132,833
edits
Changes
Book Reviews From The Bookbag (view source)
Revision as of 12:16, 4 August 2013
, 12:16, 4 August 2013no edit summary
'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
{{newreview
|title=1Q84: The Complete Trilogy
|author=Haruki Murakami
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=The ''1Q84'' trilogy is, without doubt, an impressive book. In many ways, the trilogy almost has to be read in this way as the three component books make little sense on their own. The first book in the series in particular is almost completely baffling if taken in isolation. It does, though, demand a degree of dedication, and if the prospect of a 1300 page novel in which not a huge amount happens in terms of plot and in which there is a significant level of repetition leaves you cold, then this might not be the best entry point into the wonderful world of Haruki Murakami. As often with Murakami though, it's possible to read this book at a number of levels. On the surface it's a love story set in a slightly fantastical setting with a little bit of crime thrown in. At a deeper level, he explores the thin lines between imagination and reality, life and death and what you might call yin and yang. It's a novel where balance and vacuums play a big part. It seems counter-intuitive to call a book of this magnitude 'delicate', but that's just how the story appears.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099578077</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|summary=Although you might not immediately realise it, this is the story of a ring, the people associated with it and of one particular ''real'' woman who created something of which few people can be unaware. That woman was Mary Frances Gerety, a copywriter with Ayer and Son - one of of the eminent advertising agencies in the nineteen forties. Under some pressure to come up with a phrase for de Beers adverts, Frances scribbled ''A Diamond is Forever'' - one of the most memorable lines in advertising. Frances never married but was probably single-handedly responsible for diamonds being the favoured stone in engagement rings. Her story weaves its way through the stories of our fictional couples.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844089363</amazonuk>
}}