Michael Wigley

I really loved the first 300 pages with the betrayal and imprisonment, maybe because I'm scared of that happening to me! It also portrayed the shallow bourgeoisie very well. While it was enjoyable to see the Dante's enemies get their comeuppance, I thought most of the characters were a bit too one dimensional for my liking, compared with Tolstoy's War and Peace for example. It felt like the characters were split up into good vs bad. Only really Albert changed for the better by the end of the book.

A very good account of the inner thoughts of a young boy growing into an adult. I really enjoyed chapters 1 to 4 and some of the thought processes, reactions and experiences really resonated with my own. It brought up memories I hadn't thought about for 30 years! Stephen gradually learns that life is unfair, others don't really care about him and that for him, religion was like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. You should live your life as naturally as you can but displaying at least some delayed gratification! I knocked a star off because I found chapter 5 incomprehensible. However, I'll give it a try again some other time and overall this book is worth a read.

I thought this book read like English wasn't the writer's first language or is was translated into Spanish and back to English again (which obviously it couldn't have been) Maybe this was to reflect it being set in Spain but I thought the same applied for the American character. Also, it was annoying that he kept on being referred to as Robert Jordan (his full name)! There were the ingredients for a great story so I didn't give it one star but it never got going. The writer saw himself as a kind of Jack Reacher, men want to be him and women want him, buy it was very dull.

The early interactions between Boot and Salter were hilarious and the goings on with the media and governments seemed very believable. Lots of hyprocrisy, entitlement, greed and waste. I also enjoyed how the romance between Boot and Katchen lasted less than half a page. I found some of the racist language a bit uncomfortable to read but that was unfortunately a fair reflection of how things were. I knocked a star off because I didn't think it was a great book but very funny and definitely worth a read.

I couldn't make head nor tail of it and the messages and themes all flew completely over my head so I only read about 30 pages. I normally like a bit of absurdity and abstract meaning but I had nothing to hold onto.

A good insight into human life, what drives us and still resonates today. I enjoyed reading about the relationships between the brothers Adam and Charles and then Arron and Cal. Cathy was also an interesting character. This book lurches towards determinism and things being out of our control and then right at the end Steinbeck gives us hope, Thou Mayest!!! I liked the ending. I knocked off a star because some parts dragged a bit. I didn't think the Hamilton needed 9 kids but just found out that part was true!