Jul 212016
 

madaddam

_MaddAddam_ by Margaret Atwood

The last of the trilogy following_Oryx and Crake_ andΒ _The Year of the Flood_, this one was very disappointing to me. I finished reading it a while ago and am just now trying to remember more than the fact that I was not happy with the ending of this trilogy given how good the first two were. It felt more like Atwood was just trying to come to a quick end of the story line, but if an author gets to this point, then why write it at all?

The dystopic world attempts to be further explained by tracing back to the original Adam One and the narration of Zeb to tell the creation story. While the story tries to end where it began, I struggled to buy into it all. Not sure why, but I felt that there could have been more. Or, maybe that was the intent…dissatisfaction is the theme of the whole trilogy after all….

In any case, if you’ve read the first two, you cannot really not read the last of the series. However, if you have yet to start, I think it would be enough to enjoy fully the first and then leave it at that. πŸ˜€

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Day 26: Β What form of expression are you most grateful for?

This makes me think of Gary Chapman’s _The Five Languages of Love_ book that I read years ago when my first marriage was falling apart. It is an excellent book to read, even if you are not a Christian, as it really helps to understand how and why we get disappointed with our partner’s or friends’ actions when they seem to fall short of our expectations. We have different ways of expressing love and generally do so through our actions to others. However, these expressions are based on our preferred way of expressing, not necessarily on the receiver’s desired way of expressing love.

In my case, I express with the written form and by doing things. Between the two of these, I am most grateful for the written word as a form of expression. Words can be taken in so many ways depending on culture, background, experience and so on. We carry meaning about these words and when spoken so much more can be misconstrued by eyes, body language, tone, facial expressions, etc. However, with the written word, the only way that words can be misunderstood is by the reader. If the reader is in a bad mood or the wrong emotional space, then the words are understood differently. In this way, it is not the author’s fault for the words written, but puts the onus back on the reader to try to interpret and understand based on their understanding of the author OR themselves.

I think writing is a beautiful art that not everyone can master well. Sure, we can all write, just like we can all speak. Yet, to weave words and to use them in a way that can be complexly understood is an art. I dream of mastering this. Whether or not I am ever successful depends on my readers, but I will continue to try and am ever grateful for the written word to express!

~T πŸ˜€

Jul 092016
 

robber

_The Robber Bride_ by Margaret Atwood

My foray into Margaret Atwood is spotty. It seems that I come across her books quite by accident. The first one I ever read by Atwood was _The Blind Assassin_, which I picked up at a thrift shop somewhere when I was visiting my parents. I devoured that finding it very interesting. Then, a friend of mine from graduate school recommended _The Handmaiden’s Tale_, which I picked up one day and was hooked. I, then, got into her _Oryx and Crake_ trilogy (the last of which I will write about soon). So, when I came across this title in the discounted books on campus, I had to give it a go.

Since my summer plans have been altered somewhat, I can still maintain my poolside reading even if it is in ‘staycation’ mode. πŸ˜› Also, as most of my days are not always easy to fill up completely, having a good book to read helps. So, I started this and took just about a week to complete (it is not a thin book).

While I think I had a bit of a hard time believing the main thread about Zenia, I thoroughly enjoyed the craft of weaving three (four) women’s stories connected by the one thread. I cannot say that I truly ever got what the message was for the book as I can generally get from her other novels. However, I still enjoyed the read. I would say, though, it is not her strongest novel.

By the way, I have returned to paper books lately…. I am not sure why, though I did read the Patterson book from yesterday on my Kindle app. Just an interesting (or not so much) observation for the moment. πŸ˜€

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Day 14:  What sight are you grateful for today?

I am guessing that this means like a scenery or view rather than the ability to see….Another difficult one to answer when I consider all of the sights I have seen in my travels. From the heights of Machu Picchu to the god-like structures of Egypt or the natural beauties of mountain and sea, how does one choose? However, in this question, the key for me is ‘today’. Therefore, today, I am grateful for the sight of my husband when I woke up this morning. He’s my sunshine each day and when I hear his voice, I smile. πŸ˜€ Yep, of all the wonders I have seen, today I am most grateful to see my sweet husband!

~T πŸ˜€

Sep 042013
 

_The Year of the Flood_ by Margaret Atwood

_The Year of the Flood_ by Margaret Atwood

Since I still had the freedom to keep reading, I decided to go ahead and read the second novel in the MaddAddam series. The first being _Oryx and Crake_ from a few weeks ago.

The second novel is told from the perspective of two other characters who live through the “Waterless Flood” or pandemic that occurred in the first novel. The characters in both books overlap, but in a very general way. The overlaps leave enough curiosity in the reader to wonder if the characters’ paths will eventually cross or not by the end of the novel.

What I found most interesting in this novel is that one character’s perspective was told from the first person while the other was told in the third. Therefore, it was not always clear exactly who was the narrator or audience, which kept the novel going for me. Also, the first novel was from male perspectives while this one was from the female side. Atwood has really done an amazing job of intertwining the storyline, but keeping them unique enough to really get the sense that a whole world is being revealed through the series rather than a continuation of a story as most series are written.

So, as usual, I will not go into much detail about the story itself as I think that is up to an individual on finding out. However, I have been generally impressed with the writing and style of Atwood. The third and final(?) novel of the series is set to come out in November, I believe. Should be fun to read that!

-T πŸ˜€

Aug 132013
 

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

_Oryx and Crake: A Novel_ by Margaret Atwood

I have a read a few of Margaret Atwood’s novels and really enjoyed them, but as they are more science fiction, I do not often think to read more of her novels. During one of our BBQ parties, we were talking about the future world and overpopulation, etc. (We might be a bit nerdy… ;)) This title came up and I was curious to give it a read.

The story goes back and forth from the current ‘post-apocalyptic’ world with Snowman and the Crakers to the time building up to the current when Snowman was Jimmy and growing up with his friend Crake. Woven between the two stories comes the character of Oryx – a girl/woman who captures the love of both young boys when they are at a very impressionable age (14). They are always in a future time, but both have dysfunctional families and struggle through their youth until they part ways when it comes time for university. Crake is extremely intelligent and works to create an ideal world. Jimmy is an average fellow who is not a ‘numbers’ person, but a ‘word’ person and so he follows the path with less hope. It is a nice dynamic to create and show the extremes that we may continue to see of our society.

Ultimately, Crake and Oryx have come together to help create a perfect kind of people to survive and reproduce in the world. However, along with this comes a plague that is meant to make people sterile through vitamin supplements, but is then set off to destroy the current world population. Before this, Crake has brought Jimmy into his world and made him the protector of the Crakers. Thus, the story goes.

It is an apt story with its pointings towards issues such as overpopulation and how to control it to avoid the world being destroyed, yet also considering what is going too far. This is the first of a trilogy, so I will read something else next, but imagine I shall go back to this series soon!

-T πŸ˜€

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