Boop's Bookshelf: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevski

Crime and Punishment checks off 'A book more than 100 years old' in my 2015 Reading Challenge.

The Author

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821 - 1881) was a Russian writer who predominantly explored human psychology in 19th century Russia in his literary works. He wrote several novels, short stories and essays throughout his life based around the social, political and spiritual clime of troubled Russia.

Synopsis

An impoverished student theorises that an extraordinary person can commit crime with no ramifications, if the result is to benefit mankind. Raskolnikov tests this theory and explores the mental impact this has on himself. 

My Thoughts

My first impressions from reading this, is that it is not going to be an easy read. Classic Russian literature is hard! all of the characters have several names depending on who is addressing them, and the names are not easily remembered. It took me a long time to get my head around who everyone was and how they were connected. We see this story through the perspective of the main character - Raskolnikov. Unlike many novels, the main character is not particularly likable, especially from the beginning as you (the reader) realises that his convulouted thoughts are contemplating how easily he could commit a murder. Raskolnikov stays unlikeable through the novel, mistreating his family and friends throughout. However despite all of that, you still don't want him to give himself up. 

He never shows remorse for commiting murder, I thought his main issue was realising that he is not an extroadinary person exempt from the ramifications of the crime he commited. he does eventually turn himself in, after wrestling with himself through all of the preceeding chapters. The punishment part of the title comes into play more with the mental torture he is afflicted with, rather than the coporal punishment of being sent away to do manual labour. that section of the story is incredibly small and pales into almost insignificance when compared with the rest of the text.

I found this a very hard book to get through, however I do feel that it was worth the read. 

My Rating...

Not particularly enjoyable, but it is an interesting read.

Boop's Bookshelf: The Outsiders by S E Hinton

The Outsiders checks of 'A book by a female author' in my 2015 reading challenge.

The Author

S E Hinton was born in Oklahoma, and had always had a love of reading. However the reading material was not to her liking, so she wrote young adult stories that did reflect what she thought they should be. The Outsiders was her first novel, and a great writing career followed it. 

Synopsis

The outsiders tells the story of two rival gangs - the Greasers, and the Socials (Socs for short). The story is told from the perspective of Ponyboy Curtis - one of the Greasers. A gang rivalry goes too far, and Ponyboy finds himself on the run with his friend, contemplating what differences there really are between the two groups; and the importance of family. Despite the similar unhappy situations of both groups, nothing changes and the rivalry continues between the two groups throughout the book. Some huge scale events transpire, and we follow Ponyboy through these, and into his reconciliation with his brothers.

My Thoughts

I like this story. Once I became familiar with the dialect of Ponyboy and the way things were described, I found it to be a quick and enjoyable read. Things escalate very quickly at the beginning of the book, which took me by surprise, and the rest of the story is generally dealing with the fallout from the beginning of the book. I found myself drawn into the world depicted in the novel, and wanted to find out what happened next. Needless to say, because of this I flew through the book. I was a bit disappointed with the story ending. More or less everything about the characters situation stayed the same, except for some changes in the way the brothers relate to each other and look after each other. I left the novel feeling a little dissatisfied with the ending, but otherwise I enjoyed it. 

My Rating...

3 stars
Enjoyable but unsatisfactory

Boop's Bookshelf: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie checks off 'A book set in high school' in my 2015 reading challenge

The Author

Muriel Spark was a award winning Scottish novelist. She wrote several short stories, plays, poems, novels and biographies. She had several titles and honors awarded to her through her lifetime. She has written pieces for the BBC, and lived in several countries through her life. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is the best known of Spark's works.

Synopsis

This short story centers around a Miss Jean Brodie and her exclusively selected group of students at the school she teaches at. The relationship between her and her students is a special one - though that may not be a good thing. Miss Brodie is in the prime of her life and she shares her experiences with her students, while subtly shaping them into miniature versions of herself. Brodie's teaching methods are looked down on by the school's headmistress, who invariably tries to intervene with Brodies' 'set' and gain a reason to dismiss Miss Brodie. Through a love triangle and increasingly manipulative behaviour, one of the girls eventually betrays Brodie to the headmistress, handing her the tools to bring her down. However, Miss Brodie never finds out who that was.

My Thoughts

While reading this, it was difficult to keep track of which girl was which. This was exacerbated by the chapters jumping around in time through the time that the girls knew Miss Brodie. At the beginning I felt that Miss Brodie was a forward-thinking, liberal teacher who is being stifled by the traditionalist headmistress. However, as the story progressed and the power Brodie holds over the girls is abused, I felt that she was much more ominous and her views more dangerous. I mean...I hate to lay down a spoiler, but at one point she says that she was in Germany and she thinks Hitler's regime is a good thing...

She was more than a little obsessed with fascism and she pushed that onto her 'set'. She more or less turns these girls into her very own fascist group, and they hung from her every word. She specifically chose the girls in her set because their parents were disinterested or too naive to intervene in her relationship with them. All a bit ominous and it made me feel a little uncomfortable.

On the positive side of that, my reaction to the manipulative Miss Brodie is the result of good writing. I felt genuine emotion towards Miss Brodie, even if the feelings weren't all positive. It is a well written novel, however I didn't particularly enjoy the story. Then again that could just be because there was a lot about fascism that I didn't understand...

My Rating:

3 stars

Good writing, didn't like the story quite so much...

Life in Reveiw - 2014 6 month life update

Well...I kind of missed the previous 6 months of this year in reviews, but such is life. I'll do a round up from January aaaall the way until now! Aren't you lucky.

I totally dropped the ball on this blog, I have about 4 drafts which sit unfinished and I haven't posted in forever!! I'm sorry world, I don't mean to be such a disappointment.

Well, life updates are in order I suppose.

Career: Still working at Bluw as a Sales Administrator, work is quite stressful at the moment with a huge system switchover and transferring everything. The days feel long, and the commute feels longer-while making my budget fall short. However, the people are good, I get time to read on the train, and being employed is always a bonus so...

Driving: Haven't passed my driving test yet. I did a test in June, but failed on 1 major and 4 minors. Which as you can probably imagine was very annoying at the time...Have re-booked and I'm hoping to bring better news in the next update. 

Blogging: Well as you know I've been really crap with this blog, however over on my health blog haha health, what is that? I've been pretty consistent in posting at least once a week. yaaay. My plan is to be more active on this blog by setting a day where I have. To Post. Not because this blog is a burden, but because I want to, despite my laziness! I also want to update the name of this blog, as I really don't feel that the blog name is relevant anymore, because I haven't been blogging about my wasted clothing! Any suggestions are welcome...I will be brainstorming the brain out of this!

Relationships: Mr Gandyman and I are really good, as always *wink*. Family are all good, and friends also. Though I do not like my bestie being so far away...but hey ho - I'll be seeing miss RoanRider and her handsome MrMan soooon!

Health & Fitness:  I regularly update my BekBek blog on this front, but as it's quite a large part of my life and one of my new years resolutions I figured it was worth a mention! I am not on track to loose 2 stone by July as I set out to in January, however I believe I can reach this by the end of this year (I hope). I recently ran a Race For Life 5k, and am coming up to doing a Pretty Muddy - which I am both terrified and excited for.

Sister Update: I asked Sisterbell to write a guest post on here, but she didn't want to (I think she was too shy...Read: Lazy). As we speak she is putting a mini Christmas tree up my sleeve. She has finished her exams, and is rehearsing for her school summer play - Beauty and the Beast. This evening she has also spent a large amount of time raiding my wardrobe for a dress to wear. She is much smaller than me, so my old dresses are like a second hand shop to her, and to be honest, someone may as well wear them.

Books: I've been reading quite a lot on the commute to work, and recently finished the Divergent Trilogy - which I really enjoyed. Though I was hoping for a different ending...I may post some reviews up here, I hope I will, but who knows in this wacky life what I will actually have time to do!

Life in general: Is good. I feel a little like I'm plodding along waiting for something to happen though...I'm not sure if that's because I'm feeling lethargic, or if I'm dissatisfied with something. Probably my job, or it could be monetary based, but who knows.

Coming Up: Things I'm looking forward to in the remainder of this year. 

• Passing my driving test
• Pretty Muddy
• Eurogamer
• Hovercraft Driving this month!!
• Christmas I know it's early...but who cares!
• Blogging regularly
• Finally losing some weight - it will happen this year. I can feel it.

Matilda the Musical

On Valentines day myself and A went to see Matilda. I'd been hearing good things about it and I'm a fan of Tim Minchin, so I was desperate to see it. Not to mention I love the film as well.

If you've seen the film you will know that the story centres around a young girl whom is extremely bright for her age, and is unappreciated by her family. I'd go so far as to say she is neglected by her family. Both the film and the musical are based on Roald Dahl's popular story of the same name. The musical hit London's West End in the face and has become very popular amongst children and thespians alike.

Upon arriving, the Cambridge Theatre is decked out in chalk boards with child-like drawings, jokes and messages with extra chalk for the audience members to add their own messages and answer the questions. At the bar there were character themed drinks, the most memorable was Mrs Wormwood's-glitterberry J2O and vodka (or something to that effect). Upon entering the auditorium the stage is open, enabling the audience to get a good look at the amazing set. I can't imagine how long it would have taken to paint all of the blocks and lettering. Actually I have an inkling of how long that would take having studied performance management at uni.

The show opens with a birthday party, and I was blown away by the talent of the group of children on the stage. They were unbelievable, excellent movement and facial expressions. So disciplined for children so young. The next scene was a birthing scene where we meet Matilda's parents. Mr and Mrs Wormwood are both very large, exuberant characters. Almost overly large. I was not sure about them at all, which made me worry I would not like the rest of the production. As it turned out, this worry was unnecessary. The rest of the production was amazing. In retrospect I can understand why the characters are so...for lack of a better word...irritating. We as an audience are not meant to like them, and that is the point. The fact that I felt dislike for them is a credit to the actors playing those roles.

On the subject of noteworthy chracters, of course I must give The Trunchball her due. The first time we see her is with her back to us in her office, while Miss Honey is trying to work up the courage to knock on the door. The actor playing her was very good. The voice work he must have done for Trunchball worked really well with the character, and she was one of the best played characters. One of my absolute favorite parts was the moment I heard 'Amanda Thrip...' as soon as this was said I got very excited and looked and A breifly (who endures my excitable moods and knew instantly why I was so happy) before turning back to watch one of my favourite scenes from the film, which is followed by a girl being bodily thrown by Trunchball.

There are quite a few scenes and numbers worth mentioning, but I'm going on far too long as it is. One I will mention was the first number to really blow my mind and put a huge wow smile on my face. This was the first schoolyard number (I believe it is called School Song). The wow was for the choreography alone, never mind the music and lyrics. I could enthuse about this forever it was that good. Another to mention is Matilda's story. There are several scenes in the library where Matilda is telling the librarian a story. This is split through the show, and the way in which it was told was creative and dramatic. I couldn't take my eyes from it, and I won't spoil it for you, but I worked out who's story Matilda was really telling really early on. I'm good at that sort of thing. The opening of Act 2 was yet another spectacle to behold, using a slide and rope swings for the song 'When I Grow Up'.

Being a little bit of a theatre geek, I have to mention the stage and set. It was so well done, that I didn't suspect a thing until it happened, and then I was happily suprised. I won't go into detail as I don't want to ruin the wonderment.

Matilda is brilliant mix of humour and darkness. Very Tim Minchin. There are so many good things I could write about this musical, but I wouldn't want to ruin the fun for those wanting to go and see it. Which I highly recommend you do. Right now. Next showing is at 7pm.