Review: A Gentleman in Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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I belong to that distinct minority who did not absolutely love this book.

I find myself conflicted. I didn't enjoy this book as much as I had expected. After sleeping on it, I can say with actuality that I did not enjoy this book like everyone else seemed to have done so. It was long and tedious for the most part. The sociopolitical commentary flew right over my head, made my eyes glaze over, and my attention wander. It wasn't a bad book per se, it just didn't...hold my interest. The Count's philosophical musings are pockets of wisdom, but it often felt like I needed to have quite a bit of a background on Russia's history to be able to understand half of what's written on this book. It also felt like reading a lengthy, pretentious, and pompous essay--one that feels like I was forced to read in class--instead of a story.

There were various nuances of the story I wish were focused on: the relationship of the characters, parenthood, and even the unique circumstances of a house arrest. But instead, I got a long-winded meditation that honestly, made me want to abandon the book multiple times. I didn't hate the book. I just don't think the amount of time I spent reading it and trying to understand it was really worth it.

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Review: The Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 4.5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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What a whirlwind. This is probably one of the most elaborate reads of my life and it makes for one very beautiful book. I dove into Daniel Sempere and Julian Carax's stories not knowing what to expect from the plot or of the story line; the blurb didn't give away much. I didn't expect to be swept away completely. It is a very slow read--that I can comment on hence, the imperfect rating--but don't let that dissuade you. It's a long journey, and the unhurried pace Zafón set up for the me, the reader, allowed me to relish and soak in the flavours he established: the bitterness of longing and loneliness bled through each page, and that melancholy from all the intertwined characters gave a warm sweetness that spreads over your palate. It pulls you into a different layer of yearning that can only be drawn through masterful empathetic character writing. Wonderfully dark and delicious.

For a while, it also brought me back to my nights in Paris a few years ago (read about it here). It reminded me of the mystery, chill, and the gothic vibe that perpetually cloaks the City of Love even in these modern years. On the other hand, I may not be able to explore Barcelona now because of the pandemic, but it feels like I've lived vicariously already through Zafón's novel. It instilled in me, however, a renewed longing to see Barcelona and the rest of the world, and live my own mystery and adventure in a strange and foreign city.

They were right. This is the ultimate love letter to literature.
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A few of my favorite quotes from The Shadow of the Wind:

"Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you."

"Making money isn't hard in itself. What's hard is to earn it doing something worth devoting one's life to."

"You women listen more to your heart and less to the nonsense. That's why you live longer."

"What is really killing him is loneliness. Memories are worse than bullets."

"Time goes faster, the more hollow it is."

"There are no coincidences. We are puppets of our subconscious desires."


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Review: Smaller and Smaller Circles

Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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Borrowing from the vocabulary of the great Stephen King, unputdownable.

This book provides a more than your raw and gritty crime fiction. This provides a shrewd look into institutions--both in our criminal justice system and in the Roman Catholic Church. It is laced in politics and for the first time in a long while, I didn't mind. In hindsight, I realized that you really couldn't write about Manila without getting political. This book served like a slap in the face of our political system and even the piousness of the Church. It's a juicy and interesting take on Philippine politics set in a whodunit. It's layered and multi-faceted. It gives the readers a glimpse at the affluence of the rich marred with corruption, and a jarring picture of poverty deeply rooted in even more corruption and social diseases.

Review: Lincoln in the Bardo

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also found on Goodreads! :)
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Actual Rating: 3.9 stars
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I have considered DNF-ing this book numerous times halfway throughout. I'm so glad I didn't. The format takes a lot of time to get used to and the different tones adapted by the different characters constantly threw me off-balance. When I was just in the process of getting used to a character's specific way of speaking, a different tone and language will be adapted by the next character. During the first half, it was really difficult to follow. I can truly understand why a lot of readers didn't bother finishing this book. But I pushed through, because however difficult the format was, the story was so beautiful, and the characters were all so interesting.

The entire story revolved around the night of Willie Lincoln's internment, during which President Lincoln visited his son after the funeral. A war had just started, both in the world, and inside Abe Lincoln's heart. The turmoil and grief within President Lincoln was depicted holistically in the book; it was impossible to not get pulled in. Willie's arrival in the bardo became a source of excitement for the other "citizens" of the graveyard. During this night, characters from the graveyard got to tell their stories, and each story was as unique and heartbreaking as the next. I was rooting for Willie, but I was rooting more for Bevins, Vollman, and the Reverend. It was Willie's story, but it's as much as Bevin's and Vollman's stories too. While it revolves around historically facts of Willie's death, the entire book was wholly imaginative and unique, my mind refused to put it down.

I would have enjoyed this story much more if the format followed a more conventional type. But even with how it is written now, it was still beautiful and unforgettable.

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Chasing The Skies Across England

I first noticed the skies on that glorious first day in London. We were walking around Covent Garden, just off of a well-deserved buffet at Mr. Wu after a 16-hour flight. As we were strolling around the Piazza looking for the perfect red photobooth, I looked up to see the sky with nary a cloud in sight. London is notoriously known for its bleak weather. It's "grey-ness" and dreariness. But on that first day, it was the opposite. The skies spilled with my favorite color as if welcoming me home. It was a vast space of perfect seamless gradient blue blanketing the city, the color progressing from electric blue to a muted shade of cornflower. It was akin to staring at the ocean if it were hanging above you instead of beneath you. Back at Ludgate Hill, the cross-topped dome outline of St. Paul's Cathedral poised against the cobalt blue. The English baroque church stood pale and resplendent, with its stonework looking incredibly whitewashed by the afternoon sun. 

St. Paul's Cathedral viewed from King Edward Street