The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)

Title: The Grapes of Wrath
Author: John Steinbeck
Originally Published: 1939
My Edition Published: 2011
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 536
Source: Book club
Genres: Classics
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The Grapes of Wrath follows the Joad family during the Great Depression as they are displaced from the land they work in Oklahoma and follow thousands of others as they head west to California with the promise of work and a better life. What they find there is anything but.

This is the first Steinbeck I have read and I think he is an incredible writer. The writing is so vivid and descriptive that you can't help but be transported into the lives of this family and the struggles that they go through. The story is quite simply one of the most harrowing I have read. Tom Joad is released from prison (there because he killed someone defending himself in a fight) and heads home to reunite with his family only to find his family have been kicked off the farm they work due to ecological disasters and the hunt for more and more profits from greedy bankers. There begins a journey across America with 11 other family members and an ex preacher in the back of a truck with all their worldly possessions. They join thousands of others heading west due to the promise of work, a lie used to drive down wages as more and more people demand work on the cotton and fruit fields. Anger, death, hunger, and violence await them at the end of their journey.

This book is not for the faint hearted but it is an incredible story and well worth the read. Steinbeck has been able to capture the human spirit of determination and will to survive when all else is lost, the need to battle and fight no matter what, and the bond that will hold a family together no matter what hardship is thrown at them. It is also a very realistic depiction of what life during the depression would have been like. Steinbeck also tries to overlay the families story with information about how the country ended up in the mess that it was in, and why the families were all on the move. This really helped put a lot of things in context across the story. Steinbeck wrote character speeches phonetically allowing you to pick up accents and colloquialism of various people throughout the story. Some chapters were also written in a stream of consciousness style which can be difficult but I think did enhance the overall story.

I want to talk about the ending but I better not give any spoilers away but I will just say that I found the abrupt ending very difficult to digest and it left me wanting more. I'm now really looking forward to reading some of Steinbeck's other novels as I think he's one of the greatest writers I've had the pleasure of reading. If you haven't picked up The Grapes of Wrath yet I urge you to do so.

"And the failure hangs over the State like a great sorrow. ...and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."

The Grapes of Wrath was read as part of my 100 book challenge of must read novels.

(22 read. 78 to go!).

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

To The Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)

Title: To The Lighthouse

Author: Virginia Woolf
First Published: 1927

This Edition Published: 1999
Published By:Wordsworth Editions Ltd

Source: Own copy

Genre: Classics

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I picked up To The Lighthouse because of a single quote that I read on another blog.

"How life, from being made up of little separate incidents which one lived one by one, became curled and whole like a wave which bore one up with it and threw one down with it, there, with a dash on the beach"

I thought it was quite simply one of the most moving passages I had read in a long time and I just had to read the whole book. I was however in for a bit of a surprise as I had never read anything by Woolf before nor any other modernist writer and therefore was completely new to the whole 'stream-of-consciousness' style of writing. I will see if I can successfully summarise things up for you.

To The Lighthouse is unique in that there is minimal plot, very little action and the crux of the novel is in the themes and philosophical aspects of the characters. The novel has little dialogue and instead of a main narrator it has a stream of consciousness type effect so the plot is revealed by the minds of the various characters and you learn how people perceive each other, whether those perceptions are accurate or not. This perspective shifts constantly, sometimes one sentence after another and the majority of the book explores the characters' feelings, tensions and interactions. Major plot points are mentioned almost as a side note in parenthesis. A unique approach I haven't seen before.

"And as sometimes happens when a cloud falls on a green hillside and gravity descends and there among all the surrounding hills is gloom and sorrow, and it seems as if the hill themselves must ponder the fate of the clouded, the darkened, either in pity or maliciously rejoicing in her dismay"

Warning *Spoilers* in the next paragraph although to be honest I read some spoilers after finishing the first part because I was worried I was missing things and I'm actually glad I read up a bit on the book before I read it.

There are three parts to the novel. The first 'The Window' focuses on Mr and Mrs Ramsay at their summer house with their children and a group of guests over for a dinner party. This part of the novel explores the thoughts, feelings and perceptions of these characters. The name of the novel is also extracted from this section as their son wants to take a trip to the lighthouse but is unable to do so. The second section, 'Time Passes', jumps a number of years and reveals the deaths of Mrs Ramsay and two of her children and the passing of the first world war. It's a very profound section which highlights the emptiness of the house. The last section, 'The Lighthouse', jumps again as Mr Ramsay, the remaining children and guests return once again to the house. This time focusing on Mr Ramsay and Lily Briscoe, the girl with the asian eyes.

Some of the prose is strikingly beautiful and many of the passages make for profound quotes. Her husband described this book as "a psychological poem" and I think that is a perfect description.

"Would they never come, she asked, for she could not sustain this enormous weight of sorrow, support these heavy draperies of grief"

"Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one."

I think the second section Time Passes captured me the most. With the house in a sorry state of disrepair  and Mrs. McNab the housekeeper exploring the house which has fallen into decay from years of abandonment. The inter-connectivity between sections is incredible too when you pick up on it and it is highlighted in the second section with the description of her shawl, so lovingly cared for in the first section now cast aside.

"Idly, aimlessly, the swaying shawl swung to and fro."

I also enjoyed how Lily's analysis of her own painting is a reflection on how many of us view our own work and how we are our own worst critics. Lily is constantly fearful that her work lacks any worth. I imagine it's a true representation of how Woolf felt about her own writing and the struggles she had beginning any particular piece.

The novel heavily explores the relationship between men and women both from the relationship of Mr and Mrs Ramsay, the interactions between the unmarried couples at dinner and also with Mr Ramsay's need to extract support and sympathy from Lily Briscoe in the final part of the novel.

"while the women, judging from her own experience, would all the time be feeling, This is not what we want; there is nothing more tedious, puerile and inhumane than love; yet it is also beautiful and necessary."

"For at any rate, she said to herself, catching sight of the salt cellar on the pattern, she need not marry, thank heaven: she need not undergo that degradation. She was saved from that dilution."

All of this is presented within the most simple structure of family routine and a dinner which is why I was so impressed by it.

This of course is not a book to read curled up in bed late at night (not unless you are looking for something to put you to sleep) nor on the beach in the height of summer. Due to its complex and dense prose it is a book that can make you feel exhausted. But it is a great book for a long winters weekend; a challenge worth the reward.

"A sort of transaction went on between them, in which she was on one side, and life was on another, and she was always trying to get the better of it, as it was of her; and sometimes they parleyed (when she sat alone); there were, she remembered, great reconciliation scenes; but for the most part, oddly enough, she must admit that she felt this thing that she called life terrible, hostile, and quick to pounce on you if you gave it a chance."

Read It

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

Title: Little Women

Author: Louisa May Alcott
First Published: 1868

This Edition Published: Unknown

Source: Book club borrowed

Genre: Classics

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Photo missing: I had a unique copy borrowed from a friend which didn't even have a publishing date on it and sadly my phone is having problems and won't send the file so I decided any old photo wouldn't do this time.

Little women is the cinnamon sticky bun of books. Oh so sweet. And yet I think that's where it fell down for me. It was so full of morals and underlying lessons I felt like I was re-living an 80s sitcom. Lets see what I can remember from the book - we meet a group of sisters who are living in poverty with their mum while their father is off fighting. They play, they do their chores, they learn some life lessons, they met boy next door, they play, they do their chores, they learn some more life lessons.

Yep think that's about it. Okay so here's the truth of it, I also didn't read the whole story. I thought I would by the end of the book but no it turns out the copy I have (a cute little hardback copy I borrowed off a friend) is only part of the story. It's the originally published Little Women without the additional Good Wives story attached which most publications now include in one. I've seen the movie so I knew by the time I got to the end that I was missing a big chunk of the whole story and so knew there must be sequels. But I wasn't too fussed by this first part so I'm not too worried if I don't pick up the other half or the other ones after it (Little Men and Jo's Boys).

I do like this quote though which alludes to Beth's storyline in future books (CAUTION mini spoiler alert)

"There are many Beths in this world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully, that noone sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind."

Don't get me wrong I can do sweet, I really enjoyed Anne of Green Gables, but I just couldn't get into this book. Maybe reading it straight after The Woman in White which is a kick-ass book is half my problem. Maybe ordering your reading is more important than I've ever realised.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Read as part of these challenges: 100 Book Challenge| The Classics Club

The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins)

Title: The Woman in White

Author: Wilkie Collins
First Published: 1859

This Edition Published: 2009

Publisher: Penguin Classics Hardcover
Pages: 720

Source: Own copy

Genre: Classics

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Those of you who follow this blog will be aware that I have read The Woman in White as part of a readalong which means you can see my full thoughts about every detail of this book in the leadup and parts one, two, three and four of the readalong.

The issue with this of course being that each entry contains full spoilers of the book and anyone who hasn't read the book will skip over all said posts. So this one is for you guys. I'll keep it simple since I've already talked about this book but essentially The Woman in White is a Victorian mystery / drama that follows Walter Hartright as he takes a job as drawing master in the house of Mr. Fairlie, his niece Laura Fairlie and her half-sister Marian Halcombe. Along the way he encounters the woman in white whose mysterious story throws intrigue across their lives.

In short this book is full of page turning suspense, mystery, villainry and one damn great female character that is Marian Halcombe. She is certainly one of the best female characters I have ever encountered in a classic novel. The writing is brilliant, the story compelling and the characters fascinating.

If you haven't tried a classic before give this one a go. You won't be disappointed.

Read It

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Read as part of these challenges: 100 Book Challenge| The Classics Club | Mixing It Up Challenge

Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys)

Title: Wide Sargasso Sea

Author: Jean Rhys

Originally Published: 1966

This Edition Publication Date: 1997

Publisher: Penguin Books 
Pages: 192

Source: Book club borrowed

Genre: Classics, Literary Fiction

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Wide Sargasso Sea tells the story of Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress who is married off to an Englishman with terrible consequences. It is Rhys' response to Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) in which Rhys believed the story of Mrs Rochester needed to be told. Wide Sargasso Sea provides the prequel to her story as she grows up in the West Indies and is married to a man who becomes distant and suspicious.

Interestingly it is a book that tries to stand on it's own. The Englishman is never named and only as he starts to refer to Antoinette as "Bertha", a name he prefers for her, does it start to connect with Jane Eyre.

The book is split into three parts. The first is narrated by Antoinette and touches on her childhood in a dilapidated plantation in Jamaica sometime in the 1830s after the Emancipation Act. In the second part, a young Mr Rochester describes his arrival in the West Indies, his marriage and its disastrous journey. The final part is once again narrated by his wife but the scene has switched to England and she writes from her attic room in Thornfield Hall. The third and final part is where the story intersects with that told in Jane Eyre.

Jean Rhys' writing is almost poetic and incredibly beautiful however it is also very disjointed and it can sometimes be hard to follow a particular stream of thought. Interestingly I actually found Wide Sargasso Sea more difficult to read from a writing style and literary sense than Jane Eyre! I was very glad to have my annotated version in the end that could help explain a lot of the text and themes that I missed on the first pass. My edition is heavily annotated with 8 footnote references in the first page of text alone! This edition also contains an Introduction, A Note on the Text, General Notes, followed by the footnote references I just mentioned. Also the Introduction written by Francis Wyndham in the first edition published in 1966  is also included. As always if you do end up with an edition like this ensure you read the introduction after you read the story as it gives away significant plot details.

When I first started reading part two I found it very disconcerting to switch over to a narration by Rochester (even if he isn't ever named as such). I think because he was such a predominant character in Jane Eyre I found it difficult to feel comfortable with hearing his narration by a different author. Somehow I had a bigger issue with it than the narration by Antoinette, maybe because she doesn't appear much as a character in Jane Eyre but more as an idea, you know sort of touched on bit by bit. But I did slowly get into the narration and was able to relax into the reading style a bit more.

Overall it's actually a very short novel and so didn't take very long to get through. In fact i think it took me as much time to read all the additional notes and introductions as the actual story. However I found them to be invaluable as they helped me to understand a lot of the story that sadly went over my head a little bit. I have to admit as a classic this is a little harder to follow than others I have read but overall I still enjoyed it. Having said that I still think you'd want to read Jane Eyre first before you read this one. It can stand on it's own but I think reading it with the knowledge of the plot of Jane Eyre does enhance the story and makes it a little easier to understand.

Read It

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

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To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Original Publication Date: 1960
My Version Published By: Arrow Books, 2006
Pages: 309
Source: Book club borrowed
Genre: Classics, Literary Fiction
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It's pretty incredible to think that this is one of the all time classic novels and yet I actually knew nothing about it. How is that possible? Well for starters it was never assigned at school which seems to be when most read it. But beyond that I think it's one of those things that you hear so often the name becomes so common place that you get lulled into a sense of familiarity, until one day you start a blog, decide to do a 100 book challenge and come to the startling realisation that not only have you never read the book, but you have no clue what's it's even about! Cue embarrassment and a good self-chastising by yours truly. So with all that being said I'm going to be giving a bit more of an in-depth review on this one. Usually I try to keep the suspense for the many who haven't read it but lets be honest, there are probably very few people who read this blog who haven't read it so why not throw a bit more discussion into this one. But don't worry if by some miracle there is someone else out there who is in the same boat as me then I won't be giving any major spoilers away.

To Kill a Mockingbird was a story of love and acceptance narrated by a young girl living in 1930s America. I loved Scout's approach to life. She didn't want to conform to societies expectation that she start behaving like a lady. Oh no, she wanted to play with the boys. She wasn't any different to them in her eyes. I loathe to call her a tom-boy because I think it was more than that. She wanted to be equal. She would stand up for herself and wouldn't let anyone tell her what to do. I really admired her as a character because of that.

I found it incredible to explore the relationship she had with her father, Atticus. He spoke to his children like adults, always being open and honest in all opportunities and yet he nurtured their child mind by allowing them to be and think and feel the way they needed to. He is an incredible role model as a parent and I think that is portrayed really well in the book.

The main premise of the book is the story of Tom Robinson, a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman who Atticus is defending. It is all told from the perspective of Scout which of course lends a really unique story-telling approach. You get to see everything almost third hand as she tries to make sense of everything that is going on - from people saying mean things about her father for defending him, to the courtroom where it is all clear cut for the children and they can't possible fathom why he wouldn't be let off. This story is the centre of the book however there is so much more and you really need all these interchanging stories to provide the whole. This book is more than just a book about race relations but is a book about love, acceptance and friendship.

I think one of the most endearing parts of the book in terms of Scout's character is how she believes she can get out of going to school by swearing incessantly, thinking the adults would believe she had picked it up from school and would remove her. School didn't suit her as she had to conform to their requirements. She was told off because she could already read, having been taught by her father, and her teacher was furious saying she'd have to re-teach her the correct way. Um... what? It really went a long way to showing how Scout fought against things that didn't make sense. I can imagine that the author put a lot of herself into this character.

But certainly my favourite part of the whole book is the kids relationship with Boo Radley. Boo Radley is the mysterious man down the street who all the kids are scared of as he never leaves his parents house. Most of the neighborhood children are too scared to even walk past his house thinking he has become some kind of monster but Scout and her brother are too defiant for that and over time they become more and more daring. They were the best parts of the book I thought.

Overall it was a great book and I can see why so many people have it as one of their favourites. I also think it is a brilliant book to study in school thanks to so many of the underlying themes prevalent in the book, not to mention the unique narration. However, I'm not entirely sure why, but the book hasn't jumped to the top of my favourites list. Yes I enjoyed it and think it's a wonderful book, but for some reason I didn't fall in love with it. But needless to say this is still a must read and I'm incredibly thankful I was finally able to.

To Kill a Mocking-bird was read as part of my 100 book challenge of must read novels.

(18 read. 82 to go!).

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

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Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)

Title: Jane Eyre
Author: Charlotte Brontë
Original Publication Date: 1847 
My Version Published By: Oxford University Press
Source: Own copy
Genre: Classics
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I think I can successfully sum up my feelings for Jane Eyre in three words. I LOVED it! Jane Eyre has quickly jumped to the top of my classics favourites list. I think a lot of that was due to the almost gothic elements scattered throughout the novel. It was unique compared to many of the other classics I have read.

For those that may not know the basic outline of the novel, Jane Eyre was published in 1847 under the pen name of Currer Bell and follows the life of Jane Eyre as she moves from her emotionally and physically abused childhood with her aunt and cousins, through her schooling days at the oppressive Lowood Institution and onto her time as governess of Thornfield Hall where she falls in love with her employer Edward Rochester.

For a classic I found it it reasonably fast paced and surprisingly suspenseful. There were parts of the book that even gave me the chills.

"Just then it seemed my chamber-door was touched; as if fingers had swept the panels in groping a way along the dark gallery outside. I said, "Who is there?" Nothing answered. I was chilled with fear. pg 147

"The head of my bed was near the door, and I thought at first the goblin-laughter stood at my bedside - or rather, crouched by my pillow" pg 147

I really enjoyed the section of the book on the relationship she had with Helen Burns at Lowood Institution, I was so touched by their friendship and definitely had a tear in my eye for this part of the book. I was fascinated to find out that many believe Burns to be based on Brontë's eldest sister, Maria.

I found a number of sections very prevalent to the social repression of the time and these are my two favourites.

"Women are supposed to be very clam generally: but women feel just as men fell; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex." pg 109.

"'Jane, be still; don't struggle so, like a wild, frantic bird that is rending its own plumage in its desperation.'
'I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will; which I now exert to leave you.' pg 253

And I also couldn't get enough of some of the interactions with Jane and Mr Rochester. It was nice to see their relationship develop and change overtime. These are a couple of my favourite quotes.

"'Now go, and send Sophie for Adele. Good night, my ------' He stopped, bit his lip, and abruptly left me." pg 181.

"'Jane, if aid is wanted, I'll seek it at your hands: I promise you that.'" pg 204

I thoroughly enjoyed the progression Jane made herself throughout the novel and really enjoyed this excerpt when she meets again with her distant family and tormentors; The Reeds.

"within the last few months feelings had been stirred in me so much more potent than any they could raise - pains and pleasures so much more acute and exquisite had been excited, than any it was in their power to inflict or bestow" pg 229

Ultimately I found Jane Eyre a fantastic read full of love, suspense, mystery and social politics. If you haven't had a chance to enjoy this classic I highly recommend it.

P.s. I finally found my published version for the photo at the top of the post. That's the cover of the version I'm reading.

Jane Eyre was read as part of my 100 book challenge of must read novels 
(16 read. 84 to go!).

Jane Eyre by  Charlotte Brontë

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Author Patrick Suskind)

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Living in 18th Century France, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, an extreme outsider delves into the world of perfumery thanks to his beyond-human sense of smell. A man with no scent himself, he longs to experience all the smells the world has to offer. With Grenouille comes a disturbing and unlikeable character, set amongst a sea of olfactory descriptions which gives this book a unique approach to story telling.

Throughout most of this book I was heavily inclined to dislike it, the overly descriptive narrative and downright creepy main character did not endear this book to my heart. But a unique thing happened, after reading this book I found myself thinking about it days and even weeks afterwards. Any book that provides twists and turns that stick in my mind long after I have read it gets the thumbs up from me!