At The Water's Edge Book Review

Rawr Reader,

We need to stop meeting like this. 
Actually I thought I posted a review a month back but apparently it's been much longer than that. I apologize. I'm not as frequent posting as I would like to have been these past months. But I just finished a book I absolutely had to share. Yes, it's Sara Gruen's At the Water's Edge and I have to say, I have much to say. So, without further ado, the synopsis, much thanks to Goodreads.

After embarrassing themselves at the social event of the year in high society Philadelphia on New Year’s Eve of 1942, Maddie and Ellis Hyde are cut off financially by Ellis’s father, a former army Colonel who is already embarrassed by his son’s inability to serve in WWII due to his being colorblind. To Maddie’s horror, Ellis decides that the only way to regain his father’s favor is to succeed in a venture his father attempted and very publicly failed at: he will hunt the famous Loch Ness monster and when he finds it he will restore his father’s name and return to his father’s good graces (and pocketbook). Joined by their friend Hank, a wealthy socialite, the three make their way to Scotland in the midst of war. Each day the two men go off to hunt the monster, while another monster, Hitler, is devastating Europe. And Maddie, now alone in a foreign country, must begin to figure out who she is and what she wants. The novel tells of Maddie’s social awakening: to the harsh realities of life, to the beauties of nature, to a connection with forces larger than herself, to female friendship, and finally, to love. 

Reference:

It's been a while if I'm to be frank, so I'm a little unsure. I think I just saw the cover while browsing books online and was intrigued. Or maybe it was looking up Sara Gruen's other novels since I didn't want to read Water for Elephants since I've already seen the movie. But like I said, I can't remember.

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this yet)

     Okay, this book really speaks to me. First off, I've never read a book where I really connected to the writing style and story and seen in reflected with my own. Others may disagree-- but I saw it and it motivated me to want to finish working my novel.

    Secondly, there's something about having characters drive us crazy, but we love them because they're so well written. Yes Ellis and Hank are the typical drunks and Maddie tags along like she has no choice, but I'd rather a writer experiment and give me characters that may be headaches in real life, than conform to a mold so all I read about are the same ordinary girls who aren't so ordinary, or the girls who are extraordinary just because they have this magical trait about them. Slightly off topic since magic isn't a part of the story so much as folk lore, but I think you get my point.
    I do have some complaints though, one being the romance. It wasn't fleshed out well between the two characters. It seemed rarher forced into a compressed amount of time. I loved the pair together, but other romance stories do it justice better. I'd say romance is definitely not a key element. I'll go more into it in the spoiler section below.
    Another key element not in the story is the war, and honestly, I loved that fact. I recently read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and it too is set in WWII, and while the writing was beautiful as this book was, the story fell flat because I wasn't getting real depth into the characters as I feel I did in this book. If I wanted facts and numbers on the battles and events of the war, I'd read a history book. If I'm reading a novel, I focus on the world and the characters and the story, not just on prose and over-compensating amount of chapter time jumps (if that sentence made any sense).
    One thing I did find really interesting between certain characters was between Ellis and Hank. Gruen has Maddie claim they're "two parts of the same person" and yet, I have to disagree. I think Hank was a drunk and a coward and capable of infidelity, but he wasn't cruel or borderline lunatic. Honestly, there were *many* times I thought he was in love with Maddie. At least so much so compared to Ellis who treated her like an accessory. Though I have to say, I was expecting there to be a scene of shall I say, closeness, between Ellis and Hank. I mean, they were always together so I suspected that they would hook up. Just a personal thought.
    Lastly I want to mention a reason to check this book out. The friendships formed between Maddie and Anna and Meg are exceptional. I rarely read a book with friendships which are as pivotal to the story as the romance (and lack thereof). It was so real and dynamic and every chapter of Maddie working with them was just as satisfying to read as her romance-central chapters. And I love me some romance in my books.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

Quote:
"Always carry a large flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and further, always carry a small snake.”

-Sara Gruen, At the Water's Edge

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

    I need to get this off my chest first. Romance?! I mean, yes there's romance but...Romance? One of the troubles I had with this book was it was structured very much like a weighing scale. The first half of the novel was devoted to the women's friendships growing and developing whereas the last half focused on the romance between Maddie and Angus. I wished it was braided a little more throughout the story. Honestly, I thought maybe the "love" mentioned in the synopsis would be about Ellis developing a little and they find a new meaning of love in their marriage between them, but then nope, it's the motel owner who pops up occasionally in the first 160 or so pages of the novel. Don't get me wrong, I love Angus. But I don't even really have a clear idea of what he looks like, though I have his age thanks to the gravestone inscriptions at the beginning of the story. But I had an even worse idea of what our protagonist looked like, other than she had green eyes and was borderline anorexic coming to Scotland. I don't recall an age, which frustrated me for some undiscovered reason, but more than anything, I just wanted more scenes between the two. They have a lot of awkward encounters or polite small talk at first, but then all of a sudden she was completely in love with him and so he was with her (though I could believe it since the only reason he let the three stay in Scotland that first night was after seeing her--- I knew he took a fancy to her), I just wish I knew why. Did she remind him appearance-wise of his previous wife? Did she have a similar personality? We don't know. And never will. *sigh* So yes, I needed more. Because all of a sudden he rejected her and then she cries and then he changes his mind (probably scared she would reject him later---I was laughing reading this chapter it was so bizarre to see in a novel), and then BAM--- they're doing it. Their relationship is rocky from that point because she has this plan to save him by not revealing her plan to him about how to get rid of Ellis and then he has to save her and yadda-yadda. To be honest I found it cliché of her to run away. Well I mean the whole ending for me was predictable altogether, but maybe I should just take this time to transition.

    Now about that ending. It was too rushed and forced to end soon. The beginning and middle actually dragged on comparing weight and importance of story compared to the last third or so. Maybe quarter. I understand you don't want to drag out the story longer than needed, but the climax was about a handful of pages. Maddie finally lets it all out to her crazy husband---who has previous accounts of possibly becoming violent against her---on a boat that she is undoubtedly trapped in with. What did she really see coming out of that decision? Ellis has been obsessing over this. Her yelling wasn't going to snap him out of it-- least of all when he was just a fabricated video away from going home to lap and luxury. So yeah, the ending wasn't really a favorite. If anything, it disappointed me because throughout the book I was mesmerized, finding myself more and more despairing that the book would end soon and wishing it went on another two hundred pages.

    And this may be me, but I definitely thought that Ellis and Hank were going to reveal to be lovers. There were just too many moments where things would get heated and they would look at each other. It's the kind of closeness I guess people always say about Frodo and Sam's relationship in the Lord of the Rings movies-- though I refuse to see their friendship that way. But in the end I guess it will all have to fall into me reading too much into the ink on the page and they were just drunk. I'll be honest, I'm not around drunk people often enough to understand if they're drunk or if they're personally just really temperamental. 

     Another comment I have to bring forward is: I've never read another novel by Gruen but I have seen the movie Water for Elephants and I found a lot of similarities theme/structure/character-wise. Married couples going through troubles. The husband is mentally unstable and comes to be violent against his spouse. There's the outsider man who woos the woman. There's more that I'll add but I suddenly blanked on it. I don't know. It was enough to knock off a star though because that just shows she's working off of a structure or outline that compliments other novels she's done, which falls under the category of predictable author. Regardless of how beautifully written I find the novel, it's not my favorite thing to admit but I do take plot into consideration. How similar it is to other novels written, and unfortunately, how similar it is to other works by the author themselves.

    Something I was expecting to be more woven into the story was the monster itself. There are three foreboding and sinister moments that hint toward the fantastical creature(s) appearing, however it's never confirmed as real. The first time she encounters the woman that precursors death, the time she tries to kill herself and then is backed away from the lake (the spirit of the wife), and the monster itself at the end. Yes, it's in the synopsis. The three Americans are in Scotland for the creature, but the creature is just a reason to get them across the Atlantic. The story is in the characters and relationships and dynamics between them. For this, I'm partially disheartened. I wanted more Loch Ness in my story. 


Until Next Time,
Nicole Ciel

Death on the Nile Book Review

Rawr Reader,

It's been some time hasn't it? 
First off, big news! I graduated college! Yay! ^_^
I took a very long reading break (it might have something to do reading non-stop in 2013), but now that required reading is out of my life, I can really turn toward the series and novels that pique my interest. I also have time to work on revising my first novel, which after 3 years (since I finished the first draft), has me enthusiastic about working on again. Now I don't want to make any promises about becoming committed to this blog again, I really do want to pick it up again since writing reviews is almost as fun as reading the novels themselves! ^^
And thankfully the book I finished just a few minutes ago will be the first to be reviewed. It is Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile. The synopsis is provided by Goodreads: 

The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything - until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: 'I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.' Yet in this exotic setting' nothing is ever quite what it seems...

Reference:

Agatha Christie is a classic author and I just searched through her collection for a new adventure to read. This one dealt with Egypt and I've had it in the back of my mind to read for a while now.

Review:

(safe for those who haven't read this yet)

     Let's begin with: it started in Egypt. I for one am a huge admirer of the mythology and history and culture of ancient Egypt, and so the fact that Christie has a novel set in a place where there is thousands of years of history surrounding the plot has me sold. I've never been there, and while Christie pays more attention to the plot and characters than the world, whilst reading you definitely get the feeling that you're in another atmosphere. One where it's hot and yes as a foreigner you stick out like a sore thumb, but you pass the pyramids, sphinxes, Abu Simbel, Philae, Elephantine Island (and more!) and the reader may not be familiar with some of the places (I wasn't!), but it's an exploration for the reader to want to look up these places. The culture is different and the sights are spectacular and before you finish reading, you will definitely have more than one story to tell about what happened along the Nile.

     Okay, let's get down to the brass tacks here. The first chapter mainly introduces the wide cast of characters soon to be involved in the Nile plot and while it was a headache trying to remember who was who and why there needed to be so many characters, I promise you Christie will involve them all constantly in the story, you won't forget and get confused. 

    The beauty of her novels I find are that she may give characters flat names, but they have lively and colorful personalities. One of whom is Jacqueline "Jackie" de Bellefort, who was one of the most complex characters I think I've ever read (taking into consideration the length of the novel and how due to the wide cast of characters, she is only given an equal percentage of focus in the novel). Her scenes almost always had me at the edge of my seat, because there was reason for there to be tension. And yet, surprisingly, there are moments I think she's really about to fly off the handle when she acts composed and cool-headed. Some may consider this inconsistent in characterization, I found her written marvelously. 

     One thing I can say about this novel that I wouldn't be able to for the five prior Christie novels I've read is the fact that I guessed pretty early on who the murderer was, and was right! (Well, mostly... See below in the spoilers section if you've read the novel already or you just want to know!) ;0)

     I want to add that what made this book even more of a rollercoaster was after the murder is committed, I thought the rest of the novel would be left to Poirot trying to solve it. However, Christie wouldn't disappoint her readers like that. She gives us more action and suspense and intrigue just when we think things are too quiet. No, readers will constantly have something to look forward to until the last page.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

Quote:

“Fey...a Scotch word...It means the kind of exalted happiness that comes before disaster. You know--it's too good to be true.”

-Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

     Agatha Christie, no matter if I dislike a novel here and there will always have a special place in my heart for how intricately her plots are. Writers need to have a plot and be precise and make sure everything works out correctly, logically, and coherently (as a writer myself I struggle with this), and so the fact that she does this over and over again just blows my mind. Not only the plot of the murders, but the plot themselves. They're so cleverly thought of and interesting--- subject matter ranging from deaths in mansions to trains to boats (of course I mention only the ones I've read so far) that everyone can probably find at least one of her novels which might interest a non-reader into reading one of her books. 

    But enough fluff, I just wanted to avoid naming any spoilers at the top of my spoilers section. Tricky Nicki! ;)

    First off, in my review I mentioned that I guessed who the murderer was and was right. At least mostly... And I say this because I did suspect Simon as the murderer. There were several holes that led me to suspect him, even before Poirot revealed this at the end: 

     1. One was the fact that on his honeymoon with Linnet, how convenient it was that everywhere they headed off to, that Jackie was there waiting for them! He even mentions to Poirot that he made a secret plan with Linnet to go the next day on a boat after publicly announcing to leave ten days later. If the plan was secret, between Linnet, Simon, Poirot, and their maid--- that only leaves one of them as suspect to tell Jackie, and based off of the evidence, he seemed the only logical suspect. Also, how could she follow them when she even says that she's poor. Not any poor person could just travel to multiple exotic and foreign locations in pursuit of tormenting an ex. 

     2. And then there was the case of Jackie shooting Simon. I'll admit, when she was immediately remorseful and regretful for shooting him and he so kindly and quickly forgave her---after all the stalking she's performed on their honeymoon, I wasn't expecting that to all have been an act. What a clever plot Ms. Christie! So, for this point, unfortunately I did not realize until the end. 

    3. However, the next hole I did suspect Simon was when Simon asked for Jackie to come to his room. Poirot left them and how Christie wrote the scene, I knew that there was more to Simon than he let on. No one just gets shot and is completely forgivable of their attacker---so I suspected either he was threatening Jackie or he was scheming with her in some other way. 

    4. The sun-moon metaphor that both Simon and Jackie used (of course both said in the presence of Poirot---it was like they wanted to get caught). Yes, they were a couple for who knows how long before Simon met Linnet, so they might have begun using one another's phrases and words, but this had to be taken into consideration since they were both intimately close with the deceased above almost all others.

    But by the end, it is revealed that yes, Jackie and Simon had schemed the whole murder together. Now, when I say mostly, I was not expecting the second part of the murder. I did not suspect that Simon faked being shot and that Jackie would come to murdering Linnet's maid and then Mrs. Otterbourne. How Poirot figured that out, I applaud him. I will admit I first thought it would be Lord Windlesham, eventually it all just came back to Simon who was just as money-hungry as would be expected.

       Now, what I love about this novel is that there is more than just the main plot to suspect. What of Tim Allerton and his mother? And what of Miss Van Schuyler and Cornelia Robson? Don't forget Rosalie Otterbourne and her mother. But forgive me, Dr. Bessner, Mr. Fanthorp, Andrew Pennington, and Mr. Ferguson are important, too. Even though they're sub-sub-plots, there is Ms. Bowers, Louise Bourget, Richetti and Fleetwood. So many characters but all so interesting and have intertwining and collective interests. The ones that were the most unexpected in my opinion were concerning Cornelia Robson and Mr. Ferguson who out of no where proposes to her. Cornelia ends up becoming engaged to Dr. Bessner which I guess is nice--but from a literary stand-point I'm just staring at the book with "how" shaped on my lips. Another relationship that came out of no where was between Tim Allerton and Rosalie. Now, maybe I was just so focused on the main plot I didn't look at the side glances between couples, but these sub-sub-plots sprung at me on the end are more distracting and duping than properly wrapping up the story. 

     Jackie's murder and suicide in the final pages did take me by surprise, and the fact that Poirot was aware of Jackie's possession of a gun threw me off as well. He didn't try to stop her and the slight dislike I had for Poirot (starting around when he so blatantly admits to knowing who the murderer is without saying it---just leading the reader on for another 100 pages or so is annoying--- it's like in a competition show on TV when they're just about to announce the winner BUT it will be after a commercial break). I see why they do it, but it's just annoying. So while I love how Poirot can be sometimes, his character himself gets on my nerves as much as impresses me.

Until Next Time,

Nicole Ciel

The Princess Bride Book Review

Rawr Reader,

I've been putting off reading this book for about a year and a half so I finally pushed myself to buying it so I could relive some of my favorite Princess Bride moments. ("You killed m father, prepare to die." "Inconceivable!" "I'm not a witch I'm your wife!" And so so many more.) Alright, let's get right into it! This is the synopsis, provided by Goodreads:

A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts - The Princess Bride is a modern storytelling classic.

As Florin and Guilder teeter on the verge of war, the reluctant Princess Buttercup is devastated by the loss of her true love, kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchmen, rescued by a pirate, forced to marry Prince Humperdinck, and rescued once again by the very crew who absconded with her in the first place. In the course of this dazzling adventure, she'll meet Vizzini - the criminal philosopher who'll do anything for a bag of gold; Fezzik - the gentle giant; Inigo - the Spaniard whose steel thirsts for revenge; and Count Rugen - the evil mastermind behind it all. Foiling all their plans and jumping into their stories is Westley, Princess Buttercup's one true love and a very good friend of a very dangerous pirate.

Reference:
I want to say it's... from the movie. :D

Review

(safe for those who haven't read this yet)

    The movie isn't one of my favorites of all time, however any chance I had of watching it I would. Contradictory it sounds, but I guess it's because I've finally read the book. This book has one thing going for it in my opinion, and that's the dialogue. The exchanges between the characters are ranked highest probably among all the books I've read. We have fantastic lines like Westley's: As you wish, Vizzini's: Inconceivable, and of course I won't forget Inigo Montoya's: Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you've killed my father, prepare to die. If you haven't heard these lines before, stop what you're doing and go to your nearest movie store and rent this movie. Or if you have Netflix you can go that route. I'd recommend seeing the movie first because then when reading, you can envision these characters living and breathing these words as you read them. 

    Now I'm not going to segue this from a book review to a movie review, but I would just like to insert a praise for the screenwriters of the movie. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STAYING LOYAL TO THE BOOK. Yes there several scenes not seen in the movie-- but honestly, the movie hits all the important scenes and everything else really is just extra.

    And that was my main problem with this novel. There were a lot of scenes that were completely unnecessary-- and if not completely unnecessary, they were stretched out for too long. We come into this book not diving first into Buttercup and Westley's relationship, but into the [fictional] author's (Goldman not Morgenstern) childhood. 

   Now I won't lie, this was actually really interesting a concept overall and I liked how [the real author] played with it. The story does intertwine with Morgenstern's original story with interjections by Goldman who is writing the abridged version of this story, however the interruptions with the flow of the story sometimes were so sudden that 9/10, I was annoyed. Majorly.

     In the beginning mostly, not so much in the rest of the story, Morgenstern sort of interjections of his own by including multiple parenthetic comments to explain what was going on or his thoughts on it or when the scene was taken place (before maps were made, Florin and Guilder were where Sweden and Germany were before Europe, etc). Whenever Goldman interjects in the abridged version of the novel, his notes are much longer, sometimes a page or two, and are italicized. It was the beginning with Buttercup and Westley's story that the parenthetic sections were rampant, but thank heavens they dimmed down once the story progressed.

    As this is a young adult, or what I would consider a children's book, I found this story to be pleasantly funny. Not only in dialogue, but just in scenes and how characters would interact with one another. Reading this felt like watching a movie because it was so hilarious. Sometimes I find authors try to hard trying to make a moment between characters funny or awkward (for the reader's sake), but 8/10 this just seemed force. However, Goldman does this constantly throughout and it seems effortless. The fact that Goldman wrote screenplays definitely shows. He's seen how actors respond, he's watched people and studied them well, because even though this story carries elements of fantasy, everything honestly feels really believable.

    Now, you might be concerned why I'm going back and forth with praising to bashing this story, and to be fair it's intentional. I don't want to seem like I hated the book, all in all, I still admire the story. However, unfortunately, how it was delivered wasn't my favorite. This is leaning more toward humor (and don't get me wrong I love humor), but I guess it was Goldman's format and writing style that does not match my taste in literature. 

   So for this, I need to be honest. I love the story, but I wouldn't read the book again. I'll just watch the movie.

I give this book 2/5 stars.

Quote:
“Who are you?"
"No one of consequence."

"I must know."

"Get used to disappointment.” 

― William Goldman, The Princess Bride

“We’ll never survive!” 
“Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.” 
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride

My Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7170636-nicole

Next To Read:

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

River Song's Spoilers:

(unsafe for those who haven't read this book yet, so don't read this section)

    Okay, so does anyone else wish that Goldman took out all the parts about his childhood and his adult life? I read the beginning part with his childhood, but the short section after the "ending" of the book, we're taken to Goldman's adult life, I skipped. I find it so boring and unnecessary. However, I guess even the "after escaping Florin City" scene was unnecessary, as Goldman just takes us down a path he will later cut us off. First he starts off with Fezzik saving Waverly, but then goes back in time to tell us when Waverly was born, then brought back to that moment where Fezzik saves her from a cliff, ultimately (though never written) perishing to a doomed death at the bottom of the cliffside. Honestly, I think it was one of the most well written narrative scenes in the book (this includes no dialogue). Just that he was falling to catch this little girl who meant so much to him, it was really very sweet and evocative. However, a page later, there's no more. It's like Goldman wanted to be really "deep" and moving with this story because the four main characters had gone through so much together (against and with each other), but it just ends with Fezzik dies and that's it. Oh I'm sure Morgenstern meant to miraculously save Fezzik but nope for now he just dies. Really Goldman? Really?

    Buttercup was annoying as heck for me. She's really immature, flat and hopelessly in love with no reason but just because in the beginning she was jealous of the Countess' wife because she was looking at him. That's it. She was jealous, and somehow that molded into true love. Like okay-- yeah sure-- passionate love that she'll never gain from anyone else again (idealistic-- but that's just it. It's idealized and it's boring) but her love is just one color, and love should be a rainbow, with reds and greens and oranges you confuse with yellows and lovely purples and blues. You hate your love and then you don't. I know this isn't a romance book more than adventure, humor, and action, let alone a young adult novel/children's novel-- but still, give me something. (This is why I tend to stray from children's books. Most of the time FANTASTIC plots and world-building and adventures, however, characters usually don't and cannot win me over-- which in essence, is why I'm reading.) But yeah, Buttercup was annoying and winy and the only thing important to her was Westley. Yeah. These women don't interest me at all. Thankfully in the movie, she was toned down.