August 2013 Books that ‘Did Not Make the Grade’

Although I did not read as many books as last month, I still had the pleasure of reading one very original tale! Sadly, more books did not make the grade then actually make it this month. And they were:

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynna Jones:  First off, did not realize that this novel was the basis for the anime film directed by Hayao Miyazak! (I loved that movie!) Unfortunately, I was not as blown away by the novel itself, which disappointed me greatly.  The pace was slow, the character’s were not always realistic, and the procession of events did not make a lot of sense so in the case, I prefer the film over the novel.

A Twist in the Tale: Short Stories by Jeffrey Archer: I read the first short story, The Perfect Murder, and the story had good taste, good characters, and good pace. My biggest problem was the ending, which was so predictable, so unmoving that I felt no motivation to read the other stories.  It was like Archer did not care to think of a more creative ending, and if he does not have time to care, then neither do I.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan:  The story is told in alternating chapters- Levithan wrote Nick’s part while Cohn wrote Nora’s part.  I really liked Nick’s story not only because I’m a huge David Levithan fan but because he wrote with passion and great ease.  Cohn, on the other hand, was all over the place with Norah, making her sound like a valley girl and not making any sense as to what was happening.  Because this novel is told with two narrators, there was no way I could only read Nick’s part, read the entire story, appreciate everything about it. So, long story short, Norah ruined the story for me.

Thanks for all your support! I can’t wait to share more in September and a special thank you to my good friend Jess for helping me make my blog so much better!

Happy reading everyone! :)

~Shelly-Beans

Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez

Translator: Edith Grossman

Genre: Romance/Fiction

Date of Publication: October 25^th, 2005

Memorable Quotation: “From then on I had her in my memory with so much clarity that I could do what I wanted with her. I changed the color of her eyes according to my state of mind: the color of water when she woke, the color of syrup when she laughed, the color of light when she was annoyed…” (pg. 60)            

Lasting Impression: The pace was not great, the storyline lost its gust towards the end, but experiencing the thoughts and emotions of a ninety-year old man falling in love for the first time brings a new and bold flavor to the stereotypical love story.

Storyline: B+

Pace of Story: B-

Characters: A-

Ending: C

Overall Grade: B-

Memories of My Melancholy Whores evokes a new sense of the love story everyone knows: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy fights for girl, boy and girl end up together. The end.  Although that is basically the premise, the opening line of the novel blows the ordinary love story out of the water: “The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin.”  Although this is what our protagonist intended, it was not what he received.  Instead of a night of wild love, he received a year of actual love with a woman, a girl of only fourteen to whom he only saw when she was asleep due to her exhausting factory job.  As his love for Delgadina (his special name for her) enraptures his heart, circumstances threaten to take away his sleeping beauty and only with a mixture of patience and perseverance will he be able to find her.

This was another book I read upon a recommendation from a friend but unlike The Killing Room, this novel underwhelmed me.  I found it difficult to critique a literary legend such as Márquez but since not everything can be liked by everyone, I say this was not my favorite novel of his. I liked the concept (looking past the tremendous gap in years between the lovers) but the execution throughout most of the book was poor. 

Here were my problems with the execution: There were no breaks in the pages or quotation marks to show where the dialogue began and ended (making it hard to follow), the storyline (although starting off strong) became shaky after the middle of the novel because of the inconsistent nature of facts I was given, and lastly, the ending did not bring much closure to anything. Despite all of that, I still enjoyed the book enough to finish it.

What kept me reading was my intrigue in the overall concept and the curiosity of where the lovers would end up. The man’s love for Delgadina was described beautifully, making me feel his love in my heart as he went through the motions of giving her gifts and decorating for her.  It was amazing to think how after 90 years of never feeling anything but lust for a woman, he felt this pure, genuine love bottled up inside of him, waiting for the right person to come along to express to her, and that alone made this Memories of My Melancholy Whores special.

Although I was not a big fan of this novel, I can appreciate the message Gabriel García Márquez had imbued into this novel.  It is powerful and may not be fully accepted by everyone but it is something everyone needs to hear. His message is that it does not matter how old you are or where you are from, the soul has no age or definition (look at A in Every Day) and although we define ourselves by the age of our bodies, sometimes love can transcend the gap and show us that our souls are all connected. 

~Shelly-Beans