researched, an many events are made stronger by the addition of footnotes that either quote writings or history books. it may not all be true, but it feels so real.
its rough to read about how difficult this time was for everyone. the people don't seem to know who to love or trust because the french kept executing all their leaders. and this is what makes josephine such a sympathetic character- she is not a tyrant. she doesn't lust after power or wealth, she seeks to live within her means. she is happiest surrounded by her children and friends. the french people called her the angel of mercy and she feels like one. her attempt to win over bonaparte's mother is adorable, because madam has little love to give to anyone who is not blood. all the bonepartes call josephine the old woman (josephine was 32 when they married) and plot to get rid of her, and still she treats them with love and affection. her grace is never faltered, even to her rash husband.
boneparte seems like such an ass in these novels as well, but because this is only a part 2 i don't want to give everything away!
xo-ellebee

napoleon complex pt 1

book: the many lives and secret sorrows of josephine b

author: sandra gulland

completion date: 05/08/10

method: borrowed (debbie)

let me preface this with the fact that i am a HUGE sucker for biofiction. i loved philippa gregory's novels and really any other novel based on a real person but is a fictional account of their lives (as a girl there was this royal diaries series i was into about cleopatra and elisabeth and mary). i think i just love when some things have a spark of reality to them, because it feels like you're reading non fiction but its a bit more fun. i also like knowing whats going to happen to the main character at the end of the book without asking anyone.

what i like about this trilogy so far after the first instalment is that it focuses on the lessor of the two heros. many books have been written and stories told about napoleon and his conquests, but gulland focuses on his wife, josephine, who is fascinating. this instalment starts when josephine is a young girl on the island trois-olets, martinique, almost 20 years before she is married to napoleon. something that i didn't know about josephine is that she led an extremely hard life before napoleon and becoming the empress (although i'm sure it wasn't a cakewalk). her fist marriage was miserable. she was married to someone who did not love her and who kept trophies of his conquests both before and after their wedding. luckily for josephine though, his family was kind and loving, and after his death they still helped and supported her as much as they could.

i don't know a lot about the french revolution. i know that it was very messy and very bloody and pretty horrifying to be anyone. peasants had no money (and the revolution didn't really help this) aristocrats couldn't hold onto their heads long enough to style their hair, and no one could be trusted. i also know that the revolution was just followed by an emperor which i think is the last thing everyone wanted.

something about gulland's books that i am totally amazed by so far: they are impeccably researched. they feel so authentic and are backed by an impressive bibliography. there is of course lots and lots of padding (it is fiction after all) but it is so convincing and well put together that it feels like josephine's true account of her life.

its funny to hear a description of napoleon from someone who grew to love him. a tiny man with short little legs and long, stringy hair. exactly the person you'd want after you'd married a gorgeous letch.

xo-ellebee