An avid reader whose current interest lies in mysteries and thrillers. Line 'em up!
Also personally love fantasies and any stories to do with magic, and a sucker for the occasional (good) romance.
Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar. Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…
I know I’m pretty late to the game on this one, as there’s a movie out for it and everything already. However, if you haven’t read it already, I can definitely recommend it! It’s been on my TBR for so long and I’m glad to have finally gotten around to it. It didn’t disappoint! I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I enjoyed this one.
The Girl on the Train revolves around a few of the characters in the thriller. A lot of it takes place in Rachel’s POV who is probably the closest thing to our protagonist, though I struggle to really say that she is. Nevertheless we mostly follow her storyline as she watches a house day by day on her commute on the train; longing after a life she once had as she watches a couple from the train every day.
Prompts: Do you prefer to read longer books or shorter books? Does it depend on the genre? Why is that? What are the pros and cons of long books? What about shorter books? What long books do you love? What are some of your favorite short books?
Welcome back to another week of LTB here at DTRH, everyone! Today’s topic is certainly a classic, and I honestly wonder if people do have preferences in general. I think at the extremes of very long or very short most people may have an opinion, but I assume the length of a book may not always be even in consideration for a lot of readers. That’s just conjecture though, I’d love to hear what you all think!
For me, the older I get, the more I want short books. I just don’t really have the time to sit down for a 1500 page fantasy book like I used to, even if I still enjoy them from time to time. Of course I don’t need a book to be only 200 pages long, but anything beyond 500 will generally make me pause before taking it up. The good thing is that I tend to enjoy thrillers which are usually on the shorter end anyway, so I don’t run into this problem too much.
I think the length of book really is often determined by the genre. Fantasies and adventures will tend to run longer, while mysteries and thrillers fall on the shorter end. I think for fantasies, authors need time to build up the world to really create something believable. On the other hand, it is difficult to hold a reader’s suspense for too too long, and I think therefore mysteries and thrillers are able to be quite short. After all, the imagination can do a lot of work in those cases!
Longer books tend to have more description, and more time to dive into and develop characters. On the other hand if it’s over done, it can be boring and drag on. Short books can be great, leaving things to the imagination. But again, it could just be underdeveloped. I don’t think a book being long or short on its own is really a pro or con. It’s really how you make use of the space that counts!
If it is long books, I’d actually much prefer series! Harry Potter is probably already one of the longer books (and series) that I’ve read already. As for short books, I really have liked the ones that revolve around folk tales or short stories. Those are always short and sweet, and usually make me think from a new perspective as well.
What do you all prefer – long or short books? Or is length of a book something you don’t consider at all? Let me know in the comments below!
From the best-selling author of Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day, a stunning new novel—his first since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature—about the wondrous, mysterious nature of the human heart.
From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.
In Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro looks at our rapidly changing modern world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?
This was a book that my friends and I did for another book club, and boy is it a good one! Good one in the sense that it is a good book club book, as it is full of thought-provoking insight and perspectives I have never ever before thought of. To top it all off, it’s written by an Asian author, so what’s not to love?!
Klara and the Sun revolves around a most interesting premise: the Artificial Friend, or the AF. Klara is one such model of AF, and she watches from her store, hoping one day to be chosen. The book completely takes place in her POV and how she perceives the world, and will totally transport you into a place you never even thought to look. The world is somewhat futuristic, and it is unclear whether it is Earth or not, but certainly whatever the world is, it will take you on an adventure.
The characters were all excellent in this book. Each AF was crafted well, and the humans that are in the story were also either well-fleshed out or were a proper foil. They weren’t too many main characters, and everything really does happen through the eyes of Klara. Klara builds relationships with the people/AFs around her and there is truly something special about looking at something such as relationship with humans from a different perspective that is quite haunting.
The use of literary devices such as foreshadowing was incredible in this book. This was probably my favourite part of the book. The sense of foreboding and dread I had running through the whole book was almost essentially like a thriller. The emotions were so tense, it’s hard to believe that you’re looking through the eyes of a robot. The way the story was told was quite excellent and I think it really is something people should read, just to gain more perspective into the world as we see it. This book really challenges the status quo, and what can be thought of as normal.
The main reason I don’t have this rated higher is that there were some discussions that were mildly introduced but then left unexplored and left to the imagination. While this was definitely a stylistic choice, it wasn’t my favourite. More importantly though, there is a major point near the climax that I once again wasn’t in favour of the route that was chosen. Certainly it was a reasonable route to take and I won’t fault anyone for it, but I felt like more could have been explored if the last 15-20% of the book was slightly different. However, the ending did still leave me in minor shock so I won’t take that away from it.
Overall I would recommend this read for sure, it’s something that people should read for that shift in perspective, and really makes us question a lot of the emotions and actions that humans have. Just this alone is enough for me to recommend the book, and I don’t think whether you love the actual plot/story that much is that important to the value that this book provides.
Overall Recommendations
Klara and the Sun is a very interesting book that takes place through the eyes of a narrator who is a robot, namely, an Artificial Friend. She starts off in a store, wondering if one day she’ll be picked up as she was made (and named) to do, and we see the world through her eyes as she makes her journey. Full of emotional ups and downs (lots of downs), and full of novel perspective you may never have considered, this is certainly one that I recommend people picking up just for a fresh new take on the human psyche and the way we express love and care for those around us.
Down the Rabbit Hole 