Back Cover Synopsis: There are very many reasons why British summers are either non-existent or, alternatively, held on a Thursday. Many of these reasons are either scientific, mad, or both - but all of them are wrong, especially the scientific ones. The real reason why it rains perpetually from January 1st to December 31st (incl.) is, of course, irritable Chinese water dragons.
Karen is one such legendary creature. Ancient, noble, near-indestructible and, for a number of wildly improbable reasons, working as an estate-agent, Karen is irritable quite a lot of the time. Hence Wimbledon. She becomes positively incensed, however, when she discovers that her father, the Adjutant General to the Dragon King of the North-west, has been kidnapped by a mob of livid weathermen.
This book was pretty funny. Just reading the synopsis is confusing and outrageous, like the book itself, but that makes it very interesting. Apparently dragons can change into humans and a special type of goldfish, along with being a dragon. So Karen, the main character, becomes human because she saw a human guy she fell in love with. But her running away caused problems back home. And then you have crazy weathermen all upset because they know about the dragons and want to tell the world, but government people don't want dragons exposed, they want to use them as a weapon. Parts of it get very confusing, but it's usually pretty easy to follow.
The only downside I saw was that the ending didn't really finish things off well. In a way they did, they did answer the question of whether or not Karen would remain human or be a dragon again, but some other issues weren't really answered. Books do that sometimes though to keep the imagination running :)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
Back Cover Synopsis: protect the diamonds / survive the clubs / dig deep through the spades / feel the hearts Ed Kennedy is an underage cabdriver without much of a future. He's pathetic at playing cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey, and utterly devoted to his coffee-drinking dog, the Doorman. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That's when the first ace arrives in the mail. That's when Ed becomes the messenger. Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary) until only one question remains: Who's behind Ed's mission?
I really enjoyed this book. One great thing about it, is it's an easy read. It keeps your attention because it's amusing and cause so many emotions. Parts of it make you angry, sad, depressed, happy, hopeful, excited. You just follow Ed's adventures every time he gets an ace. Each ace leads him to three locations, or people, who somehow need his help, or harm. At one point you don't even know if he might actually kill a guy. He meets people he absolutely despises and others that he returns to even later in the book because they touched him so much.
It just shows the different aspects of people and what happens when you care. Some people accept his help, many question it. Which would be expected in our world today. Everyone questions the motives of others. I think that's why I liked it so much. I love caring about people and helping out whenever I can, and eventually Ed enjoys it and looks forward to it. He stops focusing on the routines in his life and how he's going no where in his life and realizes there's other people out there that need him. And after it's all over, he realizes he was never really living life before, just going through the motions. There were so many different messages in this book, you get a lot out of it. Plus it's one you just don't want to put down!
I really enjoyed this book. One great thing about it, is it's an easy read. It keeps your attention because it's amusing and cause so many emotions. Parts of it make you angry, sad, depressed, happy, hopeful, excited. You just follow Ed's adventures every time he gets an ace. Each ace leads him to three locations, or people, who somehow need his help, or harm. At one point you don't even know if he might actually kill a guy. He meets people he absolutely despises and others that he returns to even later in the book because they touched him so much.
It just shows the different aspects of people and what happens when you care. Some people accept his help, many question it. Which would be expected in our world today. Everyone questions the motives of others. I think that's why I liked it so much. I love caring about people and helping out whenever I can, and eventually Ed enjoys it and looks forward to it. He stops focusing on the routines in his life and how he's going no where in his life and realizes there's other people out there that need him. And after it's all over, he realizes he was never really living life before, just going through the motions. There were so many different messages in this book, you get a lot out of it. Plus it's one you just don't want to put down!
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Number9Dream by David Mitchell
Back Cover Synopsis: You've read Dickens or Salinger, and you think of adolescence in terms of a "coming-of-age story." So does Eiji Miyake. It would be nice to think he's right: his mom isn't much in the picture, his beloved sister has died in an accident, and picking fruit and living with Grandma on an outer island of Japan give Eiji a lot of time to fantasize abotu what might happen if he were to be united with the wealthy father he's never known. At twenty, Eiji comes to Tokyo to find him. But what should be a straightforward quest turns into something far more strange when Eiji stumbles upon the hidden power centers of the Japanese underworld. Suddenly the riddle of his father's identity is the least of his worries. What do survival, the nature of dreams, and the number 9 have to do with one another? It's no small question for a provincial boy with a priceon his head and only the cost of a John Lennon album to his name.
I just finished this last night and am still wondering about it. It's very interesting. The beginning starts out completely confusing and throughout the book you wonder which parts are real and which are dreams. There are a few graphic parts, some sexual and some just gross, but I was compelled to keep reading because I wanted to know if he found his father. I like it because although it seemed like it was just a boy trying to find his dad, he was finding himself throughout it, and there were so many times that these bad things just kept happening you felt so bad. It made me angry how people used his gullibility and eagerness to find his dad to trick him into things. So many emotions! The whole Japanese mob/underworld storyline was very outrageous, at first I thought it was all dreams but then you realize it's not, it's really happening this way. There's so many twists and turns and randomness which definately keeps you awake.
I didn't really like the ending though, it was so open-ended, like your TV series finale where someone gets shot and you don't know who or by whom and you have to wait for the next season, although there's nothing to wait for here, it just ends. He finally seems happy and things are ok, he's accepting things the way they are and then there's an earthquake and he's just left wondering how all these different people are. I think it's supposed to show how he's grown and evolved and all the people that he cares about and who care about him despite the hard times he's had and how although his dad seemed like the focal point of his life for so long it didn't have to be that way. So in that light, it was a good ending despite being left hanging :)
I just finished this last night and am still wondering about it. It's very interesting. The beginning starts out completely confusing and throughout the book you wonder which parts are real and which are dreams. There are a few graphic parts, some sexual and some just gross, but I was compelled to keep reading because I wanted to know if he found his father. I like it because although it seemed like it was just a boy trying to find his dad, he was finding himself throughout it, and there were so many times that these bad things just kept happening you felt so bad. It made me angry how people used his gullibility and eagerness to find his dad to trick him into things. So many emotions! The whole Japanese mob/underworld storyline was very outrageous, at first I thought it was all dreams but then you realize it's not, it's really happening this way. There's so many twists and turns and randomness which definately keeps you awake.
I didn't really like the ending though, it was so open-ended, like your TV series finale where someone gets shot and you don't know who or by whom and you have to wait for the next season, although there's nothing to wait for here, it just ends. He finally seems happy and things are ok, he's accepting things the way they are and then there's an earthquake and he's just left wondering how all these different people are. I think it's supposed to show how he's grown and evolved and all the people that he cares about and who care about him despite the hard times he's had and how although his dad seemed like the focal point of his life for so long it didn't have to be that way. So in that light, it was a good ending despite being left hanging :)
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