itibaren Ali, Demokratik Kongo Cumhuriyeti
This was an interesting book. It is John Grishams first non-fiction book and he did a very good job telling this story and keeping it interesting. But, there were times I felt like I was taking a class in law school. There are a lot of characters and sometimes it's hard to keep track of who everyone is. If you believe in the death penalty now it would be interesting to see how you feel about it after reading this book. It was a pretty heavy book without a lot of fun moments, in fact I don't believe there was one single smile moment. Oh-well, not all books can spare a line of frivolity here and there.
Wow, wow, wow. I read this book 2 years ago (and hundreds of books ago) and it's still one of my very favorites. I absolutely loved the fact that the entire novel spans, what, a day and a night? It's very impressive that this book encompasses a complete, cohesive story when it takes place in such a short amount of time. The characters were all really quirky and "cool," and I suppose some could view that as unrealistic--really, if it weren't for excellent writing, the whole novel would seem unrealistic--but I thought they seemed real enough, and that's a big part of me liking a book. The rapidly changing settings and situations just add to the book--as cheesy as it sounds, it feels like you're a part of the chaos. There is an abundance of profanity, sexual references, and painful awkwardness, which could easily turn off certain readers, but besides all that, this book is so spot-on with so many things. Maybe it's impossible for me look in retrospect on my teenage years, since I'm in the throes of adolescence right now, but when it comes to basically every emotion a teen has, this books hits the nail on the head for every single one. I think it would provide some good ol' nostalgia (and an awesome read) for the adults that read this book, and for teens I think it's just a really funny fast-paced book about everything that could happen.
Though I love Dan Simmons' other genre writings, especially his "Space opera's" "Hyperion" and "The Fall of Hyperion", when he goes to contemporary noir detective stories, I don't think his style works so well.
This is really 2 novellas. Hardboiled about a girl hiking in the mountains who encounters some bad feelings. She stays overnight in an old hotel and encounters a ghost. All of the time, she is reminiscing about her past roommate/lover who is dead, as well. I liked Hard Luck slightly better. It is about a girl who is grieving her sister who is in the hospital and is brain dead. Much of the book revolves around conversations with her sister's fiancee's brother who spends a lot of time at the hospital. Both are written in sparse, lyrical language. I still like Kitchenthe best of all of her books.