The Nightingale - Review

When I read a historical fiction, I expect – of course – a historical fiction, not a soap opera with eye-rolling cliché and melodrama. The Nightingale is filled with exaggerated dramatic moments and chick-lit plot. It didn’t make a good historical fiction even if Kristin Hannah threw in a *SPOILER* rape element.

Few things.

1.    The Characters

None of the characters are really likable, especially the two protagonists Vianne and Isabelle.

Let’s talk about Isabelle. She was impulsive, hot-tempered, uncontrollable, irresponsible. She had not only once put her family in danger due to her childish thinking and behavior. When Beck billeted at Vianne’s house, she was rude to him thereby risking her sister’s and niece’s life. Had Beck not been a decent man, all of them would have been dead.

As for Vianne, she was just plain stupid. She hid Rachel in her cellar on the day of the deportation of Jewish, but only until noon. She couldn’t even wait till the end of the day before she thought it was safe to let her out. And Rachel, being even dumber, risked getting deported (which she did) for a bath.

“I went to town. Everything seems normal. Maybe Beck was being overly cautious, but I think you should spend one more night down there.” 

Rachel’s face was drawn, tired-looking. “I’ll need diapers. And a quick bath. Ari and I both smelled.”

In another event when Isabelle was shot and Vianne insisted that her sister stayed to be cared by her. Having killed Beck moments ago, she needed to be reminded that an injured woman in her house was going to draw attention. If she would have used her brain a little it would not be so much effort to figure out this rocket science.

“Enough,” Henri said, stepping between them. “She can’t stay here, Vianne. Think about it. The Germans are going to come looking for their dead captain. They don’t need to find a woman with gunshot wound and false papers. You understand?”

Sometimes characters were shaped in a way that they were not supposed to be likable. But in this case the result was that I ended up not caring much about what happened to them.

2.    The Writing

The writing style is generally flat and, yes, chick-lit. I don’t have anything against such genre. I even gave a high review for Me Before You and I specifically praised Jojo Moyes’ writing. But The Nightingale, is a chick-lit with historical fiction in disguise.

She was so surprised that she couldn’t think how to respond. He was saying he would die to protect Isabelle. He turned to her, gazed at her. Gazed, not looked.

There were things like these that reminded me of E.L.James’ infamous Fifty Shades trilogy. Kristin Hannah seemed to think her emphasizing of a “gaze” instead of a “look” would stun or awe the readers emotionally.

For the first time, Gaëtan smiled and Vianne understood how this scrawny, sharp-featured man in his beggar’s clothes had swept Isabelle off her feet. He had the kind of smile that inhabited every part of his face – his eyes, his cheeks; there was even a dimple.

That’s right, dimple is the answer to all questions!

3.    Fiction or imagination?

There were events and moments when I wondered did Kristin Hannah do her research properly.

Times when it was “freezing cold” when hiking through the Nightingale escape route. Now I’d been to hiking in Nepal. It was neither raining nor snowing, but the temperature was low, close to sub-zero. But when we hiked, there wasn’t an instant when we felt “freezing cold”. When we walked our body generated heat, especially when there was a uphill hike or up a flight of steps. At all times, we wore a layer of long-sleeve shirt during the hike. When we stopped for meals it was not until for a while that we needed to wear the down jacket. So when Hannah described the mountain scene, I had many doubts.

Times when Hannah explained Rossignol’s family financial status and asset. Julien Rossignol was a war soldier and a bookseller and he owned a property (Le Jardin) in Carriveau, a bookshop and an apartment in Paris. I am no expert of France economy in the 1940s but I thought that was a bit too well-off for a bookseller.

Overall I gave it a 2 star out of 5. This is the first book I read of Kristin Hannah’s and I will keep in mind not to read another one.

Me Before You - A Book Review

I had just finished The Witcher 3 (minus the expansions) on PS4 and there was no good free games available for a few months now - damn you Sony. Hence recently I've gone back to reading. It felt like high school again. I used to drive to my friend ST's house to borrow some books during the school holidays. Normally I came back with 5 or 6 and I would stack them neatly on my study table and evaluate which one to start.

I have no idea why this book in particular could squeeze a review out of me. But here I am, back with a new post on my blog that I have abandoned since... let me check... January 2015! That was more than a year ago! And I should be ashamed that I didn't get to finish what I started. Well, in my own defense I would like to clarify that my blog is not exactly intended for popularity purposes. It's actually like a personal journal which I don't mind letting anyone read. So that means I could just come back and write something whenever I feel like it, and not write anything whenever I don't feel like it, right? Right?

Okay, back to the review. Before you proceed, I should just warn you (if anyone is reading at all), that this is a SPOILER review of Jojo Moyes' Me Before You. Proceed at your own risk!

First of all, I think it is quite well-written for a romantic novel and it's so refreshing to the eye. Well maybe it's because I have never been exposed to too many novels of this genre. I distinctly remember reading some during my teens. I remember A Greek God At The Ladies' Club by Jenna McKnight, Message In A Bottle by Nicholas Sparks, and some book which I can't remember by Nora Roberts. That was pretty much it, and they were so bad I needed to drag myself forcefully towards the last page, in between countless eye-rollings and frustrated outbursts. Oh, not forgetting to mention the ever so popular Fifty Shades Of Grey that everyone made a big fuss about. E.L.James had so limited vocabulary that the whole book had repetitive sentence structures and repetitive words. What I'm saying is, I'm pretty happy with Me Before You, given my experience with books of this genre.

The story was told with Louisa Clark's narration, with a few chapters from different characters point of view. There was one from Camilla Traynor, one from Steven Traynor, then Nathan, and one from Katrina Clark. These chapters, I felt, were entirely unnecessary and pointless. They didn't contribute anything to the whole story. It was as if the author worried that it would be too bland and so she tried adding some salt and pepper. But totally unnecessary.

I felt a little depressed upon finishing the book. I guess it's because prior to reading Me Before You, I was on Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is super depressing! That might have affect my mood a little. Well you could probably guess that Me Before You is a sad ending. But as much as I hate it, it actually makes perfect sense to me. I can totally understand why Will Traynor had to do what he did. It's a little selfish, yes. But let's face it, you gotta live (or not live) for yourself. It is an interesting issue to explore - whether it is right to take your own life.

Finally, here's a trailer to the movie that's coming out in June this year. I don't think I would be able to watch it alone so I guess I would have to drag Feeder into this. Sorry!

P.S. This is the first time I'm blogging since I bought my Surface Pro 3. And I just gotta say, the keyboard is amazing!

Her Fearful Symmetry - A Book Review

*SPOILERS ALERT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.*

You have a demanding, controlling twin sister and you are sick and tired of her bossing you around. Would you kill yourself, and entrust upon your dead aunt (who is now a ghost haunting you) to resurrect you? Bear in mind that the resurrection is no guarantee to be successful. Worst case scenario, you'll be dead and trapped haunting an apartment for eternity. I don't know about you guys but for me, that is like the last thing I want. Unless Niffenegger is trying to portray her character Valentina as an idiot beyond hope.  I mean, come on, has the option of leaving your twin sister ever occur to you? This itself made the final 100-or-so pages of the book painful to get through.

Next, meet Martin - a poor soul suffering OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). His wife Marijke left him, tired of his symptoms (which includes excessive cleaning and bleaching, insisting that she enters the bedroom with left foot first, refusing to leave the house etc.) and his refusing to obtain treatment, which is also one of the symptoms. This is all very interesting but WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE MAIN STORY? Sure, occasionally Martin crosses path with Julia and Robert but I can't help feeling the events seem forceful and pointless. To me, these two characters are just redundant. In the end Niffenegger had to cure Martin and send him to live happily ever after with Marijke just to get rid of them.

I had to question Niffenegger's creativity and imagination when she described the haunting. Invisible hand? Writings on the dust? Ouija board? How cliche is that. *yawn* Stealing another's body? Ghost kitten? And best of all - the ghost has to leave the apartment only via a person's mouth? Give me a break!

I've heard great reviews on The Time Traveler's Wife also by Niffenegger. I simply couldn't bring myself to read it because the movie was so tragic. But Her Fearful Symmetry was undoubtedly a failure and disappointment.

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

"The dreams of the rich, and the dreams of the poor- they never overlap, do they? See, the poor dream all their lives of getting enough to eat and looking like the rich. And what do the rich dream of? Losing weight and looking like the poor." ~From Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger~

I had been procrastinating about reading this book for a very long time. It was actually an easy book to finish, considering the time I took while having a nine-to-five-job.

The story revealed the "darkness" of India, told from a first person's point of view. Balram Halwai, who was born in the "darkness", told his success story as an entrepreneur in the form of letters to Wen Jiabao, the Premier of China. Adiga was sarcastic, funny and dark at the same time. He addressed some issues (political, corruption, caste system etc) in an exaggerated (or maybe not) manner, which made me wonder if these are still happening at this moment (at some part I simply gasped in disbelief).

I've always enjoyed books about other nation's culture like Amy Tan's where she tells stories of American born Chinese, Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, Adeline Yen Mah's Falling Leaves: Return to their Roots. The White Tiger was not an exception - it was definitely an enjoyable read.

My Reading List

I just received my book ordered from the BookDepository.com last Thursday - Addicted to Unhappiness by Martha and William Pieper. Actually I was supposed to receive it by the end of February. But I think the book got lost somewhere along the airmail so I emailed the helpdesk of BookDepository and they offered me two options - either to send a replacement to me or I can have my refund. I asked them to send a replacement, so there it was, wrapped in good condition. And I got a really good deal. Because the same book costs about RM70 in Kinokuniya and they still want to charge me RM8 for postage. In BookDepository they don't charge postage fees and the book itself only costs about 14 USD (equivalent to RM50++). Good deal, right?

Anyway, now that I got the book, I realized I have like so many to-read-books in my list

First there is The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. I bought this book from Kinokuniya like, two years ago. I only read halfway though. It's not that the book is boring, no in fact it's totally interesting and intriguing. It just didn't come to me at the right time. Although I can't recall much of the story, I'm sure it will be a pleasant read if I had continued.

Then there is 鬼吹灯 (Ghost Blow Light) by 天下霸唱 (Tian Xia Ba Chang) introduced by Mr. Chin. It was written by an Internet writer and now it has got so famous that it was published into hard copy books (in four thick volumes) sold in bookshops and I heard there's a online game made based on the novel. The first two volumes were really good. It was scary, adventurous, funny, and most importantly, weird. I can only tell you about the first two volumes because I only managed to read until there. And again, it's not that the book is boring, not at all. It just didn't come to me at the right time.

Both of the above-mentioned books had been sitting on the top bunk of my bed (I sleep on the lower bunk of the double-decked bed) for God-knows-how-long. Then along came Lao Ann, who half-forcefully lend me The Five Love Languages (爱的五种语言) by Gary Chapman. It's a Chinese version, hence the translation. He said that every couple should read it, and he asked me to force Mr. Chin to read it too. I'm not very into self-help books so I laid it on top of The White Tiger.

A few weeks ago, I got hold of Lonely Planet travel books as to prepare my journey to Hangzhou, Shanghai, Tongli, and possibly Suzhou or Nanjing (it hasn't been planned in detail). I'll be going at the end of October as I've got cheap air tickets from AirAsia! Yes! RM420 nett two way! And I'll be able to go to World Expo 2010 (if we manage to get the tickets)! Yeay! Ok where was I? Right, the Lonely Planet travel books, burden-fully added to my reading list.

Around the same time my birthday was approaching. So naturally I demanded presents from my friends. And Audrey, she sent me an email attaching my birthday present from her. It was two ebooks - The Pilgrimage and Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho. Fortunately I had already read the latter a few years back. So she has only added one to the list. Though few days after that she sent another four - The Devil And Miss Prym, The Valkyries, The Manual Of The Warrior Of Light and The Witch Of Portobello, all by Paulo Coelho. I shall be thankful these won't be lying on the top bunk of my bed, but in my Yahoo inbox.

And around the same time I received Addicted to Unhappiness. And it just made me realize how long my reading list is, and made me feel that it's about time that I shorten it. Which is why I've been away from my blog for so long. Yes, I've been reading. ;)

In The End...

People will get tired of my infinite depression and they will leave me for good - close friends, family, the special one.

I will isolate myself from the rest of the world.

I will fall into darkness.

I will die, a slow and painful death.

I will die, in the memories of others, a silent death.

These... I do not want.

"We call the internal forces that prevent people from living the life they want, or even from keeping a resolution that is important to them, the addiction to unhappiness. Even while people are consciously seeking happiness, they may unknowingly require some degree of discomfort to maintain a sense of inner balance. The unrecognized need to sabotage one's good intentions can explain diverse yet common difficulties, including overspending, fear of new situations, romantic choices that breaks heart, and career mishaps."

"We are not implying that you consistently feel unhappy or frustrated. You want to enjoy your life, and no doubt you usually do feel satisfied and happy. But if you have an addiction to unhappiness then, at least occasionally, you need to cause yourself some type of discomfort in order to maintain your inner equilibrium. Whether the need for unhappiness causes you serious problems or only manifests itself in subtle ways, whether it affects you most of the time or only once in a while, nonetheless it is probably the reason you are not getting the pleasure out of life you were born to know."

~excerpts from Addicted to Unhappiness by Marth Heineman Pieper, William J. Pieper~

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I am anticipating for this movie! Yes I am! The title itself already caught my attention. It sounds bizarre and I like everything that's bizarre. So I surf the net trying to find the trailer and the synopsis of the story. And I came across this. It's a website where you can read all kinds of novels, short stories, poems and plays online. (I even found Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Will be reading that next time.) Took me about 2 hours to finish reading The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was weird, bizarre, disturbing, and... weird.

The original short story is different from the movie synopsis. It's about a child who was born with a seventy-year-old self and when he was "growing up", the aging process reversed. And my first thought was... How the hell did a seventy-year-old man with a seventy-year-old physical appearance get out of his mother's womb? Anyway, never mind that. The story then went on with how his parents deal with this disturbing phenomena and how he fell in love for the first time at the age of twenty (with a fifty-year-old body and mind). The ending was quite predictable. He "grew" to become a baby; and died, I supposed. Towards the end I felt so disturbed, partly because of the story itself, mainly it was about the author's indifferent tone that I sensed. Despite that, I'm still looking forward to watching the movie. Maybe will write a review for that. Stay tuned. ;)

Love Letters of Great Men

Browsing through Shinyin's blog I came across this love letter which sounded strangely familiar. Googling it made me remember that it was quoted from Sex and the City by Sarah Jessica Parker. I remember it kind of touched me.

Good morning, on July 7

Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes, unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.

ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

Found a website with a list of love letters written by famous people. Just thought of sharing it with you people.

A Spot of Bother

The newly released novel by Mark Haddon, author of "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time". It is a gift from a friend. I am a huge fan of Haddon's previous novel so I'm pretty much putting up very high hopes for his new release.

The story only started to get interesting when one of the main characters, George began losing his mind, which is towards the middle of the 400+ pages novel. Only then that I had sped up my reading. Haddon had managed to portray vividly the mind of mentally-disturbed people, in both his novels. It is nice to know what crazy people think.

"A Spot of Bother" is a story about the process of an old, retired man going insane, bearing the stress from knowing his wife's affair, his skin cancer, his daughter's marriage to (in his opinion) the wrong man, giving a speech on his daughter's wedding... The story was told in various points of view, all from him and his family.

Very much similar to Haddon's first novel, "A Spot of Bother" has a mentally-disturbed character; and it has a... what I would call, a 'hanging' ending, which doesn't land anywhere. But I would say that this book ends in a rather abrupt manner, though I cannot give any suggestions on what to be added. Overall I think this is a good book, but not one of the my best, highly-recommended. And as usual, one's first novel is always the best.

crazy is just you or me... amplified

"Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy."
~from the movie Girl, Interrupted.

I'm reading a book by Paulo Coelho. The title is "Veronika Decides to Die", a birthday present from a friend upon my request. A weird and funny title, I know. The story is about a girl, Veronika, who seems to have everything she wanted - boyfriends, career, family, looks et cetera. But she's not happy. So one day, she decided to die. She took an overdose of sleeping pills but woke up in an asylum. However, though she failed to kill herself at that time, her heart had been damaged and she would die in few days. From there the story goes on to how she lived through her remaining time, things she uncovered, the meaning of life et cetera.

Like his every other book that I've read, I cannot quite grasp what message the author is trying to convey. What a shame... But there's one part of the story that I like a lot. The part where one of the inmates of the asylum told Veronika a story. The story goes like this...

A powerful wizard, who wanted to destroy an entire kingdom, placed a magic potion in the well from which all the inhabitants drank. Whoever drank that water would go mad. The following morning, the whole population drank from the well and they all went mad, apart from the king and his family, who had a well set aside for them alone, and which the magician had not managed to poison. The king was worried and tried to control the population by issuing a series of edicts governing security and public health. The policemen and the inspectors, however, had also drunk the poisoned water and they thought the king's decisions were absurd and resolved to take no notice of them. When the inhabitants of the kingdom heard these decrees, they became convinced that the king had gone mad and was now giving nonsensical orders. They marched on the castle and called for his abdication. In despair, the king prepared to step down from the throne but the queen stopped him, saying: "Let us go and drink from the communal well. Then, we will be the same as them." And that was what they did: the king and the queen drank the water of madness and immediately began talking nonsense. Their subjects repented at once; now that the king was displaying such wisdom, why not allow him to continue ruling the country? The country continued to live in peace, although its inhabitants behaved very differently from those of its neighbors. And the king was able to govern until the end of his days.

I was chatting with a friend on MSN and we were talking about weird people that we know. Now that I think of it, weird people are probably from that particular kingdom. Hahaha...

The Road Not Taken

One of my favourite poems. By Robert Frost.

Two roads diverge in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no steps had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference