Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The thought came to me many times as I was reading that I am too literal for Vonnegut's writing. I wish we had read this in school and I'd had a teacher telling me what everything means, how to think about it, and what to take from Slaughterhouse. What I did decide is the time travel parts were maybe meant to show us earthlings that while we have free will on our planet, there are some things that are inevitable and unavoidable. War and its destructiveness is one of those things. Death is another of those things. Poor Billy Pilgrim's life was so disrupted by both, and yet he remained like little boy the whole time. So it goes.
I cannot believe Dresden happened, but what an interesting way to read about it- in a way that would not, because he could not, describe the horrific experience in a play by play way. Books like this are challenging for me.

I don't know if I have ever read anything by Kurt Vonnegut before this, but I think now I will have to read more..




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Gone with the Wind

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

i'm not qualified to write a review about this books, seeing as there are already so many out there, and it is considered (by some) as one of the best, or the best american novel...
BUT.  i will write my thoughts before i forget and then this book just adds to the lists of books i've read and i'll say when someone asks, "yeah i loved it!"

-i was annoyed with scarlett for a lot of the book.  i think that is the idea, right?  i also admired her, and sympathized with her and cheered for her- especially  when she came back to atlanta and started working her butt off, and making the best of the situation to send money back to Tara.  that is gumption.  but then she married frank, hired convicts at the mill, and resented her children.  there was no line.  that was awful.  there was still something amazing about her attitude, that she could get through any hardship and Margaret Mitchell's interview about this book even stated that she was writing about people with this kind of an attitude- why some could endure tragic things and other people were too broken and could not.  i guess, because of these contradictions, scarlett is that beloved character-one who battled through a war we will never understand- so unique to the time, but also struggled with decisions we all have to make at some point in our lives.  what to compromise: family, work, security, love- which value dims so the other can flourish?

-the scarlett/rhett back and forth was so exciting at first!  i lived for those passages and exchanges between war updates...  but at the end... i know there'd been hardship and horrible things spoken between them, but how she could not have humbled herself, EVER, up to that point- or control her temper to give a little.  it can't be win win win for you all the time.  Also, with scarlett and rhett, the lack of communication and humility resulted in the loss of something that could have been so great.  maybe we are supposed to be optimistic about scarlett getting rhett back again after the novel was through, but he was so broken.  It broke my heard to read through rhett's pain and the loss of bonnie.

-rhett kept saying they were the same, and a perfect match for one another, but he always had perspective!  and scarlett never did.  she could not see herself for what she was, but then appreciated rhett so much because she could be herself in front of him.   Rhett, also demanded honesty from scarlett, but never gave it in return.  she never seemed to know the difference, or know/care to ask for it, but he was above her on so many levels.  yet he chose to indulged her. love is blind.

-the anger scarlett had for melanie was driven by jealousy at first, but how can it take so long to realize she had love for this woman, too?  especially at ashley's surprise birthday party when melanie asks scarlett to receive with her after india wilkes spreads the adultery story. the could have been the grandest gesture of the book- and its significance could not have been lost on scarlett.... but then again, so many things were lost on scarlett.  the world does need more people like melanie.  so naive, but with an inner strength.  she might have been my favorite.

-ashley's character made me too sad.  it was true that he couldn't conform to the new era.  the lack of communication is so frustrating, and i could not for the life of me see what scarlett was holding on to for so long.  a childhood fantasy, really.  just the fact that she thought he loved her was enough for her, but it didn't even occur to her to check if she could really love him back.

i do not even know if this is coherent.  i loved this book and the time invested in reading it was so worth it.  such characters are not found easily and i will always love them now.  ok that's all.


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The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Yep, I liked it. It did not change my life, like Phil said it would on Modern Family, but maybe it should have. When I told my mom about my 3 star review of this book, we talked about the fact that there are lots of books like this- about WWII and children, (Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Summer of My German Soldier, Anne Frank of course) and they are all heartbreaking. She said that even if we are saturated in with novels and movies, we have to remember and learn about these things regardless, because World War II is not fiction at all.

I appreciated the perspective from a German child's POV, and oh my, the Rudy/Liesel relationship was so heartbreaking. The whole book was sad, but not Life of Pi sad where you realize he's going to make it. Just sad where you can't believe this actually happened.



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