this contains spoilers
Apr. 23rd, 2008 06:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maderrFinished read The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes.
I don't get why he was picked to be the title, he did pretty much fuck nothing the entire story. I hated the end. The MC gets nothing but forgotten, the one char was never explained (though, I can guess and guess well), and the bad guys pretty much win. Nevermind the other char I really like, who loses everything and is poisoned, goes a little crazy, and dies alone after seeing his crippled son was beaten to death.
Maybe I'm just not in the right mood, or not deep enough. I have no patience for Deep books. There is an air of better than thou art about I detest. A story can be just a story, it need not be Deep. I have plenty of good books that say a lot without that patronizing air. This one...I dunno. I think it falls flat of what it wanted to accomplish. To be honest, I'm not sure what it wanted to accomplish. It's like it should have been two different books, or something, because in the end the whole mystery solving aspect was fucking pointless, and the MC was treated like crap. I really liked him, despite everything. He really fucking tried. And what does he get? Loses everything that matters, is informed he was played for a great fool, and goes off to die in Africa totally forgotten.
The next time I'm in the bookstore, I'm giving the finger to the fiction and fantasy sections and going straight to romance. I'll say this for my bodice rippers man - I know the authors I like, I can count on them to provide, I know what to expect, and I never walk away depressed. People can put that genre down all they want, but there's a damn good reason it flourishes.
Now to go find something happy to read, cause jeez my day has sucked enough, thanks so much.
Maybe I'm getting too picky -__- Maybe I should just stop. But above and beyond all things I love reading. I get into my stories, there is no way to avoid that. So to read something like this? It will have me in a funk for a long time, and images of the unhappy stuff will probably never totally leave. I hate to be let down, and I hate to walk away from a book depressed. There's a huge difference between reading a tragedy and reading a book that's depressing.
But like I said, maybe I'm just not Deep enough to get it. I'm sure this is the sort of book English major types would fawn over for ages. They can have it.
I don't get why he was picked to be the title, he did pretty much fuck nothing the entire story. I hated the end. The MC gets nothing but forgotten, the one char was never explained (though, I can guess and guess well), and the bad guys pretty much win. Nevermind the other char I really like, who loses everything and is poisoned, goes a little crazy, and dies alone after seeing his crippled son was beaten to death.
Maybe I'm just not in the right mood, or not deep enough. I have no patience for Deep books. There is an air of better than thou art about I detest. A story can be just a story, it need not be Deep. I have plenty of good books that say a lot without that patronizing air. This one...I dunno. I think it falls flat of what it wanted to accomplish. To be honest, I'm not sure what it wanted to accomplish. It's like it should have been two different books, or something, because in the end the whole mystery solving aspect was fucking pointless, and the MC was treated like crap. I really liked him, despite everything. He really fucking tried. And what does he get? Loses everything that matters, is informed he was played for a great fool, and goes off to die in Africa totally forgotten.
The next time I'm in the bookstore, I'm giving the finger to the fiction and fantasy sections and going straight to romance. I'll say this for my bodice rippers man - I know the authors I like, I can count on them to provide, I know what to expect, and I never walk away depressed. People can put that genre down all they want, but there's a damn good reason it flourishes.
Now to go find something happy to read, cause jeez my day has sucked enough, thanks so much.
Maybe I'm getting too picky -__- Maybe I should just stop. But above and beyond all things I love reading. I get into my stories, there is no way to avoid that. So to read something like this? It will have me in a funk for a long time, and images of the unhappy stuff will probably never totally leave. I hate to be let down, and I hate to walk away from a book depressed. There's a huge difference between reading a tragedy and reading a book that's depressing.
But like I said, maybe I'm just not Deep enough to get it. I'm sure this is the sort of book English major types would fawn over for ages. They can have it.
