Summary
Frank sells hot dogs on George Street in St. John's Newfoundland. He has a secret crush on Colleen, who's doing community service for vandalizing some bulldozers. Colleen's mom, Beverly is upset about Colleen. Madeleine, Beverly's sister, is directing a movie about Archbishop Fleming. Isobel, one of the actresses in Madeleine's film is seeing this Russian man named Valentin, who lives in the apartment above Frank's. Carol, the woman who lives in the apartment below Frank's thinks Valentin is up to something...
What I liked
The writing is poetic. The sentences are well put together and it is kind of nice to read because it flows really well. The storytelling is also well done, it's deep. It shows how all the characters are really real people and I like how it shows that people who don't even know each other are connected one way or another.
What I didn't like
Well, the first two chapters made me think there would be a love story going on but then it just didn't materialize. That was disappointing. And then it just went on and on for over three hundred pages jumping back and forth from one character to another without developing any kind of cohesive plot. And my, was it boring.
Conclusion
Well it's sometimes interesting and has some good characters and the writing is good. The last one hundred pages are decent, they've got some suspense and some action. But it's so tedious. It's like a dozen or more short stories all fragmented. So I'll give it 3/5 alligator-people metaphors.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Saints of Big Harbour by Lynn Coady
Summary
Guy Boucher, an Acadian teenager from Cape Breton, kind of likes this girl, Corrine Fortune. They danced together a couple times at one of those school dances or something. I wouldn't say he's in love with her or anything like that, he just kind of likes her. She seems to like him too. But then she totally, coldly, dumps him for this guy named Brian. What's up with that? And then, before Guy even knows what's going on, everyone in town is out to get him. He doesn't even know what he's done.
What I liked
It was well written, very funny, interesting, and easy to read. The characters were mostly vivid, except for two or three that I really didn't get. And it's a little philosophical, asking questions about the meaning of life without going too deep or being preachy.
What I didn't like
It was weird. It painted a kind of depressing picture of Cape Breton, making it seem like an endless cycle of redneckery, But it wasn't nowhere near as bad as Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall On Your Knees.
Conclusion
The hilariousness and the vivid characters totally make up for all the depressingness. It's really good. 4/5 hockey playing redneck Acadians.
Guy Boucher, an Acadian teenager from Cape Breton, kind of likes this girl, Corrine Fortune. They danced together a couple times at one of those school dances or something. I wouldn't say he's in love with her or anything like that, he just kind of likes her. She seems to like him too. But then she totally, coldly, dumps him for this guy named Brian. What's up with that? And then, before Guy even knows what's going on, everyone in town is out to get him. He doesn't even know what he's done.
What I liked
It was well written, very funny, interesting, and easy to read. The characters were mostly vivid, except for two or three that I really didn't get. And it's a little philosophical, asking questions about the meaning of life without going too deep or being preachy.
What I didn't like
It was weird. It painted a kind of depressing picture of Cape Breton, making it seem like an endless cycle of redneckery, But it wasn't nowhere near as bad as Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall On Your Knees.
Conclusion
The hilariousness and the vivid characters totally make up for all the depressingness. It's really good. 4/5 hockey playing redneck Acadians.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
Summary
In this book Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle answers questions like "Is Jesus the only God?" and "Did Jesus rise from death?"
There are twelve questions and each question gets its own chapter. At the end of each chapter, well-known theologian, Gerry Breshears briefly answers a few further questions that may have come to the reader's mind while reading the chapter. For example, at the end of chapter eight, "Where Is Jesus Today?" he answers the following questions: "Is Jesus reigning as King today?" "Are we under the power of curses?" and "Can people who are with Jesus see us?"
What I liked
The book has a fresh and unique flavour. It's the same old topic, don't expect any new arguments or groundbreaking discoveries in this book. But the writing is interesting. Mark Driscoll tries to bring in some humour, and he answers the questions in a way that demonstrates the topic's relevance. Also, he puts in a lot of statistics like polls on what the average American believes about the resurrection or the virgin birth and information like how and where Jesus shows up in pop-culture or what other religions believe about Jesus. So the topic is both interesting and relevant and the book is sometimes fun to read.
What I didn't like
Mark Driscoll can put a sentence together and knows how to use words but, in this book, he's not such a great writer. And this is my only complaint. The writing itself is good but the structure is poor. For example, at the end of chapter two, "How Human was Jesus?" the following three points are introduced by headings: "Jesus was Funny" "Jesus was Passionate" and "Jesus was Bummed." The third point briefly outlines some arguments to support Jesus being bummed and then goes on for a page and a half about how Jesus has been portrayed in film during the twentieth century without concluding the previous topic or introducing the new one, the one topic just runs into the other. And the chapter ends abruptly, no summary, no conclusion. Stuff like that happens repeatedly through the book. Also, it seems like the book is written based on a sermon transcript (which is generally a bad idea), so a lot of the jokes fall flat because they're written the way they would have been spoken and are so dependent on vocal cues, in the book, it just seems like he's purposely trying to push buttons and upset people because you can't write a joke the same way you say a joke.
Conclusion
A good book, relevant and interesting and informative. Well-researched, too. It has the potential to be a fun read. But poorly structured and poorly assembled. I hope Mark Driscoll's editors do a better job on his other books. So 3/5 redneck jokes.
In this book Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle answers questions like "Is Jesus the only God?" and "Did Jesus rise from death?"
There are twelve questions and each question gets its own chapter. At the end of each chapter, well-known theologian, Gerry Breshears briefly answers a few further questions that may have come to the reader's mind while reading the chapter. For example, at the end of chapter eight, "Where Is Jesus Today?" he answers the following questions: "Is Jesus reigning as King today?" "Are we under the power of curses?" and "Can people who are with Jesus see us?"
What I liked
The book has a fresh and unique flavour. It's the same old topic, don't expect any new arguments or groundbreaking discoveries in this book. But the writing is interesting. Mark Driscoll tries to bring in some humour, and he answers the questions in a way that demonstrates the topic's relevance. Also, he puts in a lot of statistics like polls on what the average American believes about the resurrection or the virgin birth and information like how and where Jesus shows up in pop-culture or what other religions believe about Jesus. So the topic is both interesting and relevant and the book is sometimes fun to read.
What I didn't like
Mark Driscoll can put a sentence together and knows how to use words but, in this book, he's not such a great writer. And this is my only complaint. The writing itself is good but the structure is poor. For example, at the end of chapter two, "How Human was Jesus?" the following three points are introduced by headings: "Jesus was Funny" "Jesus was Passionate" and "Jesus was Bummed." The third point briefly outlines some arguments to support Jesus being bummed and then goes on for a page and a half about how Jesus has been portrayed in film during the twentieth century without concluding the previous topic or introducing the new one, the one topic just runs into the other. And the chapter ends abruptly, no summary, no conclusion. Stuff like that happens repeatedly through the book. Also, it seems like the book is written based on a sermon transcript (which is generally a bad idea), so a lot of the jokes fall flat because they're written the way they would have been spoken and are so dependent on vocal cues, in the book, it just seems like he's purposely trying to push buttons and upset people because you can't write a joke the same way you say a joke.
Conclusion
A good book, relevant and interesting and informative. Well-researched, too. It has the potential to be a fun read. But poorly structured and poorly assembled. I hope Mark Driscoll's editors do a better job on his other books. So 3/5 redneck jokes.
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