I have to tell you…
This one, I'm not here to recommend.
Rather, this post is a cry from the heart, a plea for you all to help me find the strength to finish this wretched book.
I have this book club obligation, you see.
So even tho' I'm loathing this thing so far, I must finish it.
Come hell, high water, or off-putting plots...
Now, in fairness, I have read reviews that said, "I hated the first half of this book - but the second half will make up for it!" And no, I'm not half way through it yet.
So maybe there's hope... but I'm skeptical.
To give Mr. Johnson his due, it's an extremely well-written book. Tightly constructed and nicely shaped. I cannot fault him on that account.
He definitely earned the Pulitzer Prize this won him, as far as writing goes.
But stellar word-craft isn't enough to drag me through 450 pages of a story I'm not enjoying.
Because I simply don't like books where not a single soul is likable.
Books are so much a part of my life that the characters become my friends -- and who wants friends they cannot stand??
Books are so much a part of my life that the characters become my friends -- and who wants friends they cannot stand??
Plus, it's a grim story, full of unhappiness and deceit. No one likes anyone, no one trusts anyone, no one enjoys their life. I see no hope for a happy ending, or even a redemptive one. Even worse, it's depressing as all get-out to consider that this may actually be an accurate portrayal of a very unhappy portion of our planet.
Really, pretty much everything about the book makes me flinch.
So, I've been stalling and stalling on this beast, picking it up and putting it down.
But I can stall no longer. The due date looms nigh...
In a last-ditch effort to push through, I've started using the reward system on myself.
"Read 100 pages of this and THEN you can take an hour and…" (bake cookies, work on your jigsaw puzzle, read something you actually enjoy…)
Thus far, this strategy has taken me completely through Jacqueline Carey's "Poison Fruit " (Agent of Hel #3) which was a truly fun, if slightly frothy read -- but, you know, after going from a dank North Korean fishing boat to danker prison camp, a little froth seems in order -- and a good chunk of the way into "Anatomies - A Cultural History of the Human Body" (which I am TOTALLY loving! There may be a WRW on that in the future…)
Sadly, however, I'm still only 289 pages into the libellus horribilis. (Jz-latin, but it feels apt!)
Pray for me?
5 comments:
Haven't read Carey's Hel series yet--they are on my Kobo though...
I feel for you, I truly do..I get the book club obligation thing. At the same time, I am horribly jealous of anyone who gets to read books these days. *slight pout*
There is an ending. Keep going.
Check the audio version out of the library then you can listen while you do something more pleasurable... like clean the toilets, or scrub grout with a toothbrush. :)
B-
And I haven't read "Kushiel" yet. I intend to but winters are always monetarily tight and my library only has the later books, none of the earlier, so I wait.
I am persevering. :-)
lm-
Ye gads, if I had to *listen* to this, I'd probably end up with nightmares! Not to mention the fact that I'd have to relive the pages I've already toiled through in order to get to where I am.
I'll keep struggling, thanks! ;-p
I have given up on "good" books that make me unhappy. Life is just too short. (In my o-so-humble opinion)
nilla
n-
same here... except for book club. ;-)
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