Bananaroo's Book Musings

I finished this book in an hour and a half. Then I threw it across the room.

 

This is not a book about the author's mother. It's about the author and her hopeless neuroses. 

Can I just say I love Karen Russell? I fell instantly in love with Swamplandia! Her images, her words, the story arcs, the characters - they were beautiful, and haunting, and human, and other worldly. 

 

Vampires started out strong and I was instantly hooked. But by the last two stories, I felt like I was reading student work. The stories were drawn out and inconclusive. The magic was no longer. I'm going to pick up her first collection of short stories next, and I'm hoping I'll be able to sustain my author crush on Russell. 

All I can say is Amor Towles saves himself through his illustrious writing - by ridding of his most interesting character halfway through the story (he just came out with a novella describing what happened to her - another piece that shouldn't have worked), by creating too many love affairs, by leaving connections at a standstill - there were so many holes in this story. But it was charming, glamorous, witty, and fun. Somehow, it worked. Same goes for the followup novella. I liked them, but left with a feeling of disappointment. 

I listened to this book at work. Maybe it was the reader, but I thought the language was plain, silly and disconnected. The story felt sluggish & I couldn't relate. It was predictable & had lots of scenes that I felt were pointless. Maybe next time, I'll pick up the actual book, but I have a feeling it's already ruined for me.

This book is a beauty and a wonder and I'm so happy I finally read it.

I was never forced to read this book in my early years at school, which I think just about ruined every book that I read in my formative years. I am so thankful this was not one of them. From first page to last, I was struck not only by the honesty of Anne's words, but by the sheer eloquence of her description of the world around and inside her. For her age and for that time, she was a forward thinker, sharp, witty, intuitive, challenging and entertaining. To follow her growth spiritually and physically into an ambitious, strong young woman was to see the spirit that was behind the good that was happening in the world at that time, which she plainly saw just from watching from behind a shabby curtain or listening to the news. Anne's spirit is what shines through on these pages, and I like to think that if she had lived, her dreams of being an independent woman and a writer would have come true. But, she became both of these through her diary, didn't she?

This is the first book I have a memory of reading all by myself.