5 posts tagged “fiction”

When I went to Hawaii last September to be in Steph's wedding, another of the bridesmaids had just finished this book, and offered it up to whoever wanted to borrow it. I wanted to borrow it very badly, but knew I wouldn't be able to finish it in the week I was out there. We were so busy all the time, and I was there not only to be in my friend's wedding, but to visit with her as well. I couldn't exactly do that while holed up with my nose in a book. I did, however, keep the book's title in my mind and made sure to add it to my amazon wish list so I wouldn't forget about it. I finally got around to getting it for myself and reading it.

After reading two books in a row that were more of a chore than a pleasure, I was so relieved to find, almost immediately, that I was drawn into the story, empathized with the characters, and didn't want to put the book down. I spent the last few nights reading in bed until my vision blurred and I couldn't keep my eyes open.

The Blood of Flowers is set in 17th century Iran, and is about a young woman with a talent for making beautiful, ornate carpets, a craft that was elevated to a high art by the Shah at the time. It follows her over the course of a few years, and details her rise from a willful, rash child to a talented, independent woman. I found it heartbreaking and hopeful, infuriating and satisfying. The main story is broken up with folk tales, which are used effectively as tools of foreshadowing. Perhaps a little too effectively, as I could sometimes tell what was going to happen a good 100 pages out. It was worth the read, though. The story itself was beautiful.

I'm really coming to love these works of historical fiction, focused on the lives of women. I particularly like that the ones I've read recently have been about places that have histories that are largely unknown to me - China, in the case of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Iran in the case of this book. I'm really hoping that this isn't what is considered 'chick-lit.' I must admit that I really don't know what qualifies a book as 'chick-lit,' but I've just assumed that they were the Candace Bushnell kind of books (not that I've read any of her books, but I do know that she wrote Sex and the City). Those kind of books don't appeal to me in the least, but these beautiful historical fictions do. Regardless of how they may be categorized, I'm sure there's a distinct difference.

This book is basically two stories that are held together by the thinnest of threads. And that's a good thing because one of the stories sucks. And is boring. And has characters that I would not feel one way or the other if they met with violent, untimely deaths. Sadly this crappy story takes up more than the first half of the book. I was very disappointed.

The second story however, was wonderful, and dreamy, and sad, and very, very good. It's unfortunate that this great story, which could have easily stood on it's own, and even been elaborated upon until it was novel-length itself, was attached to the other.

Were it not for my obsessive nature regarding finishing a book once I've started it, I may not have gotten far enough into the book to reach the good part.

On to #7.

It's finally over. Finally. I did not like this book, and it took me ages to get through. That's all.

I'm so behind now on my 25 book goal. Shit.

Jesus Christ! Finally, I finished this book! It took me for-frickin'-ever, and I'm not really sure why. 

It wasn't boring. I was interested in the plot very quickly.

It wasn't too long. It's 560-something pages, which is kind of long, but not that long.

I think the issue was that the chapters were nice and short, and gave too many opportunities for good places to stop. Not Da Vinci Code short, but short enough.

Anyway...

I wanted to read this book because I remember my dad telling me (a long time ago) that it was his favorite book. And it is a very good book. It takes place from the late '20's to the mid-50's in what is now Israel. It gives tons of history for the area, and goes into great detail about what happened in that part of the world during those times...

• Israel's declaration of independence
  
• Issues among the Palestinian refugees
  
• Fighting among the Arab states concerning the Jews as well as the Palestinians...
  

And of course, because it's historical fiction, it details the lives of a particular Palestinian family under their patriarch, Haj Ibrahim. There is so much struggle, and yet so much hope throughout the whole story, that even though I knew how the political turmoil in the area would end up, I still believed it would all work out in the end for the family. While I hate to spoil an ending for anyone who will consider reading this sometime later, I have to say that I found the end devastating. It was made even worse by the great hope that I had harbored for them and the futility of their separate and sad endings. I have the feeling that was kind of the point, but man... how depressing!

The book was very good, though, and I'm now interested in reading more from Leon Uris. Hopefully he has something that will leave me smiling when I finish it instead of frowning.

I just finished Water For Elephants this afternoon, and I loved it. It's set in two time periods and flips back an forth between the two. They are the present - when the main character, Jacob, is a very old man, and the summer of 1931 - when Jacob is a very young man working with a traveling circus. The story taking place in the past tends to be very exciting and fast-paced, while the story in the present is slow and sad. Occasionally, I found this annoying because I'd get so wrapped up in what was happening with the past story, that I felt rudely interrupted when the story lines flipped, and I had to read about the present story.

It was a really great book, anyway, though, and I'd highly recommend it. As soon as I got into the story, I didn't want to put it down!