#classics review

Finished Maurice by E.M. Forster this week and wow, just wow. I thought this was gonna be a hard read because I can struggle with classic lit but even though there were times I was confused with language the overall story flowed well and I was captivated by the young man’s story.

Maurice isn’t always likeable but he is relatable and real. I liked the happy ending but it felt a little rushed with Alec at the end.

I am also in the camp that while Clive was sexually repressed and has a lot of internalized homophobia I think he was probably also asexual.

Synopsis: I’m sure many of my followers are familiar with the film adaptation of this book and it is very loyal to the story, although the book is obviously more fleshed out and gives more insight to the characters’ thoughts.

The book is split into two parts, the first part is set during a hot summer day in 1935 and the events of this day are told from the perspectives of several characters. The most important one however, is the perspective of Brionny, who is 13 years old at the time. On that day she stumbles upon several scenes which she, in her 13 year old mind, misunderstands and misinterprets. Her mistakes will alter the course of several lives forever.

The second part is mostly set in the Second World War and the events take place in Dunkirk and London. The London storyline is narrated by Briony, who’s now come of age. As she has matured she has began to see the effect of the errors she made five years earlier. She is therefore trying to “atone” her wrong doings of the past.

Review: I gave this book 4/5 stars. I find that although the book is very well written, the story is interesting and both beautiful and gruesome at times, the book still lacked the ultimate “wow-factor” to make it a 5/5 read.

Having already seen the film I knew what I was in for and I knew what to expect of the plot. Maybe it was for that reason that the book did not make me want to scram through the pages as fast as I could to find out what events will take place next.

However, like I said the book was very well written with some beautiful descriptions and passages. For me, especially the descriptions of the war and the events of Dunkirk were the most fascinating parts, as there was much more to them in the book than in the film. I feel like Robbie gets the attention he deserves in the book, and being inside his head brings so much more well, “character” to his character.

Atonement tells the story of the power of words, whether written or spoken, and of the responsibility which comes with such a power. This applies to both characters of the story but also to the author who has a responsibility to their readers.

So all in all, there’s great writing, there’s multiple narrators, there’s drama, there’s passion, there’s war, there’s growth and there’s tragedy. If these things sound even slightly interesting or I’d like me you’ve seen the film and liked it, then I recommend trying out ‘Atonement’. However, in case you’re not familiar with the story, I should point out that there is talk of a rape/sexual assault in this book so trigger warning applies.

So when I said that I wanted to start my lit crit series on classics I said that I was going to also show you a review so you could decide if you wanted to read this series or not. and I’m doing that today. 

I recently read Magnus Chase by Rick Riordan and the following is my personal review of that book on Goodreads. 

“This book follows, homeless young man Magnus Chase, as he discovers who his father is and his relationship in regard to his father. This harrowing story takes twists and turns before stopping full force in an epic battle to influence Ragnarok. This book has a lovable cast of characters that are all trying to search out their role and relationship to some God or another, and join Magnus in becoming a supportive sort of family unit. The underlying message, in this Riordan book, and series is the life of the homeless, and working within a family unit. Which is touching, because as the book progresses, we meet an old favorite and another person who has suffered the Chase family's malfeasance: Annabeth Chase. The fact that both have had terrible experiences that are both very similar and vastly different, is heartening because at least they both have a kindred spirit in a family member. This book was much like many other works of Riordan's, with its classic teaching trope of the chosen one for this or that pantheon. However, this particular book was hard for me to get through, there were many times that I would slump through reading it. Personally, the first three hundred pages were hard to read. However, when the action began and the plot started driving forward, I really got into the book. Much of the problem I think comes from how complex the Norse pantheon can be, and that fact the main character new next to nothing and need to be taught along with the reader about the system. All in all, this was a good book. It did not by any means wow me, in either its writing or in its content; however, this book does provide an entertaining read, and a fun upper middle-grade book, for you and your kids!”

Thanks for reading. I hope that kind of convinces you to keep reading this series. If you want to follow it more closely please follow the tag booktea which is the tag I’ll be following on here for that specific series. The first book is Treasure Island because I already have that one! 

Lot’s of Love,

So, this might be one of the lesser-known books to my audience I’ve read so far this year. Tove Jansson is obviously the creator of the ever-so-lovely Moomins. Although I am Finnish, I don’t read too much Finnish literature, however, Tove Jansson is an exception. She is my favourite Finnish author and although this review is not about the Moomins, I recommend the Moomin books to everyone! The writing is beautiful, the characters eccentric and the stories are filled with important themes, much deeper than an average children's book. Personally, I’ve enjoyed reading the Moomin books a lot more as an adult than I did as a child. However, let’s get into the Summer Book.

Synopsis: The Summer Book is a short book which focuses on the relationship between an old woman and her six years old granddaughter. They spent a summer at their cottage on a remote Finnish island, together with the grandma’s son (the girl’s mother however is deceased), but he is not a central character of the story. The book consists of short chapters which focus around different events at the island such as “The Cat” “Midsummer” etc.

Review: Another 5/5 read for me! I wonder if I give out stars too easily, but I only read books I’ve wanted to read for a long time and heard good things about. The Summer Book is a bit similar to Old Man and the Sea in a sense, that there is not too much plot to the story. Nevertheless, the book still manages to touch on many  meaningful themes such as death, religion and the beauty and character of nature. Jansson drew from life whilst writing the Summer Book as the little girl is named Sophia - same as Jansson’s niece. The grandma is therefore inspired by Tove herself, who loved the outdoors and spent many a summer at her own summer cottage in the Finnish  archipelago. 

Jansson’s writing is simply beautiful. Everything from the way she describes the nature around the archipelago, to the way she characterizes the relationship between a small child and an older woman with all of its’ ups and downs, it’s all just a thrill to read. Jansson is great at world building and creating atmospheres in a few short sentences. Despite being very short (my copy was less than 150 pages) the book manages to do all that. As it is called “The Summer Book” it’s a perfect little summer read you can get through in a day when you’re in the mood for it!

Synopsis: A Doll’s House is a play by a Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, in some translations known as “Nora”. The play was first published and performed in 1879 and it caused quite a stir at the time of its release. The story focuses around the Helmer family household and their acquaintances. It takes a critical look at a 19th century marriage and a woman’s position in it.

At the time of her fathers death Nora Helmer took a loan in her father’s name and forged his signature in order to take her ill husband abroad to make him better. She is driven to this forgery since at the time women were not allowed to handle their own finances or apply for a loan. She keeps the loan a secret, saying the money came from her inheritance following her father’s death. Now she has been slowly paying it back for some years out of her “pocket money”. However her actions catch up with her as her husband, who is quite well now, is offered a promotion. Following this he, without knowing the truth, fires the man who lent Nora the money few years back. The man becomes cross with the Helmers and as he realises Nora’s crime, he begins to blackmail her.

Review: I gave this play 4.5/5 and honestly the reason it didn’t get a 5/5 was because I wished there had been more of it and we could’ve dived in just a bit deeper into the complex layers of a Victorian marriage. Also I did not really like Nora, the main character, but that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying a story before.

(FYI I read this book in Swedish as I assumed it would be closer to the original text, and my tip for your if you wish to improve your language skills is to read plays in your preferred language! They’re often shorter than novels and contain a lot of dialogue rather than prosaic descriptions and long chapters.)

To read and understand this play in modern day requires some understanding of the time it was written in, otherwise the full impact of the play is not felt (for example I recommend watching the scene from the new Little Women film in which Amy, Florence Pugh, explains how a marriage is always an economic question and how a wife, their money and children are always the husband’s property).

According to my reading (mostly Wikipedia) Ibsen did not necessarily intent the Dollhouse to be a feminist play but rather he was always “on the side of the downtrodden” (to quote Matthew from Downton Abbey). However, the play contemplates classic feminist themes like women’s rights in a society and within the family. It establishes women have value within themselves not just as wives and caretakers of their children. The name of the play “A Doll’s House” alludes to how Nora feels like she was a doll of her father’s before she became her husband’s doll and how at the same time her children act as her dolls.

Anyhow, it’s a fairly short play and therefore a quick read so I recommend this to everyone who enjoys classics, period plays or feminist literature!

Synopsis: The title says it all really. It’s about an old fisherman who hasn’t gotten any fish for a few days and so he decides to go fish further to the sea. It’s not a book in which much happens but it’s all about the description of the old man’s inner monologue and his respect of the fish and the sea and the nature all around.

Review: This was my first Hemingway and I really enjoyed the prose so I’m definitely going to read some more! I gave it five stars since I didn’t really find anything lacking in the book. Like I said in the synopsis it’s not really a book in which much happens. However the language is beautiful and so is the relationship between the man and the sea and nature in general. Having grown up in the Finnish countryside by the sea I feel like there’s this deep connection to and an admiration for the nature and the sea which I really connected with in the novel.

It is not a very long book and therefore I’m eager to read some more Hemingway in the future. I recommend this to anyone who finds enjoyment in both fine prose and nature!

I have always been a Ray Bradbury fan. Farenheit 451 is by far one of my favorite dystopian premises of all time. So for this to have sat on my shelf for so long tells you just how far off the wagon I have fallen with reading physical books (which is another resolution btw). I sat down to read a bit before I had to leave for an appointment and somehow found myself at the end of this book in no time at all. With SpaceX making commercial space travel a real possibility in the next 20 years it was an interesting position to read a book written so long ago to be relevant today. But that is the way with books like this. To read something technically set 20 years into the past and it still seems like something out of the future is a real mind-bender. I highly recommend this book if you like Ray Bradbury, Orson Scott Card (Enders Game) or Edgar Rice Burroughs (Barsoom series—the AWFUL John Carter Disney movie). *Keep in mind, this book was written in 1950, so there is some non-pc language across the spectrum, despite the way in which the characters using them are painted (which is not in a good light). *