The Reluctant Fundamentalist
June 29, 2008
I’ve just finished reading ‘the reluctant fundamentalist’ and must type a review whilst it is still fresh in my mind.
The cover states that its been nominated for a ‘booker prize’. I do not know what a ‘booker prize’ is, but sense that it would do well to award this book the title, rather than muck about ‘deciding’ on who else should be awarded the merit.
‘The reluctant fundatmentalist’ is an astounding read. The first I have ever experienced – I hope it is the only one like it in the world and it becomes internationally recognised for conversational viewpoint. Argh. I’m spoiling the surpirse!
The title is the conversation of one man – not so much written from the first perspective (which indeed that is true) but more than that, it is written with no other characters or conversations other than that from within the memory of our teller.
All the conversation is directed towards one man, that never speaks throughout the entire book, and we only recieve splashes of description from other people about the scenery.
The story – if I had to plot its shape on a piece of paper – would resemble a steady inclination rising from left to right, building and building, and not indicating at all where it is leading – we can guess, as I did, but I failed to see how it would end. But end it did, and the story finally revealed within the last few pages, and the tale is literally wrapped up only in the final sentences.
This is a rare read. I can see why it was ‘nominated’ – and I can also see why it deserves to win. I don’t know if it has already, but if not, then I am certainly interested to know who on earth can better a plot like this one.
This book has restored my faith in simple ideas told really well, are better than all the complex plots you can think of. I say to anyone that is wrestling with a complex script or novel, to read this and you’ll instantly understand where you’re going wrong.
A short read, double line spacing and only 200 pages – this is worth your hard earned cash and is memorable and re-readable.
Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet
June 29, 2008
It has been a week since finishing this book. so forgive me if I struggle to give a direct punchy review, as its effect has worn off of me a little – in future I shall endevour to review titles I read as soon as I have read them.
Luke Hunter, the first person lead character of this title, can see how people are going to die. He’s young, he’s struggling to find his way in the world, yet this gift is a curse and he wishes to be no media whore to the baying masses that want association with his ‘God-like’ ability.
This book, carries along well to begin with, however by the middle of the book, I did start to lose faith in the power of the plot. I hoped it would include more and more visions of death and how Luke faces up to his gift, perhaps include more and more characters that try to take advantage of him etc. However, no. The book falls into line to deal with the young life and concerns that wouldn’t be out of place in any teen(ish) novel, dipping occasionally back to the ‘prophet of doom’ hook that made me pick up, buy and read in the first place.
Was this a good book? yes. Was it what I expected? not really. I’m happy to have read it – and will recommend it to friends, but warn them not to take the back cover too literally. I feel the marketing hype selected the punchiest aspects only to hook us into purchasing – the tale is more a young life with a twist than anything else.
I most state though, that this is a rich story. I could visualise it well and really would love it to be made into a film. Kind of ‘Dogma’ meets ‘The Wonder Years’ in a contemporary ‘emo’ 2008 lifestyle.
over 300 pages of reasonable font, average page, nothing special margins and quite normal kerning and lineheight. Great, great cover art and choice of font though – I was sold on it alone.
Stuart, A Life Backwards
November 21, 2007
Stuart, A Life Backwards (amazon link)
Just like the book before this (Boy A) its also been subject to a TV programme and it also has to doom ridden small font. The saving grace tho, is the layout. Its rich with paragraphs, good margins, varying font sizes for featured sections and even the odd drawing thrown in to break things up. With a decent font size this could have been waaaay up in the 4 or even 5 stars, but as it stands its only getting a 3 from me. Stuart is a pretty unique book, covering a life in reverse from nutter to lovable child. Hope plenty of people check this one out. I’ve not read it yet, and I’ve only half seen the TV programme, but I’m looking forward to settling down to it.
Review:
I am reading ‘Stuart: a life backwards’. Its about a documented life of a homeless person told in reverse to the point whereby he went from a innocent lad to a twisted psycho, nick named ‘Knife man Dan’. Recommended reading if you care about people caught up in a world and fighting for a way out. This is a funny, yet informative read, which forces you to care about someone you would normally keep well away from.
