airdog reviewed The Funeral Party by Ludmila Ulitskaya
August 1991. In a sweltering New York City apartment, a group of Russian eeacute;migres gathers …
Watered down version of what is considered as Russian style writing
1 star
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airdog reviewed Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa
"Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of …
Semi-naive Heideggarian phenomenology Japanese style
2 stars
Having never written a line, coming out of prison after a few nonos, the hero is taught by an old, crooked finger woman how to listen to the beans he using to make the filling for the pancakes he is selling every day.
Interesting plunge into the world of those who still have leprosy (a disease now considered cured but which nevertheless still projects and aura of fear) in Japan.
《Death Notice》: Eighteen years ago, a bizarre bombing case claimed the lives of two young …
What an epic!
3 stars
Sorry if I haven't posted for a long time. I started what is a series of 5 books (3000 pages!!) and haven't yet finished, but this might take another little while, so I thought I would just make a little post just to signal that I'm still here. Crime novels are the best for those who want to learn (a new writing system in my case), as they usually are located in the modern world and allow you to learn words and expressions that will immediately be useful in your life. I have noticed that, where Western TV series usually have a maximum of 10 episodes/season, Chinese series can easily (and usually) go to 70 episodes/season. In other words, you get your money's worth! The same seems to be true for novels. As for a real review, I'm still missing too many details to be able to provide a "well …
Sorry if I haven't posted for a long time. I started what is a series of 5 books (3000 pages!!) and haven't yet finished, but this might take another little while, so I thought I would just make a little post just to signal that I'm still here. Crime novels are the best for those who want to learn (a new writing system in my case), as they usually are located in the modern world and allow you to learn words and expressions that will immediately be useful in your life. I have noticed that, where Western TV series usually have a maximum of 10 episodes/season, Chinese series can easily (and usually) go to 70 episodes/season. In other words, you get your money's worth! The same seems to be true for novels. As for a real review, I'm still missing too many details to be able to provide a "well informed" one... Maybe later.
Insights into the Chinese psyche
3 stars
As expected, much more difficult to read than his best known work. This is goes into alternative realities, not science fiction, and explores the various facets of what we consider to be reality. As I'm not sure my basic reading abilities in Chinese are quite up to this level, I will refrain from saying more than this for fear of doing this work injustice.
地主少爷福贵嗜赌成性，终于赌光了家业一贫如洗，穷困之中的福贵因为母亲生病前去求医，没想到半路上被国民党部队抓了壮丁，后被解放军所俘虏，回到家乡他才知道母亲已经去世，妻子家珍含辛茹苦带大了一双儿女，但女儿不幸变成了聋哑人，儿子机灵活泼……
然而，真正的悲剧从此才开始渐次上演，每读一页，都让我们止不住泪湿双眼，因为生命里难得的温情将被一次次死亡撕扯得粉碎，只剩得老了的福贵伴随着一头老牛在阳光下回忆。
A remarkable tour de force
4 stars
The author has managed something rare. Using simple everyday words all along he succeeds very well in giving us a poignant story of simple people during difficult times. I've spoken Mandarin for a long time but was, up to 3 months ago, illiterate (Chinese has 86 000 characters, the average person knowing around 4000). My reading level is now upper mid-level and I could read the whole book and understand it all.
airdog reviewed The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Examines the role of the unexpected, discussing why improbable events are not anticipated or understood …
What a fraud!
2 stars
Did you know that financial forecasters, who are paid a small fortune every year, are totally useless? Yes. It has been proved many times that parrots, crows, dogs and pigs do better or at least as well as them.
Did you know that rare events (what he calls black swans) don't happen often but can have large consequences? Probably.
And to make things much worse, Taleb, being himself the typical example of the Gaussian bell curve, blames the forecasters of being dishonest because they're at worst explicitely dishonest in continuying to be paid for something (using the bell curve) they know is useless. Taleb, being the one among millions failures who succeeded, which is what the bell curve demonstrates very well, writes a book saying that we should get rid of the bell curve.
He's right, but don't write a book about it when you yourself are a case book …
Did you know that financial forecasters, who are paid a small fortune every year, are totally useless? Yes. It has been proved many times that parrots, crows, dogs and pigs do better or at least as well as them.
Did you know that rare events (what he calls black swans) don't happen often but can have large consequences? Probably.
And to make things much worse, Taleb, being himself the typical example of the Gaussian bell curve, blames the forecasters of being dishonest because they're at worst explicitely dishonest in continuying to be paid for something (using the bell curve) they know is useless. Taleb, being the one among millions failures who succeeded, which is what the bell curve demonstrates very well, writes a book saying that we should get rid of the bell curve.
He's right, but don't write a book about it when you yourself are a case book example of it...
airdog reviewed L'Archipel du Chien by Philippe Claudel
Sur une île de l’Archipel du Chien vit une petite communauté qui se pense à …
Pas de chiens sur l'ile
4 stars
Roman parabolique (dans le sens de parabole), ou tragédie antique écrite dans un style journalistique acidulé qui nous donne à voir comment la vie de tout le monde, moi, vous, tous, fonctionne pour que, sans que nous en soyons nécessairement conscients, nos actions servent les buts et intérêts d'autres que nous, mieux placés que nous pour planifier et faire fructifier nos actions.
airdog reviewed The Poison Bed by E C Fremantle
A spellbinding thriller set in the Jacobean Court of 1615 surrounding a famed couple imprisoned …
I won't waste my time: don't waste yours
2 stars
airdog reviewed Possession by A. S. Byatt
from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christabel_LaMotte
Possession: A Romance is a 1990 bestselling novel by British …
Impressed by the quality of writing
4 stars
This book can intimidate many because there are extensive quotations of the Victorian poet AR Ash. Ash is not really my cup of tea either, but if you quickly pass over those you find a book that is very well written by an author who knows what she was doing. The love letters between Ash and a (finctional?) lover alone are worth the read reminding me of those between Eloise and Abelard.
airdog reviewed Partisan by Patrick Worrall
It is the summer of 1961 and the brutal Cold War between East and West …
Wish I could write a first novel as good as this one
3 stars
Nothing earth-shattering but very well written and constructed, lively style which keeps you interested. Well done!
airdog reviewed Surtensions by Olivier Norek
Cette sœur acceptera-t-elle le marché risqué qu'on lui propose pour faire évader son frère de …
Classique mais rien de spécial
2 stars
airdog reviewed A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin
THE BRAND NEW REBUS THRILLER FROM THE ICONIC NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER. ONE OF THE MUST-READ …
Retired inspector, maybe retiring author?
2 stars
Not sure if it's me becoming blasé or if the author was really desperately seeking inspiration, but...
airdog reviewed Gehen, ging, gegangen by Jenny Erpenbeck
How does one cope with the passing of time when forced to inactivity? How do …
Interesting but not earth shattering
3 stars
Everyday life viewed from the perspective of a retired Berlin professor and that of African refugees who are constantly pushed from country to country after having entered Europe through Lampedusa. They can work in Italy (their port of entrance) but there is no work to be had there and cannot work in any other country. Their daily life, as well as their past, is constantly intertwined with that of said professor bringing to light the unfathomable difference a few papers can make on a life.
airdog reviewed Extinction by Thomas Bernhard
From the late Thomas Bernhard, arguably Austria's most influential novelist of the postwar period, and …
Not for everyone
4 stars
This author has been described, on a commercial alternative to Bookwyrm as, "the dentist drill of literature". I have to admit that the description fits quite well. Bernhardt is famous for his endless sentences that repeat what has already been said many times before just a little bit differently. And to add to the "pain", he never, but never says anything positive. He's Austrian and criticizes his country to such a point that most of his compatriots have reacted very negatively to his novels. Personally, I liked it. By the way, I read it in German and noticed that the English edition has 250 pages and the German one 651 pages. Am I to assume that the English editors believed that English readers will not be able to stomach so many pages of reflections on life?
I don't know. In my case, it induced in me some kind of comfortable …
This author has been described, on a commercial alternative to Bookwyrm as, "the dentist drill of literature". I have to admit that the description fits quite well. Bernhardt is famous for his endless sentences that repeat what has already been said many times before just a little bit differently. And to add to the "pain", he never, but never says anything positive. He's Austrian and criticizes his country to such a point that most of his compatriots have reacted very negatively to his novels. Personally, I liked it. By the way, I read it in German and noticed that the English edition has 250 pages and the German one 651 pages. Am I to assume that the English editors believed that English readers will not be able to stomach so many pages of reflections on life?
I don't know. In my case, it induced in me some kind of comfortable trance, there's something very musical to his writing, that kept me going and enjoying.
But as said, not for everyone. You've been warned!
airdog reviewed The Three-arched Bridge by Ismail Kadare
The bards who stopped at the inn near the riverbank were forever being asked to …
Not my cup of tea
2 stars
Potentially very interesting subject: the building of a stone bridge in 14th century Balkans is almost a very simple chronicle with a few considerations about mythology and beliefs. This seems to me the opposite of the last book I read, which took a trivial anecdote and turned it into something magical, this one takes a very potentially rich subject and turns it into nothing.