itibaren Pischina Salida SS, İtalya
Zafón kreiert eine wunderbar bunte und lebendige Welt, in der man schnell versinkt. Die Geschichte ist herrlich, wenn auch mit etwas zu krampfhaft positivem Ende. Die düstere Stimmung über Barcelona und der Geschichte ist wirklich wunderbar gezeichnet. Im direkten Vergleich hat mir “Das Spiel des Engels” etwas besser gefallen, weil das eher seltsame Ende einfach besser zur Stimmung passt, die Zafon erschafft, und man sich nach der Lektüre noch viel länger mit der Geschichte beschäftigt. Die erste Hälfte wirkt etwas langatmig und redundant, aber dann nimmt die Geschichte Fahrt auf, und man erkennt, dass die Gespräche und Geschichten, die in der ersten Häfte ans Licht kamen, in der Gesamtgeschichte Sinn machen und den notwendigen und spannenden Hintergrund liefern, wenn die Geschichte wirklich in Fahrt kommt. Die Frauenfiguren sind allesamt eher flach und passiv gezeichnet, was schade ist. Insgesamt ist “Der Schatten des Windes” ein wunderbarer Schmöker, der mich einiges an Schlaf gekostet hat, und den ich wirklich empfehlen kann.
update 3/3/12: i give up. it's very rare i give up on a book but i just can't get through this. it is so boring. update 2/4/12: i decided to give this another go (from the beginning) via audiobook. i just realized the reader is actually johnny depp. perhaps this explains why i am now enjoying it more. 8/22/11: So far, this book is awful and totally self-indugent. Aren't all autobiographies, you ask? Well, this one is nearly 600 pages long and in it Keith Richards charmlessly recounts memories such as his first dogbite and how being kicked out of choir because his pubescent voice cracked made him the rebel that he came to be. You know, life lessons and inspiring triumphs. It wants so badly to be The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band but it's reading more like The Life and Times of Grandpa In The Old Folks' Home (Who Happens To Be Keith Richards)
رغم الأسلوب الأدبي الجميل في الكتاب، الا أنه لا يحقق الفائدة المرجوة، فكتاب مثل هذا يتطلب المدارسة مع مجموعة، وفي أجواء محددة، فهو مختصر وفيه شيء من السياحة مع الكلمات والمعاني التي لا تتحقق الا لمن عرف الدرب وكان له جماعة لا يصلح الكتاب للقراءة منفردا، وخير منه كتاب إحياء علوم الدين
Jacqueline Winspear has emphatically mastered the art of a mystery series with this latest addition to her list. Not only does her main character have a wealth of personality traits that are admirable, laudable, even enviable, she is attractive, wealthy (this is critical), and clever. She is as busy as we are, so we don’t feel as though time is passing slowly, or that we are wasting time reading of her adventures. Meetings, letters, investigations, reading, meditation all take time, and she schedules herself very closely. She is the woman we would strive to be. It is interesting to see how she responds to queries, doubts, challenges, though I have to admit it is frustrating to see her push those lovely suitors away one by one, again and again. But not only do we have Maisie Dobbs herself to consider, we have her constellation of family and friends, who by this time in the series have become our own friends: employees, mentors, her father, her fiancé all have lives and backstories we revel in following. This time I am struck by the success of the formula: with many threads and much driving about, the pace leaves readers breathless. The comforting commonsense calm brings Alexander McCall Smith to mind, despite the difference in the subject matters of between the series produced by each author. It is the tone that is reminiscent, one of the other. And that is high praise indeed. This latest in the series introduces Maisie to the Secret Service in the years before WWII. She takes on an assignment which requires the utmost secrecy, and I amused to read how many times she told friends and colleagues what she was doing was “hush-hush” for the government. ? How hush-hush is that? I guess they didn’t really mean it.