fran_c's reviews
149 reviews

challenging inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The strangest book I've read in 2021

This is a strange book indeed. As the preface of the Audible version mentions: "Maybe it's not a novel, but it's surely sci-fi."

Written as an account of mankind aimed at contemporary folks—or, better, Olaf's contemporary folks—it follows humanity for two billion years. Yes, you have read it correctly. Two billion.

There are almost no characters and no plot, and considering it has been written before World War II, the level of ingenuity is nothing short of remarkable. Martians, apocalyptic events, synthetic men; everything goes in this epic journey which starts from a place very much different from what we know happened between 1930 and today.

Read the rest of my 2021 top 10 on my website!

https://www.francsart.com/blog/top-10-books-of-2021

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Book Oversimplified

The Haunting of Hill House is an unsettling ghost story told from the point of view of Eleanor, who grows more and more paranoid while she gets to know her companions in the meanderings of the terrible Hill House.

Quotes

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality”

“Since the gate was so clearly locked—locked and double-locked and chained and barred; who, she wondered, wants so badly to get in?”

“Perhaps she was to be allowed to speak occasionally for all of them so that, quieting her, they quieted themselves and could leave the subject behind them; perhaps, vehicle for every kind of fear, she contained enough for all.”

A Review Through Takeaways

Exception made for Ernest Hemingway, I rarely read American literature from the middle of the last century, and it took me a while to get over Shirley Jackson’s style which—please don’t crucify me for this—felt a teensy bit outdated.
That said, I’m of the opinion that style shouldn’t get in the way of mastery, and it couldn’t be truer for this fantastic book.
Although Horror standards have changed massively since The Haunting of Hill House was first published, (the subject of what scares us always brings to mind this spectacular Simpson’s Halloween Special about Edgar Allan Poe) Shirley Jackson managed to make me feel uncomfortable on my own, pregnant-wife-approved sofa in many occasions without the need of any gore or graphic description.
The way she does it is closer to pure magic than a technique; but after months of reflection, I have been able to identify one obvious trick, easy to hide in plain sight.

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Read the rest of the review on my website!

https://www.francsart.com/booktakeaways/the-haunting-of-hill-house

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

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inspiring reflective medium-paced