Books of 2010: 002
Moving right along! At this rate, I'd go ahead and set a goal for myself, but you all know me - I don't like to fail at things. So if I don't set a goal, I can't fail to meet it. And no, making a goal won't make me reach harder. In this case, anyway. Shush.
Anywhoo.
"The Sand Fish" by Maha Gargash.
Pros:
* I didn't hate the narrator.
* I didn't want to throw the book against the wall.
Cons:
Let's just discuss this. I can't even put it into bullets. If you're planning on reading this book, I'd say skip the beginning and the end and stick tot he middle. There was a large chunk in the middle of the book which I did genuinely enjoy.
The beginning was slow and boring. It was all set-up and no action. Spent a good hundred pages on characters never to be mentioned again. Plus, SO predictable. Faced with the prospect of getting married (to a kind, rich man! gasp! so she could live in a HOUSE! how DARE they do this to her?) she runs away to a neighboring village and falls in love with this man. Meanwhile, a girl in town is engaged and her mother-in-law keeps sending nasty glares to our narrator and making REALLY FUCKING SUBTLE comments about how her son is making noise about not wanting to marry his fiance anymore because he's in love with someone else. It's a big scandal, and our narrator is just like, "Wow, why does this guy's mom keep glaring at me? All i'm doing is secretly meeting with a man every day. This has nothing to do with me!" And we, like she, are supposed to be idiots and not have any idea that UM DUH HELLO IT'S OBVIOUSLY THE MAN SHE'S SEEING. Jesus. So that pissed me off right from the start. And she's just oh so heartbroken when he decides he can't have his dear sweet Mummy upset so he'll get married to his fiance after all. So she gets married off to the rich guy, where more cliche's come leaping out. We have the First Wife, who is kindly, and the Second Wife, who is a bitch. Shocking. And then we have a slave "girl-woman". This is what she was referred to as. I have no fucking clue how old she was supposed to be. Girl-woman, WUT? Anyway. She was the cliche confidant. And then we had a man! Because there HAD to be a lover interest! So she's madly in love with him out of no where, almost in a Twilight way. Not okay.
And like, she's supposed to be facing all this hardship and stuff? Dude, she's in this rich house, doesn't have to work. All she has to deal with is sleeping with her husband, and most of the time he'd just talk to her instead of screwing her! So what the eff was so bloody terrible? Oh right. She's "headstrong". Gotta rebel against SOMETHING. So anyway, the husband is obviously barren and its up to her to make a baby with him! I felt like I was reading an under-educated bastard child of "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "The Handmaid's Tale" (both FABULOUS books, by the way). So she, and again... did anyone not see this coming?, gets herself knocked up by the guy she fell in love with. So then he starts talking about taking her and running away to get rich and make them a family. At this point, I'd resigned myself to the book being totally predictable and cliche. So I was like "Alright, so they steal from the rich husband and vanish into the night to raise a happy family. I'm ready. Bring it on." I was even excited for it, 'cause I liked the guy, he was a great character! AND THEN SHE TELLS HIM NO. She sends the baby daddy away and stays at the house to raise the baby as her husband's child. Whuuut?
Rawr. Do not want.
Overall rating:
2.5 out of 5 stars.
Seriously, just read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "The Handmaid's Tale". They're much better, and the same idea.
Anywhoo.
"The Sand Fish" by Maha Gargash.
Pros:
* I didn't hate the narrator.
* I didn't want to throw the book against the wall.
Cons:
Let's just discuss this. I can't even put it into bullets. If you're planning on reading this book, I'd say skip the beginning and the end and stick tot he middle. There was a large chunk in the middle of the book which I did genuinely enjoy.
The beginning was slow and boring. It was all set-up and no action. Spent a good hundred pages on characters never to be mentioned again. Plus, SO predictable. Faced with the prospect of getting married (to a kind, rich man! gasp! so she could live in a HOUSE! how DARE they do this to her?) she runs away to a neighboring village and falls in love with this man. Meanwhile, a girl in town is engaged and her mother-in-law keeps sending nasty glares to our narrator and making REALLY FUCKING SUBTLE comments about how her son is making noise about not wanting to marry his fiance anymore because he's in love with someone else. It's a big scandal, and our narrator is just like, "Wow, why does this guy's mom keep glaring at me? All i'm doing is secretly meeting with a man every day. This has nothing to do with me!" And we, like she, are supposed to be idiots and not have any idea that UM DUH HELLO IT'S OBVIOUSLY THE MAN SHE'S SEEING. Jesus. So that pissed me off right from the start. And she's just oh so heartbroken when he decides he can't have his dear sweet Mummy upset so he'll get married to his fiance after all. So she gets married off to the rich guy, where more cliche's come leaping out. We have the First Wife, who is kindly, and the Second Wife, who is a bitch. Shocking. And then we have a slave "girl-woman". This is what she was referred to as. I have no fucking clue how old she was supposed to be. Girl-woman, WUT? Anyway. She was the cliche confidant. And then we had a man! Because there HAD to be a lover interest! So she's madly in love with him out of no where, almost in a Twilight way. Not okay.
And like, she's supposed to be facing all this hardship and stuff? Dude, she's in this rich house, doesn't have to work. All she has to deal with is sleeping with her husband, and most of the time he'd just talk to her instead of screwing her! So what the eff was so bloody terrible? Oh right. She's "headstrong". Gotta rebel against SOMETHING. So anyway, the husband is obviously barren and its up to her to make a baby with him! I felt like I was reading an under-educated bastard child of "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "The Handmaid's Tale" (both FABULOUS books, by the way). So she, and again... did anyone not see this coming?, gets herself knocked up by the guy she fell in love with. So then he starts talking about taking her and running away to get rich and make them a family. At this point, I'd resigned myself to the book being totally predictable and cliche. So I was like "Alright, so they steal from the rich husband and vanish into the night to raise a happy family. I'm ready. Bring it on." I was even excited for it, 'cause I liked the guy, he was a great character! AND THEN SHE TELLS HIM NO. She sends the baby daddy away and stays at the house to raise the baby as her husband's child. Whuuut?
Rawr. Do not want.
Overall rating:
2.5 out of 5 stars.
Seriously, just read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "The Handmaid's Tale". They're much better, and the same idea.