Loose Ends: 1984

Hmmm.

What a strange book. What a heavy-handed message. What unlikable characters.
Seriously—when asked, Winston describes his first impression of Julia by saying he wanted to rape, then murder her. And then she laughs at this. Seriously.

There is so much dystopian lit out there right now, and a lot of it leaves a lot to be desired. But at least most of those stories make us care about the people in them, make us hope for change, make us look into the evils of our own society and think.  

While I'm sure this book was thought-provoking, numbing, terrifying in 1949, this reader found it to fall a little flat today.

Loose Ends: The Book Thief

I finished The Book Thief last night, stayed up far too late to make it to the end.

It was a beautiful story. An original story, full of unique characters that the author made me love, even though I knew I shouldn't get too attached. After all, they lived in a cruel time and Death himself had warned me to be wary.

I can't decide how I feel about Death's role as narrator. At times, it gave the reader a glimpse of the devastation of the fighting and the camps, but at other times, it felt a bit like a gimmick. I wonder if anyone else had the same impression.

Anyway, on to lighter fare. I begin I Capture the Castle tonight. My library copy is a first edition, and smells like it's been sitting on a shelf for the last sixty years. So my Friday night will be spent curled up on the couch, with a good, if musty, book in hand. More later...