The Gaze of the Lens
The book consists of 100 short, but thought provoking, reflections on photography. While the author's erudition is patent in the writings on photography and psychoanalysis and those pertaining to theory and histories of photography (in particular his analysis of Walter Benjamin), I am not so sure on the current affairs reflections (the summer of 2011 with phone hacking scandal or the death of Bin Laden). There are a lot of quotes in this book and some of these bury Bond's voice, which I think is very interesting. About half of the reflections are well formed, intense and read like a haiku - opening up possibilities for the reader's own thoughts. But the other half reads like the notes I take before writing an article, un-processed, still new, even a little uncritical. Having said that, the book is probably somewhere between 3 and 4 stars.
A good elegant novel, written with precision and with a surprising development, which I underestimated until the very end. I think there is a dip towards the middle-end where it loses itself a little, which is it does not get 5 stars from me. Still, this is my first Julian Barnes and it will not be the last.
Muriel Spark's first novel contain all her trademark character development, language precision and tight plot. It is quirky, lovely and satisfying. Still, I found the story of the voices and the novel within the novel a little too self-referential
What was this all about? I am a fan of Nesbø but I found this book very disappointing. THe characters and the plot are completely unbelievable. I know that part of the appeal of the Harry Hole series is the false clues, the red herrings, but the ones in this book are just totally ridiculous. I don't even know why I finished it. I should have left it as soon as the military guy made his appearance and the alpha-male competition started.
I thought 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' would be difficult to match, but I was wrong. This books had the same trademark elements as 'The Prime ...' but, in addition, is shows humour and tragedy from the very first page.
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Wonderful book. I only give 5 stars to books I would like to re-read, to those I miss and this one is certainly one of them. The precision, the plot, the characters, the treatment of time and, above all, the elegant repetitions are like nothing else I have ever read. I found it mesmerising and very insightful, in a philosophical sense.
One of the strangest books I have ever read. Yet, it was insightful and enjoyable. Something about it reminded me of the films of Darren Aronofsky or those of Lars von Trier. Perhaps the difficulty of explaining what it is about ... It was hard to read at times but I am glad I persisted, for it pays off.
The first half of this book is amazing, wonderful and very tightly conceived but I think it loses itself a little in the second half, when they go after Sunday. It is still memorable, though, and scenes have stayed with me. The ending is odd, as I was warned, but not uncharacteristic and I think it leaves a lovely taste in the mouth.