What is the last book you read, and your rating?
- Jenmom87
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Re: What is the last book you read, and your rating?
- Redlegs
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I actually found the brief chronological account of this man's life at the end of the novel more interesting and informative than the main novel.
It is clear that Bell had accumulated a massive amount of research about Forrest, including his life before, during and after the war, but then struggled to present it in a coherent narrative. The structure of the novel was frustrating, jumping around in time to no apparent benefit.
Having read in the appendix of Forrest's life after the war, his role in the Ku Klux Klan and his business endeavours in railroad building etc., I would have preferred to have had more of this man in the story and the less of descriptions of war skirmishes and the number of horses that Forrest had shot from under him.
Just a fair attempt, full of missed opportunities to better understand a complex and potentially fascinating character.
3 stars out of 5.
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
- Redlegs
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It relates the story of the Nautilus, a submarine vessel, commanded by the enigmatic, driven and slightly mad Captain Nemo, roaming the world's oceans without end. The book's subtitle is 'An Underwater Tour of the World'.
While there is a certain amount of action adventure, and the descriptions of the world beneath the oceans must have been fascinating to reader in 1869, much of it is tedious and reads more like a science text book. The endless descriptions of fish and other creatures of the sea, and their formal scientific classifications, detracted significantly from the adventure story.
In between certain adventures, including becoming entrapped in an iceberg at the South Pole, and an underwater walk through the lost city of Atlantis, nothing much happens. Ned Land is persistent in his desire and planning to escape, and Aronnax is mostly content to continue for as long as possible his scientific observations and writing his journals. Conseil is happy to do whatever his master desires.
The ending, when it comes, is abrupt, implausible and completely unsatisfying. Verne, it seems, just ran out of ideas.
3.5 stars out of 5
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
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So nice to see this one get some recognition. A lot of people criticised it for being too long and cumbersome but I loved it for that reason, it was the first one in the series that truly opened HP up in terms of all its mystery, and the gravity of the story became so much heavier. Rowling showed her talent best in this book!thelittlelibrary wrote: ↑17 Dec 2017, 06:24 The last book I read was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (reread) and it was amazing as it always is. Five stars every time