One Book Down!

This is what I want to know…what type of person would consider Sophie’s Choice a MUST READ? I wouldn’t even consider this book in any of the top thousand to read. Okay – I’m getting a little ahead of my review.

I was really excited to dive into this project with my BFF Devon. We knew some books we would love, some we would hate and some we would have different feelings about. I was really, really hoping to L-O-V-E the first book of our quest. I didn’t. I didn’t like the writing style, the “flow” (when I could find it) nor did I really like the idea that anyone would even publish this book after finishing Chapter 2. There were a few “Woa” moments, but most of the time I was relatively bored.

The author’s name should be William Tangent Stryton. I’m slightly curious to read another Stryton novel if only to redeem my faith in his writing abilities. The main character, “Stingo” is an aspiring novelist and maybe its Stingo’s writing I don’t like. I’m not sure where the lines cross. Regardless, the book’s “flow” jumps from time period to time period and Stingo brings up so many things that seem pointless to me even though he preempts his tangent by saying, “I bring this up because….”. In the end I’m left disappointed with all the time I wasted on 20 pages of a tangent.

Here’s the kicker…it must be said I am not proud of this. It also must be said that I have probably only done it once maybe twice before with a book I’m reading for pleasure. I skimmed! That’s right. About 450 pages into it I was so bored and “over” the book I skimmed most of the tangents and useless scene set ups. I got all the information I needed and when I hit a part that did interest me and did offer relevancy to the story I slowed back down to my regular reading pace. I feel bad about it, but what can I say…I was totally uninterested in this book.

I know this is going on long, but let’s talk about Sophie’s choice for a second here. The lead to choice, the choice and the after effects of the choice lasted about ¾ of a page and were over before I new it. My reaction, while sad, was, “That’s it?!?!?! That’s all I get!?!?” After reading the choice I had to finish the book to make sure it was the choice and that there wasn’t another one coming around the corner. While sad, again, I was disappointed. Plus the cover of the book says something about this being about Sophie and all of her men. There’s a picture of two men and two women on the cover aside from the three main characters, Stingo, Sophie and Nathan, and I have no idea who they are supposed to be! What did they have to do with her choice? Nothing.

All in all, I am kind of glad I read the book. One, because it’s on the list; two, because I have my BFF to talk about it with and three, because now I will know what people are talking about when they refer to “Sophie’s Choice”. I put that in quotes as in the movie, instead of underlined, as in the book, because no one would have the “OH MY GOD IT’S SO SAD” reaction if they read this book. To all you blog readers out there………go see the movie. OMG – I can’t believe I just suggested that.

Thanks!
Kel