2/28/2014

Homage to Murakami? No.

Utsubora - The Story of a NovelistUtsubora - The Story of a Novelist by Asumiko Nakamura

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



"That misaligned dual viewpoint is what allows for a three-dimensional field of vision. That you have two points of view - subjective and objective. It's through sustaining the misaligned pair in tandem that our world becomes real."


Delivered via Royal Mail (view spoiler), this one-volume manga by Asumiko Nakamura explores the visions of a writer being tangled in a crime. One has to be challenged in a non-linear writing style, in its gothic strokes of black and white, and in its sensual experiment of drawing a scene where an intercourse is not done, but still made it amorous.

The first read is a challenging, all the while I thought I was able to solve the mystery, but it left me with questions of WHYs. What is the relationship of the author with the woman? What is the relevance of the phone? Why is the police so attached to the case? Why is the editor so puzzled? The graphic novel gave a hangover, more than a day and compelled me to do a re-read.

The second read made me understand some of the shouts, and of reflections (or you may call it introspection, I guess?) I cannot spoil the reader much, one has to be curious enough to read the book and join the adventure. :)



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2/23/2014

Valentine Read for Two Years

What We Talk About When We Talk About LoveWhat We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



“All this, all of this love we're talking about, it would just be a memory. Maybe not even a memory. Am I wrong? Am I way off base?”


In the first read of the book, I made it part of the 2013-reading challenge and a Valentine read. Curious of the genre called dirty realism, it gave me a hangover by having the collection of stories ending abruptly - or not even ending, at all. It's just there - stuck in you. Later did I know (view spoiler) that this is one effective literary device to engage the readers to think deeper and introspect, and maybe, to sympathize with the characters in the short story.

In the second read of the book,(view spoiler) I even considered the tonality and the technicality of the short stories. I appreciated the usage of alcohol as a literary device. In addition, it amused me how one statement can change a mood, from melancholia to angst. Imagine the power of words and its capability to make the reader think.

Disclaimer: I still love Viewfinder, as one of my favorites in the short story collection. And I learned to love Everything Stuck To Him. While when asked for the least favorite, it was Popular Mechanics



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2/20/2014

Ten Months Of Choleric Reading

Love in the Time of CholeraLove in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

My rating: 5 of 5 stars




“The only regret I will have in dying is if it is not for love.”


After six failed attempts of fast-reading and more than ten months of patiently and painfully reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his writing, I can so declare that this book is so great, it spanned two lifetimes of two lovers, their hardships and their joys, and how they lived and continuously lived on their lives.

There are stories that are so boring ang dragging it can bring you to sleep, but there are redeeming points that will make you gush and feel that love is far beyond the feels, it spanned rivers, technological updates, epidemic catasthropes and of years. I survived 10 months understanding how they go on with their lives and how did they prepared themselves to take a risk - after all were said and done before.

The feeling of intense joy after reading the last statement is priceless.



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2/06/2014

Enough With The Mommy Porn!

Bared to You (Crossfire, #1)Bared to You by Sylvia Day

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


A slappy romance full of word vomit, inexplicable pasts and "victims" that are not justified. This literotica is nonsense.
AND THIS HAS A SEQUEL UGH. I cannot even -

GAH.



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2/01/2014

Power of Imagination

The Secret Life of Walter MittyThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It was an American classic, a short story written in 1930's. I love how the prose became poetic, and how the author switched Mitty from an ordinary husband doing a weekly chore to become a surgeon. And a hero - inscrutable to the last.

There is something about onomatopoeia that made the short story appealing. It adds up to the reader imagining how Mitty quickly triggers a daydream. At one moment he is an assassin. And then he became a surgeon.

The thing with this short story is it leaves you a sort of a plot hang-over. He just waited. Stood there. And just like death via firing squad, he stayed motionless. Yet proud.

I guess this is what the author wanted to impart to the reader. Once the pen stopped he became still. And he was proud of his creation.

(view spoiler)



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