38. A Confederacy of Dunces

Name : A Confederacy of Dunces
Writer : John Kennedy Toole
Publishing year :  1980
Language : English
Type : Novel
Main themes : Classes, Education, Luck, Society, Genius..
Recommended for : Those who don't mind reading an odd story that doesn't really have a structure ..
The book in a few words : A one man quest against a world of corruption, stupidity and obedience.
The synopsis : Ignatus is a bright man. So bright, in fact, he can't find his place in society, or society finds a way to reject him whenever he tried to fit, or rectify it. Surrounded by a confederacy of dunces, our hero needs a plan to survive, and change the world.


The Rating : Excellent 9.25/10

The Review :
I haven't read enough books in my life to claim this to be unlike anything that you've read (I have actually discovered that it falls under the "Picaresque novel" category of which I've never heard before), but to me, these were completely new grounds.
I've been keeping up with the terrible habit of not taking notes while reading fantastic books which, in combination with my super memory, leads to the writing of lacking reviews. I'm doing this book a grand injustice by not going through it again (something that I intend to do one day, definitely) to recapture the glimpses of utter genius sprinkled throughout, but in the mean time, I'll just review the experience of reading A Confederacy of Dunces.

First things first, I have no idea how I ended up reading this book, no recollection of where I heard of it and why I decided to read it. Something about the title and the ugly cover made it as attractive as unhygienic, good-smelling fast food. The kind Ignatus chews with joy. I decided it would be the next read for my commute (only made possible by its lack of action in the plot). This book made me laugh out loud many times publicly in the bus, and I wasn't even ashamed.
Because when this book wears its funny hat, it's potently so, and I'm not even the kind to laugh while reading. This lovely work would have held its merit if only for its chuckle-inducing passages. However, this book should not be mistaken for a comedy, because beneath the blanket of twisted jokes and near-slapstick routines, lies an undeniable drama. John K. Toole makes fun of reality by molding a set of eccentric, larger-than-life but ultimately mundane characters (except for Ignatus), that don't really venture away from their beaten tracks (the drunk drunk and the black black and the gay gay and so on ..), yet still deliver a powerful satire to the many "dunces" the author wanted to portray.

But the genius of the oeuvre comes from the weaving of its elements, a whole far more superior than its shiny individual parts, each being one of Ignatus' adventures, and how it lands a new puzzle piece that ties the story together. It's strange how nothing goes to waste: every detail, every character mention, every apparently offhanded comment are used to paint the final picture : sometimes revealing, often times foreshadowing, and other times misleading. But the perfect setting and the studied interactions and the game of hide-and-seek makes this story unique in its storytelling : it literally unfold. I mean, literally. There is no other way to put this. You star with very little information : an unconventional introductions to the protagonist and his mother, a relationship already dipped in trouble. One very small detail leads to another, and every revelation links back to a previous detail or a prop that you didn't pay enough attention to when it was mention, but it's always entertaining when the reveals happen and you see how the different pieces fit in perfect, clockwork fashion. Some of the evolution is fairly predictable (especially once you get used to the world our characters live in, such as the inevitable fact that Ignatus will find a way to make things worse), but at no point of the tale you really know what's going to happen next, and once it happens, you can't see how things could have happened otherwise. It really is a meticulous work the weaves the fates of the unsuspecting cast with the threads of misfortune, coincidences and comedy.
The style of the narration takes on three tonalities : the fairly unflourished (yet amazingly perceptive) narration, the over-the-top, almost theatrical performances of Ignatus, and the New Orleans dialect used by the less educated members of the cast. This translates to three plans of existence the author presents : a neutral, intricate reality that sees things for what they are, a distorted, grotesque interpretation of this reality by the smart yet delusional Ignatus, and the trivial, mundane life of the careless crew.

As for the plot, it only evolves through mutation of state rather than evolution. Aside from Ignatus' mom, none of the wicked characters change their ways. Ignatus being the central star of this constellation of characters (a more fitting metaphor would be that of a black hole, sucking up life and joy from his surroundings), gets the most interesting case study, and is definitely one of the best characters I've ever got to meet in a book. Despite his otherworldly vision, his unique behavior and his bizarre conclusions, Ignatus is not a passive character, and more often than not, succeeds in seeing the wrong in the world and does his best to fix it (the irony is that he doesn't extend this critical analysis to himself). I found myself not disagreeing with him on many occasions (he makes some excellent points sometimes, but then proceeds to act upon his self-righteousness to always make the situation worse).
The rest of the cast is somewhat obviously stereotypical. The careless rich husband, the whiny trophy wife, the clueless old woman, the scheming femme fatale, the star-wannabe youngster, the racially-abused vagrant, the alcoholic widow, the sole rich man, the nymphomaniac activist, the flamboyant homosexual .. all act and talk in ways you'd imagine their respective stereotype would. But all of them get minor twists that make them interesting. The trophy wife is also a self-appointed psychologist, the careless heir is also a child living in the shadow of his father, the black vagrant is also the smartest character in the story, and so on. Every character is well-drawn and the kaleidoscope of faces and background is colorful and vibrant. What really makes them work is an air-tight plot line that succeeds to makes them all interact in unpredictable ways, driving to the story to its wonderful closing.

While I was skimmed through some reviews on Goodreads to see whether people were enjoying it as much as I did, I realized how polarizing this novel is. True, everything from the writing style to the deceivingly stereotypical characters to the lack of an obvious plot to the unlikable protagonist (not really !) doesn't exactly welcome you with open arms. But it is a worthwhile read. Some of its passages are nothing short of genius.
This is a work that handles you a funny package that, once opened, reveals a deep insight about society, the invisible forces that rule it and the different coping mechanisms that everyone use to deal with it, and an odd, unique, subverted interpretation of the world that only a different mind can offer (this different mind offed itself after finishing the novel, which makes me really sad).

PS : Many central plot points and themes (the ones that make this novel brilliant, see "Themes" above) were not discussed in the review because (1) I am starting to write reviews minimal spoilers and (2) I should have taken notes. There are honestly too many subtle hints and jabs to be fully and respectfully enumerated in this short review. I'll leave the care of discovering them to the reader.

Favorite Character : 
Ignatus, being the fully-fledged "punchline character". Ignatus honestly think that modernity would be the end of humanity. Everything in the world as he sees it is tainted with its filth, a perversion. The world needs to go a couple of decades, maybe centuries back, and the people needed lessons in "theology and geometry, some taste and decency". Ignatus is a rebellious character, frequently criticizing capitalism and aspects modern slavery, going as far as planning to start a racial revolution or plotting to "save the world through degeneracy". Ignatus is a creative person, writing so beautifully about his heroic acts with sincerity and just enough well-calibrated fact-omitting. He deeply longs to find like-minded people to change the world, volunteering to be their leader and master, if that is what it takes. He's aware, perceptive, critical, witty, funny, manipulative, intellectual, and ultimately paradoxical. Not being able to notice the huge holes in the fabric of his being ends being his fatal flaw (that, and his valve malfunctions). He constructed a reality that makes him a saint in a world of demons, a hero in a land of despair, a chaos in the rows of uniformity. He's all of that, but a caricature of that as well. Ignatus has a brilliant mind that fell into the trap of self-righteousness, self-indulgence and laziness, thus failing to see all of his shortcomings that makes others' lives around him a hell to endure.
Yet still, a masterfully written character.

Miss Trixie gets a shout-out for delivering the best lines/jokes of the novel. So silly-it's-funny, but I'm a taker.

Favorite Quotes :
Once again, I wasn't able to note down the best quotes of the novel (and there are many good lines, t-shirt worthy!), those are some of the ones I found online that I enjoyed reading again :

“I am an anachronism. People realize this and resent it.”

“Possession of anything new or expensive only reflected a person's lack of theology and geometry; it could even cast doubts upon one's soul.”

"You amaze me." The young man stared at Ignatus's outfit. "To think that they're letting you run around loose. In a way, I respect you."

"That fat freak a guarantee one hunner percen nucular bum. Shit. Drop him on somebody, everybody gettin caught in the fallout, getting their ass blowed up".

“Apparently I lack some particular perversion which today's employer is seeking. ”

“Over the years I have become very good at getting out of things I don’t want to do.”

“New Orleans is, on the other hand, a comfortable metropolis which has a certain apathy and stagnation which I find inoffensive.”

“I bet you cook good, huh?" Darlene asked.
"Mother doesn't cook," Ignatius said dogmatically. "She burns.”

“Is my paranoia getting completely out of hand, or are you mongoloids really talking about me?”

“You could tell by the way he talked, though, that he had gone to school a long time. That was probably what was wrong with him.” - Can a description get more potent that this ?

“Stop!' I cried imploringly to my god-like mind.”

“Between notes, he had contemplated means of destroying Myrna Minkoff but had reached no satisfactory conclusion. His most promising scheme had involved getting a book on munitions from the library, constructing a bomb, and mailing it in plain paper to Myrna. Then he remembered that his library card had been revoked.”

“I was getting tired about what the preacher called Christian. Anything he did was Christian, and the people in his church believed it, too. If he stole some book he didn't like from the library, or made the radio station play only part of the day on Sunday, or took somebody off to the state poor home, he called it Christian. I never had much religious training, and I never went to Sunday school because we didn't belong to the church when I was old enough to go, but I thought I knew what believing in Christ meant, and it wasn't half the things the preacher did.”

37. Les Désorientés

Name : Les Désorientés
Writer : Amin Maalouf
Publishing year :  2012
Language : French
Type : Recommended, Novel
Recommended by : Soukaina Mkh'
Main themes : Friendship, Difference and Tolerance, Religion, Death, Love, Nationalism, Alienation ..
Recommended for : Anyone who doesn't mind an open-minded text
The book in a few words : A bunch of friends, separated by war, reunited by Death.
The synopsis : Adam receives a call telling him his ex-best friend is on his deathbed, urging him to consider visiting his homeland for the first time in twenty years. Things develop, and now he has to reunite with the ghosts of his past..


The Rating : Excellent 9.25/10

The Review :
I love this book.
(and this review is very superficial, it's more about my impression on the book than it's about its content, and that's because I was too immersed in its universe I didn't write down any notes for my late review .. next time I'll do better, promise).

First of all, shout-out to the awesome wordplay in the title.
To be honest, once I got a feel from the first pages of what this is going to be about (friendship!), I was predisposed to like it. "Novels about Friendship" is still on my search history.. I know, too cheesy! But I happen to be one of those people who believe that friendship is one of the most relatable and universal themes there is, and maybe it deserves its own genre.. Friendship is just underrated.
Then, comes this book to pay homage to this theme/feeling, and it does it handsomely.
Unlike many friendship-related works of fiction that use the birth of a friendship -the pure, warm, exhilarating moment of its coming to existence and its taking shape-, Maalouf chooses to present the story of this little band of people in a non-linear fashion, starting, unlikely, at the death of a friendship. No background, no context, just a long cold internal monologue of one character who decided for some reason that his once-best-friend deserved his friendship no more.
From the get-go, the protagonist, Adam, seems to be a very rational man. With a trailing habit of writing down his thoughts and impressions, we get to read through his reasoning and his judgement, apparently sound and justified, never unfair, never premature. But in all his labored neutrality, his undeniable self refuses to be entrapped in the borders of the logical and the calibrated, and soon it starts to show up, sometimes furious, sometimes uncertain, sometimes judgmental. We only get to know him through his friends and how he thinks of them.
This death was the spark that rekindled many a forsaken friendship. We get to know that the narrator Adam, his late friend Mourad and his widow were all members of clique that was humorously called the Byzantines, obviously for their never-ending discussions of everything and anything. They are the proverbial band of misfits that were joined by their .. "misfitting".
In an effort of regrouping the group, Adam goes through a series of faithful re-encounters with his old friends after more than two decades of their last meeting under the roof of Mourad.

The characters are generally a vehicle of the plot, but the better writers do spend time in writing excellent, well-thought ones. This plot is pretty much a vehicle for the characters. I love those "character stories" because I love to imagine characters as real people, not some plot devices who are either conveniently helpful or unjustifiably villainous. This book hits all the right marks in character analysis (although not as much is character development, more on that later).
Instead of dissecting and labeling every character, the author gives this dirty job to Adam, who takes the liberty in choosing the adjectives he sees better fit the character in question. The use of letters and dialog segments adds a realistic layer to the characters who are otherwise only the product of Adam's imagination and vocabulary.
It goes without saying that a "character story" is as good as its characters. And here, Maalouf delivers.
The friends of young Adam are a merry bouquet of human specimen. Different scents, different colors, different origins but you don't need to be a flower arranger to know that a diverse, multicolored bouquet is more interesting. The book is, of course, more than a display of colorful characters, it's cry for a change. The beautiful selection is far from random, it's symbolic.
The author chose a sample from the human specter that reflects the background of its chosen context : a post-war levantine country. We have the warrior and the pacifist, the thinker and actor, the heir and the exiled, the subtle and the brute, the dreamer and the crushed .. enlaced only by a mere coincidence and the goodness in their hearts .. and this is a beautiful thought in itself.
I can write lengthy paragraphs to praise the character construction and analysis (done generally by Adam, but it's better that way). They were meant to represent real, breathing sections of the society the book is set to represent, reproach and hopefully remedy. We get to meet a couple muslims, a couple jews, a couple christians, a couple atheists, all shot in very different lights. The author may have voiced his own belief through Adam (who is agnostic, but intrigued to the idea of faith), but he kept away for judgements, exploring every faith with a parental fairness, and emphasizing that religion is but one stroke in those human portrait.
The story find its best when it clashes those characters to explore its many themes : from sensuality with Semiramis to sexuality with Albert, the characters work through their differences and authenticity to find an understanding. Their bond is strong and idealistic, but the author succeeds in making it genuine and believable.
The novel doesn't spare any effort to denounce war. War divided the group, sent some to the exile, made some kill and got the others killed, it fouled the lands and the minds and made the gaps between civilizations wider. War didn't only destroy the region, but it destroyed its potential of ever getting on its feet again.
War killed hope. And no character tried to deny it.
I need a second read to recapture the transient wisdoms sprinkled generously throughout the book (I couldn't even write down my favorite quotes, and there were many), but I can say this : we need more books in this vein, and more people reading them. The whole story is a meditation about war and how it helped invigorating every poison spreading in the region (ignorance, extremism, exodus, corruption, abuse of power, fear, hatred, racism ..), and the author suggests that an understanding and a look at the bigger picture is a solution, but he's also convinced that this solution isn't realistic.
The young actors aren't enthusiastic to rebuild the country, and Adam says he has the name of the birth of Humanity, and yet he belongs to its death.
I have only two complaints on an otherwise perfect book is the ending. It was only unexpected or surprising, it was just .. sad. I get some of its vague symbolism, but I still think the plot deserved a better ending (maybe another eclipse to the future?). For me, it was weak and unnecessary, unlike anything else in the book.
My other complaint is the character development, because of the 20+ years eclipse we only get to see a "before/after" shot of each character, and nothing of the transition. I was so into the characters I wanted to know more about them, much more than the book offered anyway. Most of them got cameos rather than lead roles, and that saddened me, even more when we got to have Adam's full background and we got to know why he is the honest, thoughtful, quirky little man he's become (thus making him feel much more real). An equal treatment to the other great characters who were so well written would have made this lovely novel an undeniable masterpiece, but hey, it is still very close.

Favorite Character : 
I don't think I have one, whenever one of them was the focus of the story he became my favorite (and no she, females were underused if you ask me).
If I really had to pick, it would be either Ramez, Albert or Adam.
I might be biased, but I had most fun reading Ramez's arc (dude is funny !). I was deeply moved by extent of his friendship with Ramzi (and when his wife spoke about his friend with all that zeal I couldn't help imagining him talking about him non-stop. It was pretty feelsy man).
Albert was very well contrasted (pre and post his decision). The author called him "subtle" and still gave him two of the most hard hitting moments in the novel. His transformation thanks to the "adoptive parents" was also such a touch, and the fact that his sexuality was  not exploited in his character definition and existence was thoughtful. I also loved his final monologue about the trees and the forests.
Adam was the only character to really grow (and not transform). He's analytical, just and knows how to deal with people (becoming thus pretty much everyone's best friend). He is the character I related to most, but his tendency to disown things he used to care about didn't go together well with the rest of his attributes. The story couldn't have worked without him putting the beautiful, colored pieces together.

Favorite Quotes :
Again, I regret not taking the time to write down my favorite quotes as I usually do, but there will be a reread I promise.
Until then, here are some of the ones I found online that I especially liked :

"On parle souvent de l'enchantement des livres. On ne dit pas assez qu'il est double. Il y a l'enchantement, et il y a celui d'en parler."

"Tout ce qui est soumis au contact de la force est avili, quel que soit le contact. Frapper ou être frappé, c’est une seule et même souillure.
"

"De la disparition du passé, on se console facilement ; c’est de la disparition de l’avenir qu’on ne se remet pas. Le pays dont l’absence m’attriste et m’obsède, ce n’est pas celui que j’ai connu dans ma jeunesse, c’est celui dont j’ai rêvé, et qui n’a jamais pu voir le jour."

"Ce serait simple si, sur les chemins de la vie, on devait juste choisir entre la trahison et la fidélité. Bien souvent on se trouve contraint de choisir plutôt entre deux fidélités inconciliables ; ou, ce qui revient au même, entre deux trahisons."

"Mieux vaut se tromper dans l'espoir qu'avoir raison dans le désespoir."

“Si tu arrives à le convaincre, je t’offre un avion comme celui-ci.”

“Mon meilleur ami parmi les musulmans, c’était Ramez ; mon meilleur ami parmi les juifs, c’était Naïm ; et mon meilleur ami parmi les chrétiens, c’était Adam. Bien entendu, tous les chrétiens n’étaient pas comme Adam, ni tous les musulmans comme Ramez, ni tous les juifs comme Naïm. Mais moi, je voyais d’abord mes amis. Ils étaient mes œillères, ou, si tu préfères, ils étaient les arbres qui me cachaient la forêt.”
“Et pour toi, c’était une bonne chose ?”
“Oui, c’était une excellente chose. Il faut cacher la forêt. Et il faut porter des œillères.”
“C’est à ça que servent les amis ?”

“Oui, je le crois. Tes amis servent à te préserver tes illusions le plus longtemps possible.”
“Mais tu finis quand même par les perdre, tes illusions.”
“Bien sûr, avec le temps, tu finis par les perdre. Mais il vaut mieux que ça n’arrive pas trop tôt. Sinon, tu perds aussi le courage de vivre.”

8. Wuthering Heights

Name : Wuthering Heights
Writer : Emily Brontë
Publishing year :  1845
Language : English
Type : Recommended, Novel
Recommended by : Soukaina Mkhairi
Estimated time : Around 15 hours.
Main themes : Love, basically. Social Justice, Revenge, Karma, Family, Social classes, Human bonds, Human condition ..
Recommended for : Anyone who'd appreciate a love story with many subplots and many characters and great development.
The book in a few words : The story of two houses bound by space and time, and two families bound by love and hatred.
The synopsis : Mr. Lockwood occupies a new house, lone and isolated from human interaction. The little contact he had with the household of Wuthering Heights made him only curious of the story and history of the family and the place. Through the eyes and words of Nelly, the story unfolds ..


The Rating : Excellent 9/10  


The Review :

I'd start with a general complaint, maybe the only one I have in regard of this book : It is long, for a novel (said the guy who wanted to read The Brothers Karamazov). This fact coupled with my short attention span (that I'm not to be blamed for) and my relatively slow reading speed made me read the book in intervals, sometimes too long to keep the momentum of the action (if there were one) going. I had to regret that while seating 8 hours reading the second half of it at one take, in the unholy tiredness of this summer. As a result to that I made a resolution that I won't read any longs novels, at least for the rest of this month.

That being my reproach, now comes the praise.
The name of the book gave me many false expectations concerning the content of the book, because I, knowing that the book is set in a 19 century context, somehow pictured the heights mentioned in the title as some moral heights, something to do with honor and social hierarchy. It wasn't too long til I discovered that it's the name of a place. A place where many curious things happened and promise to happen.

The first thing that I admired in the classical piece was the choice of narrators : One, Mr. Lockwood, is a complete stranger through whom you, the stranger reader, are presented to every and each character with every detail a curious stranger needs, the other, Nelly, is kind of the opposite in role and knowledge, serves as the timeless witness of no less than three generations of love and loss in the neighbor lands of Yorkshire. She is, in addition to be the actual narrator of the story (on and off quotation marks), is an active, sentient character of the story. She was even granted enough intelligence and clairvoyance by Mrs. Brontë that she almost served as a omniscient narrator, for she was able in many recurrences to read into other characters' thoughts without even being objective. I thought it was a clever change in the narration department that is really hard to achieve without veering into either a loss of credibility as a narrator or being a narration tool (smartly being made interactive throughout the whole story), and the writer made it possible with great mastery.

The text somehow lacked description as it was theoretically all narrated by Nelly orally, and such lavish descriptions would be absurd and out of place if they were frequently presented.
The expressions and countenances of the characters, their accents and their sentiments, however, were perfectly transcribed by the author through the keen eyes of Nelly, leaving too little room to desire.

The language that I expected to be very 19-century-ish (thanks to Persuasion), was thankfully very nimble. The vocabulary was very rich and at times made me stop to retake sentences, but it was by no mean intrusive. The emphasis on verbs and feelings instead of circumstances made the story feel more liquid and more smooth.

In the characters' department, many were presented at the same time because of their studied resemblance, made the novel feel crowded at first. And I felt that this effect was deliberate because once the plot kicks off, you start to reminisce at the early presentations and hints given about every character.
By the second quarter of it, things started to clear out and every branch of every family was proven to be necessary to the growth of the story. It should be credited, however, that throughout the 400 pages of the novel, every character grew (or spoiler alert : died), at least through the eyes of Nelly. The change of states of characters was a beautiful work of improvised psychology, giving a real, odd and sinister depth to every character. There was a unique aspect to most of the character, like Joseph being instantly detestable, Nelly all the way trustworthy and poised to make up for the recklessness of the youngsters, and Heathcliff unearthly evil, and tortured beyond recovery. The part of the story were he was at full frenzy was almost scary!
I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The structure of the tale, however, is what won me over to add this to my 5/5 list.
Instead of a traditional, blooming story line that start with a simple integral description of the status quo that is soon to be disturbed and through successive events lead to a denouement, the story kicks off of an awkward position. The unwelcome narrator was pushed into the midst of a rising chaos, and only through the guidance of Nelly that he could put the pieces together. The non-linear telling of events was brilliant and done brilliantly, and the foreshadowing in the first chapters (Lockwood seeing Catherine's ghost, that was something.), much adding to the puzzlement, was spot-on.

The other element of the narration style was the creation of a vicious timely/karmic circle : History repeated itself in spite of all efforts to steer it or avoid it, and characters reappeared in new skins and new spirits. Catherine was reincarnated in Cathy, Edgar in Linton, Hindley in Heathcliff, Heathcliff in Hareton... The design laid by Brontë was of perfect proportions, and every character has its path to follow, and his aspiration to rise to, under all different motivations that fell into a one dichotomy : Love and Hatred.

Wuthering Heights is a love story tortured by the tempest of Hatred, or a hatred story blessed by the wind of Love. Either ways, it's a story of human endeavor: Rising and falling from grace, lacking power and being corrupt by it, withering by the sheer emotion of love or shaking under the great weight of guilt, loving and seeking love.


Favorite Character : 
Miss Ellen Dean, or simply Nelly.
At first, it was introduced as a mere storyteller : watchful, prudent and just. She was given a motivation to do so by the presence of Mr. Lockwood, the new owner of the house who needs company and some lines of gossip. Once the story advanced sufficiently, she took on a new role: that of being a character of her own presence. But then, she evolved into this ageless companion that not only lived through three generations but also became a mentor, a person of trust and an authentic event-maker. She was, for pure plot reasons, an easily trusted woman, and by this gift she later on gained an ability to judge both people and their intentions, but did so in a matter that you'll believe.
She was this character that always knew better, she had the necessary wisdom to block all greater evils and soothe out everything else. She was present at every crucial moment in both houses, and yet she kept her loyalty to her job first and the people who she loved second her only priority. She didn't only watch the rumble grow, she was the one, secretly, that pushed them to grow, either by direct effect as it is the case with all the children she reared or indirectly by influencing those one upon entering the life of the rest. She later on became so invested in those characters that her ultimate happiness was to see them tranquil and untroubled.
She was, as I said, doted with a lot of intelligence and wit, allowing her to draw conclusions and make decisions, decisions that her inexperienced, short-tempered masters couldn't take.
She kinda flipped her role as a servant inside-out, and for that she earned the title of the best character in the novel.


Favorite passages : 
"He would stand Hindley’s blows without winking or shedding a tear, and my pinches moved him only to draw in a breath and open his eyes, as if he had hurt himself by accident, and nobody was to blame. "

".. but they were calmer, and did not need me to console them. The little souls were comforting each other with better thoughts than I could have hit on: no parson in the world ever pictured heaven so beautifully as they did, in their innocent talk; and, while I sobbed and listened, I could not help wishing we were all there safe together."

"He possessed the power to depart as much as a cat possesses the power to leave a mouse half killed, or a bird half eaten"

".. so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning."

"It was a marvellous effort of perspicacity to discover that I did not love her. I believed, at one time, no lessons could teach her that! And yet it is poorly learnt; for this morning she announced, as a piece of appalling intelligence, that I had actually succeeded in making her hate me! A positive labour of Hercules, I assure you! "

"his lips devoid of their ferocious sneer, and sealed in an expression of unspeakable sadness. Had it been another, I would have covered my face in the presence of such grief. In HIS case, I was gratified; and, ignoble as it seems to insult a fallen enemy, I couldn't miss this chance of sticking in a dart: his weakness was the only time when I could taste the delight of paying wrong for wrong.'"

"'Now, my bonny lad, you are mine! And we'll see if one tree won't grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!''"

"..And help your own naughty pet and mine. It is not poisoned, though I prepared it. "

"Miss Linton, I shall enjoy myself remarkably in thinking your father will be miserable: I shall not sleep for satisfaction. You could have hit on no surer way of fixing your residence under my roof for the next twenty-four hours than informing me that such an event would follow." -Awesome.

"It was the same room into which he had been ushered, as a guest, eighteen years before: the same moon shone through the window; and the same autumn landscape lay outside."

"I know he has a bad nature,’ said Catherine: ‘he’s your son. But I’m glad I’ve a better, to forgive it; and I know he loves me, and for that reason I love him. Mr. Heathcliff YOU have NOBODY to love you; and, however miserable you make us, we shall still have the revenge of thinking that your cruelty arises from your greater misery. You ARE miserable, are you not? Lonely, like the devil, and envious like him? NOBODY loves you NOBODY will cry for you when you die! I wouldn’t be you!’"

"He had been content with daily labour and rough animal enjoyments, till Catherine crossed his path. Shame at her scorn, and hope of her approval, were his first prompters to higher pursuits; and instead of guarding him from one and winning him to the other, his endeavours to raise himself had produced just the contrary result."

"‘It is a poor conclusion, is it not?’ he observed, having brooded awhile on the scene he had just witnessed: ‘an absurd termination to my violent exertions? I get levers and mattocks to demolish the two houses, and train myself to be capable of working like Hercules, and when everything is ready and in my power, I find the will to lift a slate off either roof has vanished! [..] I have lost the faculty of enjoying their destruction, and I am too idle to destroy for nothing."

5. Divergent

Name : Divergent
Writer : Veronica Roth
Publishing year :  2012
Language : English
Type :  Novel, Bestseller
How come ? : I marked it as "to read" back in the Hunger Games era when the comparison between the books was too common on forums and websites. It resurfaced however when the actress cast to play the heroine Beatrice (Shailene Woodley) was cast to play Hazel Grace from TFioS. Since I'm going to watch both movies anyway (after the Hunger Games movie success, I highly suspect that Divergent is set to be a big blockbuster, and Shailene is set to be the next Jennifer Lawrence maybe ? Maybe). So I might as well read the book before the movie is released, that is in 2014, just to give myself enough time to forget it so as not to repeat the Hunger Games movie tragedy.
Must. Not. Read. Books. Days. Before. The. Movie's. Release Date.
Estimated time : Around 12 hours.
Main themes : Post-apocalyptic World, Romance, War, Family, Sense of belonging.
Recommended for : Sci-fi fans (although the book isn't exactly sci-fi), people who loved Hunger Games/hated Hunger Games/Didn't read Hunger Games, someone with 12 hours to spare on reading another post-apocalyptic novel.
The book in a few words : The adventure of a girl who got entangled in issues bigger than her as she tried to balance out her inherent anomaly, her romantic feelings and her sense of belonging.
The synopsis : In a post-apocalyptic world, the city of Chicago is divided into Factions : Tribes or guilds that lace people with one of the five common tendencies : Selflessness, Curiosity, Courage, Honesty or Sociability. Beatrice is 16 years-old girl who was born and raised in Abnegation, the faction of the Selfless. She, however, never felt as selfless as she is expected to be. She struggled to fit in but it was clearly impossible for her to dissimulate in the community of grey and self-denial. The Faction Choosing Ceremony approaches, and the choice she'll make will decide her life.


The Rating : Not Bad 6.5/10

The Review :

It's impossible to start without mentioning the HIGH similarity between this work and the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Not only because of the general feeling of reminiscence the novel invokes while reading it, but also because once the comparison is stricken, you can obviously see who gets all the superlatives.
So, Beatrice (or later, Tris) is a 16 years old young girl born in a post-apocalyptic USA where she gets through trouble because she is not like other girls from her faction and will get involved in political issues that are far bigger than her little worries. She must fight the evil that is the Erudite faction, hand in hand with Four, her love interest. I can use the same sentence to describe (Spoiler Alert) The Hunger Games just by replacing faction with district and Erudite with Capitol. The novel makes little effort to distinguish itself in the genre, and when it does, I didn't like it. Let me explain.
One of the main delights of reading Sci-fi is getting to imagine a world far beyond our mundane reality, where was we know and what what's possible is no limit to trance an extraordinary storyline. Divergent, however, takes so little from this bless, and implements too little Sci-fi elements that makes it lingers somewhere between the present as we know it and the future as we expect it to be, which leaves a lot to be desired. There is much room for possible improvement but Divergent doesn't seem to bother exploiting it.
What's more, the pace of the story which some find exciting and absorbing, is quite unstable : dull at times, very charged at others. I know it's supposed to be that way (it's neither pure action nor pure narration), but the novel seeks comfort in less fevered scenes that sometimes don't quite fit in the narrative logic, and I even daresay some parts were kind of unnecessary. They only made the work longer, and thus boring at times.
My other complaint is the female narrator. Before I get shot by a thousand (?) feminists, my complaint isn't about the use of a female voice narrator, actually Hazel Grace, the other girl that Shailene will play, is a perfect example of what a narrator girl should be like (The author is, however, a man). My complaint is the blatant oxymoron of what the author imagined the heroine to be like and how it ended being. She was supposed to be a "tough" girl with a rather flat girly side (illustrated by this quote from the book "Can you be a girl for a few seconds ?" ) which we perfectly understand as Tris isn't your typical silly girl, but as soon as the romantic side explored, we see a stereotypical girl act girly whenever Four is around. Although the author tries to redeem the previous image of Tris later on, she just doesn't seem real to me anymore. But I'm wondering : Is that just her fate ? The same things weirdly arrived to (spoiler alert) Katniss once the third book picked up pace, Katniss being the kind of girl I wanted it to be in the first two books. Maybe Mrs. Roth just accelerated the process and destroyed my little fantasy of Tris being actually a Badass Girl. She even seemed inconsistent at times as a character : She instantly recognized Al's feelings for her (Al being another contradictory character), but she took WAY too much time (around halfway through the book) to figure out that Four feels the same for her, although any reader would have concluded by that time that they are both falling in a sloppy love story that the author will unwisely focus on the second half of the book. I just kept reading with a sadness growing me while I watch all my expectations hammered by the merciless ordinarily and the lack of subtlety of the narration. It felt unadorned and plain, sloppy. And of course the final blow was when the effect of the serum was annulled by .. the power of love ? OH COM"OOOOOON. That's .. that's .. that's Twilight.
One more thing : Some expressions are irritatingly repeated throughout the book, leaving the bare style even more exposed. Tris "bites her lips" in every chapter at least two times, and when she looks at someone's eyes, they always "look like dark pits". Also, when she cries, "her eyes burn", and that was uncomfortably repeated in every scene involving crying, almost crying, and feeling like crying. The prize of the the least impressing style this year goes to .... Veronica Roth.
Those were the bad points that Divergent scores, but since I gave it 6.5 it means it has some shiny bits scattered along the 150 pages. One is definitely the -at times- witty dialogue, I even chuckled at some parts. So there go some deserved credit to Mrs Veronica.
The premise of the book and the first part is actually good (although SO reminiscent of The Hunger Games) and the faction thing is very nicely thought of, I ended up asking myself what faction will I choose, only to end up to the conclusion Four makes : why not all of them ? Foreshadowing, foreshadowing everywhere.
Speaking of foreshadowing, the book is not so smart about keeping its secret hidden, as you can probably guess the next thing to happen (which surprises me since I read everywhere that the book is full of surprises).  I mean, whenever Danger sets around the Dauntless, it pops to my mind that it's her that's talking (meaning she'll stay alive) and there is a second and a third book, means he'll stay alive :p The rest of the characters were cold-bloodedly killed by Veronica because she didn't like them or didn't know what to do with them.
My last thought is that the book could have been better in many ways, at least at quilting the holes in the narratio, characters and pace, I mean just by the ideas that were in, and more effort by the author to actually add description to her novel, maybe it would have felt better. I still have my hopes at the move, though, the book is perfectly set for such medium, and I hope the set designers would put more effort to illustrate the world and animate the characters that Veronica Roth neglectfully briught to life to the boo that's trying too hard to be the next Hunger Games. (Both books share a 4.4/5 rating on Goodreads, what the world had come to ..).


Favorite character : 
All the characters weren't developed well (except Tris which unnaturally transformed as the book went on) so it's hard to have any special appreciation for one of them really. But I'll go with Christina just because she got most of the good lines in the book. She was made selfish by the author (she didn't have to make her take the flag, I thought).
More on the quotes part :p


Favorite passages : 
The book isn't sharply written. The language isn't especially beautiful and the only thing that deserves a shout-out is the rare use of sarcasm in the book. Some sentences were good, but most of the work seemed like someone who tells you what happened to him last week.


"Leaving us with Eric is like hiring a babysitter who spend his time sharpening knives"

"He smiles at me. I wonder if throwing up at him will do me any good"

"Awkwardness aside, it is nice to be liked."

""You weren't allowed to have pets ?" Christina demands, smacking the table with her palm. "Why not ?"
"Because they're illogical," Will says matter-of-factly. "What's the point of providing food and shelter for an animal that just soils your furniture, makes your home smell bad, and ultimately dies ?""

"They don't want you to act in a certain way. They want you to think in a certain way. So you're easy to understand. So you won't pose a  threat to them"

""Hey now," says Christina, brushing Will's shoulder with her finger. "This is supposed to be a lighthearted session of symbolic document destruction, not a political debate""

"I never used to understand why people bothered to hold hands as they walked, but then he runs one of his fingertips down my palm, and I shiver and understand it completely."

""Like you don't want to know what his fears are. he acts so tough that he's probably afraid of marshmallow and really bright sunshines or something. Overcompensating""

"She sets her hands on my shoulders. "Can you be a girl for a few seconds ?"
"I'm always a girl." I frown.
"You know what I mean. Like a silly, annoying girl."
I twirl my hair around my finger. "Kay."" : This one actually got me.

1. L'Empire des Anges - Bernard Werber

Name : L'Empire des Anges (The Empire of the Angels)
Writer : Bernard Werber
Publishing year :  2000
Language : French
Type : Recommended / Novel / Best-Seller
How come ? : A friend of mine (Ahmed), gave it to two friends of mine (Inas and Soukaina) in a time when I was deciding to start reading books. That instantly created in me a will to read this book especially after the two girls insisted about how AWESOME this book was and how I, heck, how everyone should read it because it's that good. After two months or so later the early friend offered me the prequel to read (Les Thanatonautes) and short after he offered me the sequel, this book. I can't miss the chance of reading a book with real pages, especially if it is that good of a book.
Estimated time : About 14 hours. I'm pretty slow in french (Pathetically 2mins/page, that's SLOW)
Main themes : Life beyond Death, Superstitions, Reincarnation, Existentialism, Existence, Alchemy, Freewill
Recommended for : People with liberal tendencies  people who love to ask the questions they can't answer, people who enjoy references, people who like multibranched stories, people who crave philosophical and existential debates because they're sick of banal conversations, and people who like original stories.

The book in a few words : You want a story to tell you the answers to ALL the questions you asked ?

The synopsis : Micheal Pinson is a curious guy. Probably not the bravest nor the boldest, but he's easily intrigued by the thrill of discovering the unknown. Along with his friend who's much more adventurous and openly defiant than him, he'll live a one-of-a-kind adventure.
An adventure that will start the moment he'll die.

The Rating : Excellent 9/10



The Review : 

In one word : Triumph.
I had a rough idea what the novel was about upon overhearing the two previously mentioned girls talking about it on more than one occasion : It's supposed to deal with the theory of reincarnation, some angels that do or do not believe in God, and something about freewill. So I had already had high expectations about this novel because of the constant praise it received and because the late theme (freewill) being one of my favorites. It's one of those rare instances when you have high expectation on something and it doesn't let you down, better yet, exceeds those expectations somehow.
Although the book is unfortunately not Perfect (for reasons stated below), I don't think I have ever read/will ever read something like it. It had scored many victories on many levels that it's hard to label it anything but ingenious and brilliant.
First of all, the language is a perfectly silent tool in the hands of mister Werber, and nothing more than a tool. That's one the points that won me over : A sober language without any devotion to the style itself (although you can easily notice the present intention by the writer to make the style easy and low-lying). The focus was however on terminology : as the novel switch from one field of the human experience to another, the vocabulary required for it rises to surface at almost a fluent motion, you can notice the transition but it feels almost spontaneous and natural. Those transitions and travels for one domain to another in one of the better elements of the book, as for a book to mix too many semantic fields and keeps its consistency and binding is a feat by itself, but far from its best. Next to this idea itself comes the things I appreciated most : The use of References. References galore all over the place. What's more clever is the two-folded use of this device through the novel : First in the insertion of fictive writing within the realm of the story (Edmond's Encyclopedia, the interviews with anonymous passengers at the beginning), it's just so amazing and so amusing to use quotes that had never been said, which is a clever way for the writer to introduce ideas while distance himself from them, by creating the ephemeral illusion that's it's actually someone else's idea ! Edmond's encyclopedia was by far my favorite part of the book as it kicked off. This "reference" of absolute and relative knowledges was not only one of the guiding lines of the whole plot, but also an insight to the writer's mind as of writing the previous/next passage. The encyclopedia is the reference for the writer (when he quotes experiments and/or scientific facts), written by the writer. It just can't get any more better.
Second, there were many references to the real world. Actually as I read through, I noticed that most of the base content of the novel is "borrowed" from as many Cultures and Lores as you can imagine. Almost every principle, every idea is a reference to a certain ideology. Heavily based on Buddhist and Kabbalic ideas of reincarnation, the writer offers an "alternative" to the dichotomy of Heaven/Hell in the alleged afterlife. It's not an original idea, as it is the case for many other ideas scattered around being inspired by established beliefs (especially "Nature-friendly" ones, like Buddhism and Hinduism), the book ultimately delivers an amalgam of folklores and mythologies. Admittedly, the base of the intellectual content of the story is the human historical culture and a layered interpretation of alchemy, but Werber does a fantastic job sewing the pieces he liked most together. Actually, that's the ingeniousness of his story-craft. He deserves all the credit for creating such vibrating, courageously different characters with actual flaws and a real rate of change over time. The characters grow as they live on, and at some point they become believable.
As said above, the variety in the themes of interest of the abounding number of half-leading half-supporting characters makes it hard for any reader not to relate to at least one of them. Riddled by love, haunted by loneliness, passionate about computers, puzzled by existence or taken by a burning curiosity to discover the unknown, you have a fair chance to find a character who's like you, and this character will bring passages and lines that you'll definitely enjoy. Werber is an everyone pleaser, and the creativity needed to create such pleasantly diversified characters and their stories should be highly raved as they were the transmitters of the whole momentum of the story. Good job, Werber.
(And let me just don't forget the fact that HE MENTIONED MY FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIMES IN HIS BOOK .. instantaneous virtual high five for inserting Flowers for Algernoon !).
The last triumphant element I want to point is the foreshadowing : I smiled many times as I reread the name of an old character mentioned briefly beforehand or noticed the return of an object/theme from the early pages, which provokes such nice reaction. The loops in the plot lines are a variation of this technique, as if stories tend to repeat themselves, unbeknownst to you. The many hints sprinkled all the long lead definitely to the ending (that was kind of expected, but perfectly done), but it doesn't spoil any of the joys of pushing the limits of the Terra Incognita with the passively curious Micheal, the unconditionally bold Raoul, and a plethora of their friends and foes, the rest of the cast, for a unique adventure through time and space and dimensions ..

Spoiler alert : The ending was awesome.

It would have been ideal if that was it, but as much as I yearned for it, the book wasn't perfect, not for me anyways. But to give it justice, it's hard to write a perfect story that tries to give "answers to everything you ever asked" without being inconsistent. I don't think there will ever be a universally perfect book so that's not what I based by rating on for sure, my standards are pretty humble and I'm easy to amaze as long as you hit all the right strings and you avoid touching the wrong ones. Sadly, I couldn't enjoy the symphony of the brilliant book without stumbling upon some off-tune chords. The book claims to endorse scientific rigor and approach, but at some times it just becomes absurd and inconsistent (Observing the photons -infinitely small- by the naked eyes by Angels who don't have any enhanced visual capacities, feeling speed and acceleration although not having any sense of time ..). This kind of little inconsistencies with the referential set by the author himself (the "rigorously scientific" approach) kind of disappointed me, especially that they can be easily avoided. Then there is some perspective issues that kind of bothered me too. Although the universe of the novel evolves and expands, the frame of reference of the protagonist doesn't heel accordingly. For many times, I felt like the author forgot that many of the auxiliary characters DO have their freewill (and their guarding angels as well), and when he doesn't notice that, it all seems awkward (Many auxiliary characters were used just to advance the story of the "clients" of Micheal, which is not only inconsistent, but uncool as well). In the same line of thoughts, I didn't get how many people did believe in guardian angels and prayed for them, while none of them practically prayed God ! Which is way more than acceptable in the geo-politico-tempo-social context of the novel. That's not how we keep our novel agnostic, bald Bernard.
There is also the fact that there are many rules that the angels have to follow, but there is practically NO consequence whatsoever to disobey them (both rules of "Heaven" were constantly broken by Micheal and Raoul : "granting all wishes" and "not descending to earth"), but nobody seems to be bothered at all, which made me wonder why he did introduce them at all. Another remark is that although there were too many ideas in the head of our amazing author (not being ironic here), he didn't have to push the ones that didn't fit in the encyclopedia into characters that appeared and vanished without leaving any mark on the story line, which is kind of a waste (and I always hate waste when it comes to tightly written stories like this one, you know better Werber). More isn't always better.
Finally which is why I settled on 9 and not 9.5, is the ridiculous fight scene. Oh my God. I frankly understand that the author wanted its masterpiece to be perfect (and therefore exhaustive) and that why it included elements from all Genres ranging from eroticism to esoterism and from psychological to romantic, but I didn't appreciate at all the combat/action element. I literally tried to forget the scene after I read it. It didn't make any sense in the context of the seriousness and the grandness of the story, and what's worse, left too many loose ends (The fighter Marilyn Monroe with a sword of Love and a shield of Humor -You can't be more ridiculous, honestly- against an army lost souls injected with an unjustifiable need to attack -revenge, okay. But why in the outer space a billion kilometer away from Earth ? Why Werber, why ..- roaming angels to make them I-don't-know-why-and-how fallen angels .. no thank you).
All in all, the combat scene was just a huge turn-off, just like in -spoiler alert- the prequel. Thank goodness this part was short, or else the review would have been more severe.

So to sum up, although many of the concepts on the story lack originality (everything from the Reincarnation cycle to the ascendance in the levels of existence to the meaning of numbers), the way it was presented along with the few original concepts made this novel a real intellectual treat. The diversity of the characters and their choices  in life is just another proof of mastery and artfulness of this bald man. Many of the passages were so intelligently written I wanted to rip them off the book and inject them in my mind so I can generate their likes. I wrote that long ranting paragraph not because I didn't enjoy this piece of awesomeness, but because I did. It's just so wise and knowledge-imbued that it creates in you a want to read and read about all cultures and all wisdoms and all ideas of the philosophers and the preachers and the scientists and the historians. To be able to put this much intellectual seeds into mere 440 pages is wondrous..
Unearthly wondrous.
What if Bernard Werber is actually a medium and this book is a clever way to hide the secrets and the many truths from the Heavens, dictated by a real angel ?
Ok, just kidding.
And definitely worth re-reading. Maybe a re-review will be written someday, too.

Favorite character : 
Edmond Wells. Because he's writing THE Encyclopedia, simply put.
He's not directly implied in the events.and when he does appear, he's always poised and know-what-to-do kind of guy, which creates a very good balance for the other characters who are all too-something.
And I believe he's the writer's projection in the story, after all, he's the one who guides, he's the one who knows, and he's the one who's preferred making the world(s) better rather than just know more for himself.

Favorite passages : 
"Un jour, on meurt."
Source : individu interrogé dans la rue au hasard d'un micro-trottoir

"A 22 heures 59, pour la première fois de ma vie, je pense que "C'est peut être quand même bien ma planète". "

"Je ne savais pas qu'au Paradis aussi on pouvait se passionner pour l'infomatique."

"Encyclopédie :
Réalité : " "La réalité: c'est ce qui continue d'exister lorsqu'on cesse d'y croire" énoncait l'écrivain Philip K. Dick. Il doit donc exister quelque part une réalité objective qui échappe aux savoirs et aux croyances des hommes. C'est cette réalité-là que je veux comprendre et approcher."
Edmond Wells, Encyclopédie du Savoir Relatif et Absolu, tome IV