Hello, everyone! I hope your weekend has been marvelous thus far. Mine has been quite productive: I started a new job last week (one with early morning hours), so I finally was rested enough to clean and organize some yesterday, then go out for a little window-shopping/mini-shopping with my sister. Good times!
I realized that I’ve been falling behind on book reviews. I finished both of these novels in late April/early May, but still haven’t posted about them. Therefore, I decided to combine them both into one post, for more convenient reading/writing purposes. I hope you enjoy! Let me know if you’ve read either of these before, or if you might in the future!
1) The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
My mom gave me this book before I went back to school after Easter, telling me that she couldn’t finish it, but maybe I’d enjoy it. Overall, I would say that I did. It’s a novel that has many bright points, and I’d say it’s satisfying by the end.
The story takes place in East Sussex, 1914, following the summer before the official start of World War I. The body of the book takes us all the way through the beginning of the fall, and gives us an epilogue in 1920. It follows several characters, but largely that of Hugh Grange (a medical student with dreams of pursuing the newly-discovered field of neurosurgery), Beatrice Nash (the first female Latin teacher in this school district, fighting for her right to stay), and Agatha Kent (the aunt of Hugh and Beatrice’s biggest supporter, a wealthy woman with prominence in East Sussex). The three of them—along with the rest of the town—get wrapped up in the tragedy and glorification of war, feminist and suffragist activism, usurping social norms, aiding refugees, and having to survive in a rapidly changing world of art, medicine, social stratification, and the war that disrupts it all.
Simonson, I think, illustrates this well. Her writing style is definitely not for everyone: she is very detail-oriented, meaning that the writing can be kinda long-winded at times. After all, the book is 473 pages long, and it only covers a couple of months. Personally, I like that style of writing. It’s why I prefer Austen over Hemingway; the more detail, the better, for me. If that’s not for you, though, you likely won’t be able to get through this novel without getting frustrated.
However, within all those long chapters, Simonson writes about difficult things so, so well. She covers the subtleties of racism, sexism, and human cruelty without overdramatizing anything. It’s the same with the gore of warfare. She is incredibly matter-of-fact with how she portrays these things; it’s very much “this is how it was.” Nothing is romanticized or overglorified. This method, in my opinion, allows things to be even harder-hitting when they do happen. She doesn’t sit on any one thing too long, and that lets the reader get the full feeling. As I read, I found myself growing angry without even fully realizing why, and it took me a few pages to get it: Simonson had pulled me into the world of blink-and-you-miss-it, horribly-common-at-the-time, outward bigotry and prejudice. The environment sinks into you; it would take me a moment or two to shake the feeling off after placing my bookmark in and putting the book down. In short, the world is well-researched and honestly portrayed. A+ work, there.
My favorite part, though, was the characters. Friends, her characters are SO WELL-WRITTEN. Oh my god. Each one is unique, full of intricacies and complexities of their own, shaped by backgrounds carefully crafted for each one. I adored the main characters. There wasn’t a single point of view that I didn’t want to read. They were each so human, and their strife, wit, and humor flew off the page. They are truly what makes this book so interesting and touching to read; they were what made me want to pick up the book again. I’ve always had a soft spot for good characters in a book: even if everything else is odd and repelling, I’ll come back for a well-written character. These ones are master classes. Each different, but each with common, human threads connecting them to the others. I guarantee you’ll love them, too.
My biggest complaint for this book, I think, is the ending. It’s still heart-wrenching enough, but I could guess what was going to happen about halfway through the book. It didn’t ruin it for me, personally. However, if you’re one of those people that wants to be surprised at the end, you’ll be a little annoyed. Go in knowing that.
All-in-all, I enjoyed this book. It’s not one of the most memorable ones I’ve read, but I’d certainly recommend it. Let me know if you read it, and whether you enjoy it!
2) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling
Confession time. *inhales deeply* I’veOnlyReadAboutFourHarryPotterBooksAndI’veNeverSeenTheMovies.
*exhales sharply* I’m sorry, okay? I’ve never been a Potterhead, even if I do consider myself a proud Ravenclaw and I did enjoy the first few books I read. Please don’t kill me. I’m trying my best over here.
The fact that I’ve never read the full series, though, makes for an interesting opinion on this screenplay. Interesting, I mean, in that I entered this tale without many expectations at all. Of course, I know the storyline of the original Harry Potter series: they’ve been out long enough for everything to have been effectively spoiled for me, which is fine in this instance. However, none of that really colored my vision for this screenplay. I speak from a place of almost no prior Harry Potter knowledge
The good news is…I really enjoyed it! I finished the screenplay in a couple of days, reading after classes were over for the day. Fortunately (for the rest of the 1% who aren’t overly familiar with Harry Potter), it’s not difficult to understand if this is your first foray into Rowling’s wizarding world. And it is quite the engrossing one. Rowling writes with vivid imagery; it’s easy to allow your imagination to explore along with her. In fact, my visualization matched almost exactly with the movie’s portrayal (I YouTubed it afterwards). That is indicative of how well Rowling creates this world for the reader.
For those of you who don’t know what the film is about, it follows Newt Scamander, an English Magizoologist, through the world of 1920s New York City, chasing after his magical creatures that have escaped from his briefcase. Through his adventures, we encounter Tina Goldstein (a disgraced Auror), her sister Queenie (an attractive Legilimens), Jacob Kowalski (a No-Maj baker), and the Barebone siblings (the abused children of a woman trying to convince the world of the existence of wizards). Throughout all this adventuring, something dark is lurking around the corner and destroying full sections of Manhattan. I can’t tell you much more than that without totally spoiling the whole thing. Helpful, at all? :)
The good news about this screenplay—like what I said when writing about the above book—is that the characters are some of the most lovable I’ve ever come across. Even the villains have something endearing about them, something that makes you want to know more about their story. From what I understand, Rowling has always excelled in this. Even if you hate the person currently onscreen or on the page, you still want to read about/watch them. I loved Newt (Eddie Redmayne was the perfect pick for this awkward, intelligent, childlike character) and his interactions with the rest. Each character was brilliantly crafted; I’d recommend reading it just for that.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the freaking awesome comedic timing of the whole piece. Though the overall story is rather dark and mesmerizing, Rowling injects perfectly-timed humor to lighten it up. I chuckled out loud several times. People in the hall probably thought I was nuts. Then again, it is college, so I doubt anyone cares. ;)
In conclusion, I can genuinely say I liked this screenplay. Maybe I’ll watch the movie sometime! Like the book I wrote about before, it is important for me to note that it wasn’t the most memorable thing I’ve ever read (I know, I’M SORRY), but it was written very well and I loved it overall. Now, go forth and read!
As always, thanks for reading! Have a great day!
~Rhiannon~
Comments