What is the last book you read, and your rating?
- Redlegs
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Re: What is the last book you read, and your rating?
Secondly, The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard, winner of the 2004 Miles Franklin Award, which is set in the years immediately after World War II, in Japan, China, England and New Zealand.
Aldred Leith is an Englishman, injured during the war, who is posted to Japan, near Hiroshima, to investigate and report of matters pertaining to post-war occupation by the Allies. He had previously spent two years in China, doing similar work.
In Japan, Leith encounters the Driscoll family, who have two teenage children, Benedict (Ben) and Helen, who occupy a cottage separate to the main family house. Slowly, an attraction beyond mere fondness develops between the mature Leith and sixteen year old Helen.
Despite what is clearly a burgeoning and deeply abiding love developing, both Leith and Helen are determined to keep the relationship chaste and above reproach, having regard to the significant age difference.
The setting and subject matter for The Great Fire are an interesting choice for Hazzard. There are many novels of wartime relationships, and of men returning home after war, but few deal with this immediate post-war limbo period in defeated and occupied countries, and the yearning of men for it to be finally over, albeit they are now safe from hostile actions.
Hazzard's writing style alternates between lyrical and flowing prose, and a more staccato, rapid fire delivery that occasionally annoyed me, and interrupted the flow of meaning and mood within the narrative.
Overall, a finely written novel worthy of consideration. 4 stars out of 5
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
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Must read!!
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- Redlegs
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Set on two planets, Anarres and Urras, that are deemed to be moons of each other, it follows the life of Shevek, a notable physicist.
Shevek's home planet is Anarres, a bleak planet subject to severe drought and food shortages, where he is involved in theoretical research into the physics of instantaneous communications, the Principle of Simultaneity.
Having reached the limit of his research on Anarres, and lacking support for a task that has little relevance to working on life's daily necessities (like food production), Shevek takes a rare opportunity to travel to Urras. On Urras, he is welcomed and feted by those who wish to exploit Shevek's research for state power and financial gain.
Le Guin cleverly uses the narrative of Shevek to examine the elements of the two alternate societies without ever making absolute value judgements. She compares and contrasts attitudes to work, freedom of choice, sexual freedom, the roles of women, the distribution of wealth and the nature of class and political power.
The narrative is cleverly constructed with the chapters alternating between Anarres and Urras, as the author presents a fascinating insight that has obvious parallels to the competing interests at play during the Cold War that was still in full force at the time the book was written.
4 stars out of 5
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
- raven18360
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Give this book for out 4 out of 5
I could not put the book down
Excellent reading
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- Redlegs
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The story is narrated by Justine herself, although for the majority of the story she is known as Therese.
Therese/Justine is seemingly rescued from the clutches of villains who would use her cruelly, sexually and violently, to satisfy their own peculiar fetishes and whims, only to fall victim to yet more ruthless and abusive characters.
The continual cruelty and wilful abuse makes the novel no pleasure to read. It is hard to imagine anyone surviving some of the torture and degradation our heroine is made to suffer.
Read this one for historical interest only - it is hard to imaging how anyone could derive any pleasure from it.
3 stars out of 5
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald