Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Hmm. To Finish, or Not Finish?

Update 12/20/09: I returned the book to the library. I just couldn't finish it. Thanks for weighing in!!

Happy Tuesday! The sun is out and even though it's "quite brisk" (as a coworker said), I'm glad for the break in the cloudy, snowy weather.

I need some help here... I've been trying to get into Toni Morrison's book Beloved, but I'm having a really tough time with it. To me, it seems as though the story is all over the place, there are flashbacks that seem to pop up out of nowhere and I find myself backtracking to see if I missed soemthing, and the language is, for lack of a better word, weird. The reviews I've read, in a variety of places, seem mixed. The people who hate the book, apparently hate it with a passion; those who love the book, apparently love it so much that they have few words to describe it.

So, the reviews aren't really helping me decide whether I should finish it or not.

It's won awards, including the Pulitzer...

I still think the book sounds interesting and meaningful...here's a description, from goodreads.com :
Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.
And yet, I have little desire to pick up the book and finish it. I rarely leave a book unfinished. Grrr. It doesn't help that this book is also on a couple of my "lists." Ugh.

Have any of you read it? Thoughts? Anyone want to try to read it with me and push me along?

Help!

PS- I'm basically sucking at my Bookwarm Challenge list. At this point, it's probably NOT going to happen before 12/31/09. I've been reading a LOT lately...just not much on one of my "lists."

5 comments:

Kim said...

Hey there! I would say to drop it. Your time is more valuable then finishing the book. It might just be where you are in life right now. It does sound good so maybe you'll want to try again at a later date/time in life. I would read it with you, but can't until summer, if you'd like to try again then. I need a biography for my next book club book. Any suggestions for me?

The Book Addict said...

I really liked the bio on Elizabeth I. I am really wanting to read American Lion, a bio about Andrew Jackson, my favorite president(thanks for that, Br. John). Um... I'm reading about Marie Antoinette right now too... The sky is the limit. Who do you want to learn something about?

Amber said...

I would say you should not finish it. I like to judge my books by their cover and the first two chapters!

Suz said...

I had to read it in college and I remember it just being ok. I say if you are not into it, don't waste your time. I find some of the "classics" that everyone loves, just leave me thinking what was all the hype? Why did I waste my time on this?

P.S. I LOVE your header...I read all my blogs in google reader, so I haven't seen it until today. I freaking love the whole Christmas layout!

mom said...

drop reading the book. If you can't get into it and like it in two chapters, not worth your time. Maybe it should have been in the wreath. ha ha. my question is "what to do with the window when the holidays are over."
It looks so nice now. It will certainly be bare. Mom

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Revised Influential Books List

1. And the Band Played On- Randy Shilts
2. Listening to Prozac- Peter D. Kramer
3. Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism- Temple Grandin
4. Nickel and Dimed-Barbara Ehrenreich Eh, it was OK. Reminded me a little of Dirty Jobs.
5. Into Thin Air- Jon Krakauer
6. The Satanic Verses- Salman Rushdie
7. Middlesex- Jeffery Eugenides Read it. Loved it. Recommend it.
8. A Perfect Spy- John le Carre
9. What is the What- Dave Eggers LOVE this book! Very inspiring!
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle- Haruki Murakami Done.
11. The Known World- Edward P. Jones
12. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone- J.K. Rowling Read it twice!!
13. The Bonfire of the Vanities- Tom Wolfe Hmm, the jury is still out on this one (pun intended).
14. Infinite Jest- David Foster Wallace
15. The Unbearable Lightness of Being- Milan Kundera
16. Beloved- Toni Morrison - Abandoned.
17. The Handmaid's Tale- Margaret Atwood
18. Freakonomics- Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner A really interesting & thought-provoking read!