bengriffin's reviews
2677 reviews

Sparse, stylized, sad, odd, airy, and quite dull.

A touching little novel that balances light and dark well and packs a lot of ideas, even if it doesn't flesh them out too well all of the time. I was excited by the inclusion of Blake at first but a little tired of it by the end. It nearly reached the quality of The Graveyard Book or His Dark Materials but something held it back, maybe it was trying too hard to impress, or maybe it lacked the length to explore its ideas fully. That said, it was quick, entertaining, thoughtful, moving, and well worth a read.

I wasn't too impressed with this. It feels highly anecdotal with very little depth or science to back it up. The scope also feels rather narrow with Sacks sticking to tales relating to the genres of music he is most familiar, i.e classical and opera, with barely any consideration for the wider spectrum. In addition, it felt a bit like a compilation album in that many of the stories are taken from better works by Sacks, and often it felt too much like the emphasis was on him rather than the patients or the music. There are some rather touching moments in here, but for the most part it is generally disappointing. If you want an easily accessible but in depth look at music and its effects on the brain you are much better off with Daniel Levitin's 'This is Your Brain on Music' which manages to balance the mystery and wonder of it whilst also providing some good science, proper studies, and well rounded views.

Not my favourite noir book and the film eclipses it, but it barrels along with a clever plot and no wasted words. One problem I found with this edition though is that there are so many painful, silly typos that it can be a bit distracting from an otherwise engrossing read.

A gentle novel with great positivity. The characters are endearing and [worryingly] relatable in some instances. It didn't make me laugh out loud or move me like it did for some people, but Elling and Kjell will stay with me and it was a warm, pleasant read that's hard to fault.

Do you like stories about downbeat alcoholics in America? Would you like to peer through their windows and witness just a slice of their every day misery? How about if you did so for every window on any given street to discover that every life was like this, a slightly different story each time, but all similar flavours of alcohol drenched, unfulfilled bleakness? If this sounds appealing you will love the world of Raymond Carver. His stories are stylistically succinct, important, and impressive, but a long way from enjoyable, at least for me.

I would have prefered a bit more subtlety and ambiguity with character introductions but very entertaining nonetheless; well written narrative and excellent illustrations. A good start and I'll definitely be picking up the rest of the series. I especially enjoyed the short story included at the end of the volume.

[2011 Reread]
Still very enjoyable. I imagine it's quite difficult to start a new series when you don't necessarily know if it will take so these first few volumes do have a slightly different feel to later ones and it's understandable his need to establish who's who quickly. It is basically just a simple murder mystery story this first collection but it sets up some characters and sows some seeds for later events so if you're a first time reader it's definitely worth sticking with asit gets a lot more elaborate.