Perfil de usuario

The truth is, I haven't finished this book, but I have been fighting with it for two months and that is more than enough. I don't know what was wrong with it, if the format (it was a cheap edition with a small typeface and no margins), the language, the plot or what. I couldn't make any sense of it.

This book is a collection of essays, varied enough to give a good picture of the consequences of women's emigration to work in the invisible jobs that involve caring for people.

The style is academic but accesible, and the content very is depressing but enlightening.

The less is revealed of the plot before reading this book, the better, although I have to admit that I found it so disturbing that when I had read about a third I looked it up on Wikipedia to find out about the end!

It is a dystopia, up there with 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World. The difference with those works is that this time the point of view is feminist. 1984 shows a world in which early 20th century totalitarism has triumphed; the latter two show the consequences of complete consumerism in a fake democracy, and The Handmaid's Tale shows the worst nightmare of an eighties' feminist.

Stylistically, the book is perhaps too fragmentary, but that is a consequence of the chosen mode. What can you expect from a first person narrator who has been forbidden to read and write for several years?

A highly recommended book for feminists and fans of dystopias alike. The only flaw is the risk of optimistic readers thinking that "at least things aren't as bad as this".

One of the problems of African American literature is that the men pretend the women don't exist and the women normally write, quite understandably, about how all whites and black men oppresses them. This does not result in bad works, but books by male writers annoy women and books by women are considered "Women's Literature", because a woman's experience is always considered exceptional.

In any case, this is an excellent book about what it meant to be black, in the States, in the thirties. Angelou writes mostly about her own life, but the way she weaves in the lives of her relatives is one of the most interesting protrayals of the life of a minority I've ever read. The language is beautiful without being too flowery. The structure is mostly episodic, which style books would frown upon, but is there any other way to tell the experiences of chilhood?

It seems outdated because it's almost forty years old, but this is the place to start if someone wants to know more about African American history through literature and biography.

I have only started this book and it doesn't sound too promising. I like the characters, as they are very complex and active and do interesting things, but I'm not enjoying the slow pace of the narration.

*

It took me forever to finish the book. It's OK, it picks up a little bit after the first half. It's more an excuser to reflect on the nature of "reality vs. copies" and how people tend to prefer "improved" copies of stuff to the real thing.

I really enjoyed this book, but then I'm biased because I love everything by Neil Gaiman. It has a very absurd sense of humor and a twisted plot. I don't see as the children's / young adult book it has been marketed as.

I'm so boring, I always give the same rating. This book is exactly in the same style as "the Hitchhiker's guide", but it makes the story a little bit clearer. And the dinner at the restaurant is just hilarious.

I had already read this one as a teenager and all I remember was the first chapter. It's a great holiday read, but I was surprised at the weakness of the plot. It is possible to write comedy with better plots, as others like Pratchett and, in a way, Neil Gaiman, have proved. But then, I don't think there would have been a Pratchett at all (or a funny Gaiman) without Adams first.